Your listeners know that you are a great and passionate patriot to be included with names like Adam Smith and John Locke. You have said that the joy man’s best friend brings to his owner is greater than the sadness of his death…this is true, in spite of the fact that Sprite’s death brought depression to you. You know by now that millions have felt the way you do. You are so right in encouraging your listeners to adopt a dog from a shelter.

You have not spoken of owning a dog when you were a child. When I was young, I felt that only the dogs I got from the shelters loved me. Thus, when they died, my grief was profound. If I spoke to an adult of my sadness, none that I knew
would have understood or cared. Nevertheless, I never hesitated to get another dog because I feel it is an honor to be around something that gives love and loyality in such a unqualified manner.
Dogs are nature’s innocent since their only concerpt of good and evil is what we tell them. Unlike mankind, unless a dog has been breed or trained by manfor evil purposes, he will instintively choose to do good.
As I e-mailed to one of your other correspondents, if there are no dogs in Heaven, I choose not to go.

Having said that, may I also say to you, my good friend,
may God bless you…this nation would be less without you.

David from KS

We had to put our dog “Bullet”, a Pit Bull to sleep on May 13, 2007. My daughter got him when he was 8 weeks old in October 1999. My husband and I were not happy that she got a pit bull because all we had heard about pit bulls was negative. Bullet became a part of our family; he was a very loving dog, we all came to love him very much. In March 2007 he was treated for a bladder infection, after being on the medicine he did not get any better, his vet did blood work and x-rays but could not figure out what was wrong. The vet recommended he get an ultrasound which revealed he had cancer, a fast growing tumor in his prostate that had no cure, would become very painful and meant he had a short time to live comfortably. His cancer was rare for his breed, his age and in a neutered male. He was put on pain medicine, which made him feel somewhat better but we did not want to let him get real sick or be in pain.

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Rani Tuchman was much more than just a Bichon Frise, to me, he was my child. When Rani passed away in my arms after a long illness, I was heartbroken.

He was my constant companion for 14 years. I couldn’t imagine a world without Rani. He had been a source of comfort and love throughout my own chronic illness which caused me to be housebound for many years. But in the last year of Rani’s life I was the one who was taking care of him.

When Rani died, it felt like part of me had died.
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Lady was a buff colored cocker spaniel who live next door to me. She would wander over and I would rub her tummy. She was such a sweet dog.

The neighbors were in a divorce situation and neither wanted that dog.

I said, give her to me.

She was the first dog I ever had in Chicago since moving from the east coast. She was a dream come true.

She became ill and I took her everywhere to find the cause. At the end, her liver failed her. I held her in my arms when the shot came. Her head just went down as she fell into internal sleep.

I drove home screaming LADY! LADY! and crying all the way.

What I want to say is that there is no greater pain than losing a pet. Not a pet but a real companion.

A friend of mine with compassion did an oil painting of Lady which I have enclosed.

I applaud Mark for bring out all these stories. Left or Right we all share in this one area.

Linda from IL

I  enjoy you and your show much. This story happened in 12/04 We had a dog, Spot, that we had almost 14 years and yes, he was a part of our family. All of a sudden he began to get weaker and could not go up and down our steps. I knew something was wrong. It looked like he had been hit by a car, but that was not the case here. I will never forget it, it was Thanksgiving, and he was getting worse. He could not walk at all. I had to carry him outside so he could use the restroom, then I had to clean him up.It did not matter, because I had the hope of seeing him get better. But he didn’t, he got worse and I know by looking into his eyes that he did not want to live like this.

Anyway, I had taken him to the vet (emergency) and they diagnosed him of a central nervous condition which he would not get better. We kept taking care of him and he was getting worse by the day. We decided to go ahead and put him down. He slept in our den, close to us while he was sick. After our decision, I called our family vet to arrange his day. Well it seemed that he heard me on the phone with the vet. She was going to come and administer the shot on Wednesday, but he passed on his own on Tuesday afternoon. I am just wondering if he actually knew of his demise. It has been a couple or three years now and we still miss him. He is laid to rest in our back yard along with our cat of 18 years. We now have a Malamute that seems to help with the healing, we now love our new pet alike as we did Spot, but no pet can take his place, we still miss him, and our cat. Our new pup is just a little over a year and the vet said that his vision is 30% gone because of cataracts. She said the surgery was expensive, I told my wife to start saving for it. I will send a picture later.
Thanks

Ron from NC

Puff ,a tiny red poodle came into my life a month after I lost two chocolate poodles within a month of each other.She gave me nothing but steadfast love for thirteen years.I vowed never to be so sad again,but soon knew I could not be without a loving dog.So through tears shed over Puff I found a silver poodle who had been abused. Sue-Q wormed her way into my heart,and though she can`t replace my Puff she has given me much joy.Over the years many dogs shared their love with me,but for some reason Puff was extra special,and I`ll miss her until the day we are reunited in heaven.

Therese from CA