Echo is a rescued Border Collie who came to live with me in September of 2010.  He was not quite 8 months old and had already had two previous homes.  He was extremely malnourished, weighing only 27 pounds, and was crawling with fleas.  To make matters worse, he had obviously suffered abuse and was very fearful of everything.

When I got Echo he did not know how to play with toys or what should be done with rawhide.  As he gradually gained strength with good food and exercise it was rather easy to teach him to play.  If you know Border Collies, this is at times a regrettable decision on my part.  When BCs are not working they would just as well stay busy playing, whether or not that suits your schedule!

Today, Echo is a very healthy and active 45 pound package of energy and entertainment.  His three main peeves (so far) are bonfires, fireworks and pileated woodpeckers.  These will set him into a frenzy like nothing else.  Not out of fear; just some irrational quirk.  BC owners know about these things. The only thing he is somewhat fearful of is strangers, particularly men, but I think that is due to the previous abuse he suffered.

— Karyn from Cedar, MI

I adopted Laverne (black) and Shirley (blonde) 4 years ago after her owner had died. They are large Labradoodles.
They are truly the best companions and are so loving and just darn good animals.
I recently moved back in with my ex-husband of 22 years. (a long 22 year journey) and he has two little Jack Russel Terriers.  Everyone gets along fine and seeing the little ones playing with the big ones is very funny. I am up at 3:30 AM and take my big girls for their AM walk.  Everyone gets fed at 5:00 AM and 5:30 PM.
I get greeted quite wonderfully after being at work all day. My ex is retired so he is home all day with the girls. He is so outnumbered now with 5 girls in the house.

— Gerri from Emmaus, PA

Mark, I rescued a female chihuahua and named her Holly Joy.  First thing I did was take her to the vet to be checked out.  She was eight years old born Nov. 2, 1999, the day before my birthday of Nov. 3.  The vet found out she had an enlarged heart which was pressing on her esophagus and also had congestive heart failure.  She had to take a diurretic and heart medication to keep her heart from enlarging any further.  She was very shy at first having lived in a concrete kennel for 8 years.  She and I soon became very close and she growled at anyone who came near me, however, having been bred so much she had lost all of her teeth and could not bite anyone.  Once my niece got close to me and Holly Joy grabbed her by the pants legs and tried to pull her away.  It was so funny.  She slept in a tiny bed placed between our pillows on the bed and always wanted to be covered by a blanket.  I always put dresses and sweaters on her and she walked around like she was a queen and in my heart and eyes she was a beautiful queen.  She always laid next to me on the loveseat and loved to held and kissed.  I never loved a dog as much as I grew to love her.  She created a space in my heart that can never be replaced.  Holly Joy went down quickly a couple of months ago.  She lost her sight and hearing, her legs were so weak she could not stand very long.  We had to feed her on a towel as she could no longer get her food out of her bowl. I was determined not to euthanize her as I had convinced myself it was like lethal injection for criminals.  However, last Saturday Feb. 4, 2012, I could not stand seeing her so weak and sick.  She walked in circles and then would stop and just put the top of her head on the floor as if she just didn’t know what to do.  I started crying and told my husband it was time to let her go.  He called the Burleson Animal ER here in Texas and they told us to come in 30 minutes.  I wrapped her in a blanket and held her and kissed her, telling her how  much I loved her and always would.  When we got to the ER they took us into a private room to spend some last time with her.  The doctor came in and told us what they would do and let them know when we were ready.  We didn’t take a long time as I was almost crying hysterically.  They came and got her so they could sedate her and put an IV in her little tiny legs and then brought her back to us.  I wrapped her in her blanket and put my head on hers talking to her even though she was deaf, while the vet began giving her the medicines to stop her heart.  It only took a minute or so and she was gone.  The vet then said we could hold her and when we were ready to leave they woud come get her.  She was so peaceful looking but I was torn up inside.  We let them take her to have her cremated and have her ashes give back to us.  We are now waiting for the vet to call and tell us her ashes are there to be picked up.  My heart is still broken and I hesitated to read your book, but I needed to know other people go through this heartbreak too.  I just finished reading your book Rescuing Sprite.  I know exactly how broken your heart was and I am so glad you adopted another pet to be loved and cared for like no one else could do. However, unlike you, I had to get another dog right away to ease my pain.  We now have a 1-1/2 year old female chihuahua named Foxie and she has already accepted us, but mostly she only wants me, just like Holly Joy did.  I already love her so much and she is slowly getting over her shyness.  I read some of the negative feedback some people wrote and I feel sorry for them that will never know the love we have known.   That unconditional love is the way we should all love, but some of choose not to.  God’s love is unconditional and I like to say God spelled backwards is dog and when Adam in the Garden of Eden named animals, he also saw that unconditional love and called them a dog, spelling God’s name backwards. I still cry and my heart still aches, but I am beginning to accept that euthanasia was the only decision I could have made to bring her suffering to an end.

