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Bear, Odhinn, Journey

Mark, I just a few minutes ago finished your wonderful story about Sprite and Pepsi. A fellow dog lover gave me a copy for Christmas and I have to say that your story moved me to laughter and tears, lots and lots of tears. I currently am “dog mom” to three wonderful dogs, Bear, age 9, who was adopted from the Delaware County Humane Society as a pup; Odhinn, age 8, who my husband found a few days into January of 1999. He was cold, hungry and had broken free from whatever he had been tied to. His 6 foot swingset chain had gotten caught on an old piece of machinery in the back of the lot where my husband works. We have no idea how long he’d been stuck there, but he was not in very good shape and was only about 8 months old at the time. I was talking to my husband on the phone as he was sitting in the car, waiting for it to warm up, before heading home for the day, when he spotted this little red dog out in the back of the lot. We hung up and he went out to get the pup and ended up bringing him home.

We’d talked about getting Bear a friend as Bear is a very high strung lab mix who needed a buddy in a bad way if for no other reason than to help expend some of his endless store of energy. When you spoke of Sprite cowering a little when you tried to pet his head, I immediately thought of little Odhinn who would actually lay down and roll onto his back and shake whenever we tried to pet him on his head. It was heartbreaking and obvious that his previous owner (who doesn’t deserve the love of a dog) had beaten him pretty badly.

Finally, with lots of love and reassurance, the day finally came when Odhinn stopped hitting the floor and shaking in fear when we touched him. He and Bear became fast friends and within a few months he had put on weight and his fur no longer looked stringy and unkept. He was and still is, the most appreciative, gentle, adorable creature. It was as if we were meant to find him and rescue him from his situation. To this day, he doesn’t know how to play with humans as I expect he was never played with as a pup, but he does play with Bear and our third dog, Journey, quite well and I believe he is a happy soul now.

Journey, age 9 we think, is an Aussie mix who I fell in love with at first sight while volunteering at one of our local animal shelters. His big, brown, sad eyes captured my heart the first time I saw him and although I already had two male dogs and a male cat at home, I knew Journey would become part of the family. My husband was not real keen on the idea at first, but agreed to come to the shelter to meet Journey. As I predicted, he too immediately fell for those big brown eyes and floppy ears and Journey came home with us that same day.

To this day, Journey has been a sweet, gentle, wonderful dog and the three dogs are the best of friends. When I read about Sprite, his story touched me on so many levels. Dogs truly are the most precious gifts we have been given. While Sprite’s story made me cry many tears, not just for him, but remembering the dogs I’ve had through my life (Laddie as teenager and Rocky through my twenties) and thinking about how difficult it will be to lose any of the three I have the pleasure of sharing my life with now, was heart-wrenching, but I couldn’t put the book down. I read the whole thing in just a couple of hours (having to take breaks to dry my eyes) and I just want to say thank you for a wonderful story and for reminding us how lucky we are. You’re right, we are the lucky ones. I feel like I know Sprite and Pepsi like they were my own and I wanted to tell you how sorry I am that you and your family lost your precious Sprite. Sharing his story with all of your readers is a wonderful way to memorialize him, and judging from your story’s place on the bestseller list, it appears as if there are quite a few of us dog lovers out there who are interested! Again Mark, thank you so much for a wonderful story. I wish you many more happy years with Pepsi and your new addition, Griffin. Happy New Year.

Sincerely,

Kim from OH

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