We rescued “Rusty” from a young man who routinely got drunk and beat up his dog. We had just lost our 17 yr old Cassidy and wanted a small, short haired female puppy. We got a 1 yr old, 80 lb male Golden! We renamed him Hemingway as he was a regal and charismatic long red haired beauty with a perfect head & face. And what feathers he had! He developed a wonderful vocabulary and despite his past, was loving and gentle and free of behavior problems. People who didn’t even like dogs fell for Hemingway…he was that kind of dog. He was a ball-aholic who would happily chase a ball endlessly if we would let him. We fell hard for him.

Six mo after we got him, my son was killed in an accident. For months, Hemingway sat with his head in my lap as I grieved my terrible loss. He knew I was in trouble and I truly don’t know how I would have gotten through the next year without him. Before his 8th birthday, he got cancer. For weeks, I hand fed him pancakes, baby food and Ensure to try to save him long enough for the chemo to do it’s job. Because he was mis-diagnosed in the beginning, it was too late to save him by the time we learned the real problem. We went to the vet hospital expecting to bring him home only to learn when we arrived that he had taken a turn for the worst. It was clear we had no choice. He died with his head in my lap as I stroked that beautiful head and told him he was the best dog in the world. And he was.
Thanks, Mark, for honoring Sprite. In that book you honor all the special friends we’ve lost too soon.

Lynne from AZ