Just finished Rescuing Sprite. We had to put Brandy, our tan Sheltie down too. She had a tumor under her tongue and surgery to remove would have left her with a food tube and much discomfort. My vet told us to love her for a week or more and we would know what to do. She stopped eating and spent time under our deck by herself – she also let us cuddle her and love and kiss her but she was not feeling well.

It is hard to make that decision but it’s much easier on pet. The ones left are burdened with
guilt. Did we do the right thing. And there is guilt that you feel so depressed and sad over
the death of a dog. But it isn’t just a dog – the love they give is so fulfilling. We couldn’t eat at our table because we missed Brandy not being there. You are so consumed with grief – maybe more than even when parents
died. Our parents were elderly and not well and we were sad – but we were devastated when
Brandy died.We have her ashes in a wooden box – I’m going to plant a tree
like you did and use her remains to fertilize. Thank you for the good idea.

PS Our vet wanted us to contact a man who wanted to get rid of his Sheltie. He wanted to travel and not be burdened with dog. Our vet called every day to see if we had called the man. I told him I wasn’t ready for a dog and asked him if his wife died would he look for a new one right away. We did finally call the man and drove over to see dog. He wasn’t very kind to the dog and we felt sorry for the dog and ended up taking her home. We’ve had her for 2 years and she is loved and cherished. Becky has her own personality and has filled a void we had in our hearts.

I’m thankful that my vet kept telling me to call Becky’s owner. And I like Rush and Sean even more since I know
they share our love of animals. I enjoyed your book and had a good cry over story and memories it brought back.

Thank you-
Fondly,

Elizabeth from OH

DEAR MARK:
A FRIEND OF MIND JUST GAVE ME YOUR BOOK YESTERDAY. I NEVER HEARD OF YOU BUT WHEN I STARTED READING YOUR BOOK I COMPLETED IT IN A MATTER OF HOURS. I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY NUT THAT STILL MISSES THEIR DOG. MY DOG LACEY WAS A FEMALE FAWN BOXER BACK IN OCTOBER WHEN I TOOK HER FOR HER YEARLY BLESSING AT CHURCH FOR ST FRANCIS AS WE WERE RETURNING TO THE CAR I NOTICED HER WALKING STRANGE. PRIOR TO THIS SHE HAD BEEN TAKING ANTI INFLAMATORY FOR HIP PAIN WHICH WAS WORKING WELL.

I WAITED UNTIL SATURDAY AND TOOK HER TO THE VET WHEN SHE TOOK BLOOD WORK AND FOUND THAT HER BLOOD COUNT WAS VERY LOW. FOLLOWING MONDAY TOOK HER BACK FOR X RAY OF HER REAR LEG AND SONOGRAM THE RESULTS MONDAY EVENING WAS LACEY WAS FULL OF CANCER.

BY WEDNESDAY, OCT 10, 2007 WE HAD HER PUT TO SLEEP. I THINK ABOUT HER EVERYDAY AND CAN CERTAINLY RELATE TO YOUR LOSS.

MAY GOD BLESS THE DOG LOVERS,

Richard from NJ

Mark,
As a former Marine and an ex-Police Officer of 23 years, I always considered myself to be pretty tough emotionally. After losing my dad in 1979 I shed tears, and again in 2004 when I lost my Shelties Peetie and Pattie within a week of each other. The 3rd time was after reading your book Rescuing Sprite.

Mark, when we humans get to the Rainbow Bridge to again meet up with Sprite, Peetie, and Pattie, and all the other great pets we have had, we as dog lovers will take their leashes, hold them tightly, and go together into the Realm of Joy and once again experience their love and companionship.

Tim from CA

HE GOT SO SICK AND COULD HARDLY WALK.. MY HEART WAS BROKEN BUT YET HE FOLLOWED ME AROUND THE HOUSE. I FINALLY PUT HIM IN MY BED WITH TOWELS AND LAID DOWN WITH HIM. I TOLD HIM I LOVE HIM AND THAT IT WAS OK IF HE DIED THAT I WOULD UNDERSTAND. IT WOULD BREAK MY HEART BUT IT WAS OK AS I DID NOT WANT HIM TO SUFFER. WITHIN 3 MINS., HE CRAWLED UP ON MY SHOULDER AND PASSED AWAY., I WILL NEVER FORGET THIS CAT OR HOW HE DIED. I AM STILL THINKING ABOUT HIM AND WILL MISS AND LOVE HIM TILL WE ARE JOINED TOGETHER.. NO MATTER WHAT ANIMAL YOU HAVE LOVE THEM AND KNOW YOU ARE THEIR KEEPERS.
GOD BLESS YOU ALL

James from CA

Rescuing Sprite was given to me as a Christmas gift by my wife. It was a great read and wonderful to learn that others are looking to their local shelters to find new companions.

My wife and I adopted our first dog together a little over a year ago. She is a beautiful German Wirehaired Pointer/Terrier cross with the rare wirehaired colouring. Because of my love for the classics, we named her Athena. My wife fell in love with Athena from the start.

Some nine months after adopting Athena, it was evident that our busy lives were not good for having a lone dog. So we began the search for a companion for Athena. That is when we found Eros.

Eros is a Wirehaired Griffon crossed with what I suspect is black lab. When we got Eros, he was in bad shape. He was twenty pounds underweight, he had a tick, kennel cough and influenza. It was also evident that he had been abused in the past as he was quite hand shy.

After taking him to our local vet for a look over, we also learned that he had had Parvo virus as a pup and survived! As a result, some of his teeth are deformed and his top front teeth had to be pulled.

Even after all of this, Eros surprised me in his demeanor. In the six months we have had him, never once has he nipped in anger, displayed aggression, or woke up grumpy. Matter of fact, he tends to decide that I need to be up by 7am every morning just so I can play with him! Oh, and he figures that his 50 pound frame is a suitable size for being a lap dog (amazingly, he can curl himself into a smaller ball than Athena).

Athena, being true to her German bloodline, tends to be aloof and grumpy at times. Eros, however, lets his sister’s grumpiness roll off his shoulders and is willing to greet any visitors Athena decides she does not like (to the point of giving away the house).

These two have been wonderful additions to our family and I hope to have many years with them.

Thank you for writing your story, Mark.

Travis from CA

Dogs are smarter than most people,and so are most of the other domestic and wild animals.We can learn from them, pure honesty and pure loyalty… for example… way out in the middle of nowhere… the deer and the rabbits on my farm are not scared of my dogs…. and the dogs are not allowed to chase or hunt them, even if its against what a dog is born to do. On the other hand I hunt and kill and eat those animals myself and put them in the freezer. When i harvest these animals, (yes im a farmer) i do it in the wild enviroment… not on my farm… please excuse my bad grammer and spelling.

I guess my point is that animals, wild and domestic, actually know there place in life more than us humans do…the wild free ones seem to know that they are safe in the front yard…..and also know they are open targets when out in the woods…..there is a hidden message in this …..i think LOL………just for the record im 4th generation farmer and i work in oil field to afford to farm…..fair warning..produce does not grow in the back of the local market….when the s#!t goes down you city folks are goona be in a world of hurt and we wont be able to help you when we have to just take care of our own…..true conservatives ,”bring home the bacon”..they actually feed the people. Read the rest of this entry »