— Helen of Crowley, TX

Two years ago my nephew was returning from the grocery store early Sunday morning and ran his car off the road. He hit a tree and sustained life-threating inuries to his neck and back.  His dog, Charlie, was in the car.  Unharmed, Charlie stayed right next to my nephew for several minutes, licking his face and holding his head against the seat and neck restraint. He  apparently ‘braced’ the boy’s neck with an understanding of the injury and pain that his owner was feeling.  When the paramedics arrived they took over from Charlie, stabilizing his neck and back.  Charlie leapt from the car and ran approximately 1/2 mile home to alert my brother and sister-in-law of the accident.  Quickly aware of the urgency and alarm that Charlie conveyed, they followed the dog back to the scene of the accident to find their son in the hands of the medical team.  After restraining my nephew and loading him into the ambulance for transport, the paramedics told my brother that without Charlie’s immediate care and [neck] support, my nephew would have sustained far more severe injuries – if not permanent paralysis.  Charlie was the first line of defense; and of course, a hero!  He was just doing what he knew best; taking care of his master and his friend.

— Dan from Huntingtown, MD

Sadie was the sweetest Britney Spaniel you could ever ask for. She was our family dog and not being a hunter, she was never trained to work like so many Britneys. I am a Placer Gold miner and Sadie joined me at our mine in Alaska  and later in the Yukon. She loved to run and had freedom to cover much of the claims as her nose was her guide to exploring.
One day as my brother was stripping the moss off the tundra, Sadie was on a mission to smell the treats of hundreds of years of smells that were unleashed as the tundra was rolled over stacked to the side of our cut. During this day our sweet Sadie got herself in trouble as she was unaware of what was causing this new and exciting game for her. Thant night she did not show up for dinner. I searched for her but did not find her. The next day I had to go to Whitehorse to pick up my wife and daughter at the airport. I was sure Sadie would find her way back as she always did. On my return from Whitehorse my family was distraught as Sadie had not returned. My daughter, then 9 suggested we get on the ATV and drive up the creek and look for Sadie. I of course agreed to take her not having much faith we would find our girl.
We rode up the creek as my daughter called her name again and again, Sadie……Sadie…….Not seeing her we decided to ride back to our camp to be with the others. After an hour we were sitting talking outside and here Sadie comes dragging her hind leg. She had been trapped in the tundra somewhere as she was covered with mud. My daughters calls had reached her and Sadie had found a will to live and somehow freed herself and dragged herself back to safety.
Sadie’s hip was dislocated and needed to get to a vet soon. We took her to Whitehorse to our vet and they put her hip back in place. Unfortunately, it had been out for too long and it would not stay in place. Our only option was to fly her to Edmonton to have surgery. Sadie was flown to Edmonton and spent a few days there and then back to the mine to recover.
What was so amazing to us was her will to live. We had almost given up hope of ever seeing her again. She was with us for another few years and continued to be such a joy for us.

— Brian from Fallon, NV

Today is Thursday, February 16, 2012. My little man Max passed away exactly 4 weeks ago tonight at about 7:45 pm. Sadly I had left about an hour earlier to go to a meeting. Initially I was upset that he passed all alone but the reality is that he wasn’t alone. I had the radio on so the last words that my Max heard before his heart gave out were that of Mark Levin. I say this as being a good thing.

Max was a short-haired smooth Dachshund who was born on June 19, 1998. He had a good life who went virtually everywhere with me. He loved the car…and more importantly, he loved being with his daddy.The last 18 months of Max\’s life were altered dramatically. Max had an accident and fell off of my deck and 11 feet down to the ground. He had surgery, physical therapy and then we tried acupuncture at a Holistic veterinarian which we went to every Saturday. After doing that for many, many months we came to the conclusion that he would never walk again. His hind legs were paralyzed. That was a sad reality. I did end up getting a cart through a great company that makes only these products. He was resistant when I first put him in the cart but then he realized that he could get around on his own. Sadly, he only got a couple of months use from the wheels. His cart was purchased by a person who had a dog in need so the cart will continue to help a needy dog in Bowling Green Kentucky. I just checked and UPS just delivered it about 2 hours ago.That puts a smile on my face.

I have great memories and miss him every minute. My life was enriched and has now been drastically changed. Max required a lot of my time in the end and I wish he was still requiring my time but it will never again be. I am just glad that he was listening to you, Mark Levin, as he was passing into doggy heaven. Thank you for affording me the opportunity to write this. I tried toi upload a picture but they are all too large apparently because they are not being accepted.

John from Long Island, NY