‘ve enjoyed listening to you for a long time but after hearing you talk about losing Sprite I had to write to you. We lost our Luke on 7/19/07. We had decided almost twenty years ago not to adopt any more dogs because of the tremendous pain we experienced when we lost our Fido (a beautiful, sweet Doberman I found on the streets of Long Island City) to cancer. At that time we felt we did not want to endure that kind of pain again. Well on September 10, 2005 we went to our local shelter “just to look” and fell in love with a very sad and depressed yellow Lab named Luke.

Luke was the only dog in the entire shelter not barking and simply watching each person as they went by his kennel. Thank goodness my husband had the ability to see what a wonderful dog Luke was and we adopted him that day. Luke slept most of next three days, mostly in the sun in our back yard as he regained his strenght. Luke had to learn to live in a home because his one and only owner (in Kentucky) had kept him in a dog house. This wonderful, sweet dog just wanted our love and attention, which we gave to him in abundance. Luke quickly became a member of our family and brought us joy each and every day. In July of this year Luke seemed to not be himself. I thought at first it might just be the heat because he was a large Lab at 117 pounds but he was all muscle. After about a week of not seeming to be himself we took Luke to our Vet and he said those words that break your heart. He said Luke had a tumor and needed some x-rays and a biopsy. We ended up going to the excellent Red Bank Veterinary Hospital because we wanted to give our Luke the best chance at survival. Our local Vet was honest enough to say the surgery needed to be done at a major veterinary center.

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Willy-Bill made it just past his 20th birthday this March before something terminal happened in his gut and we had to put him down. He was born on this place and nobody was ever on his back but me. I got him past the basics out of a couple of library books then we learned the rest of it together. He had an exceptional cow sense especially with baby calves. One time a new mother forgot where she left her calf, WB, on his own recognized the problem and helped her look for the calf. He had a great sense of humor and with both of us standing on the ground, he would tease me unmercifully.

One time he snatched my pistol out of my back pocket and dropped it into his water bucket. When I would wear rubber chore books, he would grab the front of one boot and lift my foot off the ground, leaving me to hop around on one leg pretending to be terrified. One night, when it was pitch you can’t see the hand in front of your face dark, I was out looking to check on him as I did before bed every night. With no flashlight, I was inching along the edge of a pond because there was just enough light in the sky to reflect back from the water, when something soft tapped me once on the shoulder. EEEEEYOW. But when I was on his back, it was quite different. He took great care of me, like when approaching a tree, he would somehow measure the height of the lowest limb, and if I would have to duck, he would move out away from the tree even if it meant getting into rough ground off the beaten path. Then when his head got under the branch, he would measure again, and if he judged that I would still not clear without nodding my head, not lean forward mind, just nod my head, he would move out even farther. We were friend and companion for twenty years and I do sorely miss him.

Bill from TX

About 4 yrs ago we also adopted a dog from the Bergen Cty shelter, his name was Courage. He was a Yellow Lab Ridgeback,. He was the best dog. My kids loved him and he was my baby. It turned out that he was very sick. We had to bring him bk to the shelter. Although we only had him for maybe 2 month. I know in my heart that he loved us, as much as we loved him. We have since adopted an other dog, a Terrier mix. His name name is Ozzy, and he the best dog .

Dina from NJ

My mother, now 85, Lives on a nine acre estate in Kansas City. It is surrounded by a large shrub boarder and most people don’t even know the house is there. She is a renowed gardener and has been featured in several magazines, hard bound books and even on HGTV’s “Secret gardens” TV program.

She has had Golden Retrievers for many years and dearly loved them, as did I. Her last two, Katlin and Sarah Virginia, other wise known as Little Katie and Big Sally.

These two dogs were beautiful and also two of the biggest babies you ever saw, when ever there was a thunderstorm, my mother had to get out of her bed and come downstairs and sleep on the couch with them because they were so frightend of the thunder.
We were talking one day about those too and my mother said that that she doubted she could count on those two big wimps to protect her. She could not have been more wrong.

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We lost both of our smart, loving, loyal, beautiful dogs, RedDog and Nellie, within six months of each other this past year. One through illness and the other possibly through the tainted dogfood fiasco.

Everyone they met was impressed by them. Their intelligence was evident and their love for people radiated from them. A dog’s beauty is directly related to the love they receive (just as your current caller is commenting about). We miss them dearly. The pain of their loss is indiscribable.

GOD knew what he was doing by giving us dogs to teach us how to be loving and loyal and giving.

Thank you, Mark, for this space.

PS. Look at the love radiating from Red’s face as he looks at my daughter

Lynn from Alaska

Like a lot of people who have shared stories here my wife and I have loved many dogs and cats. There are a lot of beautiful stories and I would be hard pressed to choose one over another were it not for the lasting effect her memory has on both of us.
Snow Cloud was a white German Shepard who shared our life along with a black Labrador. She was timid and gentle. I remember when we had a cat with kittens. Whenever the cat would leave her babies Snow Cloud would gently take them away and hide with them to protect them. She would be so upset when the mother would show up and demand them back. Never the less she would leave them and the mother would take them back. This was just an example of her personality.

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