Our Memorial Day Rainbow Bridge Pups of the Week: Tanner, Sophie, Hershey and Baron Bear Bear

It is Memorial Day, when we remember those we have lost, and so this week I would like to honor all our friends at Rainbow Bridge, and four in particular.

First there is the dog who brought us all together, Tanner Bub.

For those of you who don't know, let me tell the story of the Tanner Brigade.  A long, long time ago, at a website far, far, away, we all belonged to a group called Doggyspace.  Tanner Bub and I were good friends there.  But there was a lot of drama, fighting, and meanness around the site then.  There was one pup, well, it wasn't really a pup, just a guy who pretended to have a pup, who was writing some very rude things.  Tanner's Mom made a mistake and listed his name in a comment to one of my blogs.  Now this mistake came from a very emotional place.  Tanner's Mom had just found out he had cancer and would be going to the bridge soon.  Sorrow causes humans to lash out at night.  But in the morning she realized her error, e-mailed me, and asked me to remove the comment she had made.  I removed the comment.  But an hour later we were informed that Tanner's account had been deleted.  We sent a very nice message to Levi, the owner of Doggyspace, asking that Tanner's account be reactivated so we could help him and his Mom through the difficult days ahead.  His response should be read at every Tanner Brigade anniversary because it was the insensitive words and incredible misuse of the English language that were the seeds of what became our close net group.

"“As you know the rules are laid out clear, and we can not allow this bickering to continue, nor slander. It may be unforchunit for her personaly, however she knew she should not have done that before she even posted it, and we can not make exceptions in this case due to the size of the event. Dont expect it to be the last eather, the entire admin/support team are hunting down anyone that was part of the event on bothsides as its a clear break of the community rules. Its sad to see so many adults act like children."

I sent a private message to my closest friends at DS telling the story and attaching the message.  The response was the same, they were all angry.  My sending the PM caused my account to be suspended.  Writing about the situation on my own blog site caused my account the be deleted.

We took a brief refuge at Doggyweb, but on the night Tanner went to the bridge, many of us signed up under phony names on Doggyspace, and posted our profile picture as Tanners.  Many DS members changed their profile pic to Tanner's and that night you couldn't go to a page on DS without seeing Tanner's photo.  But that bad human, who was pretending to own a dog, came on Doggyweb, and celebrated Tanner's passing while lashing out at all the members.  The next day the Tanner Brigade was born.

Just before Tanner died he married Sophie.

Sophe is just about the sweetest dog I know.   Even from the Bridge she sends us lovely messages and make us feel so loved.  There are now three dogs living in Sophie's old house.  That's how many dogs it takes to fill the void left by a wonderful dog like Sophie.

Our third pup is Hershey.

I can't find better words to explain why Hershey deserves this then Hershey's words.  This is his message to his Mom from Rainbow Bridge, but be warned, you will need your tissues.  You can read it here.

Our last pup  of the week is Baron otherwise known as Bear Bear.

This week Bear did the most important work a Bear the the Bridge can do.  But Bear hasn't posted it here.  His Mom did on Facebook.  So I won't spill the secret here, I'll just say Bear's work here is done, but as Hershey says so perfectly, they never leave us.

So here is to all our dogs at the Bridge, and all the Moms and Dads we have lost, brothers and sister too.  Someday we will all be together.  And we won't have to call up a web address to see a friend, but simply think of them and they will be there.  Until then, Bridge Angels like Tanner, Sophie, Hershey and Bear will be there to watch over us.

In memory of Tanner Bub written May 22, 2009

This was written one year ago after Tanner passed to the bridge. For those who have not read it, or would like to do so again I have reprinted it below.

Hey there Tanner! Nice to see you. Can you stand up? Good dog. Where are we? That doesn’t matter, all that matters is where we are going. How do you feel? Good? I thought so. Wow, look at you run. Bet you haven’t run like that for years. Wooooaa! Watch the biting! You want to play chase? OK let’s go.

