After the Katrina Natural Disaster I went to Mississippi to volunteer to help those that were left with out homes. I stayed with one of many unsung Christian Church Groups that performs many services for our fellow Americans in their time of need. While working one day I noticed a dog that was wandering around our worksite. Days would go by and I would continue to see this dog around. I eventually was able to approach and comfort this obviously skiddish dog.I could only imagine what this dog went through. I continued to see the dog each day as we traveled from the Church to the homesite we worked. The dog was ailing and I felt I needed to help besides just feeding her. Local citizens suggested that Animal control be notified because of the issue with homeless Animals after the Hurricane. I did not want to let the dog go because by now the dog was coming to me each day and I was becoming attached to her.
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Abby was our Golden Retreiver growing up in Spokane, Wa. We were a family of five children with my mother who raised us as a single Mom. She lived with a lot of extreme pain but would always have a smile for Abby. Abby would always greet her and us with a smile as we would come home. Her tail whipping up a frenzy as we welcomed all of her wet slobbery kisses and whacks from her tail!!!! We grew up amidst a lot of pain and anger from our Father leaving us but Abby would cover that pain with her love and smile each day. God had placed her with us I believe to help deal with the pain and anger.

I will never forget the day I came home from college due to a phone call from my mother stating that Abby was very sick and that I should come home as soon as I could. She was 16 years old , she looked at me with her tail wagging and her loving eyes even when she was sick and in pain.

We knew it was time to let her go so that she would not have to deal with the extreme pain that she was dealing with.

My mother and I took her to her Vet. My mother could not go in the room with the doctor. I could not leave her alone. The vet was very kind and let me hold her head as she was given the shot to put her to sleep in heaven. She looked at me once last time as her head slowly went limp in my hands. I cried so hard much harder than I ever cried in my life. She was always my bright spot and best companion and friend. I miss you Abby to this day…..

Bill from WA

After reading Rescuing Sprite 3 times in the last week, I decided to share my own dog story. My family has always had dogs since I was a kid – all breeds & sizes. All were part of our family from the time we brought them home until the end of their lives. All lived to be between 11 to 17 years old. I have been with 3 of them when the time came to put them down. It is difficult to recall those events to this day despite the fact that I am convinced the right decision was made in each case. I’ve never owned a shelter dog but half of my dogs have been rescued strays. The dog I have now is Amber. She is Chesapeake Bay retriever or possibly a lab mix. I’m located in the Dallas area with my parents, brothers and sister living nearby. We have a lake house on Cedar Creek Lake where my parents found Amber on New Year’s Day 2001 during a bitterly cold spell that had generated a snow and ice storm. Amber was a year old and very skinny. The cold nights in the 20s must have been very hard on her. She had been in the area for about a month and was being fed by our neighbors who were up in their 80’s and could not take the dog as their own. My parents and some of their friends were staying at the lake for the weekend.

 As my mother was outside doing chores or taking walks, the dog approached her several times for some attention and reassurance. It was obvious that the dog was afraid of strangers but also desperately wanted some human attention. During this time, my mother did not feed the dog; she simply spoke to the dog and petted her for a while. At the end of the weekend as my mother was driving from the house, she looked into the rearview mirror and saw the dog chasing after her. That was it. She stopped the car, got the dog in and called me to say she was bringing me a dog. We were not able to locate her original owners. Amber was already housebroken and well behaved except for some chewing issues which we worked out. I have had Amber for 7 years now and she is a great dog. She is perfectly behaved, very smart, and wonderful with all the kids – including the children too young to understand how to treat a dog. Of the 4 dogs owned by members of my family she is definitely the favorite. Based on this experience, I decided that any dogs I get in the future will be secondhand dogs from a shelter or rescued myself.

Mark, do you realize that you have written nothing less than Old Yeller for the 21st century? While you are not scratching out a living on the Texas frontier in the 19th century, you did take in an unwanted dog which became part of your family, contributed to your family’s well being, and you had to face the terrible decision to end Sprite’s life when the time came. I think that Rescuing Sprite has a chance of becoming a classic. It will always be so for me.

