I lost my Sheltie, Strega to renal failure at age 15. I never thought I would get over her. Three weeks later, I was contacted by Sheltie Rescue about a year old Sheltie. My husband and I drove and hour and a half to her foster home to meet her. I was pretty numb but I adopted her. She had been abused and didn’t interact or play. She was very timid. I patiently walked her, hugged her and reassurred her this home would be different. She didn’t believe right away and one month later ran away.

I prayed someone would find her, and they did, 36 grueling hours later. After that, Gemma was a different dog. I believe she realized we would not hurt her. Gradually she learned to trust, and a playful happy personality emerged. I can celebrate the life of Strega and honor her by giving Gemma the life she deserves.

Karen from MI

My wife and I had a black lab named Lexi when she suggested getting another dog. I said “one dog is enough”. This sounds like a familiar story, but she convinced me to go to the animal shelter anyway. There was a female blond lab mix that caught our eye. When we entered the pen, my wife knelt down in front of the four month old puppy. The puppy then walked over and nuzzled her. We brought her home and named her “Sydney”. She bonded immediately with Lexi.

One day when Sydney was chasing Lexi in the backyard, Sydney went head on, full speed into a tree. When I picked up Sydney, I could see that she was out cold. When she started waking up in my arms I tried to comfort her as much as I could. From that point on Sydney favored me over my wife.

Later my employer gave the wife and I an opportunity to move to Australia. We painfully had to give Lexi and Sydney away. After 9/11 I lost my job and we moved back home. It’s a long story, but we were really lucky to get Sydney back.
Later my wife and I divorced. She got the house, she got a lot of $$$, but I got Sydney. You know something; I got the best of the deal.

Tom from IL

I was traveling home from my son’s home in Florida with Sophie, my 13 year old bassett hound..my traveling companion, we were considered “road warriors”…We traveled back and forth between the kids in Florida and my elderly folks in Baltimore…Anyway we were on our way back the island in September 2007 to be back in route to my dying Dad’s bed side…On the radio I was listening to talk radio where Mark was being interviewed by Sean Hannity about this book..I decided after arriving back home to get this book because I knew that I would be facing exactly the same life experience..

Several times on that ride home I had to pull over and finish crying and hugging Sophie to reassure her of my love for her..Needless to say the 5 hour drive took me almost 6 hours!! To my surprise upon my arrival home was THE BOOK sent by a dear friend,another dog lover ,who knew I’d love this story. I started the book before my journey home to my Dad’s bedside …Sophie by myside…we survived Dad’s passing away in mid-October… (more…)

I would have so much to say about the 4 wondeful dogs I’ve had in my life. The one we have right now is called Clifford (half German Shepard half Lab) and he is our baby. He has his name on the answering machine and I sign his name on every card we send… He’s 5 and I hope he still has many years with us.

Thank you so much for writing this book about Sprite and Pepsi. It made me cry a lot because a lot of what you wrote reminded me of things I went through with my dogs.

Hope Pepsi and Griffen are both doing ok. Give them a big hug for me.

Alexandra from Quebec

Dear Mark…

I’ve been following you since before 9/11 when I first became aware of the presence of Landmark Legal and other freedom fighters on the Internet, In fact, there’s a strong possibility I’m responsible for Hannity referring to you as “The Great One”, and we have a mutual friend in David Horowitz. So happens I just lost my little best friend last saturday. Here’s a little eulogy I wrote for her…

It is my sad task to report on the passing of my best little pal for the last 9 years, Skinny the Cat. Skinny was her official name because when we first met, I took her to the vet for a checkup, and when the vet asked me for her name, I said:”…I don’t know…she’s a skinny little cat, so how about Skinny?”. Skinny was ordinary as far as cats go, just a simple black and white shorthair female I first met around Christmas in 1999 when I bought my house in Seaside. There was this feral cat hanging around the yard that wouldn’t let me get too close. There’s lots of gophers around here and I’d see her running along the fence in the back with a gopher she’s nabbed for dinner, and all the while we were together she was always on the lookout for that fresh meat for lunch. The gophers around here will be telling tales of the legend of the great black and white gopher hunter for a long time to come.

When the weather turned cold and rainy that year, I would see her on the roof of the house behind me huddled up next to the heater vent for some warmth. At that time my wood frame garage had a lot of rot damage in one corner that needed repair and I would go into the garage and Skinny would be in there sitting on my old pair of work shoes, but would bolt through the hole in the garage when I came in. This went on for about 3 or 4 months when, finally, I got a can of cat food, dumped it on the concrete path going into my yard, and left. Skinny ran over and inhaled it. I did this every day for a couple of weeks, each time getting a little closer and talking to her so she’d get used to me. After that, I inticed her into the house, and we’ve been pals ever since. That’s when we first went to the vet, who told me the cat was only about 18 months old and had already been fixed. How she came to be on her own living on the gophers in my yard in such a short time I’ll never know. (more…)

I know that you have heard this before, but is there any wonder that Dog spelled backward is God?
Have you ever noticed that throughout history there are always dogs in photos, paintings, murals, no matter where in the world or where in history dogs are the constant. Next time you go to a museum, notice the amount of dogs there are, you will be surprised.

Mark from CA