Until last Friday, my best friend, an Airedale named Gypsy, went everywhere with me. She helped me feed my livestock every day and rode in the car with me to shop or pick up donations for the local food bank. She was the perfect companion. She listened when my teenagers gave me grief ( and never told anyone!) and loved me even when I scolded her for eating the chicken food I had just put down for the poultry. But last Friday she couldn’t eat or get up so I took her to our vet and within 12 hours my beloved Gypsy was dead.

I read My Friend Marley a year ago Christmas and was very touched by the love this family had for a juvenile deliquent dog but I will have to hold of reading your book for awhile because the hurt of loosing my Gypsy before she was old is way too deep right now. I just wanted you to know that I am soooo glad there are other wackos out there who love thier buddies as mush (almost) as I loved my girlie (that is what I called her). I listened to your talk with Rush and emjoyed it very much.

Gypsy was perfect in every way and the hole in my life is huge!!!!! I have her granddaughter who is 3 months old and looks very much like her but i told the puppy that she will never take Gypsy’s place ,but will be another great dog like her grandma. I think she is happy with that.

Jane from WA

We had an older Great Pyrenees, Stoli for 10 years when we decided that at her advancing age, we would want to get another puppy, so that we would not be without a dog when Stoli’s time came.
We adopted Cedar, a 10 week old Newfoundland-Great Pyrenees mix. We had her for about 6 months when it came time to put Stoli down. A wonderful lady who write for the Oregonian, Deb Wood, answered questionsI had about euthanizing an older pet and dealing with my two children who were 13 and 16 at the time. I took Stoli to the vets (Banfiled – in Petsmart) where I went and talked with them and Stoli had a brief exam and I was reassured that it was the right time. She was ‘asking’ that I help her out.

Two day later, I went in and sitting on the floor with her, help ‘went to sleep, with her head in my lap. I was very peaceful and comforting. I then went home, rounded up my kids and the puppy, and we went back to say ‘goodbye’ My daughter remarked that she looked like she was sleeping. Cedar, the pup sniffed her and I guess she made peace that her ‘old’ friend was not coming home.

Cedar has become our best dog ever! Smart – she has us trained so well. She talks to us and asks when she wants out, to eat, to jump on the bed. Cedar is 8 1/2 and we figured at her size and breed, we may have another 1-2 years with her. She started limping about 2 weeks ago. Vets put her on Rimydal.She finished the last pill yesterday. I took her on a short walk, first one in about 2 weeks. Once home she was limping worse than before. I just reurned from the vets a little while ago where Cedar was x-rayed. I received heartbreaking news. It looks like Cedar has osteosarcoma in her left wrist. The only treatment is amputation. Given her age and weight (128) this is not an option. She has been given pain meds for two weeks.

I don’t know how much longer we will be willing to have her, knowing that even with painkillers she is suffering. Once again we will have this decision to make. I wasn’t ready to get a puppy until summer. I am so concerned to tell my daughter. She is 21 and away at school. She will be crushed, but we will wait to tell her when she comes home this weekend.
I haven’t really cried yet . I don’t think the reality of it has set in yet.

Lesli from OR

My name is Gipper. My possessor/owner is Lady Josephine. According to Lady, I am a handsome, adorable, charming, bonny miniature poodle. Each morning she has a routine, and I am fortunate to travel along. I sit on a double pillow in the passenger seat of her politically decorated silver beetle. The pillows make it convenient for me to see all the routine route and landscape. I am very acquainted with the route to the post office each morning, and then to the drive up coffee where she buys a mocha and i am happy to receive a dog bisquit.

This one special morning, as she turned right onto PCH, the signal at the next corner was yellow and suddenly turned red. The Lady went right through. seconds later i noticed a flashing red light behind us. Lady pulled into the Shell gas station and a black and white car came along side. A handsome uniformed gentleman came to her window. she zapped the window down, and I gleefully jumped on her lap to greet the HANDSOME GENTLEMAN. He petted my head and scratched behind my ears while he and the Lady seemed to be having a pleasant conversation. Then, I heard him say “please be careful”. My Lady thanked him. I returned to my pillows, and as we drove off, my Lady petted me and said, “Hey, Gipper. you did good!”

I felt proud,

(Josephine from CA)

I read your book from cover to cover last night in a few hours. Once I started reading I could not put it down. I cried a lot, but I also smiled a lot, because I knew exactly what the love for a dog feels like. I had a mini schnauzer named Opie (named after Andy Griffith’s Opie). We had him for about 14 years. He had a heart condition for the last 3 years of his life. He took human heart meds and salmon oil every day. We kept him alive even after he had a few heart attacks. We were not going to give up on him. He had been such an important part of our family,that we were going to do all we could for him. After every heart attack, my husband and I would ask the vet if he was suffering and if we were just prolonging his life for our selfish reasons. She told us as long as he is still eating and drinking water, he is okay. She told us he would let us know when the time came to let him go. We would take him for walks twice a day, but they got harder and harder for him.

On a Friday in September of 2003, he let us know that he was ready to go and be with God in doggie heaven. My daughter and I took him to the vet and held him while the vet administered the drugs. We said our goodbyes and cried and cried for days. Read the rest of this entry »

I would like to tell you about a wonderful dog that my wife and I considered our son. My wife had him since she was 12 years old, we are now both 25. Like most dog owners I’m sure my bias comes out when I say he was one of a kind. A personality all his own I’m sure he though he was human. He was always very obedient and it was almost like he could understand what you were saying. We don’t plan on having kids so he was our baby and brought life to us and our home.

His name was Rocky, he was a border collie/german shepherd mix, he loved kids and smaller dogs, and loved being a dog. He was suddenly taken from us Sunday (1/13) morning around 2am. Earlier in the night he had been acting funny and my wife an I woke up around 2am to check on him. He was breathing funny and we decided to take him to the emergency clinic. Before arriving at the clinic he had passed away in the car. While at the house we told him how much we loved him and he was a good boy. I can’t believe he is gone. I’ve lost loved ones before, but I think this has been so much worse because he was so close to us physically and emotionally. I don’t know what else to say other than he is being so missed right now. You’re a good boy rocky.

Daniel and Elisia from FL

I just finished reading your book about Sprite. I was in tears as I read all your thoughts and feelings about losing Sprite. My husband and daughter suffered a similar loss when our beloved beagle, Jake, passed away on October 4, 2005. He had been figting a muscle tumoer and after 10 months of doing his best to survive, it just became unbearable for him.

We had to make that heart wrenching decision to let him go. It is a day that plays over and over in my mind all the time. I wasn’t ready to lose him. He was and always is with me. His love and faithfulness carried us through a devastating miscarriage, loss of my husband’s father and repeat illesses with my own father. Jake was always waiting for us, waiting to offer us his love by snuggling in next to us, licking the tears off our faces and listening to all we had to say. The conversations may have looked one-sided but I knew he understand everything I said to him. He knew when to comfort us and when to make us laugh as he often did when racing around the house or the yard. After his passing, the Vet sent us a wonderful card called “The Rainbow Bridge”.

Jeanne from NY