Dear Mark —

We recently lost two of the most precious dogs God ever created. Our gentle giant, Bella, was the sweetest German Shepherd, 105 pounds of slurpy kisses and wagging tail,suffered much the same as your Spritey with crippling arthritis. We were blessed with a wonderful vet, who tried everything including accupuncture to give her some relief. However, the disease overcame her and we had to make that awful decision to have
her euthanized. My husband, who has serious heath issues of his own, was devastated and still feels her loss.

Five weeks after her death, we discovered that our beloved bouncing ball of energy and mischief, our Westie, Peach, had untreatable cancer and while he was in surgery, our vet once again came to us with bad news and we had to consent to have him euthanized. He was my special little boy, and while it has been nearly 3 months I still cry for him every day. We just couldn’t let him suffer both from the surgical recovery period and from the cancer.

I must tell you that the interactions of these two dogs was priceless. When they were both pups (they were approximately the same ages) what one didn’t think of, the other did — just like two kids. They brought us joy and unadulterated love, no questions asked.
A close friend sent us a copy of your book, and I finally, after months and months, read it. I feel ever so much better and thank you for writing such a sensitive, warm account. Dogs leave such a wonderful mark on our lives; they truly are God’s gift to us.

We recently built a home in San Antonio — needed a warm place to spend our winters — and have been so disappointed that you don’t broadcast here (we were fond listeners in Chicago on WLS) especially during this hurly burly election season. I do hope your plans soon include this Texas market. The military presence is so strong and I know you’d have a HUGE audience, including these two snowbirds from the Midwest.

Mark, God bless you and your family, and keep up the good work…we sure need voices of sanity out here.

Fond regards,

Marge from TX