My cat is psychic. His name is Hercules and he knows when I am low. In bad times I used to think to myself that I wished I had someone to just put their arms around me and lo and behold, that is when Hercules does his thing….he puts his arms around my neck and sits as close to me as he can. Sometimes I wake up and his head is buried in my hair and his kitty arms are around my neck. It doesn’t matter what time of day or night, he always has his arms out to hold me. We lost his “cat brother”, Zeus, of 19 years not long ago, another wonder animal for sure. Since then we put eachothers’ arms around eachother. He never put his arms around me until Zeus passed on to his reward. Now we comfort each other. If I could I would have thousands of cats, they are very much God’s creatures, but alas I am just one woman so I donate to cat causes (and dog causes) which is all I can do. Pets are not only our “fellow prisoners of earth, but our equals in love and care.

Wendy from CA

One christmas my mom and brother were finally interested in buying a dog for the family. Christmas day the 3 of us went to a breeders home where we all soon fell in love with our new 6week old Boxer, Maximus.
He was such an amazing dog from the start. he always listened and got along great with my labrador, Lexy. They always had to be the center of attention around everyone, but still loved being in each others company.

In August of 2007, a tragic accident occured.
i woke up to my mom screaming at the top of her lungs. i knew something was wrong and my brother and i darted out of our bedrooms.
After that moment, everything felt like a slow-motion scene in a movie.
we ran to the backyard to find our poor Maximus had fell in the pool and couldnt find a way out.
That day crushed all of our family! it was so difficult to not refer back to him in our memories and just want to be with him all over again. He was only 2 when he died and we were not given enough time with him at all!

Now we have lived on that experience and grown from it. Recently we added the new addition to our family, also a 6week old fawn boxer, Leonidas.
He is our new pride and joy. Obviously he cant live up to Maximus’ great love, but he can create his own place for himself in all of our hearts, just like Maximus did.
thanks so much.
your book was amazing and i read it over and over again.
Danielle from TX

I loved Mark’s book – I read it Saturday so everything is still very fresh. I wanted to “Thank-you” for sharing this wonderful story. A couple of times the book suggested maybe no-one would care to hear this- not only was I thrilled over your book I am envious of your ability to LOVE so strong. Not everyone is so lucky. God Bless you and all dog lovers. Your book will save another dog from dying lonely.
Lynn from IL

On March 14 2008 my wife and I had to put our dog, Shadow to sleep. A week before he had eaten snail bait(extremely toxic) in our yard, placed there by our gardener, unbeknownst to us. He became very ill, at which point we rushed him to the emergency vet. hospital. They knew what it was immediately and treated him accordingly. He stayed over night and appeared to be fine. Unfortunately, the next week he became very ill and we rushed him aback to the vet. hospital, where he was for 4 days. All his organs began to fail, he lost the ability to make red blood cells. They gave him transfusions, gamma globulin and everything they could think of, to help him make it. It was to no avail. It was one of the hardest things in my life to do, to tell the vet. to end his life. My wife and I and our two daughters who are grown up and live in L.A, and have three dogs themselves, have been mourning ever since. My life feels so empty. A dear friend gave us Mark’s book and I just finished reading it. I cried over and over again.It had a profound effect on me in my healing process. I just want to thank Mark for his openness in sharing with us, a piece of his soul that all too often no one ever does. It was one of the few books I’ve ever read that actually touched a part of me so deeply. I’m very happy that he didn’t stop the book project. I’m buying two copies of the book and I’m sending them to my daughters. I know it will do the same for them as it did for me.

Ken from FL

Hi Mark
Just finished reading your book about Sprite, Pepsi and Griffen.

I lost my little dog Jenny last November 5th. I had to make a decision like you and felt the same as you once Jenny was gone.

I am still finding it very hard as she was my baby, my shadow, my very special friend. I too feel I need to write about her and probably will one day.

I was unfortunately surrounded by people who didn’t understand – she was just a dog. I have a business and on the same day as she died they had written a letter of small issues they wanted to bring up with us. I can still not forgive this – I got no card, nothing from them. A couple of days later a person’s father-in-law died and they went overboard for this. I got one little card which meant so much from dear friends in Florida – I still have it – it did so much for me, also a friend’s little daughter drew me a picture which was lovely.

I was annoyed and very upset that she died, but it made it worse that many people who knew how much she meant to me didn’t even try to understand. It still hurts deeply.

I still have Jenny’s brother, Benji, who was 15 last March 16th. He is nearly blind and deaf and has diabetes. He is a very special dog.

Thank you for writing about Sprite. I’m glad you were there for him. It bought a lot of emotions forward again for me and I had to put the book down in places as it is still so raw still with Jenny.

Best regards

Elizabeth from the U.K.

I just wanted to tell you that I read “Rescuing Sprite” and I actually could feel your pain. I’m such a dog lover myself and I’ve been where you were many times. It never gets easier. I always say, I’ll never have another because it tears my guts out. But life without a dog is not living. Only a dog lover knows this to be true.
Thank you so much for putting yourself through such pain to share this with us. God Bless you, your family and Pepsi.

Kathy from AZ