Reba is our Sepember 8, 2013 Pup of the Week

When I was on the living side of the River of Life I had knee problems.  At least twice in my 13 years of existence I had my knee pop out.  The first time it did oh man did I raise a ruckus. The second time, when I was older, and more mature, I just lifted my back leg and limped around until I got to the vet and they fixed it.

I never appreciated how important my legs were but lately, with all the issues my Pups of the Weeks have had, which have brought them to my side of the River of Life, I realized we should never take our legs for granted.

This week another friend lost the ability to walk on all fours, and that condition was caused by a growth in her body.  Her Mom made the decision to send her over the River of Life to our side of the Bridge, where, like Abby the week before, Reba came running up the stairs like a young pup, gave me a kiss, and got sworn in as the newest Labbie at Rainbow Bridge.

I must say Reba’s arrival was a shock to me.  I have known her for six years, almost half my life on both sides, and, even though I knew she was suffering from hip problems, I never knew that she was as sick as she was.  But sometimes the problems we are exhibiting don’t logically lead one to the problem that takes us..

I have posted a couple of pictures of my first sister, Blake since I passed over.    She was with us less than a year after I came home.  Like Reba she had some problems with her legs, and then one day she could barely stand and lost the ability to hold her pee.  My parents took her to the vet, and she never came home after the vet found a growth.

Reba was showing signs of lameness but doing well.  She was playing and swimming one day, and then the next she couldn’t stand. couldn’t eat or drink, and was panting heavily.  Her Mom rushed her to the vet where, like in Blake’s situation, a growth was found.  Seeing Reba in such pain and knowing chances of recovery were quite slim Reba’s Mom decided to help her across the River of Life.

For those friends on the living side of the river Reba’s loss is devastating.  What a smart, loyal, kind friend she was to us all.  She left everyone with 1,000 smiles, 1,000 memories, 1,000 stories.  She went from living alone with her Mom in Washington to being the leader of the Labbie pack in San Diego.  She told me her story like this:

Now this is the story all about how

My life got flipped, turned upside down

And I'd like to take a minute just sit right there

I'll tell you how I became the Lab Queen of a town called SD

In west Washington born and raised

In the barnyard where I spent most of my days

Chilling out, maxing, relaxing all cool

And all chasing rabbits outside by the pool

When a dog named Dodger up to no good

Moved in to make trouble in my neighbourhood

Mom wanted a job where she wasn’t working for free

And said "We’re all moving to a new town called SD"

I whistled for horse trailer when it came near the

License plate said "fresh" and had a horse tail and feed

Every time we hit a bump this horse did it’s pee

It didn’t bother me, forget it, yo homes to SD

I pulled up to a house about seven or eight

And I yelled to the horsie "Yo, homes smell you later!"

Looked at my kingdom I was finally there

To sit on my throne as the Labbie Queen of SD

Reba made a point of telling me she wanted this printed and she hopes it makes you smile because Reba is all about big labbie smiles.  She loves her Mom and the Labbies and wants to tell her Mom that one of them will step up to pack leader (but she rolled her eyes when she said it so I’m not sure.)  Most of all she loves you, she misses you, and she will see you in your dreams.

And for those of you who miss Reba know that she is here and she is happy and running like Labs do.  I just have to order more tennis balls.

Reba is our July 17, 2011 pup of the week

The close calls end quickly.   The Mom who swerves her car to the left to miss the drifting motorcycle in the other lane.   The little girl who doesn't get off the school bus followed by a call from the school saying she is safe, and had just boarded the wrong bus.  The close calls end quickly, but linger in the mind, the buried "What If?" reverberating for weeks in the recesses of the mind.  Take the case of Pokey and Maggie.


Let me make clear; sorry my friends, but you two are not our pups of the week.  Running away from home will never earn dogs that honor.  It might earn you naughty dog of the week, but I am afraid if someone were to do a Google search for naughty dogs it might provide web sites only dogs with serious self esteem issues would like to see.  But I am willing to bet a bag of high quality kibble that their Mommy has spent more than a few nights this week wondering what would have happened if their dog walker had not found them.  But it's another of our good friends who suffered a close call that we celebrate as Pup of the Week.


Our great labbie friend Reba has earned the honor this week.  Mom found a large lump on Reba's throat causing an even larger one to form in her Mom's.  Reba likes to play in the tall grass.  But she gets those sticky things all over her when she does.  Her Mommy was either afraid she swallowed one because she had been coughing and panting a great deal, but even more scared that she hadn't.  If she had a burr in her throat it could do a lot of damage to her it and could be cause for an operation, and lots of pain.  But if it wasn't then it could be a baseball sized mass in her throat which would be deathly serious.  Her Mommy made an appointment with the dogter for Saturday.


