My husband gave me your book for Christmas in honor of our dog BJ (Buddy B) who we lost on Dec 3, 2007. BJ, a terrier mix ,was 14 3/4 years old when he left us. We had had him since he was 2 months old.. his mom showed up at my parents’ farm one spring… had one puppy which got ran over by the handyman! the next spring she had a litter of 7 pups, BJ was one of those. We also took his sister, Cashew, to live with us but unfortunately bad luck with vehicles ran in the family and she was hit also! I even went to court over that…I was ticketed for not having them on a leash. The dogs had gotten out of their “room” because someone forgot to latch the door. BJ was apprehended by the doggy police and ended up in doggy jail. I went to court to fight the fines, I won but I still had to pay court costs which were more than the fines!

Anyway, BJ was a wonderful dog. He had his ACL operated on when he was 11. He hated the cone he had to wear.. he thought his brother Socks was laughing at him. Socks is a Corgi Beagle that we rescued from the local humane society when BJ was 6. BJ declined this fall, we finally had to face the fact that it was time to let him go. We decided over the weekend that we would take him in Monday morning.

He died in his sleep Sunday evening. I called the local funeral director (I’m a florist) to see if he knew where we could get him cremated. the place he recommended is actually owned by the vet we normally use. I’ve ordered an oak box for his ashes so we can keep them on the mantel. When my husband first gave me the book, I started crying when I read the dust cover. He kept asking me when I was going to read the book. I finally read it this weekend. I think I cried practically the whole time! It is a wonderful book and I am glad I read it… it was just painful to read! My heart goes out to the Levin family for their loss. the story of Sprite’s rescue & Griffin’s rescue is similar to our dog Steffie’s story but I will save that for another time. Thank you, mark for sharing your family’s story.

Kimberly from IL