Cassie is Foley Monster's July 28, 2013 Pup of the Week

This week we lost two great friends in Cassie and Sandy.   They both deserve their own blog and I will be recognizing Cassie this week and Sandy next week.  Please, my friends, don’t let anymore dogs come to the Bridge for a long time.  We do have the room, but there is too much heartache in the world, and if the rate of puppies crossing the bridge does not decrease the world could die of a broken heart.

When I got the call to go to the top of the Bridge again, I did so with a big sigh, always glad to see a friend, but knowing the pain of the departed.  I looked down the steps and saw it was my good friend Cassie.  I was shocked.  She had hid her illness from everyone, including me.

Cassie was diagnosed with stomach cancer eight weeks ago.  Neither she, nor her Dad let on that she was sick.  I used to think that when my time came that I would be brave enough not to tell anyone, but that didn’t work out.  I really can’t understand how Cassie and her Dad were so brave.  Like me they loved to make pups and humans laugh more than anything else, and they didn’t want any more tears than were absolutely necessary, so they suffered in silence.  I wished we could have made it easier on them, but I don’t know if that would have been possible.

Most of us dogs are Mom’s dogs.  We write about our Mommy’s, they discuss our problems on the Human Book.  Our Mommies are the ones we bond with while our Daddies bring home the kibble and may play with us occasionally/   With Cassie, as with Tommy Tunes, Hobo, Reese and Meika, it’s the bond with Daddy that is the strongest.

Cassie was at a Pet Smart in Marietta Georgia in 2004 looking for a family when she saw a man and a woman and she knew that this was her family.  But the couple already had a dog and the man kept saying “not another dog.”  Cassie put on a show for him, and even when she sadly watched him leave without her she held out the hope that he would realize his mistake, which, a few minutes later, in a Home Depot, he did, and he returned to Pet Smart to start the adoption process, and join the soul who would be his best friend for the next nine years.

Cassie’s next step was to teach her Dad how to walk in the woods  She did this by bolting into the woods and making him follow through mud, under cottages, through brambles, and over stones until he learned how much fun following a dog through mountain trails was.

That love of walking led to the painting that is at the top of this blog.  Daddy and Cassie were walking and someone too slow o keep up with them took a picture.  Cassie and Daddy agreed it would make a beautiful painting, and they were right, it did.  

We don’t have a lot sad moments here at the Bridge.  What we do have is lots of mountains and trails.  I figured that I would see Cassie racing around them but she spends all day playing with her friends down by the water and sleeping in the sun.  I asked her why she didn’t go exploring the mountains and she smiled.  “I’ll wait for my Dad, and I’m hoping it’s a good long wait.”

I gave her a kiss on the head.  I understand.  Some things aren’t worth it without our humans.

I know Cassie’s Dad is a big Bruce Springsteen fan so this twisted bit of song is for him.

Sundown, sundown

They're taking all the tents down.

Where have you gone my beautiful Cassie?

Sundown, sundown

The carnival train's leaving town.

Where are ya now my beautiful Cassie?

We won't be dancing together on the high wire

Facing the lines with you at my side, oh no.

We won't be breathing the smoke in the fire

On a midway.

Hanging from the trapeze, my wrists waiting for your wrists.

Two daredevils high upon the water's edge.

You throwing the knife that lands inches from my head.

Sundown.

Moon rise, moon rise, the light that was in your eyes is gone away.

Daybreak, daybreak, the thing in you that made me ache has gone to stay

We'll be riding the train without you tonight

The train that keeps on moving

It's black smoke scorching the evening sky.

A million stars shining above us like every soul living and dead

Has been gathered together by God to sing a hymn

Over the old bones.

Sundown, sundown.

They empty out the fairgrounds.

Where are you now my beautiful Cassie?