Dear Mark: I just finished your book “Rescuing Sprite” – I still have tears in my eyes, and I share the pain over the loss of your beloved Sprite. I have had to say good bye to six (6) canine friends in my life time, and it never got any easier. Though time does heal wounds, the memories stay forever in our hearts and bring smiles to our faces! We currently have a 15 yr Border Collie mix named Niko, and a six year old Boxer named Angel (though her middle name is Devil). Acually, your book inspired me so much that I am thinking of writing a little book about our dogs, cats, and horses–even if its just going to be for the children and grandchildren!
However, another reason fo me writing to you today, I would like to pass on some advise my dad gave me when I was a young girl: never marry a man who does not love and respect animals! Well, I listened to dad and married this (wonderful) guy 47 yrs ago. Three children, many dogs, several cats, and six horses later he is still the kindest man and animal lover I have ever known. Thought you may want to pass on my dad’s advice to Lauren!
Another important thing I have learned about losing a pet: always let the surviving animals see and sniff the dead buddy, it is amazing to witness how easily they accept that their companion is gone. Many years ago, we had a black Chow/Lab mix named “Liesel,” and a small shephard mix named “Gusti.” They were inseparable. Liesel at the age of only 7 developed cancer and was gone within a couple of weeks. We made the mistake of burying Liesel before Gusti would see her. Gusti lived for many more years but never once stopped looking for her friend even though we had gotten another dog (Niko) from the Fairfax Animal Shelter shortly after Liesel’s death. Every time she would see a black dog she got all excited until she realized it was not her beloved Liesel. Heartbreaking.
I am so happy you got Griffin shortly after Sprite’s passing, it really helps to ease the pain and absorb the loss (I am speaking from experience).
Hope I did not ramble on too long! Warm regards and wishes to you, your lovely family, and, of course, Pepsi and Griffin!
Sincerely,

Marga from VA

Dear Mark,

I have wanted to write a heart-felt “thank you” to you for unknowingly giving me tremendous assistance in helping me live with the huge loss of our canine family member who was in almost every sense a child to me and my wife.

I fully realize you have received multiple scores of similar testimony and thanks and I realize this one additional missive may not be able to fit into your busy schedule to see. Nevertheless, I felt I wanted to add to the chorus of thanks since this was the earliest time after incredibly deep mourning that I was able to get through the writing successfully.

I had to allow our vet to help Rusty pass out of his state of suffering on October 12th, around the exact time the rest of us learned about your own canine child, Sprite. The expression that misery loves company in this case was only accurate to the point that the depth of your public grief gave me the intellectual and emotional support to know that it was reasonable and understandable for a human being of reasonable mental capacity to be so lost in the despair of intense grief. Read the rest of this entry »

Hi Mark! I wrote yesterday telling about how we have 6 animals total 4 of them are over 10. One of my cats is in the er vet and has been since Monday as he was diagnosed with diabetes. One of my dogs Shecky has epilepsy and my other dog Scooby has a low thyroid. Now we have 3 on meds and a 17 1/2 old cat named Rudy who I am sure will have problems in the near future. Well I found this dog Oreo whom I found at my girlfriends wandering the streets. She was apparently spayed by PETA per request of my girlfriend once PETA gave her the shots she needed and spayed her they naturally dropped her off back in front of the house of her so called owners house and let her run free. She had no shelter and was barely given food. I of course upon visiting my girlfriends house that day said that is unacceptable that she has no shelter and scooped her up and put her smelly little self in my truck and drove the hour ride back to my Va Beach home. On the ride home knowing that she was 6 months old needed a cage and stopped to get her one as well as a new collar and leash.

  Read the rest of this entry »

I loved “Rescuing Sprite”. My 20 year old cat passed away a year ago this month. I was devastated.

But I have my sweet dog, Blondie, who is a Pomeranian/Sheltie mix. We love her.

Regards,

Jill from NV

Mark,

Earlier this week, after much agony, we needed to put our dog Ruffles to sleep after 17 years of blessing. Mark, this literally tore my heart out of my chest. I knew we needed to do it because she was suffering. I insisted to the vet that I be with her through it all and of course he permitted me to be. I held her in my arms and simply stroked her until she closed her eyes and went to sleep. I believe the good Lord has created animals for our enjoyment and blessing because He did so with Ruffles. God Bless

Pastor John  from NY

I’ve just finished reading Rescuing Sprite-my boss read it and said I would enjoy reading it. My entire family are animal lovers-my husband and I have 9 dogs and 13 cats. All were rescues or homeless. We live in the country and one day about 11 years ago a red truck went down the road and there were 2 guys standing up in the bed of the truck. We thought what idiots! What they did next blew us away. A black dog is thrown out the back of the truck into the road-he’s just bouncing on the pavement. We ran towards him but he ran into the woods and we couldn’t find him, knowing he might be hurt bad and could die.

The next day he came walking up our driveway, badly bruised and missing some skin, but wagging his tail. My husband says there is a magnet around our property-animals know where to come for love. We cleaned him up and made him comfortable until our vet opened on Monday. He was OK just sore said our vet. We named him Zack and he is a beautiful Black Lab. We call him Zackster Baxter sometimes.

Zack began having nosebleeds about 3 months ago. Our vet said it is a tumor and that the surgery is extremely invasive and difficult for a young dog and given Zack’s age he would probably never make a full recovery and could possibly die during surgery. Of course when I started reading about Sprite I had no idea (and neither did my boss) that I was going to be reading about something going on with our very own Zack. The difference with Sprite and Zack is that Zack tolerates the Prednisone well. He takes 1/2 tablet AM & PM every other day. Knock on wood his nosebleeds are few and far between at this point. I can certainly sympathize with their loss.

We lost our Lab/Doberman Christmas night 2006 after 13 years. He had a stroke and seizures and he was put to sleep on the back seat of our car. Extremely painful and it still is but to a lesser degree. He is buried on our property with all of our other dogs and cats. I am at work and do not have a photo of Zack to send. Rescuing Sprite is an excellent book. I shed many a tear for both Sprite and his family.

Phyllis from GA