Today I went to my local off-leash beach to walk my best friend Nikki for her daily exercize. As I was walking back a woman came running up to me and asked if the dog she had a hold of was mine. It was a beautiful yellow lab around 3 years old. She explained he had been running around endlessly looking for it’s owner. I said no and immediately checked to find a number to reach the owner, only to find he had no tags. It was getting dark out, sooner than usual because of daylight non-savings, and made me sad that there would be a chance that this loyal dog wouldn’t be reunited with its owner. I didn’t know what to do, so I just got the womans number in case i somehow saw the owner looking for the dog.
On my way back I couldn’t get the lab out of my head, and kept thinking that that dog could end up in a dog shelter.

Then, all of a sudden I saw a girl in her twenties running towards me. She asked if I had seen a lab, and I excitedly said yes. I told her I had the womans number, which I got on a whim. I could tell she had been crying and she, who never had met me gave me a huge hug and thanked me as if I had saved her life. I gave her the womans number who had her dog and she ran towards the location I saw the woman walking. I could tell that the girl loved her dog very much, but the situation could not have ended as smooth as it did. I decided to write this story to make sure everyone has tags for their dogs, both personal and government. When I find lost dogs and they have tags I can’t wait to call the owner to reunite the unconditional bond between a man/woman and their dog. Without the tags it can be very hard to reunite.

Tristan from CA

The memory of September 3, 2003 suddenly flooded back to me the other day when I heard your radio program discussing your new book Rescuing Sprite. That was the morning that I awoke to discover my beloved Sheltie, Watson unresponsive next to our bed. He passed away only an hour or so before we awakened evidenced by his warm temperature and lack of rigor mortis.

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I remember our first dog. His name was Tippy. A Boston Bull. He was missing one evening after an Army convoy stopped in front of our house on their way to New York. We lived in Gettysburg Pa. We didn’t know he was taken. We thought he was just out for the night. Then after a day or two we knew he wasn’t just out. Maybe a few weeks later at suppertime there was that old familiar scratch on the kitchen door. Mother almost ran to the door. We all gathered there on the back porch around Tippy. Mother, Dad, Brother and I. He lay there with bloody feet from his trip home from where we don’t know. My mother petted him as he sighed and then he died there. He came home.
That was in 1943 or 1944 and I’ve never forgotten that all my life. Our family and my family have had many dogs since. We loved them all almost as much as they loved us.

 Terry form PA

Recently, my husband and I were driving down a busy street in Oklahoma City. We noticed two dogs at the curb looking like they were wanting to cross. We slowed down and at this point, one dog went out to the middle of street and just stood there holding back the traffic. At this point, the other dog at the curb stepped out to cross. We noticed then that he had only three legs. He hopped along to the other side while his buddy stayed in the street until he had completely crossed. It was one of the sweetest things I had ever seen and it brought tears to my eyes.

Yvonne from OK

I was glued to the TV when I happened upon your interview with Sean Hannity. You see, I was in those “dark days” in my own home . Two days previous , my 12 year old Shih-tzu, Kramer, died in my arms in our kitchen. It began as a regular day with my 3 children, ages 5, 3 and 3(twins) .I walked into the kitchen only to find Kramer in dire respiratory distress ( he had not been sick previous to this). I scooped him up, blanket and all, and he died almost instantly. You see, he was waiting for me that morning in order to say a final goodbye.I was his mother and he needed me but there was no medical intervention to help him. The whole incident has rattled me –and I am in the medical field. I had to relearn how fragile life really is.Later we learned that it was a pulmonary emboli that went to his lungs and instantly killed him.
He was my shadow and in an instant was gone. I miss him and grieve so much for him. Your book validated my silent pain that I have been in. I am so glad you wrote it. So many people do not give the loss of a dog the much thought. Your book does that and more. I laughed, I cried and I devored the book. It won’t bring Kramer back, but will help me and my family cope with our loss. We do have a 15 year old Shih-tzu, Dottie, still with us. She is lost with out her buddy. I feel as bad for her as I do for our family. God Bless to Sprite who now has a new angel friend named Kramer.

Kim from AL

This is the story of our family’s beloved cat, a red and white short-hair we named Red Fox. Back in 1986, when I was just a kid, our female cat had a litter of kittens. One of these kittens may not have pulled through because his mother after giving birth to him, had left him in the corner of the box with a membrane covering his mouth and nose. The tiny kitten wasn’t moving, and I was afraid it had suffocated, but I removed the membrane from it’s face and the kitten thankfully started to move some. I gently put the little thing by the mother cat and eventually it started nursing with the rest of its brothers and sisters. I kept an eye on that red and white kitten (which my Mom said I’d “birthed”) and saw him grow stronger day by day. Soon this kitten was leading his pack of wobbly-legged siblings to greet me when I’d go out to the garage. He and I shared a bond – Maybe he knew that I was the one who had saved his life when he was born. He’d run up to me and want to be held and loved it when I’d pet his back with a quick back and forth motion, ruffling his fur.

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