In October after several years of asking my wife to get me a basset hound got me one from a friends neighbor. She was badly mistreated, with a flea infestation, mange, bad diet. We fell in love with her instantly. As soon as we got her we took her to the vet to have her checked out. He gave us medication for the fleas, mange, gave her a rabies shot and tested her for heart worms. She had them and we bagan treatment right away.

Over the last 3 months we have done everything that we could for her, we got rid of her fleas, and her hair had all come back nicely. She was always well loved and gave love to everyone in my family. On Jan 3 2008 she lost her fight with heart worms. I had heard Mark talk about Sprite on the radio, and I knew some of what he was going through, but I was sure that my “Lady” would pull through. I didn’t know that I could fell such loss as I am feeling over her.

I have not read Mark’s book yet, but plan to now. After listening to him talk about “Sprite” I know he will have a good insite. I am mad at the person who mistreated her, but I know that she was happy and well loved for the time she spent with us.

Matthew from TX

Dear Mark; Our 155 lb(not fat) Rottweiler, Sargent Schultz, left us the day after Christmas to join his buddies in heaven. My Daughter saw how much I was hurting. She bought your book for me and ordered another by Eugene O’neill regarding the death of a beloved dog. I can’t explain the emptiness I feel.We live along the Atlantic Ocean.An inlet comes off the oceanwhere there is an island that the County Of Monmouth has desiginated part of as a dog park area.Everyday, we walkedthrough the parking area,through the woods, until we got to the beach alond the inlet.Schultz loved this excursion!!!Rain, snow or shine he always got his two mile walk each day to the water. We never minded taking him as we were a family and loved each other very much. About a week before he died he started to walk slowly and dragged his rear feet.

We immediately took him to our localk regular vet. He had xrays, bloodwork, etc, A substitute vet attended to him as our regular vet was vacationing in Hawaii. After two sessions she recommended we take him to Red Bank Veternary hospital as she was stymied as to his problem.Red Bank is state of the art. I don’t think a finer medical institution for pets exists in the country. Just the admission section has 25 admission rooms. The attached hospital is like a University medical center.When i saw this complex I thought Schultz is at the best place possible.I felt we were in good hands. The big guy was so big and so good.!He let the vet examine him without any fuss. They then took him inside and after three hours plus she returned and called us back into the examining room. her message was grim,Schultz had a large tumor attached to his spleen.She said they needed to operate immediately however the prognosis was bleak. Even if he survived the surgery, we might “add another month or two to his life”. (more…)

My baby Maxie had diabeties, went blind, had horrible allergies similar to Sprite rubbing his face on a sofa,she was my everything. She has been gone since July 26th. 2007 upon reading your book you have given me such a relief from my grief, my husband was like your Kendall, I was more like you in my sorrow. I have so much love for my Maxie she was an awesome yellow lab she was 10.

Angie from MD

Mark, I want to thank you for your book! I wrote to you right after reading it, but didn’t send my letter in. My husband & I are avid fans of your show, so I decided after listening to some of your callers that I would submit my letter. We lost our beloved 14 year old Ian right before you lost Sprite. It was not a very Happy Thanksgiving 2006.Our son Bryan, brought Ian home as a puppy when he was working as a Water Instructor at a summer camp. We already had 2 dogs, Tiffany & Crescent, who were springer spaniel mixes.

They were litter mates, and Tiffany became Crescent’s seeing eye dog, when Crescent went blind at 7 years old. They accepted the new member of the family timidly, because Ian seemed to be growing daily! She was a shepherd husky beagle mix. Ian was our son’s dog, but when he graduated he started moving around, so mom & dad became Ian’s adoptive parents. Our son died suddenly in 1997, so Ian became our last physical link to our son. We dreaded the day we would lose her, because it would be like losing our son all over again. In the mean time, we dealt with losing Tiffany and Crescent, right before and right after our son died. Ian became more precious to us. We moved from the Midwest to the East Coast in 2003 to be closer to family.

Ian was doing fine until the last year of her life. She slowed down quite a bit due to hip problems, but her smile was still strong. We added a lab puppy to our family, so Ian took up mothering. Hemingway kept her on her toes, but knew when he was going over the line. He seemed to realize when she was tired or in pain. Animals are so smart. By Thanksgiving, Ian was in too much pain to ignore. She loved walks, but because of her arthritic hip, we didn’t keep her on a leash. She would walk along side of Hemingway and if it was too much for her, she would turn around and head home.

Unfortunately, she must have been disoriented and never made it home. We looked for hours. A neighbor found her 2 days later in a ditch. We rushed her to the hospital. The doctors took such good care of her, but she was just so tired and in pain. She looked at us smiled and gave us kisses. We felt it was her way of saying I love you, but I need my rest now. Hemingway was a little lost for a long time without Ian. We all grieved together.

Thank you Mark for letting me share my story. Thank you for sharing your expertise and knowledge of the Constitution and Politics, but especially for sharing your compassion and love of dogs.

Donna, Lloyd and Hemingway Eadie from MD

Dear Mr. Levin,
Knowing that I am a dog lover, my daughter-in-law gave me “Rescuing Sprite” for Christmas.
I have never read such an honest, intimate story of the bond between a person with his dogs, especially Sprite. If ever someone looks at me as if I am crazy when I talk about the bond I feel with my current furry friend, Solo, I know there is a person who understands.

Years ago, my parents bought me a collie pup for my 21st, birthday. She(Shaun) was everything I ever wanted.
When I married, we lived in an apartment in Md. and no pets were allowed. My Shaun stayed in the home I grew up in,with my parents, in Pa.

There was a wonderful week that we sneaked her into the apartment. A full-grown collie is not easy to hide,but she was a wonderful animal that never barked. We knew she could bark, just chose not to do so. We had a happy week together and no one who saw her reported us.

I had always hoped to take her with us when we bought a house, so you can imagine the agony I felt the last time I saw her. She could not stand up. Shaun crawled to me. I couldn’t stand to see what was happening to her. All of us knew it was time to let go This was almost 50 years ago and I have tears in my eyes as I write this to you.

Thank you for writing your book. I loved it. It is what I call a “keeper” I was touched deeply.
Sincerely,

Mollie from MD

P.S. May Pepsi and Griffen live many, many years.

Hi Mark,
I posted a couple months ago about how great dogs are and how amazing it is that we fall in love with them so quickly.

Well, I got your book for Christmas but haven’t sat down to read it yet. Not sure when that will happen. I found out today one of my German Shepherds has Leukemia and only has a couple weeks. She was “my” first dog and our baby. We are obviously heartbroken and dreading that we will have to make the same awful choice of ‘when’ that you had to make for Sprite.

I’m sure when I am ready ‘Rescuing Sprite’ will be therapeutic.

Thanks for such a great forum and for all you do for pet lovers AND Conservatives!

God Bless.
The Hunter Family and Schnaps and Bailey from VA