I lost my precious Misty Louise a terrior mix from Cushings disease in 2005 age 17 1/2 then the following Dec had to put my beautiful black lab Halston down due to liver cancer only 9 yrs old–My heart was brken in two. A friend sent me a Last Will and testament of Halston, it did heal me somewhat in accepting His death-

Thank you

Lorna from CO

Dear Mr. Levin,
I usally don’t write to authors but, I just finished your book Rescuing Sprite and I feel that I need to contact you to tell you my story about my 11 year old golden retreiver Jake who died Dec.5,2007.

Between Nov.07 and Dec.5 07 Jake,s health started to go rapidly down. He would have his good days and bad days. The day before he died in my arms was a wonderful day for him and our 3 year old Bernese Mt. dog. They had eaten dinner that evening and then went outside and played hard he loved to run and play with Gracie and they did that for about an hour. It was like he new it was his last big run with her. By the time I got home that evening he was bloated and in some pain and was trying to vomit every half hour. I waited until morning to call the vet. My husband and I got Jake in the car, he had had a seiszure just before we picked him up to put him in the car. He worked hard trying to help him but,Jakes heart was to weak and he left me and Gracie and the rest of our family. I went through the terrmoil that I should have done more or should have gotten him to the vet earlier but, the vet told me that he was very weak and he did’nt think he could make it through surgery to find out what was wrong with him. He thought that his stomach had twisted. I felt so bad and kept telling my self that I hadn’t done all I could do for him. (more…)

Mr. Levin,

I have a boxer he is almost one. I have not been in a situation where a pet dies. He is my first dog. He truly is an angel. In your book every single word was right. I cannot explain it better myself. I admire you and your family going through tough times like that. You inspired a little 10 year old girl like me to save animals. While reading this book I cried like a baby thinking about my dog.

Love always,
Your #1 fan

Brieanne from NY

My husband, Kevin is a great fan of Mr. Levin and even though I have never listened to his show, I have read “Rescuing Sprite.” I want to thank Mr. Levin for sharing his story as it is everyone’s story who has ever loved a dog. I received as a gift from my husband for Christmas and I was only a few pages in before I had to get a tissue and that’s how I finished it, with tissues in hand and tears flowing. It brought back all of my feelings of loss over every dog that I have lost over the years to old age or illness but it touched me most greatly over the loss of our Beloved Tika as we lost her only 6 months before Mr. Levin lost Sprite on July 6, 2006. We only had our Tika with us for a little less than 5 years and her death was very sudden. She had gone out to do her usual morning business, chased a cat from the yard, stopped at the edge of the property proud of her accomplishment and then suddenly she fell to the ground. At first, I thought she had slipped in the mud and was worried that she had hurt her legs (this was always a worry because she had pins in her front leg from an attack by an adult dog when she was only 3 months old, she had been through a lot of medical procedures before we adopted her from rescue when she was 6 months old).

She tried to get up and looked over her shoulder at me as if to say “Mommy, help me” and then lay her head on the ground. By the time I got to her, she was gone. Her death was almost more than my husband and I could bear but we also knew that she was all about love. Despite all that she had been through in her first 6 months of life, you would never have known it about her because everyone, two legged or four legged that she met was her best friend. She was a Rottweiler/Shepherd mix and her size at 128 lbs was rather intimidating at first for some folks but once they saw her do her “Tika Dance” she would win them over. She would wiggle her tail end so hard that we would worry that she would knock herself over but she never did. Tika was an angel on earth and she would want us to share all of the love that we had for her with another needy dog so that’s what we did.

On August 12, 2006, we brought home her little brother from a rescue group (Janet’s Rescue and Placements), another Rottweiler/Shepherd mix who we named Marco. (more…)

Hi Mark – I was given Rescuing Sprite for Christmas after having to put to sleep my 14 year old schnauzer September 1 (named Sammy Davis Schnauzer). I cried throughout the entire reading and then was reminded by you that I did give him a good life, I did give him lots of attention and I did care for him when he got old as best I could. I have not yet taken the leap of getting another dog, although my 3 kids want one and remind me every day that goldfish really don’t count. Thank you for a beautifully written and heartfelt story. Have a wonderful 2008.

Elana from NV

I bought RESCUING SPRITE for my wife at Christmas. Great book. For you, please access a poem by another dog lover, Rudyard Kipling, “The Power of the Dog.” We love dogs & now have two. Lost many great friends in the past & I always read Kipling’s poem afterwards. It helps!

John from NV