While reading Rescuing Sprite to my blind husband it was so hard to read without crying.

Duke, my 10 yr old Doberman was the biggest baby. He was so gentle, thought he was a lap dog. Like you said in Sprite, he was always there for me with kisses, patients, love and when my depression kicked in he would just be there. He would get in my lap and the kisses would be bountiful.

One night I found a lump on his throat. The vet did a biopsy on it, but it was clear. Where the growth was it just couldn’t be removed without Duke bleeding to death. the vet said just love him, take the best care of him you can and when the time is right he’ll let you know. Duke was so special to me with the love he had for me and my cats. They all slept together. Read the rest of this entry »

Mark,
I received “Rescuing Sprite” as a Christmas gift from my father, who, along with the rest of my family, shared with me the life of my beloved Polo, a rescue from the Humane Society in Huntsville, AL. I was in college at the University of Alabama when I got Polo. She was the last of a litter of puppies, all her siblings and her mother had already been adopted. There she was, in that cage, all by herself, and I knew that was the dog for me. She went through college with me, then my single years, then me getting married and having a baby. She was my companion through 16 years of changes. She was my best friend through it all.

I moved to Maryland when she was 12, and I wasn’t sure how she would handle the move. She handled it beautifully, and became crazy about my husband, even though she’d had me all to herself for 12 years. I had my first baby when she was 15, and she was really starting to slow down. She had no known health problems, just old age. She started pacing during her 15th year, so much that she wore the pad off of her foot and it bled everywhere. It was so hard because there was no diagnosis, no life threatening disease. Just old age. She began to have trouble standing, her muscles were giving out on her. Her pacing got progressively worse.

When my son had just turned one, I realized that Polo did not have her quality of life anymore. I tried everything I could to deny it, but I finally had to face it. Read the rest of this entry »

Thank-you for such a beautiful story. My husband gave it to me for Christmas, and I read it with my 3 (rescue) greyhounds within arms reach. I dread the day something happens to them, but with their cancer risk, recognize that odds are, that day will come. God bless your family, including your pups.

Cindy from OH

I just read your book having found it on a bookstall at Leeds railway station. I hope lots of other people find it there too. Thank you for being brave enough to write it. So many people are afraid to say how much they grieve for their lost pets because they think people won’t respect their feelings. Hopefully your book will help such people to know it’s OK to grieve deeply for our beloved pets.

Your Sprite looks very like one of our golden retrievers, Tuppy, who died 15 years ago now. She used to follow me wherever I went and was very gentle and sweet natured. I’ve had dogs all my life (I’m in my sixties now) but they are all still with me in spirit.

I can’t tell you about all of them but we now have two rescue dogs – JD, an 11-year-old Welsh Springer Spaniel, who is a glorious madcap like many spaniels, and Kita, a 12-year-old Japanese Akita x German Shepherd. Kita was very scared when we first had her seven years ago and had clearly had a bad time in the past, but years of love and care later she is calm and happy, and people now see her laughing instead of commenting always as they used to when we first had her on how very sad her expression was.

We got Kita (and a dear elderly dog Tanya who had the most wonderful smile you ever saw, and who died five years ago after six years of happy life with us) from the Leeds branch of the British national charity The Dogs Trust, who never put any healthy dog put to sleep. They re-home thousands of dogs every year and if they can’t find homes for them they care for them themselves. They have no State support and live entirely on donations. Could some of the proceeds of the UK sales of your book go to the Dogs Trust? I expect they could help sell copies of the book, too.

Pat from England

Hello Mark,
I have just finished reading your book Rescuing Sprite.
I felt comfort in reading it as I just lost my best friend Sandy on December 6th 2007.
I am still grieving over her.
I had her nine years and was blessed to have had her.
She tore the muscels and legiments in her back left leg and her other three legs were weak and unstable. She also had high emzynes in her liver.
The vet said she would not make it through surgery and thus I had to make the tough decision of putting her to sleep.
I have her ashes and those of another dog I had named bear and they sit on the headboard of the bed next to me.
I have left instructions with my wife and grown children that they are to be buried with me when my time comes.
Thank you for a wonderful book. It is helping me to cope more with Sandy’s passing.
Thanks again and keep up the good work.
My condolences to you and your family for the loss of Sprite.
Sincerely

Mike from NY

My husband gave me a copy of your book
” Rescuing Sprite”

I wanted to tell you it took a lot of courage to write that. I had lost two of my best friends in one year, 5 years ago and although a good writer have not been able to bring myself to put pen to paper on my life with them. It took me 5 years to get over helping both my kitty, Barney who helped me survive a nasty divorce and my beloved Matisse, my german warmblood mare. One poem I I have in my office that helps me, it is written by an anoyomous auther is this;

In Loving Memory

God saw you were getting tired and a Cure was not to be So he put His arms around you And whispered ” Come to Me”
With tearful eyes I watched
As you began to fade away
Although I loved you dearly
I could make you stay
A golden heart stopped beating
Strong, soft paws came to rest
God broke our hearts to prove to us
He only takes the very best
I got this from the petloss grief site. I highly recomment it

We have a rescue horse now and also a beautiful 14 yr old rescue rotti

Kathi from NY