Tails From Rainbow Bridge: Travelling Europe with Cassie

When she lived on the mortal side with her dad Richard, Cassie loved to take walks.  They would trek everywhere together.  Cassie has declined to go on walks since arriving at the Bridge, waiting for her Dad.  But I convinced her to go on a special walk with me.

We flew into the sun and landed in Paris.  We were by the beautiful Ponts de Arts Bridge.  We walked the seaside path where a fence runs along side it.  There are padlocks attached to it.  People attach the locks to it to secure their love with the most special person in their lives.  I took out two locks and Cassie and I each secured the padlocks to the fence to lock in our love for our parents.

We went to a bistro and had an outstanding dinner.  Then we walked to the Eiffel Tower.  It was beautifully lit against the dark, night sky.  Cassie thought it was a tremendous idea to climb it.  I disagreed but I knew her dad would do it and I wanted to be a good companion.  I only made it up one level and stopped, but fearless Cassie reached the top.

Our next stop was the Louvre.  We studied the Mona Lisa.  It was appealing but nowhere near as beautiful as our Moms.  The rest of the paintings were interesting, but there should have been more dog art.  I think that museum would really take off as a tourist site if they had more puppy pictures.

We took a stroll to the French Riveria and lay on the beach topless with the other bathers.  All the humans thought they were being daring, but for us, it was just another day at the beach.

We grew bored with France and hopped over to Germany to see the Windjammer Parade and watch hundreds of tall ships float by.   I became so enthralled I forgot to keep an eye on my little friend.  Cassie’s adventurous spirit took hold and the next thing I knew she had climbed aboard a ship and climbed to the highest point on the mast.  I barked at her to get down, but she didn’t until they docked.  She was having too much fun.

After Cassie’s adventure, it was time for an undertaking more my speed.  We went to Octoberfest, and we found the Foleytini keg and began drinking and munching on pretzels.  When I woke up the next morning, I had to sniff out Cassie.  She was under a sausage vendor's wagon with links in her mouth.

At that point, I thought we had enough fun for one walk through Europe.  I helped Cassie up, and we flew back to the Bridge.  I tucked Cassie into bed and stole one of her sausages for breakfast.

There is nothing like an angel stroll through Europe on a summer’s day

Dear Aunt Foley

Dear Aunt Foley: How does one respond (if at all,) to the "non-believers" among our family and friends who question the mental stability of our devoted humans who share our canine musings, accomplishments, insecurities and pictures with other like minded folks on the internet? Katie & Cassie~Angel

Dear Katia and Cassie-Angel:  Non-believers is a very proper term.  The connection between dogs and humans is very spiritual.  Just like some humans can’t find faith in a higher being, others can neither establish, or believe in, the connection between dogs and men.  You should never get angry at these people.  They should be pitied because they are missing out on so much good in their lives.

I originally had a plan to bring these non-believers around.  I gathered a group of zealous Water Dogs who believed as strongly as I did that humans should put their dogs every thought online to last throughout eternity.  I charged the dogs to track down all the non believers and use every tactic possible to convince them to believe.  I called them the Spanish Water Dog Inquisition.  

Let’s just skip to the end of that experiment...it wasn’t a very good idea, and there are still lots of apology notes I have to write.  Turns out anything with Inquisition in it is bad.  But my heart was in the right place….like Dick Cheney.  So, everyone has the right to their own opinion and if people believe that it is strange to put our musings on the Internet they have the right to do so even if they are incredibly wrong and stupid.

And when those Spanish Water Dogs who I haven’t been able to track down take over the world all parents who devote their Internet time to their dogs shall inherit the Earth.

Roscoe and Katie are our January 19, 2014 Pups of the Week

All dog stories have a beginning and an end and here we spend a lot of time with the end so today let’s talk about two beginnings.

But to get to the beginning we have to start at the end.  Recently two wonderful friends joined me at the Bridge, Willie and Cassie.  While I was very happy to see them and get to spend more time with them they left huge holes in the hearts of their family members.  As I had with River, Willie and Cassie began to look for new dogs to build new love in the Mom’s hearts.

Cassie was the first to arrive at the Bridge, and the first to find a replacement but her Dad’s stubbornness almost waylaid her plans:  An ignored Jack Russell puppies for sale sign; an adoption day in front of a pet store ignored; a Jack Russell featured as adoptable pup of the week also ignored  

Cassie knew she needed help to get through to her Dad and contacted Uncle Bob, her vet, who sent her Dad  an e-mail about a wire haired Jack Russell in Georgia and a website where he could check them out.  Her Daddy was going through the motions of looking at them when Cassie whacked him upside the head as he passed a 12 month old female.  He went back to check the dog out.  While he was doing that Cassie went over to her Mom, lifted her Mom’s head towards her father’s computer screen so she could see the pup, and that was that.  Cassie’s Mom was in love and her replacement had been found.

Soon Cassie’s personally picked pup, Katie, had moved in with her dog deprived Dad and wonderful new memories were being created.  And Katie is carefully listening to Cassie so Katie will know what her Dad needs.  The paperwork may show that Katie was rescued by Cassie’s parents but the reverse is true.

And the same can be said for Roscoe, a rescue who was personally picked by Willie to take his place in his family and help his Mom recover from the loss of her beloved boy.

Willie, with help from his friend Shiloh of Shiloh’s Space, who gazed into the stars for answers, and found what Willie was looking for.  Willie then got Shiloh to influence her Mom into calling Willie’s Mom, and when she saw this young boy, Roscoe, she could feel Willie’s sweet breath on her neck, as he whispered the words “This is the one.”

Roscoe should make it, via transport, to Willie’s house, this week.  Jessie Belle will start teaching him the  ways of the house, and she and Willie will help mold him into the perfect pup  And like Katie, Roscoe will begin to create new pathways of love in his parents’ hearts, and heal some of the wounds.

So welcome home Katie and Roscoe.

And welcome to our very large pack.