Greg from TX

I have had pets all my life. They have always been some sort of rescue or from a shelter. In ’98 we rescued a puppy from a flood,,to which we named “Noah”,,who has become a vital member of our family, my protector and my best friend. In ’01 we adopted a Bichon(Maggie) that was rescued from a puppy mill and a year later we did a foster for another Bichon from a puppy mill to which we named “Scruff”,,this poor old man who was 9 at the time was in horrific shape,,a tumor on his eye,,and all but 3 teeth had to be pulled,,I wasn’t sure what I had gotten myself into with this,,he would just cower in a corner and soil himself, scared to death of people, but, it didn’t take long for him to realize that he was not going to be abused and came around rather quickly,,learning how to play and act like a dog. Soon after we went thru the adoption process to make him a part of our family. Three weeks ago we had to put Scruff down,,his old abused body had begun to give out. I am blessed to have had the chance to give him a life for 5 years that a dog should have, a life with
love and kindness. He will be missed. Below is a picture of our “Scruffers”, who has to suffer no longer.

Carolin from Iowa

I wanted to share a story about my niece Debbie and her chocolate cocker Ernie. They have been undergoing chemo simultaneously, Debbie for breast cancer and Ernie for lymphoma. Debbie recently finished her chemo but Ernie, predicted to live until only last Jan, continues receiving experimental dosages weekly that have kept him lively and well. I believe God has kept little Ernie with us to help Debbie, 45 years old, through her recent double mastectomy, chemo, and soon, reconstruction surgery.

You see Debbie is a dog angel who has worked with cocker spaniel rescue tirelessly for many, many years. She has fostered many dogs until she found them good homes and has also adopted a few herself and gave them the love and nurturing they didn’t previously have, since many were abused or abandoned, until they left this earth. I can’t tell you how many tears have come from her beautiful blue eyes and warm heart.

Debbie currently has Ernie and Dudley, another rescued chocolate cocker, and continues to give most of her free time to fundraising for the Northern Virginia Cocker Rescue, “Oldies but Goodies”. I’d like to ask for your prayers for Ernie and Debbie, but especially for Debbie so that she can continue to bring love and peace to God’s little animals and continue to bring joy to all of us who know and love her.

Attached is a picture of Ernie and Dudley dressed in their Ladybug and Bumblebee Halloween costumes. They also are affectionately known as the Minke Brothers.

Elaine from VA

Today I went to my local off-leash beach to walk my best friend Nikki for her daily exercize. As I was walking back a woman came running up to me and asked if the dog she had a hold of was mine. It was a beautiful yellow lab around 3 years old. She explained he had been running around endlessly looking for it’s owner. I said no and immediately checked to find a number to reach the owner, only to find he had no tags. It was getting dark out, sooner than usual because of daylight non-savings, and made me sad that there would be a chance that this loyal dog wouldn’t be reunited with its owner. I didn’t know what to do, so I just got the womans number in case i somehow saw the owner looking for the dog.
On my way back I couldn’t get the lab out of my head, and kept thinking that that dog could end up in a dog shelter.

Then, all of a sudden I saw a girl in her twenties running towards me. She asked if I had seen a lab, and I excitedly said yes. I told her I had the womans number, which I got on a whim. I could tell she had been crying and she, who never had met me gave me a huge hug and thanked me as if I had saved her life. I gave her the womans number who had her dog and she ran towards the location I saw the woman walking. I could tell that the girl loved her dog very much, but the situation could not have ended as smooth as it did. I decided to write this story to make sure everyone has tags for their dogs, both personal and government. When I find lost dogs and they have tags I can’t wait to call the owner to reunite the unconditional bond between a man/woman and their dog. Without the tags it can be very hard to reunite.

Tristan from CA