I just finished reading your beautiful tribute to your beloved Sprite and your wonderful, Pepsi. Your book touched me and reminded me that there are good and kind people in this world. All of us, “lovers of dogs” have at least one thing in common. No matter our color, sex, religious preference, political views or anything else that may describe who we are as humans, we can all agree on at least this one thing!! Dogs are the best gift in life!!

I too, have suffered the loss of two friends. My first dog, Lucy, a mut and an adorable creature, came to me on my fifth birthday. I was an only child so she became my sibling, my very best friend in the whole world. Lucy lived for sixteen years and I was fortunate enough to hold and comfort her during her last moments of life as she was put to sleep. I hate that term…! But, she had suffered a stroke and all of her physical faculties were affected. I found her lying in a couple of inches of water on my Mom’s patio, which had washed-up due to the automatic irrigation system in Tempe, AZ. It was the most pathetic thing I had ever witnessed! Thankfully, she was alright in the sense that she knew I was there and holding her and had rescued her from a possible fate of drowning!

Putting Lucy to sleep was the most tragic thing I had expereinced so far in my 21 years of living. I’ll never forget her and what she meant to me growing up. To this day, I have a very early photo of her as a pup on my dresser along with her collar. Some might think that’s a little strange considering she’s been gone so long, but I still tear-up when I think about her final day on this earth and what she gave me and how much I miss her, still. She will always remain dear and near to me and no dog has ever taken her place.

My second experience with a loss of a beloved pet was our Golden Retriever, Barclay. I bought him as a puppy early on in my marriage when my husband was on a business trip. He wasn’t thrilled, but accepted him and grew to love him as much as I did. Barclay lived with our family his entire life and watched our family grow to it’s capacity of three more people, our three sons.! At age 12, Barc’s began to show severe signs of hip problems and couldn’t get up on his own. For a few weeks, we lifted him up under his belly with a towel and assisted him in walking to find a place to go to the bathroom. It was very sad and disturbing. Our vet put him on a steroid which didn’t help and within three days, he died in his sleep. We were so distraut to find him stiff and lifeless. I was beside myself with grief. My husband and I decided to have Barclay cremated and to this day, his remains are kept in an attractive wooden box with his name engraved on it and a photo on the front. Tennessee wasn’t his “home” so we decided to keep him where we knew he would always be with us.

Now, we have two wonderful dogs. We were so graciously given a year and a half old female Golden named Ivey. She was trained as a therapy dog and currently visits a day care center for Alzheimer’s patients. She is “the best dog ever” as we tell her every day. I’ve really never met a more kind, gentle, sensitive, caring and beautiful dog in all of my life. We also have a four month old long-haired miniature Dachshund, named Mitzi. The pair are so different in size and temperament, but being the wonderful dog Ivey is, the two of them are getting along well!

We look forward to many more years to come of joy and love and laughter with these two wonderful dogs.
As dog lover’s, we all know that the best we can do is to give our own sweetie’s the best care and the most love possible and I also feel that encouraging other’s to have their pet spayed or neutered is so important. There are just too many unwanted animals already. It is just heart wrenching!

This is very long, but in some way I feel like it has helped me to tell my story about my experiences with my beloved pets. Thank you for your caring heart and I applaud you for donating part of your proceeds to help the shelters accross America!
Sincerely and Happy New Year!

Angela from TN.