Mark, I read your book, Rescuing Sprite, on Christmas Eve day. My heart broke for you and your family and the pain and guilt you have gone through. 8 years ago I had to end the love of my life’s pain and I am still not past the quilt. I wish I could go back and do more for her. Everyone tells me that it was time and she was ready, but when I look back I cannot see that. I can just feel my pain of losing her. I feel your pain. When a furchild dies from an accident or dies naturally it is a completely different set of emotions than when you are the one to decide to end their suffering.

In your book you talk about how special foster dog families are and I want to tell you that my family which consists of me, my husband, and our own 3 (rescued) furchildren are a foster family for Carver Scott Humane Society in MN. I thank you for the kind words you said of us. We love each of the furbabies that have stayed with us until their forever people came to claim them as much as our own much loved boys. To us they are all the same. But what I want to share with you is this; when you get to pick the home they go to and you know it is a better home and life than you give them, it is worth losing them. Yes, I do cry at every adoption, but it makes me cry more for all the dogs I cannot rescue. My husband and I take in the husky and husky mixes and furchildren with issues. (more…)

Dear Mr. Levin,

Thank you for writing you book about Sprite. I received the book for Christmas.
First of all it is ridiculous that anyone would think political conservatives do not love animals. My husband and I have cried for several days while reading your book.
Secondly, thanks for the attention this book gives to rescued animals. We are involved in two rescue groups, one group for Golden Retrievers and one group for any dog or cat that needs a home. Sprite looked a lot like a golden retriever. Besides the golden color, and soft fur he had that sweet face and ears that my Missy had.

We got involved in memory of a dear rescued Golden we lost to cancer five years ago.
We do fostering, home visits and intake. Fostering is difficult the foster parents get very attached but the goal is to train and prepare the dog for its forever home. We cry each time we place one of our foster dogs with a new home, but we know it is best for them. A home visit is when a member of our group visits the prospective new owner to see if they are worthy. This is done after a phone interview and a reference check with the people’s vet. Intake is when the member goes to check on a dog to see if we can take it into the program.

A foster failure is when the foster parent adopts the dog. We had two foster failures. They both died this year. Samson was an owner release because after ten years the owner’s had a child and the child was allergic to dogs. We were supposed to foster him just until he was treated for heart worms. Then he was expected to go to a group that deals with older hard to place dogs called ‘Old Gold’. We fell in love with him when we saw him dragging a young vet technician across the parking lot. He was big and fuzzy and loved to play and swim. We called him ”Baa” because he looked like a big red sheep. He died June 9, 2007. We did not have to play God, but we were not with him either. He died at our vet’s office from a tumor in his lungs we will always miss him. We had him with us for 28 months.

Missy was fourteen when we rescued her. She had been a drug and search dog for two years. Then she was given to an old lady that could not take care of her. She spent the next twelve years tied up in the basement sleeping in her own waste with only a filthy blanket to lie on. Occasionally she would be tied out in the back yard. (more…)

Mark,
Just cried through the last half of your book, Rescuing Sprite. What a wonderful tribute to you best friend. I have probably spent the last Christmas with my 14 year old Duchess so your book really touched me. As she stands here beside me as I type this I know I am not prepared in any way to let her go. I guess all of us who have loved and lost a dog are never really prepared for the sorrow after their passing. Glad you shared Sprite’s life with us.

Ann from PA

My Mom’s New Best Friend(s)

I live in Las Vegas, and my mother lives 2500 miles from me. A few years back, Mom lost her best friend, a golden retriever named, Bob. She did not put him down, but lay down by his side for a few days at home, until he passed away. I don’t think my mother ate or drank very much during this time, and she took Bob’s death extremely hard. We were worried about her, because she was extremely depressed over the loss, as you were. He really was her best friend. Some thought she was overreacting, but because I lost my son to Leukemia at age 11, I understand the depth of her grief, because that is exactly what she was experiencing. It takes time before the pain lessens, but it never completely leaves. My son died in 1991, and would be a grown man of 27 now, had he lived. I think of him every day, and do not enjoy the Thanksgiving and Christmas season too much.

After a bit of time had passed, she visited a shelter, and encountered Charlie, another golden retriever. Instantly, she knew that Charlie would be going home with her. Charlie was about two years old, and had spent much of his life alone, cooped up in a small apartment. As a result, he had some temperament issues, including anxiety, and he would go berserk whenever another dog was encountered during walks. My mother is a tiny woman, and Charlie is a big, excitable dog. For a long time, she would anticipate trouble, and go to the other side of the street, or head back in the opposite direction whenever she saw another dog.

