My father died or end stage lung disease in 1984. Over his last few years he sat exclusively in a chairbeing too breathless to lay flat. My collie Brandy,then 10 years of age,always looked for the coolest place in our old hot house to lie down. Somehow the connection between my father’s cold blue legs were made. Day in and day out he would lie on my father’s cold feet. This relationship lasted my dad’s final three years. Withinmonths they were both gone. I still cry when I think of them together.

Anonymous from WV

Hi Mark,

We lost our Dog KC of fifteen years this past October. I have never been as heart broken over the loss of a pet and I am still not over it yet. I found out about your book Rescuing Sprite listening to Rush. I ordered your book the same day. I though that it would be a two day read for me and after three weeks of reading I am on page 158. I read until I can’t see anymore do to the tears. I am amazed of what Sprite went through and how it sounded like our situation. Thank you for your incite and God Bless.

Chuck from AZ

Hi Mark,

Let me first say I enjoy your show and I am about halfway through with your book. It is already hard to hold the tears back as I read about Sprites deteriorating health. I am a 51 year old retired Air Force Master Sergeant, and it is hard not to shed tears as I read.

Anyways, it has been almost 10 years that my wife and I said goodbye to our sweet dog Katy. I still regret the day I did this. We got Katy as a pup. She was a mix Golden Retriever and white German Shepherd. We had her for about 5 years. When I retired in 1998, my wife and I moved from Missouri to Michigan. Because we were going to lease a house, we had to find a new home for Katy. They would not allow us to have a pet in the house we leased. Before we left Missouri we found a good home (so we thought for her). An elderly couple wanted her through the pictures and bio we had sent out. They had her for only a short time and it did not work out. So Katy went to a rescue center. She was adopted by another family, but for only a short time. Katy’s problem was she did not get along too well with kids. When she was a pup the neighbor kids would tease her, coax her over to the fence, then kick the fence and yell at her. So Katy grew up not liking kids too much. Read the rest of this entry »

Hi Mark,

I’m so sorry you lost your Sprite and I loved the book (I finished it a few short hours after I got it). We just lost our German Shepard, Emma (December 5 at 10:30 p.m.). We rescued Emma when she was a pup — she was the runt of the litter, very shy and this “breeder” was going to put her down. We had her for almost ten years. This past summer she developed an autoimmune disorder where her body was attacking her red blood cells (to an almost fatal level). She was admitted to the emergency vet hospital (Veterinary Referral and Emergency Center in Norwalk, CT — I very highly recommend this place they are great). And, after about five days they great people at the hospital brought our Emma back to health and we were able to bring her home on Halloween. She had a great five weeks, but on the 5th of December she went downhill fast. It wasn’t her red blood cell count this time — it was something else: her heart was racing and her breathing was very different and her mouth was clenched shut. (The vet told me that she most likely had a stroke and there was nothing anyone could have done). I knew in my heart that it was Emma’s time and I wanted to give her a chance to die at home, rather than rush her to the vets and risk her dying alone there or having to put her down. My husband, Matt, got home at 8:30 that evening and Emma was lying on her favorite bed at her favorite spot in the house (behind the sectional in the family room — this was Emma’s den). Matt sat next to her and was petting her (I was outside with our other five dogs). He called for me, but when I got inside, she had already died. Matt told me that she lifted up her head, gave him a kiss and gently died. I prayed to God to please take Emma and spare us of having to do the deed, and He did.

God bless you Mark

Ingrid from CT

Dean Koontz just spent the last hour of his interview on his love for dogs and has similar recounting of his loss and how it has taken him a while to get another dog. He was asked if he would clone his lost pet if he could and he provided the best answer of all. His answer can be found on the coast2coasllive web site, hist 12/9 interview with Ian Punnet. Just wonderful.

Andrew from NJ

Mark,

Thanks so much for writing Rescuing Sprite. One would think it would be an easier read then Men in Black, but not for us dog lovers. We had a Golden Retriever Collie mix that my father had to have put down when I was sixteen. Pepe our Golden was also 16; I knew no life without him. It was devastating.

It wasn’t until I was 43, just 3 years ago that I got another Golden Retriever. We named her Liberty. She is incredibly affectionate, loving and loyal so much so we went back for another. We now have 2 Golden Retrievers, 3 & 2 years old. They are so much a part of our family that I can’t help thinking that we outlive our pets, a time that is so far off, yet I dread today.

I am very patriotic and proud of this country. So much so we named our Golden’s Liberty & Justice. If either were a male he would have been named Reagan.

God Bless you for all that you do.

Robert from NY