We stopped by the property
so he could see where he was going to stay.
He finally choked down his piece of Jimmy Dean Maple Sausage….
more as a gesture to me than anything else.

He couldn’t get out of the pick up when we got to the vet….
but the smells of the road… windows open…
seemed to ease his pain along the way.

I held his head and told him he was a good dog.
He held my stare with big loving eyes
while the dose was given, there, in the back of the truck.
And then, without a peep, a better man than I, his face screamed
“Thank You”…and he was gone.

To the sky, Gandalf……………
your ashes will be windblown to
the Alaskan wild.

Lawrence from Alaska

Times were desperate for me in 8/05 as I suffered through the torture of a L4/L5 disc herniation. Unable to fly and barely able to sleep without popping oxycodones like they were M&M’s, I was at my wit’s end. Then one night, a little tabby showed up as a miracle on my doorstep and things took a turn for the better. Condoleeza, as she came to be known could almost feel my pain. When I would lay prone on the floor, she would climb up onto my back and lay there as a “kitty heating pad” of sorts. I’m not kidding!

I didn’t know it at the time but I needed that cat as much, if not more than she needed me. A single guy with no kids, the cat provided me companionship and took my mind off the pain. Two years later, my back is mostly healed up and Condi is a full grown prowling machine! When I’m not in the air, her and I are almost inseparable.

Sean from TN

Mark, I found my little “Kobe” at a shelter …he was a little stray just 5 wks. old….I fell in love w/him when I laid eyes on him…..I couldn’t bring him home for 3 more weeks until he was neutered….the very first night I brought him home I put him in the bed with me and we fell asleep together with his little head nestled in my neck and his little pay across my upper chest…..I fell more in love with him and I knew we should be together. My mom had died 20 yrs before and the day I put my name in for him, was my Mother’s birthday…when I asked when he was born…they figured March 17th…that was my children’s other grandmother’s birthday….I knew I should have this dog.
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I’ve been around dogs, cats, horses, and other various animals my whole life. Even raised a Great Horned Owl for a while. So I can tell you I really love animals.

I lost my Father and Mother eight weeks apart. My dad (USMCR, Ret.) died Nov. 13th, 04. Three days after the Marine Corps Birthday. A day that was very special to both of us. See I was in the Marines also, (81-87). My mother passed 8 weeks later. I think she went because her true love was waiting for her. In my fathers will he said I was to receive his horse, Friday. He stipulated that if I couldn’t take him I was to “put him down”. Of course I couldn’t do that. Friday being my fathers last horse in a long list of great animals.
I took the horse from AZ to TX. He didn’t know what to do with himself. He came from a 1/4 acre corral to 52 acres! Talk about watching a horse “run free”.
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Yes i am a fan and dog lover. My e-mail name is for memories for my beloved yellow lab. I have just made friends with sofie a 3 months old lab keep the faith and remenber you are not alone.Ann from Texas

No story, just wanted to submit Yankee Doodle Duchess’ pix

Keep up the good work Mark….luv ya!

June from MD