All my life since I was a kid I wanted to have a show dog. I never had time, never had the money to do so until I married. My very supportive husband and I decided to go on a quest for the right dog for us. I have always been a sporting dog fan, you know the Weimaraner, German Shorthaired Pointer, Irish Setter. But with our home, the size of our yard and the HUGE cost of owning a dog we decided to go a little smaller, actually a LOT smaller!

We found an adorable Toy Fox Terrier that needed a home. He was pick of the litter but he was male, one of way too many owned by the breeder. Lucky for us her main ambition was to find loving owners, not make a lot of money. We got photos of him on the web, fell in love and decided that was our boy! Rather than put him threw the trauma of being flown to us, we drove over 900 miles one way to get our buddy. He was so tiny, very shy and not well by the time we got him home.

We discovered he was allergic to wheat and dairy products in his food. After changing that he got over the allergies but shyness, that\’s took longer. I took him on long walks, to Pet\’s Mart, to noisy main streets, shopping centers to hear, see, smell all the new things in his much expanded world. After all to be a show dog he HAD to allow strangers to run their hands on him, look into his mouth and he had to show off to win. Our first show he was horrified! We entered the grooming area with a puppy shaking like a leaf on a windy day. It was sad, so sad we thought, hum, maybe we might just need to keep him as a pet. But since we were there we thought we\’d try him in the show area.

When we walked in it was like some turned on a \’show\’ switch. He pranced, he walked, acted and preformed like his Champion parents before him! On his first show he got a 2 pt major win which was NOT bad for any dog, but wonderful for a dog that had bee shy and so ill. I finished my guy in October of 2008. He has fulfilled my childhood dreams, gave my husband and myself another bond between us and has added such a sparkling personality to our family. All that and he loves Murphy our cat! Here is Champion Fanci\’s The DAX FACTOR at Warp 10!

Pam from IL

thanks for a place to cry, becky, our golden retriver,two week ago, had to leave us, i truly believe we will see her again, in heaven, those that say there will not be any animals in heaven better rember, God shall gome again riding on a white horse, love like beckey,s will forever be hard to find, thanks for the chance to grieve Mark,

Paul from TX

Mark, your book was very moving, it is not just for dog lovers, its for everyone whose pets have left their mark on our hearts. I have had dogs and cats all my life and it never gets eaiser to have to make that call to the vet.. I felt exactly like you did, wanting to call back and cancel the appt. My last pet, Dusty, a little black cat with lots of problems including being blind and who only lived to the age of 4 will always be remembered , she taught me so much . Mark take comfort in knowing you gave Sprite a wonderful life.

Ann from MN

This occurred many of years ago and it would not right if i did not give pre-text to this chapter…
it was 1990  my service in the US Navy had been ended due to the loss of my wife and the care of my four year old son Nick had been the grounds for my dismissal.
We arrived in NY with little aside from the clothes on our back. My son was young and there were not many ways to help him understand the why\’s and hows to all the many questions he had

To make ends meet i had taken on several jobs and meanwhile Nick had became a bit quiet, caught up in his own sense of loss. he had lost both parents in a sense and it was beginning to manifest itself in behavior problems.

One day my son was visiting with his cousin and discovered they had adopted a a young shepherd mix. It was love in a NY minute between them. Later that day it was all he could tell me about and asked incessantly on when we could have a dog.
I tried to explain our situation as best as one could to a young child smitten w/ a playful canine pal. It was a struggle to keep food on the table and pay the rent.
In two weeks time i thought i had dodged the bullet on adding to our gang of two. But I had to ponder Nick\’s renewed solitude, Each conversation was yes and no… There was no adjectives in the description of the days events. In a effort to get him to open up again I asked about the dog.
\”she\’s gone\” with tears almost immediately flowing out. Given all we had lost I didn\’t understand –  I instantly assumed the dog had passed away. (more…)

This year (2008) my wife and I were finally able to afford to buy a house and to make it complete we thought we should get a dog.  I wasn\’t too keen on the idea at first but I finally gave into my wife\’s begging. I told her we can look at the local dog shelter but no promises.  We took a look in the Shelter and saw a bunch of dogs barking and wanting to be saved.  The only one that was well behaved and just wagging his tail looking at us was a brindle boxer.  I told my wife that this dog was the only one that had a chance.  But i still didnt want to bring a dog home.  My wife name him on the spot.  Oscar.

For the next day or so she kept on talking about how cute and sad oscar looked. I went back to the shelter to have another look at him and they let me go outside and play.  He warmed up instantly.  I called my wife to come on over and oscar loved her with a big hug.  We took him home.  Oscar was the perfect dog.  He was well trained and did everything anyone could wish in a dog.  He loved to play and go on walks.  He liked giving the other family members lovies. After about 3 months Oscar lost about 5 pounds in a week. and wouldnt eat unless we made it taste really really good.  we were in and out of the vet for the next couple of weeks, and he could not find anything wrong with Oscar.  finally we went to a different vet. The doctor felt his tummy and found something wrong immediatly so we had an x-ray done.  There was something taking up the whole chest of our Oscar making it so he did not want to eat. (more…)