Loved your book “Rescuing Sprite” Fell in love with the author too. First time I really fell in love with Rush was when he talked about “Pumpkin” and how worried he was about his kitty that was ill. You are two wonderful men. We have an almost 16 year old rescued dog Herbert T. Who we love as much as you love Spritie. He is as my husband says only part dog. His time is coming soon and we enjoy everyday we have with him and all the love he shows us.

We have a new sister for him now Coco that is a year old and just like Pepsi he welcomed her into the family. He loves her as much as we do and watches over her like an older brother. I have aways told my children and grandchildren that dogs are our most treasured animal gift that God has given us. He even named them his name backward to remind us of it. Just one small special thing about our wonderful Herbert T. He actually can speak the words of Moma, I want one, Yummy, yummy and I love you. I’d love to send you a recording and picture of him doing this if you are interested. Your new addition to the family, Griffen is a sweetheart. Thank you for writing the book. We are so blessed that you, Rush, Sean and Glenn enlighten us regarding the truth everyday.

Gary and Vicki from OH

We adopted our beloved Dog from pet haven when she was a year old.She was a German Sheperd and we named her Yoko which means good girl. She lived up to her name.On her birthdays I baked her a cake and took her picture as if she were one of the kids. She also recieved presants. She loved rides in the car, she would put her face out the window with her nose up to the breeze. Even if we spelled the word ride she knew what it meant and would run to the door.
I have so many meaningful stories about her but it would be pages and pages.
She was ten years old when she passed away on 11-11-07. She had her usual ailments for her breed but they were manageable.One morning she was fine when I left for work and when I came home she was dying.I miss her so much and even as i write this , tears are streaming down my face.
I bought the Rescuing Sprite for my husband for Christmas and he loved it.He sais only pet lovers understand.I read the book today and shed alot of tears.
Thank you Mark for sharing so much in your book.It takes a true pet person to share such feelings.
I wonder if I will ever beable to think about Yoko without crying.I miss her wet nose greeting me at the door when I get home from work.
Thanks again Mark for your wonderful book.
Sandi from MN

I just finishing reading your book “Rescuing Sprite” and I wanted to tell you what an incredible person you are. I too am a dog lover and can relate to how you felt when you had to put your loving companion to sleep. I had my NIke for 10 wonderful years. He was the most loyal and obedient dog. We lost him due to a tragic accident. My husband took him to the beach every week for exercise. He loved Nike as he was his best friend. This one day he let Nike out of the truck as he had done many times before. Nike used to run beside the truck until my husband would park it. But for some reason this day Nike ran at the truck and hit it full force. He was killed instantly. My husband was a wreck. He blamed himself over and over and couldn’t forgive himself. I told him it wasn’t his fault as I knew he loved that dog so much. I knew he would never get over it until he had another one to love.

I went out and surprised him with Molly, an overactive Beagle. It took some time for him to come around, but he loves Molly more than ever. At first I couldn’t even think of getting another dog because I never wanted to go through a loss again. But after some time, I realized I needed another animal to love and take care of. You notice I didn’t say another animal needed me as its us who needs them. We have added another dog to our family, Jack who is part Husky and part German Shepherd. There are so many animals out there that are treated horribly. Its nice to know that there are people like you and myself who give them a better life. No one can understand what we have been through unless they love animals like we do. Be proud that you are a caring, compassionate human being as not everyone is as special as you and your wife are…

Sincerely,

Jackie from MA

My “grandson” Jinx is a mixture of Dalmation and Australian Shepherd, adopted at North Shore Animal League on Long Island at age 10 weeks. Never had a dog in my life until age 56. I read Rescuing Sprite, all the while thinking how in God’s name can someone deal with something like this. Jinx iis now 6 yrs old and l would be lost without him. Whenever I pick up my keys, he assumes he’s coming with me (and he’s right). No matter what errand I’m running, if I can bring Jinx, he’s right there with me. I wear a uniform and while driving Jinx sits straight up in the front passenger seat like a king. I can’t tell you how many people have commented that I look like his chauffeur, uniform and all. I drop Jinx off at my brother’s house during the day while I go to work. My bro is retired and him and Jinx spend the day at the park or down at the beach. As soon as I get home with Jinx, he sits right in front of the stove and waits for me to cook dinner for us (while we listen to the Mark Levin Show). When he sees a baby carriage, he runs to it, sits down next to it, and licks the baby. He knows more people in the neighborhood than I do. I had triple bypass surgery in ’04 and my one worry was that he would jump up on me when I got home (he’s about 85-90 lbs now). When I got home, Jinx just licked my hand and whenever I rested during the day, he would lie on the bed next to me and lick my hand. Funny story, I went to Vegas last year and on calling home, my husband told me Jinx was like a lost soul. I told him to put me on speaker phone which he did and I talked to Jinx. When I called the second day, and asked to be put on speaker, my husband said “no way” because when I was on speaker the prior day, Jinx ran all through the house lookinig for me and when he couldn’t find me, he just moped around the house. (I haven’t left him again for more than a day).

Eileen from NY

I just finished your book and have told the family that it will be required reading material for our family. What a great book- it brought back some sad and happy memories about our dog, Maverick. He was a toy poodle (never groomed) that we grew up with. We had him from the time I was 4 until he died when I was 18. He was like a brother to us. For the last few years, he was blind, and eventually he got outside and was struck by a car. He still had the courage to walk up the driveway with his side badly hurt. As my twin brother and I drove him to the vet to have him put to sleep, I will never forget what happened. The song “Seasons in the Sun” started to play. With the lyrics- Goodbye to you, my trusted friend. We’ve known each other since we were nine or ten. Together we’ve climbed hills and trees…
He was a black poodle, and there is a line also of , You were the black sheep of the family….
I will never forget that day, and that day was 34 years ago. Really enjoyed your book and the reality of just what our dogs do for us.

Mike from IN

Our close friends sent us a copy of your book knowing we had recently lost our beloved dog, Lulu. Lulu, a beautiful Akita mix, was found by our son,almost 10yrs ago, shivering in the vestibule of his girlfriend’s apt. in midtown Manhattan. They cleaned her up, called us and proposed that we or our close friends might be interested in adopting her. We were skeptical because we had crazy Corky, a lab mix who didn’t get along with most other dogs. Reluctantly, we picked her up and brought her uptown to our friends’ brownstone. They had a yard,other dogs and were willing to take her.Needless to say, we bonded instantly and instead of leaving her with them we took a chance and brought her home to meet Corky. We’re sure she had made up her mind to adopt us by then and was determined to like this rambuctious doggie she heard us talking about.Despite some tense moments, Corky and Lulu became fast friends. She deferred to him in every way and in his old age became his eyes and ears alerting him to our comings and goings and making sure he was at the door first to greet us.
A few years after Corky’s death, Lulu developed serious health problems. She had to have her spleen removed and later tumors showed up around her nose and mouth area. We tried everything we could to help her medically and we know we prolonged her life by at least 2 years. Sadly, in February, we had to let her go.
Your book touched on many of the emotions that we felt both in good times and bad. We have another dog, Lucky, an Australian terrier given to us about a year ago by an acquaintance who found caring for a dog too much trouble. He’s a silly and playful two year old, and of course we love him a lot, but Lulu was special and we’ll always miss her.
Thanks for writing your book!
Cecille and Bob from NY