I just finished reading , Rescuing Sprite. Thank you for your heart warming tale.
I am 67 years old. The first dog I clearly rememb er was Rover. Rover was a full grown St. Bernard that my Dad bought at a horse auction in 1944. He came with papers and had been a Sargent in the US Army. I was four and a half years old at the time. The third of four children and the only girl. My mother thought my dad was nuts to bring a military dog into the house with four kids the oldest eight years old the youngest months old. My two older brothers who had gone to the auction with my dad said Rover is a real sweetie, don’t be afraid of him. Well, my mom was won over by this gentle giant. Rover wouldn’t let anyone near the infant except her or a responsible adult.

When I was five years old dad took Rover to the farm during sheep shearing and decided that since it was getting warmer, Rover would be cooler with a little shave. As was my dad’s sense of humor he had him shaved to resemble a liion. Rover would accompany me all over New Brunswick, NJ while I pushed my doll carraige with four wild bunny rabbits. No one bothered me. My mom got phone calls from friends letting her know where I was when they would observe me, Rover and the rabbits. A few years later Rover returned home one day(there were no leash laws then) and could hardly move. My two older brothers, Artie and Norman and my Dad, carried him to the garage to try to find out what was wrong. All I remember is that we had the vet come to put him down because he was so injured…This was my first memory of loosing a beloved friend. Forty years later my brother Norman ran into an old friend from New Brunswick and he recalled seeing Rover hit by a car and how the car had been dented. It didn’t make the memory of Rover any different but it answered a long ago asked question. What could have done this to Rover?

Rover was the first of four dogs we had in my home as a child. I could tell you story after story of each and every dog that I have ever had the joy of knowing. I, as my mom, recieved my first dog as a married woman when my husband and I were married six months. Cerberus was the first dog my husband and I picked by ourselves. Until then our parents had had that responsibility. Now in my forty seventh year of marraige we have had eight great dogs along with our three beautiful daughters. We have had to put down all but three of them. Heidi we had to send back to the breeder because of problems with neighbors, not the dog, Annie the almost Airedale died in my arms on the way to the vet. And Oliver, an Airedale, who is our furry son is almost six years old now and is the joy of the household. All 98 pounds of love. He is so gentle a giant especially with our four grand children. Mark, a day does not go by that I do not think of one or another of all of those great friends. They in each one of their ways has gotten me through some one or another time in my life both good or challenging. There is nothing nobler than a dog. Remember dog spelled backward is G-d.

Gerri from MD