Oh, hold on, I’m out of breath. Whew. I know you can keep going. Yeah, I know, it feels like you’re a pup again. What’s wrong? Yeah. I know, you’re a smart dog. Yeah, it happened. Yeah, we’re going to the bridge. Oh don’t cry Tanner. I know how much you’re going to miss your Mom.

You want to sit for awhile? Sure. We have time. Let’s lay down in the shade over there. Isn’t this a beautiful tree? Don’t worry, just lay down with me. Nothing can hurt you here, it’s just a path that dogs travel heading to the bridge. You thinking about your Mom? Yeah, I’m sure she’s thinking about you.

I wish she could go with you too. But it’s not her time yet. She will be fine, it will take time, you’re going to leave a big hole in her heart, but she’ll be fine. She has Cocoa, and she may get another dog soon, you have to help her with that. Don’t worry you’ll know how. And Sophie is going to miss you too. Yes, I’m sure she didn’t marry you just for the kibble.

You want to get moving again, we got some friends waiting for us. Hey, come over here, sniff the tall grass, oh there are no ticks just come. You can smell all our friends who passed here, it’s nice isn’t it? What’s that sound? That’s the little frogs that live in the stream that runs under the bridge. They’re calling you home.

Let’s just walk my friend. What would I miss the most? Well, most things are there, but Mommy’s lap. I would miss that. And bothering Pocket. Hey, come here, taste these flowers. I know! They’re bacon flowers! Man this place has everything. Yeah, except for Mommy, I know.

Yup, I hear it. That’s the water, it all flows under the bridge. That stream, that’s our lives, just water under the bridge. And the stones in there, that’s our souls. You see how the water washes over the stones? If you break the stones open, inside, they’re dry. You know why? Because all that water can never penetrate your soul, it’s just water under the bridge.

What’s that? Oh no, Princess will never be here. No, she’s not a real dog. Man, we did a job on her didn’t we? I don’t know if you know but a bunch of us snuck back into Cyberland and did tributes to you. Man, the Tanner Brigade invaded, it was so sweet.

You know, everything that happened, it was because of you. I wanted to be here for you, this day, I wanted to be here. My letter to Princess was so I could be here, this day. And when she “unforchunately” said no, well, that’s when it all started. Now I have a blog, we have Doggyweb and The Tanner Brigade. It was all you. You changed lives for the better. Most dogs just do that for their families, but you Tanner you did it for so many. There really should be a statue of you somewhere. Too bad we pee on statues.

Well, here we are. That’s the bridge. No, it’s not very long, but spans a great distance. Oh Tanner Bub, don’t look back. It’s all behind you. Breathe in the air, it makes it all go away. It all fades, and all you remember is the love, the good times. Do you remember Princess? No? That’s good. She’s not worth remembering.

Look on the bridge. No, silly, that’s no bear. That’s Moses. He guards the bridge. He is waiting for you. And behind him, there is Fred, it is good to see him. And Daisy, and Buttons. Oh, those little dogs behind them those are some of my family members, Jax, Copper and Sky, they can’t wait to meet you.

OK pal. It’s time. Come here, give me a nuzzle. That’s a good boy. Gosh, I am going to miss you. We rocked it together didn’t we? They have computers up here, get on line anytime, my ears will be open. OK, now, scoot, across the bridge you go, and remember on this side, there are lots of dogs and humans who love you very much, and when it’s our time to cross the bridge, you’ll be the first face we’re looking for.

I’ll be checking on your Mom every day, I promise. We will all help her through this, we will. It will be hard, but we will. Now go, I’ll see you soon, I’ll see you in my dreams.