But when us pups look up at our Mom with big, sad, brown eyes, and sigh in pain, Saturday might as well be the next century.  Reba's Mom decided she couldn't wait for the weekend, every second could be vital, so she loaded Reba into the car and they drove to the million dollar midnight dogtor.  This is where Pokey and Maggie redeem themselves from their daylight wandering.  They let their Mom text back and forth with Reba's Mom while she was going to the vet so she had someone to worry with.  (Unless texting while driving with a lumpy dog is illegal in California then this definintley did not happen.)


Thankfully the million dollar x-ray showed the lump was not attached to anything.  It was an abcess most likely caused by her snacking on those sticky things during her walk.  She only had to take some pills and the million dollar vet tech said she should be all right.  The one thing the million dollar men said that was worth their price was the pill could be taken in lunch meat.  Oh there is nothing I enjoy more at lunch time then meat, even if it does have a pill in it.   The dogter wanted to see if the abcess went down or burst.  I hope it doesn't burst.  I saw on Tosh.0 a woman giving birth in the bathtub and it was gross.  I don't know what that has to do with Reba's condition but I just wanted you to know I saw it and it was gross.


By the end of the week the swelling had gone down.    Hopefully in three weeks it will all be gone away.  She went to her real dogtor who squeezed her butt until stuff came out then jabbed something in there, pretty presumptiuoius for someone who only bought lunch meat.

After all that Mommy gave Reba a bath, I mean I can't blame her after an anal sac explosion.  Her brother Logan broke their in ground pool, which is quite impressive.  I think it is the biggest thing any dog I know has broken.  So everything seems right in the chocolate lab world.

Except I bet you her Mom, Aunt Wendy, wakes up in the middle of the night wandering what if?  It's the same What if? us dogs suffer through when you come home late.  So if you don't come home late we won't have any more strange bumps.  It will be called the Reba, Pup of the Week Accord of July 17, 2011.

Reba, Logan and Dodger are our August 15, 2010 pups of the week

It seems we spend so much time writing Pups of the Week for friends who have either gone to the bridge, or are waiting to hear if their ticket is pending, it is a treat to write one for pups who have returned home.

This week Reba, Dodger and Logan finally came home, to their Mom, and to the Brigade. (Please do not confuse our Brigade with the one on the silly show about abandoned humans in the pound, it's called Big Brother or something like that. We are filing papers to sue those abandoned humans for illegally seizing our intellectual property.)

They left us under some mysterious circumstances. One of those human things. We missed them right away and pestered them to come home but there was much drama in their lives.

Their Mommy was selling their house and moving down the coast to a new city called San Diego, which I have it on the best of authorities means "A whale's vagina."

Moving a human to a new home is very complicated. You would think that it would be easier then moving a pup, with the tag team of drivers who bring us to our new home, but Mommy and Daddy are planning to move to a new house in the same city we live now and this seems very complicated, so I cannot imagine how hard it is to move to a whale's vagina.

As sometimes happen when humans move, especially when they are working, they don't get a new place for the pack to sleep before they start their jobs. So they become lodgers. The first place they lodged was at their Aunt's house. We have an Aunt, but have never met her, and Mommy does not like her, so we don't have good opinions of Aunts. I really didn't understand in their blog what they were saying about their Aunt but it sounds to me like she was drinking more than her share of water and blowing the vuvuzelas which scared Dodger, so they had to bug out and find a new place for their pack to plop.

They went to their Grandpops home, but that was sad because he had recently gone to the bridge, and their Mommy was heartbroken. As much fun as they had chasing the vermin at the house, they missed Grandpops. It was a familiar home, but not their home.

Mommy got to their new home first, but accommodations needed to be made to make for it to be safe for our friends, and to get this done she had to rely on contractors, and contractors are as reliable as cats. Instead of working they prefer to sit in the sun, drink, and lick themselves. Actually, so do I. But hey, we don't pretend to be working for you, like contractors....and cats.

Finally the work got done and the pack was back with their Mom and finally back where they belong with the Brigade (The Brigade is a fully registered trademark held by Foley Monster and Dr Pocket Dog, any unauthorized use of this trademark and we will mess you up, seriously, don't push us on this.)

So, for being the prodigal dogs, and finding their way back to their new home, and to us, Reba, Dodger and Logan are our August 15, 2010 pups of the week.