You described your anguish after Sprite, and related how you questioned the meaning of your professional life and your future role in it. You seeminigly contrasted negatively your feelings about what you do with “doctors, nurses, and vetinarians”; the healers, you called us. Mark, I’m a phsician, and I get a good deal of my inner strength from you, from listening to you the commentator, you the constitutional lawyer, and yes, you the dog lover. Mark, don’t for a second ever doubt that the strength that you give to us healers who listen to you is not in some way, some how, tranmitted to our patients when we do our jobs; please know that some of us do it better by our exposure to you and your ideas. You reach, and heal, more people than you could ever imagine.

We put down Higbie, our 14 year old female Shih Tsu, this past New Year. I had rescued her 6 years previously from a divorced spouse who had abandoned her following our split. Higbie had liver failure; I’m a liver doctor, and I could not help her any longer. I know your pain.

Louis from NY

My dog, Scamper had to be put to sleep many years ago. He was 11 years old and had been with us since he was a puppy. Losing him was like losing a member of our family. My mother cried for weeks. He had been bleeding inside and my father took him to the vet to be put down. I received this in my e-mail and I want to share it with others:

A little long but worth the read….
Read the rest of this entry »

Hi Mark- I heard you talk about Sprite on your radio show tonight, 11/5. Our dog, Midnight, was 17 when she died several years ago. She was recued as a puppy along the side of a road in Virginia. How she ended up in Florida, I’m not sure, but the lady who had her was getting a divorce and could not keep her. She was a black dog, mixed breed, and was devoted to my husband in particular. She tolerated adults but loved children. She developed congestive heart failure around age 15 and medication kept her going for a while. Like you, I prayed for God to let her die in her sleep but this never happened. We had to make the same awful decision as you did. We were at our summer home in the mountains of North Carolina, where she loved to be. I remember sitting with her the night before and crying my eyes out. I think she knew. We buried her under the small stand of locust trees on our property. Tears still well up when I think of her and also the many other pets that we have had over the years who have gone to doggy or kitty heaven. Thank you for sharing your story. I can’t wait to read your book!

 Debbie from FL

Sparkie was his name, he was a minurature schnauser. 10 years old, greated me each day when I got home from work. The neighbors loved him, what a dog. 1997, my wife left me with 4 kids and Sparkie. It was hard for a long time., we made it by being a family, sparkie was a big part of that. He was starting to loose his eye sight, not bad but getting worse. Sparkie never roamed , he loved it at home. One day he was not at home to greet me, I knew something was wrong. We looked all over the neighbor hood, no Sparkie. Something is wrong. We searched all possible places he might be, the pound etc. No Sparkie. Aeek went by, we got a call from the neighbor behind us, he had some bad news. Sparkie had wandered into his back yard in the dark and fell into their pool. The pool was half full, Sparkie could not get out. Sparkie dround in that pool. My oldest son and I pulled sparkie out of that pool, we will never forget that moment…..NEVER…..Please Mark, remember all the great times you had with your dog, you got to say godbye to your dog…We never got to say goodbye to our dog. You’ll be ok, we still have a hard time trying to replace our great dog…

Michael from OR

During my tour in Vietnam, our squadron had a mascot named “Lady”. She was mixed breed, she had a uniform complete with insignia, and she even flew on several combat sorties. I miss her to this day.

My wife and I raised three dogs from infancy through death during our nearly 40 years of marriage, and two of them died in my arms at the end of their long lives. It was
almost as painful as losing a child. On both occasions, this Vietnam vet wept like a baby while they looked up at me not understanding what was happening, with looks of bewilderment and confusion turning to peace as they found ultimate rest and freedom from pain. Our mixed breed “Puddles” got his name from how he reacted during thunderstorms. At the end, he licked my face one last time as I cradled him in my arms just before he breathed his last. I would like to believe he was trying to wipe away my tears.

One of our most precious memories is of our Golden Cocker Spaniel “Mandy” when she was a puppy. She would race from the den into the entryway hall then up two steps into the living room and then into the kitchen and then “fly” off the top of the two steps back down into the den with her ears slinging straight out just like Dumbo the baby elephant flying and look up at us when she finished as if to say, “Well?”

We continue to pray for you and for your family. A song that has given me great solice at times of grief might be of some benefit to you as well. It is titled “Home Free”, and
the artist is a very popular Christian singer and songwriter named Wayne Watson.

Bruce from KS

I’m sorry for your loss. I”ve been listening to your story.
On Oct.,19,my daughter had a baby in the metroplex. I went to her home to help her with the new baby. While there my husband called on Mon. to tell me that he had not seen our farm cat since Sat. night. We had never owned a cat, but this precious cat came to us as a kitten as someone had thrown away. She was so loving. That was a shock. Then me husband called on Thurs. and told me that our 13 yr old yorkie was dead. Apparantly a coyote had been stalking them. We got our yorkie while still in the metroplex , Dec. l993. Our youngest wanted to name him Rush after Rush Limbaugh; so that he was named. Rush became the master of our home.
I know exactly how you are feeling; It is so lonely not to have them meeting me when I drive home and no hello bark when I enter the house.
Thank you and God bless for allowing this story page
Linda from TX