I watched him cross. He got a big lick from Moses, and then from Fred and Daisy. You know, there’s a lot of .pollen up there. My eyes got very misty. The last thing I saw was my friend, running and playing on the other side of the bridge, chasing a firefly with Moses. I turned for home, already missing my friend

"fly on my sweet angel,
fly on through the sky,
fly on my sweet angel,
forever I will be by your side"

Tanner update

By Foley:

Guess who I heard from tonight? That's right, Tanner Bub, and he says he is doing awesome, he is resting up and will make his return to the Internet at a still to be determined location soon. The support you have all given him has renewed his spirit and his fire. And when he is ready do you know where he's going? He's going right back to that Cyberland castle, where that phony little dog thinks she rules, and this time when that little scamp barks, she won't be barking at a scared, sick dog, but at a warrior, and, I know that she thinks she sees all, but she better look over Tanner's haunches, because behind him is an army, The Tanner Brigade, an army of banished, angry, hurt, but strong dogs, who are ready to bring that house of cards she considers a castle tumbling down around her. and no matter how much she barks, and how much her Daddy yells, bullies, threatens, and hits the delete key with the desperation of Desmond entering the code in the hatch, that castle of cards will come tumbling dow; so I ask her this: Whatcha gonna do, when the Tanner brigade runs wild on you?

New Home

Hi all you good little pups and lollipops. It's your two favorite troublesome little Yorkies, Foley Monster and Pocket. We are refugees from a place we will call Cyberland. It was ruled by an evil, illiterate Princess. This Princess pretended the land was safe for pups and lollipops but she lied. Princess protected the evil saints, the rude byeatches, the hurtful ankle biters, and banished those lollipops and pups who complained. The final straw for Pocket and I was the banishment of our friend Tanner. You see, beautiful Tanner, he was very sick with cancer and had not been given much time. His owner, a wonderful woman, was getting support from all the good pups and lollipops but she spoke out against the evil Saint and was banished to the dark woods to stay cold and isolated until Tanner passed to the Rainbow Bridge. Pocket and I sent this very nice missive to the evil Princess:

"
-->I know Tanner's Mom made at least one really bad mistake. She left a comment on my journal last night when she named a former (redacted) member's owner. She knew it was wrong right away and sent me a message to delete it, but I didn't until morning. I am asking you to reconsider that Tanner be allowed back on because he's dying. His owner needs his friends at this time. Once he passes, if you don't want to allow the owner on again, fair enough. I understand how hard it is to administer this. It was a serious mistake to name names, but I think it's also important to support her, maybe her grief made her type something she shouldn't have. Thank you for your consideration"
The evil illiterate Princess answered thusly:
-->

“As you know the rules are laid out clear, and we can not allow this bickering to continue, nor slander. It may be unforchunit for her personaly, however she knew she should not have done that before she even posted it, and we can not make exceptions in this case due to the size of the event. Dont expect it to be the last eather, the entire admin/support team are hunting down anyone that was part of the event on bothsides as its a clear break of the community rules. Its sad to see so many adults act like children.

And then the Princess slammed the door on poor Tanner so filled up with cancer. Or, as Princess would decry, she slumed th dur on purr Tuner. At which point Pocket and I, raised to right the wrongs in the world, began using e-mail to contact other members telling them what happened and for that we were banished from Cyberland for two weeks. Princess banished us with these words: "
-->Your are temporarily suspended from (redacted)until May 15 because of Attempting to create hostility among other members on (redacted) by bringing a past issue that you where told to let go for the better of the community. (See community guidelines). Next strike will result in a full ban on account."
An education is a terrible thing to waste.

So, our profiles will stay up in Cyberland maybe for a little bit but then be gone. You can find us here. It is easy to post comments here, but you do need a g-mail account, which is free and easy to get, and you can use a completely different e-mail address so the Princess of Cyberland can't banish you. Or you can e-mail us at Foleymonsterandpocket@gmail.com. We'll be watching over all of you, and we'll be putting our two cents in here, free of Princess' rule.

Oh, and one more thing: For Tanner, for Hattie Mae, for all the other members of the Resistance out there, in the spirit of how us lollipops and pups play and nip: Hey Princess: Bite me!