I read Rescuing Sprite with my wife this past January-February.  It made us cry more than a few times.  She\’d had a miniature poodle named Lucy growing up in Athens, Greece.  Her dog died a few years ago at the age of 20.  My white boxer, Patch, was nine years old at the time, and had been my little buddy through all of my good and bad times.  He was living with my parents and had developed a cough which we and the vet had attributed to allergies.  Thanks to Mark\’s book, I began to take every opportunity I could to hug my dog and tell him how much I loved him.  I even took to kissing him on his smooth, soft head.  On April 17th, while I was studying late in a library, I got a message from my sister asking me if I had heard the news about Patch.  I called her right away, and she explained that the vet had taken X-rays that showed my beloved pet had a significantly enlarged heart which was pressing on his trachea and causing his cough.  Our mom was going to take him to a specialist in the morning, but the prognosis was that he would only be with us for a few more weeks at best.  I left the library and went home to my wife to cry on her shoulder.  We were already planning to go home that weekend, so we were going to make the most of our time with Patch.  We never got the chance.  Early the next morning as I was coming home from the gym, I got a message from my mom saying that Patch had just died.  My wife and I were devastated.  I was able to take solace, however, in knowing that I had taken every opportunity to hold him and tell him how much I loved him.  And that was thanks to reading Mark\’s book.  Thank you Mark.

Gerard from NY