During  September, 1998, while my husband and I were on a weekend trip, I phoned home to find that my daughter Grace had brought home a newborn bullmastiff puppy named “Bubba”. At that time, my daughter was working as a veterinarian technician while studying for vet school, therefore, the fact that she brought an animal home for 24 hour care wasn’t a big surprise.  I had never heard of a bullmastiff, and did not want any part of another dog.  We were already the proud parents of 1 lab mix Sam, 1 Australian Shepherd mix Cinder and 2 beagles, Hershey and Annie.   Bubba was born with a cleft palate and wasn’t a “perfect dog”, so he couldn’t be sold for big money.  Because of his imperfections, Bubba’s destiny was to be destroyed. The office requested that the owners release ownership of the puppy to enable them to try to save him.  The veterinary technicians took turns taking him home and tube feeding him as needed.

My daughter seemed to have him a good bit of the time and miraculously he made it to the first milestone.  At six weeks old Dr. Franklin started the procedure to close the cleft palate.  His first operation took quite a toll on him and my daughter never left him alone.  While my daughter was working, she would take Bubba to her grandparents’ house, and my father would hold him on his lap and watch television until she returned.  Bubba had continuous human care. There were several close calls and late night emergency runs to the hospital.  In the end, Bubba pulled through two more operations, grew up and became a 140 pound baby Bullmastiff. Suffice it to say, we ended up having five dogs. During the next several years, Grace made her way into veterinary school and moved away for periods of time.  Bubba became a member of the family and loved his beagles.  He was a very big dog but was ruled by the little girls.  Cinder and Sam were the elders and made sure Bubba was aware that he wasn’t the dominate dog.

In April, 2005, I got up to feed Bubba.  He didn’t eat.  Bubba always ate.  I started getting worried because my daughter told me to always watch him closely because large dogs sometimes have a problem with their stomach\’s turning.  I didn’t know a lot about it, but I knew I didn’t have much time if it was turned.  He had none of the symptoms of a turned stomach but I knew something was wrong.  I called the vet’s office and told them Bubba wasn’t eating and something was wrong.   Read the rest of this entry »

Our Cardigan Welsh Corgi, Bridget, gave our family eleven years of unconditional love and remains in our hearts.

Dorothy from OK

Dear Mark,
I received your book \”Rescuing Sprite\” for Christmas. I LOVED IT! I recently put down my Mother\’s friend of 14 years and it was absolutely the hardest thing in the world! She was with my father 3 years struggling with cancer who passed and kept Mom in \”spirits\” after he was gone. She was well past her years i hear, dalmation, and suffered terribly from arthritis. We knew she would not make another winter as we had to pick her up to go out and she often fell just standing trying to potty.

I recently adopted a retriever from our local shelter and asked Mom if she would \”babysit\”. It was hard on her but it also \”helped\”. Morgan is 6 months and I love her dearly and do not look forward to the day she leaves me. However \”I am\” very lucky for her now and until that day… and as you said… forever after. Thank you for the wonderful sharing of your life. God Bless You and your family!

Amy from IN

I am 13 and before i was born my parents bought 2 yellow labs brother and sister the boy, sunny the girl, abby. well 6 years back sunny got a brain tumor and started seizing and my parents rushed him to the vet but it was to late…. now all we have is the sister she is 14 and the last one left alive in her litter we were close friends with the people who got her brothers and sisters. her names abby and she can barely walk anymore she drags her feet and falls. she cant get up we have to carry her around.

Its sad but my parents wont put her down because i feel it is cruel to kill an animal. she wont eat either. you can see it in her face, shes just terribly sad. a book that helped me get over her brothers death was dog heaven by cynthia rylant. anyways i am very sad about all this and dont know wut to do. you are a great writer mark i loved rescuing sprite.

Corey from NY

We put our dog down today. One of the toughest decisions we have ever had to make. Abigail (Abby) was a 16 year old Border Terrier. She is the middle dog of 3 that we have. The younger one is 15 and the older one is 18. Yes, old dogs but the feelings putting one down does not make it easier. She was very sick the last 24 hours and when you truly love your animals you realize since they cannot talk to you that you will always be troubled that you made the right choice. I know we did.

Thanks for this opportunity to “get the feelings out”. I leave you all with the famous quote from Ghandi; The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.

John from CT