Wordless Wednesday

Beat This Caption

What it have killed them to put up a "Watch Your Step" sign

Monday Question

I know we see pictures of one another but sometimes pictures can be deceiving.  By your best guess how tall are you and how much do you weigh?

Pocket:  I guess I am about six inches tall and weigh six pounds.


River Song:  I am eight inches tall and weigh 14 pounds. 

Sarge is our February 25, 2018 Pup of the Week

There are various ways that souls pass over the Bridge.   Some arrive as the result of a tragic accident, some linger and suffer for years, some succumb to a sudden illness, some live far beyond their life expectancy, some nowhere near it, and some just slip away in the middle of the night.

My Blogger friend Sarge passed in his sleep this week without a sign that he was sick.  I have heard it said that this is the way to go.  No pain, no suffering, just drift off to sleep and wake up on the immortal side of the River.  But such a passing leaves questions on both sides.

Sarge’s poor parents have no idea what happened to their beloved boy.  He had some problems but none that seemed life-threatening.  His parents were left to wonder why this happened and if they missed anything.  But they didn’t  One of the lessons the heavenly Group Of Dogs teaches us is that we only have so many heartbeats and sometimes we run out.   That is what happened with Sarge.

It is traumatic for those dogs who pass over.  They went to bed happy and content at their parents’ house then woke up surrounded by angels at Rainbow Bridge.  Sarge went to sleep in his bed, and upon awakening, he saw his immortal friends standing over him.  He was embarrassed, wondering how all these angels got in his room, and then realized he was on a cliff looking over the River of Life. 

I have seen many dogs pass over quickly and the result is always the same.  The pup tries to get back home, unable to accept their time on the mortal side had come to an end.  Sarge ran down the knoll and jumped into the river then swam to the other side only to find we angels waiting.  “No matter how far you swim you come back to the same spot,” I told him.

Sarge tried to get home four more times before we convinced him that he could not swim back.  He tried to run over the Bridge, but when he reached the other end, he was right back where he started.  He sat down distraught.  It took several angels to explain to him that there was a way for him to go back to his parents, but they wouldn’t know he was there.  Sarge took lessons and easily passed the test in record time.  

Sarge got to do something that few angels can do.  Because he passed over in his sleep, he was able to be there as an angel when his parents found him.  I don’t know if they could sense that Sarge’s paws were on their shoulders, his muzzle pressed up against them, as they grieved, but he was, and I do believe he lessened their incredible pain.

Sarge’s parents are still hurting because the wound left from his passing is still fresh. 

 We are sure it is going to take a long time for them to adjust to the new Sarge-less normal.  Their funny, quirky, loving boy is greatly missed, and his blogger friends will no longer read of his mischievous adventures.


The angels have helped Sarge adjust to him suddenly becoming an angel.  It is the hardest transition for people and dogs.  We angels will help Sarge.  We are going to need some humans to help his parents until they are all together again.

Tails From Rainbow: Doggyspace Eternal

I have told the story before, but it bears repeating because it was the beginning.  There was once a site called Doggyspace.  My Dad discovered it when reading a story about a “Facebook” for dogs.  I was seven years old.  Pocket was a puppy.  Dad created an account for us.  We immediately had 100 friends, many of them for life.  

Everyone remembers that site as an idyllic place where all dogs got along and never was heard a discouraging word.  We do tend to look back and remember only the good times, which is proper, because we survived the bad times, and there is no need to relive them.

11 years later we count the people and dogs we met on that site as our closest friends.  We have shared their sorrow when a pup or person passes to the Bridge, and we rejoiced when a new member joined a friend’s pack.  We became a family that crossed oceans, and even the River of Life.  

The only flaw dogs have is limited lifespans.  11 years is at least ⅔ of the average dog’s mortal time.  Many of the pups I met on Doggyspace are with me at the Bridge now.  When Shiloh arrived, she gave me an idea.  I stayed up all night drawing plans and then presented them to the Great Ordered Dogs board who approved them.

I gathered thousands of minions (those humans who were cruel to dogs during their lifetime and are bound to serve us after they crossed the Bridge) gave them my plans and told them I expected full implementation by morning.  When the sun rose, I gathered my angel friends for a huge breakfast, and then I lead them to where the minions were finishing their work.

We climbed a hill and looked down on a valley where our new home at the Bridge stood shining.  There was a big gate, which is always open, and over it was written “DOGGYSPACE.”  When we were young, full of life and playing with one another on that site, we often commented how special it would be if we could all live in the same neighborhood, and now we can.

The site is open to all dogs who have shared their lives on a social network, even if they never joined DS.  It is a place of great friendship, for hours of romping, for laughter for comfort, just like the original Doggyspace.  We hope it gives our parents joy that, while we aren’t with them, we are all together, just as they so often imagined us.

If you are a parent reading this and have lost a dog, know they are still living in the wonderful part of Rainbow Bridge known as Doggyspace.  While that site no longer exists on the mortal side, it is now eternal, just as the love is for all we met there.


Doggyspace is forever.  Someday we will all be there together again, forever.

Recliners Have River Befuddled

I am a dog who enjoys the simple life.  I want my breakfast, with a watermelon appetizer, some food while my parents enjoy dinner, preferably chicken, followed shortly by my supper, then a treat bone at night, and some kibble before bedtime.  I don’t mind a walk, neither do I demand one.  Most of all I want the human touch.

And that is what causes me problems.  My parents have two recliners that are separated by an end table.  Jumping on these chairs can prove a challenge.  I have creaky, uncooperative knees, but since I am on supplements, I have more confidence when I take flight.

I am a trained dog who graduated at the top of my class.  I know I am supposed to be invited to go on the furniture.  My parents tell me to come sit with them, but sometimes I am not sure if they mean it.  “Come on River, come up,” my parents plead.  Are they just being polite?  This question ties me in knots.

I begin to spin on the floor and hunch my back.  One of my parents will get out of their chair and reach for me.  While I love contact, I want to be the one who initiates it.  I lean away from them and keep turning trying to screw myself into the floor before I am gently lifted up.

Switching chairs is also an issue.  I love sitting with both of my humans, but over time I consume all their warmth and need to move to a hotter body.  For some reason my Dad’s chair swivels.  This is good because it can be maneuvered so the footrests are next to one another and I only have to take a step to go from one chair to the other.

But I don’t know when the chair is going to move.  My Dad says he controls it, but I am not sure.  I don’t want to be midstep and have the chair move, and I fall on my face.   It is a very tricky chair.   Sometimes I gently put a paw on it like I am testing water temperature before I jump.  My parents keep telling me it is safe to go but I am worried the chair is going to spin out of control.  It is a lot of work to get on a lap in my house.

If it were up to me, we would move the bed into the living room, and my parents could stay in it all day.  It never moves, and my parents sit together so I can easily go from one to the other.  That wouldn’t relieve my reluctance to jump on the bed uninvited, but I am sure with a few modifications, a water dish and food bowl holder screwed into the end of the bed, I would never get down.

Why sit in a chair when there is bed?  Humans are a never-ending mystery to me.   

Wordless Wednesday