Pups of the Week: Rose Lawson, Lady and Chase

Tomorrow is Memorial Day when humans remember those who paid the greatest price for their country, and other loved ones, including us pups.  We don’t have any parades or cookouts (well, we do, but it is our regular Monday cookout) because every day is Memorial Day here.

On Friday I wrote about Paco.  His job is to teach dogs how to travel as ghosts from the Bridge to their parent's house and cause some mischief that will let their parents know that we are still there and that we love them.  Paco has had some students have limited success in the precious endeavor, but this week a new Angel was able to master the technique in days.

Rose Lawson, a pretty black dog whose name closely resembles one of the silver screens’ most romantic characters, developed liver cancer, and sadly, on Thursday, she made her final trip to Rainbow Bridge to join other members of her pack, too many really, for one mom to lose.

That is why Rose was so anxious to let her mom know that all the angels that she has lost are still with her.  Paco tried to cram everything he knew about ghosting into Rose’s head.  He then sent her back to her mom, one night after she crossed into the immortal world.

Rose landed outside.  She saw her parents inside.  How was she going to signal to them that she was still there, watching over them?  And then she saw the outside lights.  In her mortal life, she was always getting her paws caught up in the cords causing the lights to flicker out.  She ran to the cords and spun around until the lights went out.  She was able to keep spinning for two minutes until she ran out of ghost energy.  When her mom went outside to see what had caused the outage all she saw was the plus still on the wall. And that is when she knew Rose was still with her, and always would be.

And the rest of you parents with Angels, when something falls, or there is an unexplained noise we are just saying hi.

After 18 years of being her family’s beloved, faithful companion she went to the Bridge because of dementia and severe back pain.  Crossing the Rainbow Bridge, over the River of Life, climbing the stairs, and becoming immortal took all of that away.  Lady was a puppy again, and it was also a puppy that she wanted, not for herself, but for her family.  She immediately began interviewing her replacement, and a day later Callie Duncan was introduced to her family.  Lady knew Duncan could not replace her, but it would help her family get across the River of Grief and start to heal.

I also have a message from Chase to his mom Ashley.  

Chase’s mom wished when he passed to the Bridge that he be jumping and playing again and he is.  He is also learning how to be a ghost, so if you hear something go bump in the night, you will know that it is Chase stopping by to say he loves you.

And the rest of you parents with Angels, when something falls, or there is an unexplained noise we are just saying hi.

Charlie and Lady are our October 28, 2012 Pups of the Week

Last night when I was taking Pocket and Daddy Lackey outside for their final walk of the night, I looked up to the sky, to see two of the newest stars, Charlie and Lady.  I gave them a tip of the tail and they twinkled at me.  Then I led Daddy and Pocket home.  When we were inside I began to think that this is one of the many things us pups do, we lead our parents home.

We lead them home, and we are home.  When humans come to our house, unless we are out with one of our parents, we are home.  We are the constant.  Spouses may leave for a time, children grow up and leave, but not us, we are there, at the door, tails wagging, mouth smiling, the constant force of love that leads them home.

It is true of our cyber homes too.  We expect to see smiling faces and tails wagging on our pages.  Instead of a few dogs greeting us there are hundreds, but when we lose one smiling face, it hurts like we lost a member of the family.

This week we lost two treasured friends:  The first is Charlie from the ‘Burgh, a sweet, handsome English Spaniel, at the age of eight.  He loved his tennis balls and could play with them all day.  He also enjoyed playing in the yard, bothering birds and bunnies, and eating steak.  Charlie was a dog who, like me, loved to be in the lead during walks, but unlike some Moms, who want their pups to walk beside or behind them. Charlie’s Mom loved being taken on adventures by him, being dragged into mud after critters.  Like all wonderful dogs Charlie had his quirks, including enjoying taking a drink out of what he called his Magic Well but other might call a toilet bowl.

Charlie was taken from us at way too young an age and very quickly.  He went from having a bad stomach, to not eating, to bad blood numbers, to his kidneys shutting down, and then to the Bridge in the space of six days.  It happened so quickly it shocked everyone who knew him.  His Mom often referred to him her handsome Prince and that he was.  His Mom, who gave him his voice, is a wonderful woman, who made us understand the love she received from Charlie and how incredible he truly was.  Hearts were broken through the Burgh, and through the Cyber World, when our sweet friend left us.

Also this week Lady left us for the Bridge leaving us all especially heartbroken because it wasn’t too long ago that her brother Fritzchen preceded her.  Lady was a beautiful American Collie who lived in Germany near Cologne.  Lady lost an eight month battle with lymph cancer.  She fought as long as possible to stay with her beloved Mom but her body finally gave out.

When Lady first came to her home she found a house full of cats.  Her mother was a cat breeder and Lady took over as the mother pack leader.  Fritzchen joined her a few months later to keep her company.  The pack then grew to four when Nora and Rocky joined them.  Lady took care of them all.  She also helped her Mom through some serious health issues.  Her loss, to her family and friends, is earth shattering and we want her Mom to know that in America and across the world Lady has thousands of friends and we all love her.

And let’s try not to think of them being gone.  They are here as long as we can visit them through cyberspace.  They are in the stars at night, and snuggling in their Mom’s bed while they sleep, and they are alive in our hearts forever.

And they are still leading their parents, and leading us, to another home, a better home, a quieter home, where we will all live forever.