Mark. This Christmas I bought a few dog books for my 11 daughter since she loves to read, and loves dogs. Of course, one of those books was Rescuing Sprite. It took her about 3 days to finish the book and it touched her heart. She then past me the book and insisted I read it. I cried through the whole thing, it was such a beautiful story, and I felt every bit of pain that you have a few years back.

When my husband and I were married, I couldnt wait to get our first dog, and I wanted a Shih-tzu, just like the one I had at home with my parents. Before long, we had 2. Not to long after that they had a liter of 5 pups, and my family members couldnt resisit and adopted the pups, and we kept one. So here we were, a newlywed couple with 3 dogs that were like our children. They went everywhere with us, they traveled to the South with us in 20 hour car trips, and went with us camping a lot! Over the next 10 – 15 years, they shared with us the birth of our three children, new houses, and many ups and downs of family life. They were the best dogs.

When the youngest of the bunch was 11 years old, we noticed he wasnt feeling well, and he started to urinate blood. I took him to the vet who told us, it looked like a bladder infection, or stones. We left him with the Dr for the weekend so they could do Ultrasounds, and other tests, and will call us on Sat to pick him up. Sat came and went and they called us on Sunday to tell us he passed away overnight. Probably due to advance stages ofBladder cancer. Oh the grief I had was unbearable. To think my baby was at a animal hospital, alone, and scared and in pain and I wasnt around. I would of done anything to be with him his final moments to comfort and say goodbye… The other two at home were depressed, they wondered where their baby was, and I couldnt explain. Over time, our hearts healed, but we never forgot, we have his pictures all around the house. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m a volunteer with beagle rescue, an occasional foster parent and adopter of 4 beagles. Chance, Trooper, Hopper and Crimson are my life and my passion. Although you can see us all at www.hanoverbeaglepatrol.com I wanted to tell you about Hopper and Crimson my 2 former fosters that I just had to keep.
Having been a outside dog all of his life Hopper had many challenges. The ringing telephone, the dishwasher, alarm clocks, even the television scared him into a panic I’ve never seen before. Every time I tried to turn the television on he would run outside or hide in the bed upstairs. I felt so bad I went without television for 10 days.

Hopper and Trooper started playing together in the backyard almost from the start. And we slowly got him used to all the household sounds. For four months I took him to the BREW adoption days. Barely any interest at all. Seems as though folks preferred lemon in their tea and not in their beagles. By the fifth adoption day (or the fifth month) I was getting pressured to make him part of the pack. I made a deal, if he got through adoption day then he could come home forever. We arrived at adoption day shortly after noon, one o’clock, two o’clock…no takers. By three o’clock I knew I was going home with another beagle. About 3:30 I pulled the pre-made check from my wallet and signed the paperwork. The house would never be the same again.

He’s really grown in the past 2 years, but we still have some issues. Hopper will no go in the basement, the doorbell still freaks him out and he cries very loud if dad leaves the house and doesn’t take him too. But he is the most loyal of the group and no matter which room I’m in (except the basement) Hopper will be curled up at my side. Read the rest of this entry »

Mark, I want to tell about a remarkable dog I never met or saw in life. She died years before I was born. Peggy was my dad’s childhood friend and my grandmother told me her story. both my grandmother and my dad and others who knew Peggy have died, so I will tell about Peggy. She was a tiny rat terrier(10 lbs or so), white with a black head and ears that stood straight up. She grew up with my dad in rural West Virginia and they were inseperable. He taught her endless tricks and took her everywhere he went. Until the day he left on the train for the Army during WWll. The family (Peggy too) saw my dad off at the train station. As the train vanished into the distance Peggy sat on a railroad tie between the rails staring down the horizon at the dissappearing train. And refused to leave. My grandmother had to carry her home. She instantly ran away and resumed her vigil on the tracks. My grandmother retreived her many times but she always escaped and returned to her railroad tie. Grandma gave up and took food and water to the station. The railroad workers also put out treats for her. Many tried to make friends with her and she ignored them all, waiting for my dad on her railroad tie.

She sat there for days, months, for almost two years until the night she was hit and killed by a train. My grandmother had taken pictures of her on the railroad. they were eerie, spooky black and white images of a tiny dog on a railroad tie in the middle of the tracks. My grandma snapped the pictures from behing Peggy as she stared down the tracks. She did not react in any way to my grandmother, did not move, did not waiver. I could not see her face, just the back of her little black head with ears straight up and straining forward to hear the train. My dad would get choked up whenever he talked about Peggy, even over half a century since she had turned to dust. Once he pulled something out of his pocket to show me. It was one of Peggy’s old collars with a license labeled “Wetzel Co Wva 1936” He had carried the collar for over 5 decades.

Teresa from AZ

My buddy was a potbelly pig. Her name was Moochie. I would take her for a walk like a dog but people would always do a double take. She liked to stand on my lap when I was driving and put her wet nose on the window of my vehicle. At diner time she was always begging for food. Thats how she got her name. She was cleaner than a dog very easy to care for. She loved it when I scratched her belly. When I began to scratch she would flop down on the floor and offer her belly for me to scratch even more. She was alot of fun and I miss her.

Mike from DE

Hi Mark,

I am a conservative listener from Hunterdon County, NJ, a red county in a blue state!

My story is like yours, of sadness over the loss of my dog. Sir Charles A. Winston Spaniel, or Charlie for short, was an English Cocker Spaniel. My fiancée Susan and I rescued him from a puppy store at the local mall in August 1994. We had time to spend in between lunch and the movie so I suggested we go visit the puppies. When we got to the store we saw Charlie, almost six-months old, sitting in his cage. He badly needed a hair cut. He had “Cherry Eye” on both his eyes, a condition where the tear duct pops out. He had them both tucked back in and sutured. His eyes were fine but he had scar tissue. He was marked down to $99. I asked what they were going to do with him and the young lady working there said, “Oh maybe one of us will take him home.” But I knew what his fate was. Scarred eyes on a purebred dog? Nobody wanted him.

I asked if I could see this very sad looking creature. So they let him out and Charlie immediately came to life. He began zooming around the pet store, running around like a crazy dog. But he wasn’t crazy. He was the sweetest, most lovable pup you could imagine. I was smitten. What a sweet dog. Before I knew it I was handing the shop owner my credit card. It was a Friday night and I would return the next day to take him home.

Charlie would become my best little buddy. Potty training him was a chore as he was so old already. He also tore into Susan’s wedding shore gifts which required some weeks of forgiveness but in time he settled down. Every day I would come home from work and we would take our walk around the block. He simply loved this as all dogs do. Read the rest of this entry »

Great book Mark!!! My dog won dog of the year when I was 3 years old and kept me warm during the night and away from a pond as rescue workers finally found me. http://www.delmontedoghero.com/timeline.asp I’m under the year 1979, they highlight my dog Thumper.

Benjamin from OH