My Doggie Max was so beautiful.  He loved  Chinese fortune cookies.  He was a huskie.  He didn’t bark. I sent you a pic of him.  He had one blue eye and one brown.  I took him to the Century Mall one day and he got scared.  He didn’t like shopping.  He was afraid of mice.  One time he jumped on a chair when he saw a mouse in the house!.  All my friends loved him. I think they came to visit him more than Victoria.  He was special.  When I saw him in the shelter I knew he was my dog.  I gave him the name Max right away. 

My friend in Milan lost his Father .Mother and Sister.  That is a Big loss.  He is not my boyfriend just a friend that I worked with.  We all have have someone we love pass on in life.    I am having a problem with aol so anyway I Love Us and May God Bless Us  Victoria  I have always had faith I wouldn’t have been able to travel in Europe all those years.  I was all by myself.  I guess I am kinda strong.  I cry though.

Victoria

I love you (not that way) and your show. I have to listen over the web since we don’t get you here in Iowa yet. I was a member of the Iowa National Guard as a combat medic, born to kill, trained to save, but never got to serve overseas; I got my discharge about 9 months before the first Gulf War and the unit I was in did go over there. I do have plenty of friends who are still in and I tell as many of them about you as I can and we all appreciate everything you do and say.

I want to share my dog story with you. I was married soon after high school in 1989 and after a few years, my wife and I tried to have children. After about a year of trying with no success we decided to quit putting pressure on ourselves and we got an AKC registered bulldog pup. We named him Rush after my favorite talk show host at the time. He was our baby boy and our pride and joy. After a couple of years my wife and I had a falling out and we ended up separating which eventually led to divorce. I kept Rush with me and I couldn’t have had a better friend through those tough times. He showed me unconditional love when I needed it most and he was the best listener.  Rush had some health issues and I spent a lot of money on him for his skin condition and his eyes had issues because of his scrunched up face and wrinkly skin, and it didn’t matter to me because he was my son. There then came a time where I had to move and I was unable to take Rush with me because he was not allowed in the apartment complex where I lived, but my mom took him in until I could get to a place where I could have him.

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I listen to your show every evening on my way home from work and I have been so touched listening to you talk about your life with Sprite.  My family and I are huge dog lovers and between my Mom, Dad and Sister’s family we have six.  As I write this, my Mom is on her way to the vet with her Elliot.  She just called me very upset, but we know that it’s his time to go.  Elliot is letting her know it’s ok in his own way.  He has lived a long, wonderful life (14 years), but it doesn’t make it any easier.  They are in Louisiana and I’m up in Washington, DC, and feel so sad to be far away.  But, I love how you put it….at in the end, we humans are the lucky ones.  After her call, your book was the first thing I thought about sending her.

Anyway, I just wanted to say that I have already pre-ordered three copies of your book and to say thank you.   When I get home from work after hearing you mention Sprite & Pepsi, I go home and give my Reagan & Rudy a huge kiss and hug.  It makes me appreciate my time with them even more than I already do.

Many thanks for all you do,

Joy from Washington, DC

A long time ago I read a quote about dogs that I thought was very insightful:  “A dog is God’s most perfect example of unconditional love.  All a dog asks is for you to allow him to love you.”  I do not remember who the author of this quote is but I wanted to share it with you.

Justin from Missouri

I tuned in the other day listening to you talk about your new book that I am anxiously awaiting. You see, I lost my best friend and closest companion a couple of weeks ago. My dog Sparky (The Fire Chiefs Dalmatian, who would have guessed).  At 15 years old and watching his health deteriorate, I had to make the terrible, agonizing decision to end his suffering.

I am no stranger to death, with 32 years in the fire service, I have dealt with more tragedy, death and destruction than anyone should have to in the course of a career helping people. Among other things, I have pulled pieces of human beings out of the wreckage of numerous motor vehicle crashes,  put dead burnt children into body bags and made death notifications to families and yet I have NEVER had any event hit me this hard.

Sparky was the communities dog as well, he came to work with me every day here at the Fire Department and anxiously greeted any visitor that happened by. He would visit the schools with me to help bring my message of fire safety to the children. He could stop, drop and roll on command and demonstrate how to crawl low in smoke. This week is fire prevention week and for the first time yesterday I had to give my presentation without him and field questions from the children about his death. If anything the kids learned that even big, strong firemen will cry under the right circumstances.

So here I am, trying to deal with the immense hole in my life. My family and friends have tried to help, but I really don’t feel that they understand. After all, It was only a dog….. I am really hoping that there will be something in your book that will help.

Thank You,     

William from Alaska

‘Tank’ is a pure bred beagle who when he was only three weeks old somehow managed to slice one of his ears nearly off. So much blood was lost, survival was doubtful, but a surgeon living next door was able to stop the bleeding and sew the ear back on. No visible scars and No government health care. After hearing this from the owner I could not resist this ‘runt of the litter’ and bought him on the spot. ‘Tank’ suffers no loss of hearing, especially when the food hits his bowl.

– Jenny from  New York