Mark,

I really appreciate your love of your dogs. They need good people like you to take care of them.

I lost my beautiful little girl Cocoa two years ago today, Dec 9th, 2005. Her kidneys had been failing. We had for some weeks been giving her subcutaneous fluids to keep her alive.During the last weeks she would occasionally go into convulsions. Without going into too much detail, the end came when she simply stopped breathing. Two years later it is still emotional for me to write this.

She saved my wife’s life. During one of my deployments (I was in the Navy deploying on USS Florida in those days) my wife became seriously ill. Cocoa knew this and took care of her while I was gone. I am convinced that she saved my wife’s life and knew that she was doing it. Every morning she would ensure that my wife would wake up during a time when that may well have not happened. She was aggressive and would not let up until my wife was awake. If she had not done this I have no doubt that my wife would not have survived her illness.

Everyone who ever met her loved her immediately. Even the emergency animal hospital, on one night two weeks before she died when we had to rush her there they stopped in the middle of the night to take a group picture with her. They had never seen her before and normally an animal’s presence would have been just business. Not with Cocoa.

She was truly extraordinary.

I want to thank Mark for giving me the opportunity to write about Cocoa. I have many more stories about her and will perhaps be able to share them one day.

God bless you.

Michael from WA

My story is not unlike so many that is written here. As a child growning up my family always had cats. But when I got out on my own my roommate was a yellow Lab. I got him as a puppy. At first I could not think of a name for him. But after several days of being with him I decided on Doozer. He loved to dig holes. Doozer and I went ecrywhere together. When I came home from work There he would be sitting at the end of the walkway waiting for me. He knew what time I would be home everyday. after threes years I found out that Doozer had stomach cancer. Through out his fight Doozer never wavered. Never got mad, Anytime someone came to visit he would come running to meet them. He stayed by myside all the time we watched tv together, walked meet new people in parks together. 6 months ago I laid m,y best friend to rest. The day I took him to the vet it was like he knew. He laid his head on my leg as I drove him to the vet. Before the vet gave him the needle Doozer nodged me with his nose and licked my hand and face. then it was over.

Mark I have been a big fan of yours I caught u one sunday night on WABC on my car radio. I started to listen to you on line. When your book came out I could not find it here. So I drove to Bangor, Maine to a Borders and bought two copies. one for me and one for my aunt who has gone througth this truma several times. It was about 300 honred mile to get your book but brother it was worth every mile. Thank you.

David from Nova Scotia

Maceo, a Chocolate Lab/Doberman mix, was old and failing. After several surgeries and courses of chemotherapy for his extensive mast cell tumors, it was time for him to be sedated and spend his final days with the children. He was there before they came into the family, and he welcomed and protected them. As usual, he always found a place to rest near them. Our granddaughters and Maceo were best pals. Now it was their turn to care for him. He is so weak and in distress. Nieta covers him up. Now he seems to be more comfortable, lying next to her favorite stuffed animal, “Baa.” Only Maceo could separate her from Baa. Shh! Maceo is sleeping. He had to be put down a few days later.

Ken from FL

Dear Mark,
I have not bought your book yet but am planning to. I at one time had an Afghan Hound I adopted through the local paper. I had Rudi for about eight years before I had to put him down because he had addison’s disease. The vet put him down and I wasn’t goint to get any more dogs. Well to make a long story short about two to three months went by and the same vet had a Sheltie brought in with a broken leg and the womans husband didn’t want to pay the vet bill so he gave the dog to me. His name was Guido and we had him for ten years before he got lupus. I didn’t know dogs could get this but the vet said it is not uncommon. It was the hardest thing to watch this dog die everyday before I put him down. I would visit the vets office everyday to check on his progress. He didn’t get better after three days and the vet said with his age it was unlikely he would come out of it. She called me on a Monday evening and I knew it was time. I broke down crying like a little kid. But I knew it was in Guidos best interest not to let him suffer anymore. So Mark, I know what you are going through because I had to do it twice. It is not an easy thing to do when you get so attached to these animals. I will get another dog one of these days because it is just not home without a dog wagging its tail when you come home after working all day and no one to greet you when you come home. Thank for letting me write my story.

Jeff from WV

Mark,
My wife sent me this story. I think it best describes the dog.

Dogs’ Purpose

Dogs’ Purpose, from a 4-year-old:
Being a veterinarian, I had been called to examine a ten-year-old
Irish Wolfhound named Belker. The dog’s owners, Ron, his wife,
Lisa, and their little boy, Shane, were all very attached to Belker, and
they were hoping for a miracle.

I examined Belker and found he was dying of cancer. I told the
family we couldn’t do anything for Belker, and offered to perform the
euthanasia procedure for the old dog in their home.

As we made arrangements, Ron and Lisa told me they thought it
would be good for four-year-old Shane to observe the procedure. They felt
Shane might learn something from the experience.

The next day, I felt the familiar catch in my throat as Belker’s
family surrounded him. Shane seemed so calm, petting the old dog
for the last time, that I wondered if he understood what was going on.
Within a few minutes, Belker slipped peacefully away. The little boy
seemed to accept Belker’s transition without any difficulty or confusion.

We sat together for a while after Belker’s death,wondering aloud
about the sad fact that animal lives are shorter than human lives.
Shane, who had been listening quietly, piped up, “I know why”.

Startled, we all turned to him. What came out of his mouth next
stunned me. I’d never heard a more comforting explanation.
He said, “People are born so that they can learn how to live a
good life — like loving everybody all the time and being nice, right?”
The four-year-old continued, “Well, dogs already know how to do that, so
they don’t have to stay as long”.

Remember, if a dog was your teacher, you would learn stuff like: Read the rest of this entry »

dear mark i have lost my best friend tugger today he was one of two cats that my wife denise and I have had for 6 yrs it was congestive heart failure that took him from us .it has taken me 10 hours to write this to you because I think you understand how i fell I have listend to you ever since you came on the radio here in Det.

I have listend to you talk about sprite and about your book . So I know you understand how we feel It has been helpfull to me just writing this to you my shirt is wet from the tears as I do this. thank you for being there for me at this time even thow we may never meet i love you brother thank you,

John from MI