I want to tell you about our dog. My 18 year old daughter brought him home from work one day in 1990. She walked in with a pup under her jacket saying ‘Look what I brought home’: I thought “Oh no! What now?” I was post-divorce (very bad) newly married, combined new family of 4 teens and 1 younger. Did not want or need one more responsibility. All the kids kept at me and at me, Can we keep him? Can we?Can we??? Oh Lord, I thought. His birthday was same as my ex-husband’s, a bad sign for me. Then I looked at the pup who looked at me with his soulful brown eyes that said ‘Come on Mom, let me stay’. So, he stayed. She named him Sport (as all the kids were fine athletes) and he soon became Sportie. He also learned to stay in the kitchen. He would belly crawl the ten feet, inches at a time to get to us in the living room where kids were all scattered on couches and the floor doing what they do. If I noticed him sneaking out a quick ‘Sport! – Kitchen!!’ sent him back with his head hung low, soulful eyes, ‘Aw Mom’. Whenver we called him – he would come flying, racing to jump on all the furniture, then on all the kids and their papers and fall in a heap on my lap. This 100 pound Yellow Lab (coloring) and German Shepherd (head and tail) mix really believed he was a lap dog.

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My wife, daughter and I have been rescuing dogs for 10 years. We now have 18. We have lost a few to death over the years and can fully understand the agony each time it happens. Every one of them gave me the “look” that it was OK and thanks for giving them a loving home, I even got tail wags as they died. I will send to you a copy of “The Rainbow Bridge” as soon as I can. It sums up the experiences we’ve had with our “guys”. We’ve ordered your book about Sprite. God Bless.

Bob from PA

Your book could not have been released at a better time. I lost my best friend and soul mate on Saturday, 9/8/07. I had rescued him 11 years earlier from the Humane Society. He was part lab and part German Shephard, but the vet said he was just a good old country hound dog. He woke me up that morning panting, and I thought he wanted to go out. When I turned the light on, he had collapsed on the floor and was having trouble breathing. I got on the floor with him and he started acting like he was unable to get any air, so I started breathing into his nostrils, trying to save him. He died in my arms about 15 minutes after he woke me up. I assume he had a heart attack.
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We lost our first golden to osteosarcoma diagnosed at the age of 1-1/2. I can still barely speak about it. Tucker was so full of life, he would catch a ball in his mouth until the last hour of his life. This is a photo of Dutch (Dutch Reagan). He cannot replace Tucker, but enhances our appreciation of a dog’s place in the family as a symbol of unconditional love.

Rose from CA

I do not know how many times I almost turned off your interview with Sean regarding Sprite because I did not want to hear anymore, it was breaking my heart! And, when I got on line to inquire about the book, I cried when I saw that Sprite is a Golden Retriever, just like my Lindy Girl. I do not tell many people this story because they think I am a crazy evangelical, but… Jan. 2, 2007, after a thorough physical, blood tests and lung x-rays, Lindy Girl was diagnosed with lung cancer. The emotional pain was so bad I could literally feel it in my chest! Her vet felt that the cancer was going to get very aggressive, and not much time would be left for her to be with me.

Well, I was not about to give up. I remembered the story in the New Testament about the woman who went to the judge to plead her legal problem, but the judge would not hear her. She kept going back and finally the judge, because of her persistance, agreed to hear her plea. So, I said “OK God, just like that woman, I am going to keep asking you to heal my Lindy Girl, until you heal her.”
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Let me tell you about my dog whose name was Larry. Larry was about three quarter lab and one quarter chow and didn’t have a hurtfull bone in his body.
My nephew got him at about 3 months old and kept him until he was about 8 months old. He is a teacher and was moving back home to the same town I live in. Unfortunately he could not find a place that would let him have a dog so he asked if I could keep Larry for awhile since I had a fence in back yard. I am single and commute an hour each way back and forth to work, but I was glad to keep the dog since he needed a home and the pound was not an option. Larry and I became closer and closer, lots of nights it was just him and I talking outside on the back porch.

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