Just a quick note that I had to have my dog Molly put to sleep on the morning September 18th, 07 when I got home from working a 24 hour shift on an ambulance. I almost had to put her to sleep about 4 months earlier, she was in the end stage her kidney disease. The doctor gave us a some options of home care that I could perform and she responded well, but in the last two weeks her body just started giving up. The vet said we did a great job with her and that the extra time she had were good times, she wasn’t in any pain or discomfort, but her body was just old a tired.

Please keep us in prayer, we feel a very deep sense of loss, all who knew Molly loved her, she would just win you over with her gentle and kind nature…and her beautiful amber eyes just made it all the harder to resist loving her. It was hard to walk in the door and see her pillow by the couch. To know that I would never see her again step out of my office with her ears perked up and looking to see me walking in the front door. I think what I will miss most is when she would sit next to me when I was in my office chair and I would pet her. As soon as I would stop she would gently raise her paw and tap me on the foot to remind me that she was still there.

When my wife and I were at the vet with Molly it was very sad, even the tech’s were sniffling and try to hold back the tears, trying to be strong for us. I held Molly’s head in the palm of my hands and she had a peace about her. She wasn’t shivering or twitching, it was as if she was trying to be strong for us, trying to tell us that we had made the right decision and that everything was going to be okay. As the doctor gave Molly the injection I began to see her eyes grow heavy and then it was just as if she went to sleep. Her eyes closed (as much as they could, we were told that they never fully close, but in this case it looked like they had closed about 95%) and her breathing began to slow. I finally laid her head down to the table and kept my hands under her jaw so as to let her head rest in my hands. The vet then for what seemed like a minute or two listened for any heart sounds, then he pronounced her. I kissed Molly several time, thanking God in my heart for having given us such a wonderful gift that she was.

As my wife and I left the vets office I was reflecting how it was ironic that when Molly was a puppy, I had gone with my mother to pick her up, and on the way to my moms house Molly had sat in my lap. Today, as my wife drove to the vets office Molly and I were in the back seat and she rested in my lap being held in my arms…her life ended the way it began, in my arms.

Robert from TX

This is our lovable child. Jackie is 15 years old now and is a rescue. The picture on the left shows him about a year old. On the right, 10 years old. He is a member of the family and lives like a king in our home.

Our son, Paul, rescued him one evening coming home from work in 1992. Jack ran into the street right in front of Paul’s car. Paul stopped to see if he was OK and noticed that he was pretty thin and had no collar. He was sure he had been abandoned. He brought him home and fed him and took him to the vet the next day for a check-up. The doctor estimated his age to be about 6 months old. We posted flyers around the neighborhood and no one claimed him. It is hard to believe that there are people out there that abandon dogs and cats.

He named him Jack as he almost became a flapjack. He has heart and liver problems and cataracts now and isn’t expected to live much longer. Amazingly he doesn’t have arthritis and his lungs are so clear for his age. Our fear is having to put him down should he become stressed from pain or have breathing problems. It would just kill us to have to do that. I pray that it doesn’t happen. I hope he will go to sleep one night and pass away peacefully. Not looking forward to that either.

We had two dogs before Jack. The first one was Dolly, a Shepard & Husky mix and our second dog was Kelso an Alaskan Malamute. Both dogs were just as sweet as Jack and we cried many many months after their passing. It is not easy. Mark, we were in bed listening to your story (in the dark) about Sprite and how it was so difficult to put him down; you could have heard a pin drop in our room. I was in tears and I suppose my husband was too. We knew what you must have gone through.

Sharlene  from CA

I’ve been putting off writing this not because I didn’t want to do it but because it is tough to write. When my wife and I got married at age 24 she had a Chihuahua named Buster that was getting up in years. He was getting fairly senile and had gone pretty much blind at that point. She had had him since she was a young girl.

For a short time after we got married, we lived with her Mom who had been widowed long before my wife and I ever met. Her Mom had never lived alone after she was widowed and welcomed the company. I was able to repair things around the house and on their vehicles which helped them out quite a bit.

Enter Lacey. After the wedding, Buster’s health began to slide. We had spent the weekend at my best friend’s (also the Best Man in our wedding) place out of town. His then wife had a Yorkshire Terrier that had a litter while we were there. My wife thought they were “really cute”. We enjoyed holding them and she mentioned something on the way home about wanting one. What she didn’t know at the time is that they had all already been spoken for. I mentioned that we would be interested in one from the next litter to my friend. Little did we know that we would later have the pick of the litter delivered free of charge later that year.
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This isn’t a story, but I have to share the impact these stories have made on me.

After listening to the stories and hearing the songs on the show, I am almost at the point of crying.

When we are ready to buy a dog for our family, thanks to Mark and all of you on this blog, we are going to consider looking into a shelter to adopt. We might even consider a dog instead of a puppy.

Rebecca from KS

This is about my dearly departed Dachshund/Cairn mix, Sophie. She lived to be 18 years old, and lived with me for 17 years after I adopted her from our local humane society. She was such a sweet, smart and gentle little girl who loved her mommy beyond words, and I loved her right back. Friends still remark at how smart she was — she had nuances to her personality and mannerisms that were so human you almost thought she was! She would leave biscuits in friends’ luggage when they would visit. One of the funniest things she ever did was many years ago when a friend was staying over and using the sofa bed, and the cushions were stacked on Sophie’s favorite chair. As my friend stood next to the chair looking out the window, Sophie sat between her and the chair, looking back and forth from her, to the chair, to her, back to the chair … back and forth many times before my friend finally caught on and removed the cushions. Sophie sighed, exasperated at the thickness of human logic, and jumped up to the back of the chair, where she could contentedly but belatedly look out the balcony window.
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Hi Mark, My wife and I got a free a dog that was suppose to be a Cocker but after driving an hour we found that the dog was a Lab, Terrier,and God knows what else. He was twelve weeks old and we named him Buster and had him house trained in a week,Buster was a very smart dog. He just looked like a Buster. Well after 14 yrs. Buster got very sick.I t just happened so fast. We had to put our Buster down. This was my first time. As I held Buster my heart was being ripped from my chest when I felt him slip away. I burst into tears along with my wife. Then we started to watch my sister’s dog when they had to go out of town.His name was Tyler. This was about 8 months after Buster left us. It was in the fall when Tyler got very sick.He had a liver problem but he was doing fine. I rushed him to the same hospital.Tyler was dieing. I called my sister in Michigan. We had to put him down.I had to put down someone else’s dog.Two dogs in a matter of just a few months.It was a bad year for me.And someone else’s dog to boot.Four yars later we got a Chocolate Lab. His name is Rocky James. And is smart as a whip.I love dog’s and will always have one.We are thinking of getting another one,a yellow Lab maybe. Keep doing a great job Mark. If your ever in Cincinnati look me up and my wife and I would love to have you over for a home cooked meal while your on the road. God Bless and Power to the true Americans.

Joe from Ohio