Jack Bauer was my beautiful german shepherd dog that became my pet in 2006 as a puppy of 3 months old.   My husband and I own a local bar and grill which requires long hours away from home.  It would not matter how late I would come home at night, Jack would be waiting by the door to greet me.  We would spend time together before bedtime, sometimes taking a walk, or playing in the yard or just relaxing on the couch catching up with the day\’s events on the late night news (Fox news only).

One day I noticed my guy was not exactly himself.  Mostly he just would not be as energetic as normal, but then it started to become more serious where he wouldn\’t want to walk and would just lay around.  I took him to be checked out.  He had acquired some worms (we live in a wooded area with lots of critter poop that apparently my guy liked to munch on) which in itself is not serious with a good dewormer.  But unbeknownst to us, he also had a blood disorder (lupus)which would not allow him to fight the infection.  Actually his antibodies killed off the worms, but then went haywire and started eating up good cells and tissue.  The vet was unable to stop the carnage.

After four days in the hospital without any progress, I brought Jack home hoping to spend some time with him before he would not be able to sustain life any longer.  This was only one night and the next day it was obvious he was going downhill fast, and not wanting him to suffer, we brought him back to the hospital where his vet came out to the car and quickly helped him out of his pain.

Mark, this dog never did anything but good things to mankind.  He did not live to celebrate his third birthday, and for that this world has been deprived of a truly wonderful soul.  It is with tears streaming down my face that I am writing this and my prayer is Jack is running and playing in heaven while smiling down on me.  Knowing that one day we will be together makes life bearable.  I am sorry for your loss.  I read your book when it first came out and it wasn\’t until last week that I truly felt your pain.  God Bless you and everything you do, and someday I\’ll introduce you to Jack and maybe I can meet Sprite.

Elizabeth from IL