Hello
I have enjoyed your show since 2002. You are a great American. Last March my daughter Caroline picked a Boston terrier Jack Russell mix dog for our family to rescue. Our old dog Molly had died at the age of 16 in 2006, and while we were still sad we wanted to help another dog. We named the new dog Lucy, and she soon became my best friend, following me everywhere and sleeping next to me at night. She was truly MY dog, although she loved the entire family and was the sweetest, gentlest dog I ever knew. I purchased a copy of Rescuing Sprite for my wife as a birthday gift. My wife and I have birthdays a day apart, hers is Dec. 15 mine is Dec. 16. On the night of Dec 17 my wife started to read the book. On the morning of Dec 18 Lucy was not acting right.

She was hiding in a corner of the room as if she did something bad. After my wife went to work she began to cough. She was not breathing well. I rushed her to the vet. Her lungs were filled with fluid and her heart appeared to be enlarged. Long story short, she had an undiagnosed heart ailment. She suffered a stroked that evening and we had to put her down. It broke my heart. Telling the kids was horrible. I am still not OK from it. Neither I or my wife can bear to read your book yet. It is like a person died. I will never forget how much that dog loved me for the true person that I am.

We have since rescued another dog we have named Riley. She is a lovely dog. One thing I have learned from all this is that if you decide to adopt a dog have it checked thoroughly by your own vet no matter what the adoption paperwork says. Lucy had a clean bill of health and was about 1 year old when we got her.
She had no symptoms of heart trouble. A simple xray might have prevented her untimely death.

Steve from NJ