Mark,
It is New Year’s Eve 2007 and we in NH had yet another big snowstorm which inhibited most activity other than hanging around the house and of course constant shoveling. Over the last month I had purchased about a 1/2 dozen copies of your book, Rescuing Sprite, for loved ones who would really appreciate your story. One of the books I bought was autographed by you which I chose to give myself (from Santa). Today I decided to read it cover to cover, with a box of tissues nearby.

In my life I can’t remember reading a book cover to cover and enjoying any as much as this one. I felt as if you were sharing your story with me alone. I also felt like I knew Sprite and Pepsi and the rest of your family as part of my own.
I must confess that I was never a “dog person” growing up until I married my husband Sean. I guess you can say it was in the “marriage contract” to live with a dog for the rest of my adult life. It’s not that I didn’t like dogs. It was just that we never grew up with dogs. My (late) mom was fiercely frightened of dogs. She had had a horrific experience as a child having been chased by a stray dog in Manhattan where she grew up. So it was an unwritten rule never to have a dog. Then when my younger sister was literally born with a million allergies, including to dogs, this fate was sealed.

So when I met my husband, he did have a Black Lab named Mogul (a shelter dog that had been abused). Suffice to say, other than during the “honeymoon stage” of our dating, Mogul never liked me. He barked incessantly at me and chewed my shoes, socks, you name it. (more…)

Today we lost our beloved dog Chisum to cancer. The hardest decision I’ve ever had to make. He was suffering and I wanted to be selfish and just hang on, but I knew it was wrong. So my husband and I drove to the vet dreading the moment. I held Chisum in my arms and he went to sleep. He was only 8. That’s not long enough. I’m heartbroken and I can’t stop seeing his beautiful face everywhere I look. I know he’s in a better place with no pain. I’ll miss him forever.

Nancy from CO

I just finished your book about Sprite. Very moving,this past November 10, I had to put down my best friend of 15 years and 10 months, my yellow Lab, Hercules. I miss him every day. It helps to know that other people go thru the same thing.

David from NJ

I have a Bichon Frise named Toby and he is 15 years old and he is very special to my wife and I.
She had a co-worker that had the puppies and my wife wanted one so bad but we lived in a condo at the time and thought it would not be a good place for a dog. Her parents had always had dogs and they had lost their Maxie that was a Dachshound about a year before and she had her friend take a pup over to their house knowing they would fall in love with it. They did.

Her dad had a bad leg and that didn’t keep him from walking Toby 2 times a day. He loved that dog but he passed away 8 years ago and her mom could not take care of him so we took him and now it has been 5 years since she has passed. So Toby has special meaning to the both of us. He is my first dog and I always wanted one but I had bad asthma when young and could not have one. Toby does not hear much these days but we are still able to communicate with signals and looks and he still gets excited when it is time for his walks and runs around and barks very loud like a 50# dog not the 20 pounder that he is.

Mark from CA

I’ve always had dogs. In childhood, when I had Lukey, a coon hound mix who finally had to go to the “farm” because he kept biting people. Lukey reappeared the next Christmas Eve just as we returned home from Mass. He just stood and looked at me and then ran back into the night. I was only 5 but will never forget it.

Next Daisy, the crazy, wild, wire-haired Fox Terrier who was purchased from the Sears catalog and who arrived by train. But my first dog bought as an adult was Keeta, a purebred Alaskan Malamute. My life was in turmoil. I had gotten a divorce and my new husband to be and I were packing up and moving to Northern Wisconsin with my 2 young children to open a bar and restaurant. It was going to be crazy, and keeta only added to the excitement. She was “skunked” twice, quilled by a porcupine three times, ate chipmunk poison, was hit by a car, and caught in a fox trap. But everyone loved her and she was the guardian of the plethora of strays that we took in over the years and found loving homes for. She lived to be 12 and we kept her alive far longer than we should have, suffering as she was with Cushings Disease.

It was five years before my husband could bring himself to accept another pet. Trip after trip to our local animal shelter were in vain until finally he was beguiled by a fur ball of a husky crosss that we named “Bear”. Bear will soon be 11. Bear was followed 2 years later by “Thumper”, another purebred Malamute. The shelter director had called. Steph, I have something I want you to see. We went out and it was Thumper. My husband didn’t hesitate. How soon can we have him? He had been abused. He had a gash on his leg, and was healing from an imbeded collar. He was littered with buckshot. But we never, ever, heard him growl. (more…)

Dear Mark:
My husband and I have always loved your political commentary and your style of tellling it like it is but I have to tell you that your new book, Rescuing Sprite, was a Godsend to us. We have an 11 year old Maltese, Beemer, who is in failing health. She is totally blind, diabetic and requires daily injections as well as congestive heart failure which is being treated sucessfully with oral meds. Other than that, she is still the happy little girls she has always been and our vet assures us she has good years left with us. We began to research a site on the internet “PetFinder.com” in October and found an adorable 5 lb. purebred Maltese who had been bred for years and then apparently turned out into the streets of Dallas, Tx, (while in heat ) to fin for herself when she would no longer breed successfully. (This poor little girl has numerous c-sections scars and discolored and mishapen nipples due to over suckling by too many puppies.) I immediately inquired to the rescue group who had intervened after she had been picked up by aminal control and left at a high kill shelter. She was in pretty bad condition, covered in fleas and having scratched and bitten all the hair from the lower 1/2 of her body. Somehow she managed to survive and was taken to a wonderful resuce facility where she was spayed, had her teeth cleaned and was lovingly fostered for 6 weeks. We had only a small picture of her but were not deterred by her past history, her advancing age (we were told she was at least 10 years old) or her cataracts which we plan to have treated after the first of the year.

She was flown to Birmingham on a plane and when she arrived we knew immediately that she would be a great and loyal addition to our family. I would NEVER buy another dog from a breeder understanding the inhumane treatment a majority of these poor animals endure. This little angel we named Bridget has become an integral part of our family. She barks only when Beemer manages to get “lost” and off track due to her blindness. (more…)