Hi Mark. I haven’t had a chance to read your book yet but enjoy listening to you talk about it on your Podcasts. I want to tell you about our Bear. He was part Black Lab and part Newfoundland. My wife got Bear at a shelter when she was 14. As she walked into the kennel all of the dogs were jumping and crying to get out but their was one dog sitting there silent and that was Bear. My wife said ‘that’s the one’. Bear lived a long life for a dog his size. 15 years.

I came home from work one day and my wife told me Bear didn’t come downstairs today. We knew he was slowing down in his old age but this concerned us. I carried him down so he could be with the family and while we were eating he got sick. My wife and I looked at each other not wanting to alarm the kids and knew we had to take him to be seen immediately. I carried Bear out to my wife’s car and she brought him to an emergency vet up in Manchester, NH. They took X-Ray’s and they knew right away that it wasn’t good. Bear was riddled with tumors. This poor dog must have been in so much pain and yet we never heard a whimper out of him. Bear couldn’t stand or walk but when I entered the room he was at the vets he wagged his tail just as he did everyday. My wife and I sat with him as the doctor did what had to be done. It was my wife’s first experience with death and the first time I had to make a decision like that.

We miss Bear everyday and dig out pictures of him often as well as having a framed picture of him in the living room with the inscription “If tears could build a stairway, and memories a lane, I’d climb up to heaven and bring you back again. ” We now have a Golden from a pet store and a Plott Hound from a shelter. Thank you Mark for this page!!!!!

Tim from NH

Our first Dachshund Fritz 6.5 yrs had back problems which although treated well with prednisone, had bad side effects, leading to his being put down (found out later that a 2nd drug was needed to preclude coliis). So a month later got a rescue dog Kirby, part Dachshund, part terrier, to resolve the hole in our lives. He’s very good at consuming our attention, a very popular dog in the neighborhood, our close companion….

Peter from MN

So several years ago, my ex-wife’s uncle had this Pomeranian dog that was older and sicker and needed a new home.

Judy is a Registered Veterinary Technician, Purdue University graduate, and he asked her if he would take Molly.

We were a CAT family….what use would we have for a dog ?

Molly, as old as she was, learned the ways of the cat world….peeing in the litter boxes, and even very late in life, could just throw herself off the edge of the bed without breaking anything ! (bones, etc !)

So this last Monday before Thanksgiving, it was time to send Molly to go be with her uncle and all the other cats and dogs she had known in her life…..and one of the cats, Brown Swiss just loved the heck out of this little dog.

On Sunday night, Brown Swiss bathed the dog and cleaned her all up.

On Wednesday, after being sick and at the vet on Tuesday and all night Tuesday night with Judy at the emergency clinic where she works, Brown Swiss came home and died on Wednesday afternoon. There was absolutely NO medical reason found for Brown Swiss to be dead ! NONE !

As we both sat there crying and pondering “What killed Brown Swiss ?” the answer was right there….he died of a broken heart !

God bless them both !

Eugene from IN

I read “Rescuing Sprite” a few weeks ago, and it was one of the most touching books I have ever read. I consider myself a pretty tough guy, but I cried like a baby when I read it. Fortunately, I had my three “kids” with me to console me and give me that look of love and concern.

What made the book harder for me to read is that all three of my dogs are approaching the ten year mark, and I know it is only a matter of time before I will be faced with the same pain that so many others have gone through.

To Mark: Thanks for writing “Rescuing Sprite” and sharing your personal story with all of us. They say the Lord works in mysterious ways, and Sprite has managed to touch many more people than you and the Levin family. In a way, Sprite has become America’s dog. I miss him, and I never even met him – in person.

Enjoy the pic of our three “kids” one of whom looks an awful lot like Pepsi I must say.

Rob from FL

I don’t remember how I found out about your book, but HAD to order it, simply because my wife and I were in the first stages of getting over having Jenny, our adopted toy poodle put to sleep. I really can’t quite put to words all the emotions your book brought out as I read Sprite’s story. We had adopted her about two years ago after our FIRST poodle, a miniature(Shadow) got away from us before dawn one December morning out in the woods behind our house and by the time he was found was too frozen to survive. He was 12 years old and had had seizures for a number of years, so there were similarities with Sprite in having dealt with medical issues over time.

Six months later the lady who had been grooming Shadow asked us if we’d consider taking HER poodle (a previous champion show dog), because she was no longer able to take care of her, due to her own health issues. We took her home that same night and our son “re-named” her Jenny. Anyway, we soon found out that Jenny had serious health issues, too (multiple missing teeth, more teeth needing to go) and months later developed an infected uterus (she had never been neutered!), so after several surgeries and hospital visits she settled down until this past summer. She began to have seizures, and falls, losing the function in her right hind leg, so after a faily long decline, the decision was made. (more…)

Dear Mr. Levin:

Thanks so much for writing the book, “Rescuing Sprite.” It really touched me deeply and helped me better deal with the loss of our “rescued” Jake. I finished the “Rescuing Sprite” book the other night. It’s such a Great story. There isn’t one of the emotions you described that I haven’t felt. It made me feel somewhat better to know that there are so many others who have gone through the same thing and who experience the same feelings. Maybe there is hope for our world after all. I don’t know if I could ever write a book, but I’m pretty good at articles, essays and poems.

I’ll send separately what I wrote to my brother on Nov. 16, the day we had to put Jake down, and there are 2 poems I wrote when we lost our pets. I think you might enjoy them.

The first one, “And Now We Cry for Our Little Guy” is about our Jake that we just lost. As you well know, the poem barely touches the tip of the iceberg of his personality. He died of Hermangiosarcoma, a sudden, aggressive, fast growing cancer that is untreatable. The Vet said, “those tough dogs just don’t tell you when they hurt until it’s too late.” (more…)