My mother lives in a small house in Harvey Cedars, NJ, on the seashore, year-round. So Charlie enjoys twice-daily walks, even on the beach (during the off-season). With her love and patience, Charlie has become a calmer, more sociable dog. He has even made other canine friends. With Charlie around, I don’t worry as much about my mom as I once did.

Another reason I don’t have to worry so much about Mom is her friend, Wendy Mae Chambers. I know that my own name is Wendy, and I don’t want to confuse things. I will refer to Mom’s friend as “Wendy Mae.”

Wendy Mae is an extremely talented musician, and both composes and performs music for TOY PIANO. Apparently, Wendy Mae also has another talent: painting.

Each Christmas, Wendy Mae paints a portrait from a photograph, in the form of an “icon” complete with halo, and has it printed on her annual Christmas Card!

This Christmas, the icons are none other than Mom and Charley! Wendy Mae was kind enough to e-mail me the images I’ve attached: the photo of Mom and Charley, and a photo of her yearly Christmas painting. Mom and Charley look nice with their halos, don’t you think?

Wendy Mae does more for Mom than she realizes. She is much younger; young enough to be her daughter. All summer they swam in the ocean every day together. They traipse around to art museums, Broadway shows, and the like.

I feel so happy that Mom is not just sitting home after she retired, and is enjoying life, thanks to Charley and Wendy Mae.

Wendy from NV

I am reading “Rescuing Sprite” and I can’t control my emotions. I have had dogs all my life. We now have two cockers and we put our Molly down after 17 1/2 years Sept 8th. My husband built a casket for her, chalked and painted it and she is in our back yard under a bird feeder. She had one eye, the other one wasn’t good either, an enlarged heart and arthritis. But oh what a dog. She traveled with us to Florida about 15 times, to Cape Cod, Colorado, and everywhere else we went she went.

We rescued our Alfie from Ilcockerrescue . He had been walking the streets of Chicago and was put in a kill facility near the Ind. state line. Thank goodness they called ilcockerrescue. We have had him about 4 1/2 yrs now and he is about 9. Then my son-in-law sent a picture of a buff cocker 1 11/2 years ago and said that the lady was taking her to the Indianapolis Humane Society. Well, I have seen pictures of empty cages there, they don’t give the dogs a chance especially one that was “turned in”. Well we have our lovely and energetic Trena and she is a joy. Totally different from Alfie but man do we love our dogs. In the 1970’s I went to our local shelter and they told me that this German Shepard was going to be put down the next day. Well, I brought her home and we had her for about four years. She had a terrible skin problem that caused her to itch constantely. No vet could figure out what it was. After taking to have her put down 4 times the fourth time I finally did. I regret it to this day and that was so many years ago. I feel that if I had known about feeding my dogs a raw, homemade diet I may have been able to cure her of this skin problem.

But what did we know about feeding dogs at that time. nothing… just feed them dog food. I now am an advocate for a BARF diet which is Bones and Raw food. I urge you to go to ilcockerrescue.org and check on the BARF diet. I have always felt awful that my previous dogs ate the same old thing day after day. Now I feed them REAL food. They love their squash, inc. the skin, raw chicken, etc. All the information is in the cocker website. I also keep some healthy dog food on hand with no byproducts in them. I am so sorry for your loss and of having Sprite for such a short time. I am sharing your grief as I sit here at my computer in tears and all choked up. I will be finishing your book today and am anxious to learn about Griffen. A fellow dog lover….

Rita from WI

Mark, thank you so much for your book,”Rescuing Sprite”.My wife and I are members of Foothills Golden Retriever Rescue in Greenville,S.C. and have been blessed having owned rescued goldens.2007 has been a hard year for us.In June , Samson 14 1/2 years old died and on 12/24/07 Missy 16 years old was put to sleep.I had picked out your book for a Christmas present for my wife not knowing Missy would die Christmas Eve.

Samson came to us when he was 10 years old,he was an owner release and was one gentle soul.Missy had been tied in a basement for 12 years and came to us when she was 14.Missy was a pleasure and a very unique dog.In the picture Missy (with garland around her neck) is in front of the sleigh and Samson wearig a cap is sitting in the sleigh.
Yes we have had the joy of their companionship and we now feel the anguish of their loss.

David from NC