Christmas Eve, 1997, my dad was diagnosed with colon cancer, with surgery scheduled two weeks later. Mother, having already been ill for a few years, became critically ill the day after Christmas and was rushed to the hospital. She was put on life support and remained on it for 11 days. Dad’s doctors decided to postpone his surgery until it was determined if mother would survive or not. She did survive that bout and dad had his surgery. Over the next three years, my dad was in and out of the hospital with multiple complications and surgeries. Mother couldn’t be alone at home and I couldn’t be in two places at once. I had no choice but to put mother in a nursing home for a while.

My home was over 200 miles away, so I was gone from home for weeks at a time. Most of the time I took my two little dogs with me on these trips. Peachy was a female Maltese/Pom mix and her little son, Fritzy, was a red Pom. They were such good company for me and the residents at the nursing home loved their visits.
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About 7 years ago, my family and I rescued Sophie, a beautiful german shepherd, from the local animal shelter. She has been a wonderful addition to our family and I can’t imagine life without her. I walk her in the morning when I get up and when I come home from work. She never barks at anyone and gets along great with the children. She is a gentle soul.

We had also adopted a cat about six years ago. His name was Cody. My son was playing football and one of the other mothers came up to us and told us that her mother has passed away and she had three cats that they didn’t know what to do with. We took in Cody, a pure bred himilayan cat. I have never known a cat like him – you’d have sworn he was a dog. Every day when I came home from work, he was there at the door to greet me. He came running when you called his name. When it was time to put the kids to bed, he would cuddle up next to each one of them until they fell asleep and then he would move on to the next – he was a busy cat too, because I have four children. Then, after they were all asleep, he would come in our room and lay in between my wife and me at our feet. My grandmother, who HATED cats, loved Cody and didn’t mind him sitting next to her when she came to visit. He was a valued member of our family. He even knew when we were sick and would just lay there next to us to comfort us.
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My husband works for the post office and on one March evening in 2004 he called me from work and asked if I would speak to a co-worker of his regarding a dog. We already had 3 dogs, so my husband was a bit scared to ask me himself. His co-worker told me that his elderly neighbor had recently died and had a dog. Apparently the deceased owner was found about 2 days after his death with Rascal (greyhound/lab mix) by his side. The man’s son, while taking care of his estate would come by daily for about 10 minutes and walk Rascal, but eventfully would be taking him to the shelter. Mikey(co-worker) took the dog home, but was not able to care for him either. He knew my husband and I loved dogs and asked if we would take Rascal.
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Mr Kitty was 11 1/2 yrs old when he died at home with his people. Mr kitty was the best friend and helper of our family. Mr Kitty will be missed by both of us but especially his Dad – John has heart and other problems so Mr. Kitty was his best friend!

John from MD

Your listeners know that you are a great and passionate patriot to be included with names like Adam Smith and John Locke. You have said that the joy man’s best friend brings to his owner is greater than the sadness of his death…this is true, in spite of the fact that Sprite’s death brought depression to you. You know by now that millions have felt the way you do. You are so right in encouraging your listeners to adopt a dog from a shelter.

You have not spoken of owning a dog when you were a child. When I was young, I felt that only the dogs I got from the shelters loved me. Thus, when they died, my grief was profound. If I spoke to an adult of my sadness, none that I knew
would have understood or cared. Nevertheless, I never hesitated to get another dog because I feel it is an honor to be around something that gives love and loyality in such a unqualified manner.
Dogs are nature’s innocent since their only concerpt of good and evil is what we tell them. Unlike mankind, unless a dog has been breed or trained by manfor evil purposes, he will instintively choose to do good.
As I e-mailed to one of your other correspondents, if there are no dogs in Heaven, I choose not to go.

Having said that, may I also say to you, my good friend,
may God bless you…this nation would be less without you.

David from KS

We had to put our dog “Bullet”, a Pit Bull to sleep on May 13, 2007. My daughter got him when he was 8 weeks old in October 1999. My husband and I were not happy that she got a pit bull because all we had heard about pit bulls was negative. Bullet became a part of our family; he was a very loving dog, we all came to love him very much. In March 2007 he was treated for a bladder infection, after being on the medicine he did not get any better, his vet did blood work and x-rays but could not figure out what was wrong. The vet recommended he get an ultrasound which revealed he had cancer, a fast growing tumor in his prostate that had no cure, would become very painful and meant he had a short time to live comfortably. His cancer was rare for his breed, his age and in a neutered male. He was put on pain medicine, which made him feel somewhat better but we did not want to let him get real sick or be in pain.

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