As I came up my driveway one day I noticed a little kitten in my backyard. I crawled over to her on my stomach and eventually caught her. She was shy but wanted to trust me. I eventually calmed her down, fed her, and petted her for a while. Her bones at the time felt like they were ready to break.

She was almost starved to death when I found her. After 3 days of good feeding she was healthy and energetic.

Now, 3 years later, Mandy has had three litters for a total of nine kittens, and 12 grandkittens. (we haven’t kept them all. We found good homes for them)

She’s content and enjoys life as the queen of our house. She loves us and is the best cat ever!

Daniel from MI

Mark, My wife and I are dog lovers. We’d rather spend the day with our babies than anyother thing on earth. We call them our babies. So, we now have two babies. An eight year old Shih Tzu named Tootsie. A six year old Schnauzer mix named Fuzzie. Both rescues that we adopted from The Ark. A no-kill shelter in Huntsville AL. Your in-laws might have heard of it. We lost a baby two years ago. A small Terrier mix named Peppi. The pain and anguish we felt for this lost was explained well in “Rescuing Sprite.” A great book. The worse pain I’ve ever felt in my life. We also took in a Shih Tzu that someone threw away last Oct. Found him on the side of the road. Named him Buddie. Found out he had heart worms after his first visit to the vet. Buddie was treated for the heart worms. The treatment was success. But he had to much damage to his heart. Buddie passed away om 12-22-2007 at 6:30 AM. During the same time I was reading “Rescuing Sprite”. Your book hurt but helped during this tough time again. So I’ll say thank you Mark and Sprite. May God bless your babies and all the other babies that have gone on. And may God look over the babies we are blessed to have now.
Sincerely,
Johnny, Dianne, Tootsie & Fuzzie from AL

Thanks for sharing the story of “your” Sprite. I had a Sprite too,he was a black Belgian shepherd that lived next door. I called him Spritey the Wonder Dog or Gentleman Dog. He will be gone 2 years this St. Pat’s day. He was the dog of my heart, though I didn’t own him and I miss him still.

Donna from MT

I have always been a huge fan of dogs with their unconditional love and loyalty, often it seems despite whatever they have been through. I recently bought home a dog from the kennel in which I work when the owners didnt want to keep her anymore. (A boarding kennel, not a rescue I might add)
Clarissa was petrified, reticent, skin and bone, didnt know how to play with toys or my other 3 dogs, it really tugged at my heart strings. Three weeks later she is just beginning to relax, enjoy walks, and allows my others to sit ‘fairly’ close by.
Last night a visit to the vet gave me some heart breaking news. She had a lung and abdomen full of fluid, most likely cancer or heart failure. She is 4 years old. At this stage I have no idea how I will make the right decision re her future. It just seems so ironic that she may not be able to enjoy her new found happiness for very long.
PS. I am a slow reader but read Rescuing Sprite in almost one hit. Thankyou.

Nicky from SC

Mark, I have just finished reading your book about your beloved Sprite. It is heartbreaking and triumphant at the same time. I. too am currently wrestling with the life changing decision of when is the “right” time to end the life of a beloved friend. Her name is Mia and she was a shelter dog–just like Sprite. She was adopted by my parents while they were on a vacation to the Ozark Mountains. At the time of her adoption, we were told that her age was probably about two years. So that would make her now about 14 or15 years old. Her muzzle is gray and the hair on her ears is tinged with gray. Her vision and hearing are not good and she has arthritis iin her hips and legs. Some (most) days,I have to help her get up and have to direct her outside to do her business. She is –technically–my parents dog–but in her heart–and mine–I believe she has always considered herself an extension of me. I live about 30 miles from my parents and am their caregiver and that also includes helping with the pets that are as much a part of the family as the human members. Mia has always loved babies and as she never–as far as we know–had any of her own– every human baby she has ever seen has been hers. She nuzzles and licks and when they cry, she will immediately go to an adult to seek assistance. She has protected my daughter on many occasions from what she has perceived as a threat and , at one time, almost had a fight with an Airedale that she thought got too close to the stroller in which her human baby was riding. There are too many memories and not enough room to write them all. (more…)

I just finished reading Rescuing Sprite and it touched my heart in many ways. Several years ago I began volunteer work with dog rescues and even helped begin a Golden Retriever rescue in northern Ohio (Golden Treasures Golden Retriever Rescue, Inc.). When my husband was transferred out of Ohio, I could no longer do the work of pulling dogs out of kill shelters, transporting dogs to medical facilities, screening applicants, and most importantly, fostering dogs until new homes were identified. While we are now living in Germany, we are Americans who brought our four Golden Retrievers, two of them rescues, across the sea with us. As with Sprite, we lost our oldest rescue Rosie after a couple of years; she died New Year’s evening suddenly and quite unexpectedly. We were all in the room with Rosie as she startled awake from a nap, went into an agonizing stretch for a few seconds and then was gone before we could ever reach her. Though initially I felt robbed of this gentle, sweet life, it soon became apparent how much God was with us that evening. She might have died an hour earlier while we were away at dinner, making us feel guilty forever that we were not with her. Or her health may have declined to the point where we had to make that decision to euthanize her. God spared us and now has her with him. Someone once told me that dogs don’t go to heaven because they don’t have souls. I couldn’t disagree more – heaven would not be complete without our dogs. Thanks, Mark, for writing a book that describes so well the bond between people and dogs. I hope your book inspires many more people to adopt rescue dogs. It’s families like yours that rescue groups always look for in placing these special friends. We’ll be returning to the U.S. at some point and I’ll pick up rescue work again. Though the work is emotionally draining at times, the need is too great not to help dogs find love returned in exchange for their devotion.

Kathy from Germany