Dear Mark
A great SPCA dog, Woody, lives here. Actually, he belongs to my sister next door, on her 23 acres…He has a radio collar on, so he can’t actually visit me…he can’t come through the pasture fence. This dog is part yellow lab and we think, part Airdale, maybe, because he has somewhat longer hair, and it is curly….and he has wispy facial hair, and a big brown leathery nose. He looks like a bad taxidermy job. He has been here a year, and he LOVES his home. He takes his job seriously…patrolling the perimeter, barking at perceived threats, chasing any cat that will run, and killing the occasional unlucky groundhog or rabbit. When I walk over to feed our horses, if he is out and about, here he comes to greet me…he loves to mouth my hand…but he is so careful not to bear down with those big white teeth. I think if any Liberal would breach our property lines, he could get ugly with them.

Woody replaced Gus, another great SPCA dog, a yellow lab, that died at a young age. I happened to see Woody at the SPCA (York County, PA) when I was taking my cat there to get her spayed. My sister was dogless and still mourning Gus. I told her about this dog I saw that I felt would be “THE ONE”…..when I saw him in that cage, and he was pressing himself against the wire, and saying “Pleez, take me”. She went to see him, and that was all it took. We didn’t know what his name was….so we named him Woody, after our dad, whose friends called him Woody. (Our dad was a Navy pilot in WW2, and always had Lab hunting dogs).

I don’t have a pic of Woody right now, but will take one asap and send it to you.

I got a signed copy of Rescuing Sprite for my sister for Christmas. I know she has been reading it, I have seen it by her chair. I loved the book too.

Now, one other thing…I just listened to your show from March 20, and OH MY, that was a great show. All your shows are great, thank you so much for doing what you do.

Nancy from PA

Mark,
I just finished reading your book, Rescuing Sprite. I started it yesterday and couldn’t wait to finish it. You put into words such heartfelt feelings and many shared by myself. i felt compelled to share my story about my sweet Lola. My son, Kyle, and I had been volunteering at our local Humane Society for several months when one Saturday morning we came in and walked through the dog area as we always did first to greet everyone and see who had been adopted out and who was new. I looked into one kennel and saw a retriever/lab mix, older looking dog standing and just shaking non stop. I picked up the papers to read more about this dog only to find she had been brought in the evening before by her owners who stated they just had a baby and could not have her any more. They told the shelter she was about 6 years old and her name was Lola. The kennel help told me she had not stopped shaking and had not laid down or eaten since she was left. I went back and went into the kennel and then I saw the terrified look in her eyes. The connection was immediate. I petted her head, talked softly to her and then had to continue with my obligations at the shelter. I checked in on Lola before we left and she just looked at me with a heart piercing stare that said “help me”. I could not stop thinking about her but just could not bring myself to discuss this with my husband as we had one dog(young lab) and 5 cats. He was at his limit. Read the rest of this entry »

I was given your book by my mother who is the biggest animal lover I know. I have a schauzer/poodle mix who is a year old. I purchased him from a breeder. I am considering a companion for him, so my mom gave me your book. I read it in 2 days. That may not sound like a bid deal, but I am the mother of two very busy little girls. I spend most of my time on them, so a book would have to be pretty terrific for me to stay up nights to read it. I LOVED IT. Of course, it was a tear-jerker. My mother told me the basic story before I read it, so I found my self fighting tears the entire time, in anticipation of what was to come! I was shocked to read that you thought no one would care about your story. There are tons of dog-lovers like us in the world. I also think most of us are ready to read more nice sweet stories. It was sad, but it speaks to what people can really be like, and the joy we get from animals. Your family is wonderful too. You all sound like very caring and loving people. Read the rest of this entry »

Teakup is a Boston terrier. His full name is Kristen’s Sir Willy T. He was born in the summer of 1995 and when he was five years old he was diagnosed with Hemolytic Anemia, a near fatal disease for dogs. He has been kept alive on steriods and is now 13 years old. He is a true companion and our entire family will be sad when he leaves us. Even at his weakest he never let on he was ill. It was only the skill of our veterinarian that identified the problem or we would have lost him in 2000. We will always be grateful for the extra time we have had with him.

George from NY

Our story is a reverse of yours. We raised our Golden Retriever, Fenway, from a puppy to a wonderful ten year old dog. Fenway lived a relatively healthy life right up until his tenth birthday when he became lethargic and wasn’t eating. It turned out he had cancer, and even after an eight pound tumor was removed from his abdomen, his life was not gauranteed. This was in November of 05. After what we thought was a turnaround brought on from a few months of chemo, we had to help Fenway to “The Bridge” in April 06. It was devastating as he was our only *child*. Remarkably enough, we had put in to rescue a Golden weeks earlier and two hours after we let Fenway go, the Rescue organization called two hours later to tell us we had our choice of five dogs. We adopted two. Ferris and Cameron. I honestly think Fenway knew that we would be lost without him and didn’t want us to be alone. Ferris and Cameron will never replace Cameron, but my heart hurts a little less.
We chronicled Fenway’s cancer and then the adoption of Ferris and Cameron at http://www.goldendreams.org

Bari from NH

I have 3 goldens, the youngest being 4 years old. She had epilepsy and was taking meds to control the seizures. On February 23, 2008 began vomiting and would not eat. This continued through out the nite and the next morning I took her to the vet. She was dehydrated so the vet said they would keep her there and run some tests. It turned out to be pancreatitis. Five days later she was still at the vet and we were told they did all they could do. She was experiencing some discomfort and now her pancreas was dying off. It was the hardest day of life and my heart was crushed. Our entire family was with her when the vet put her down. She was such a sweetheart. 2 days after that she would have been 3 months seizure free . . . she had never made it that long without having a seizure. I miss her so much and will never forget her.

Shari from WI