An earlier story told of our “Chiquita,” but failed to detail our previous dog, my sweet Spuds. Yep – she was named after the Budweiser dog due to her black and white fur. We had her since she was a pup. My oldest son, Carlos, was 7 years of age when we got her. God graced us with her presence for nearly 16 wonderful years. The day she died, we had discussed having her put down as her organs were starting to give out.

We didn’t have to make that decision. She lay on her usual spot outdoors in the sun and breathed her last. My guilt in all of this was that I wasn’t there when she died. My oldest son, who was then 23, had some buddies who had just gotten out of the Navy. I had taken him to join them in a “Rally for the Troops,” and got caught up in the fanfare of it all. When I returned home, Spuds was gone. We had this lovely creature cremated and my son buried her ashes under a rose bush in our front yard. My Husband told me that on the way to the Humane Society to arrange for her cremation, my son, Carlos, cried. Four years later, we adopted Chiquita, and life is good. Thanks for listening.

Dorothy from TX

On December 29, 2007, my family and i lost our 17 and a half year old dog named rambo. he was a schipperke,  and i miss him a lot. we for most of his life, he had lots of health issues. even though he did have lots of problems, he lived a very full life. he really liked to go on car rides. if he thought that their was even a chance that he’d be able to go with us somewhere, he’d try. when lugage went out the door, he noticed it. he also liked to be around where all the action of the house was, whereever it might be. he also liked to follow my mom around and be where she was at all times.

About 3 or 4 years ago, his helth began to go down to the point where he could bearly walk on his own. before went to have christmas with my family, he seemed to be fine. when we got back after christmas, he wasn’t doing well at all. he wasn’t walking on his own and wasn’t doing much of anything without help. fast forward to the 29th. we were thinking of having him put down if he lived through the night. we all went shopping and other things that night, and rambo came with us wrapped in blankets so he’d be warm in the car. he seemed to know he was in the car from what we could tell. after all the shopping ect, we came back home.

Not much happened til about 2:00 am, he’d been getting weaker and weaker as the night progressed. then at 2:30 am, he passed on. we were so relieved that we didn’t have to put him down. it was very hard to loose a dog that had been around most of my life. i’m 26. i will miss him, but i will always have good memories of him. i would like to read rescuing sprinte, but i’m visually impaired, and i’m not aware of an audio version of this book. are there plans to make one? i’m a braille reader as well. the only way i could read it is to have someone read the entire book to me. thanks for putting up this section of your site. to the admins. i have no photos of rambo on my computer. if i do get some one, i’ll put them up. feel free to edit this however you need to.

Matthew from MO

Hi Mark! I have a soft spot for animals and I dont know what happens but I seem to find all the strays and just cannot seem to let them go. It has been quite a rough couple years with our animals. I have 4 over 10 and it seems all the health problems have come to us.

In July 2005 our dog Shecky started to have mild seizures then gradually got worse. Then a couple months later my dog Scooby started to lose all his hair and his skin started to bleed. He had a low thyroid. So over the course of the last 2 years we have got them regulated on their meds.

Then this past summer Shecky (the one with epilepsy) got a chronic ear infection that took 6 month and over $400 to get rid of. Then a week and 1/2 later he developed a growth from out of nowhere in his ear that developed as a result from all the infection and needed $260 surgery to get rid of. Finally get the ear all better and my almost 11 year old cat George collapses yesterday and couldnt walk. Turns out diabetes finally caught up with his big 21-25 lb body. He is still in the e.r. vet today but hope to get him home by tomorrow. When it rains it pours but people keep saying to me why do you pay all that money to get them well and are amazed that I fixed my cat. What do you do just let them die for no good reason? I dont think we can ever get non animal lovers to understand. There is something special about animals and they are in our lives and on this earth for a reason. Maybe some of these people should get animals theirselves to see what true unconditional love is.

My husband is in the Navy(who is a big fan of yours) and we will be moving all 6 of our animals to Jax Fl in the next 3 weeks meds and all. We bought your book today and I am sure we will enjoy it. We are sorry for your loss of Sprite he was a beautiful dog.

Lori from VA

An Inconvenient Tour, when Andrew called. He was in hiding in Montana with friends and Wilson, and Wilson went into some kind of distress and they rushed him to the nearest vet. He was there with him and would call back when he knew more. Of course we went to the Beck show and I was mostly oblivious to what went on with Glen. Andrew called and Wilson had heat stroke. They were filling him with fluids and meds, but it didn’t look good. There was probably brain damage. They’d keep him overnight, but the prospect was grim. Andrew called me the next morning excitedly, “Dad, he’s improving. They’re letting us take him back to Idaho.” Just continue treatment with his vet there. Of course it’s the best news I could have possibly wanted to hear.

I’m just about a week away from flying out there. Now I need to digress, and boy, is this story long……. Andrew and I loved the book by Norman MacLean, A River Runs Though It. I finally had a son who liked to fish, and he’s much more passionate than I about fishing. Anyway, the last paragraph of MacLean’s book Andrew and I memorized. It’s a beautiful passage and we’d test each other on it. It’s actually a beautiful little prayer, (at least to me it is.) And I always told Andrew to say it to himself when life gets ruffled, especially with what’s gone on in his family in recent years. The book is about a father, his two boys and flyfishing the Big Black River in Montana. It’s a true story of MacLeans life. In the verse in part it speaks, “…..and memories and the sounds of the Big Black River, and a four-count rhythm in the hopes that a fish would rise.” (more…)

Missy, our party poodle, was the absolute ‘runt’ of the litter! But, oh what a glitter in her eyes. She held a special place in our hearts for 19 years.

She was but four years old, in 1966, when she sat for hours while this picture was painted – you can even see the tears in her eyes! She was nineteen when the Vet said he had done all he could do for her and that we need to come to the decission to put her to sleep. This was a very painful decission for both of us – for you see she was the child that we never had.

Although she has been gone for 27 years she remains with us in her favorate spot, in the flower garden, in our back yard.

Don from TX

Her name is Chiquita, and she’s been a part of my family for nearly a year. We adopted her from the Humane Society “on wheels” parked at the Wal-Mart a couple of miles up the road. The minute I walked into that trailer, I belonged to her. I asked my husband if we could adopt her. My naughty husband, Angel, who is NOT a shopper, said we’d discuss it while doing our shopping. What normally would be a 45-minute trip turned into a 2 1/2 hour walk-around-Wal-Mart. Of course, I knew his intention was to have someone else adopt the dog while we were inside the store. By some divine intervention, Chiquita was still there when we came out….and she’s brought so much joy to us all.

Dorothy from TX