Rick & Jennifer from Colorado

My wife stopped by Salt Lake County Animal Services and adopted a little Poodle/terrior mix as a companion for our little Maltese who lost her best friend a few weeks earlier. The Maltese was pining away, refusing to eat or drink and we were afraid she would be the next in our family to leave us.

We named the new dog “Corky”. We should have named her “Dinky Dau” ’cause she was nuts.

When the wife and I were gone, she would run through the house uprooting flowers and chewing on my wifes record album collection. It took a couple of years for her to lose that “wild” behavior, but she had grown into our hearts and we loved her regardless of her flaws. She was my “laser” kid. She would chase the laser from wall to wall and try to dig it up from the bottom of the water bowl.

She would sit and watch our every movement as if she were studying for an exam.

We had her for 13 wonderfull years. February 2007 she took a turn for the worse and my wife and I knew her end was close. If was February 13th and we could no longer stand to see her suffer on our behalf and decided that we would have her euthanized the following day.

As many times as we had done this in the past, It broke our hearts nonetheless, and we noticed that the decisions were getting much harder as we got older. These were our kids who we raised and cared for and who gave us so much in return.

February 14th, Valentines Day, 8 years to the day I lost my own mom, and we were trying to prepare ourselves to send our beautiful little girl home.

My wife was reluctantly getting ready for work as our litle girl laid on the bed with labored breathing. I left the room for a second and when I came in the room, my little girl was as relaxed as I have ever seen her.

My wife continued getting ready for work and I reached over to stroke my little girls head and immediately realized that she was no longer there, but was now running through open fields, free of any pain or suffering. Me and my wife cried like little kids… I scooped “Corky” up into my arms and held her and whispered how much she meant to us and how much we loved her. And then I took her outside and placed her next to our little Maltese “Scooter” who had left us a few years earlier at the age of 11 and who no longer pined.

Thank you Mark for allowing us space to pay tribute to the kids in our lives.

Guy from Utah

Hi Mark, yesterday was the first time I heard your words about Sprite. I cried the whole time I listened as you told of the emotion of losing someonw who loves you unconitionally. I am 50 years old and most of my life have owned dogs. In July,2006 I had to put my Chewy to sleep. He had a bad athritic condition, according to his vet, the worst condition he ever saw when he opened the leg up to “repair it”. I used to wish if it got real bad he would go on his own and I never ever would have to be the one to make that decision.
The day I had the vet come and do it, I was told to hold him and tell him I loved him and could not. All I could do was hold him and cry for what I was about to lose. I read a sympathy card about a losing a pet in a store a short time ago and the few short words said it all..nobody will ever look at you with that look of unconditional love as your pet does. How true is that…take care Mark and no along the rest of your journey without Sprite he is still in your heart.

Debbie from Illinois

Mark,

I would like to share the story of my buddy Gunner. He is a Yellow Lab and a wonderful friend. In 2004 and 2005 I was serving in Iraq with the US Army. As you can imagine it was not the easiest thing to do. After I returned home my wife got me Gunner as a gift for our Anniversery. This dog saved my sanity if not my life. In short I was having nightmares and was struggling emotionally with some of the things I witnessed there. One night we decided to leave him out of his cage and have him sleep on a mat in the bedroom. That night I began to have another nightmare and to make a long story short I woke up with his head on my chest as if he was trying to comfort me. My wife woke up as usual and we both started to cry. I honestly think he saved my sanity. Now every once and a while will have a nightmare but they are not as intense and he is there. You are right they have unconditional Love for you and want very little in return. I thank God he brought him into my life.

Van from Virginia

Sasha came into our lives as a fluke. My husband was looking on the internet and came across the dog with hearts around her eyes. A greyhound lab mix, that is now known as my raggedy dog. She had been set astray with a broken rear leg that had healed poorly. We immediately fell in love. We all met Sasha and brought her home. She did not know about laying on beds, jumping on couches or love. Four years later, Sasha is thriving and very very spoiled. I thank God my husband found her because she and her brother, Pretzels, are the best of friends and the best and sweetest part of my family’s life.

Carol from New York

My best friend was laid to rest today. He fought a courageous battle with
cancer and never complained or faltered. Bear was brought to me by a very special woman one day when he was just a puppy – merely weeks old. He looked so much like a grizzly bear that his name came naturally. Bear was a chow/shepherd mix with a big piece of greatness blended in for good measure.
Bears disposition was that of a proud lion or a watchful parent. He rarely
ever barked, he walked with a gait like a lion, and he spent many days
watching the neighborhood children and families go about their daily
routine in our small court. He truly was a neighborhood dog, and was loved by all that knew him. For that I am thankful.
Bear and I traveled to the Midwest together to visit the home I grew up in,
he visited the Outer Banks of North Carolina on occasion for beach weekends with my friends and I, and most often – we would simply walk the northern strand of sand and water in Virginia Beach together after a long week. Oh – how he loved to walk on the beach.!.
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