The Ruby Rose and the Big Little Angels 3 Blog

Oh, how the humans judge us, we with our noses up one another’s butts.  They deemed it such words as “gross” and “disgusting.”  And if we happened to partake of a warm stool now and then we would be told how bad we were and kisses were withheld for an inhumane amount of time. But now the world needs butt sniffers.  And guess who they are turning to?  That is correct, us, those they so freely mocked beforehand.   We have a man named Sam Wasser to thank for recognizing what lesser humans thought were vices are, in fact, virtues. Wasser is the director of the Center for Conservation Biology at the University of Washington.  He came to the realization that there is a lot that can be learned from poop on the ocean floor.  And when you need poop detectives who are you going to call?  That’s right:  K-9. Here are some facts about us dogs and our sniffers:  Our sense of smell is 10,000 to 100,000 more powerful than man’s, so don’t tell us you weren’t the one who dealt it, everyone o

River Song and I live very spoiled, privileged lives.  We are well aware that there are dogs forced to sleep outside in the heat, or don’t have a soft bed with humans.  We are lucky to have those things.  We realize how lucky we are when we lose one of them. Please don’t think we were without a parent.  If that happened, I would become so concerned that I would begin to spin around until I launched myself into space. But Monday night we lost something important.  We lost our air conditioning.  I was sitting with my Dad after a strenuous day of me overseeing his garden and lawn work.  Daddy is very sensitive.  He can tell when the temperature goes up a single degree and he sensed that our house was no longer at its perfect 72 degrees. He picked me up.  Normally I am delighted to be picked up.  But I am sensitive too.  I can tell when a human’s emotional temperature was rising, and Daddy’s was about to shatter records.  In the spring of 2015, they had a new HVAC unit installed o

This is the last damn time I am chasing this kid and catching him after he runs out the back gate.

Have you ever lived with a child or had one visit? We have never lived with a child but they have visited.  We used to climb in bed with them and sit with them in chairs.  We loved having them over.  Now they are grown up and don't spend time at Grammy's anymore.  I miss them

Last week Dora was reunited with her brother Bilbo after spending three sad months without any family.  Their parents were broken hearted to lose Bilbo but knowing their two pups were together again, young and happy, eased their suffering. This week Dora had another reunion, not with a family member, but with her beloved Blogville companion, Mr. Bailey, from the Idaho Pug Ranch.   Bailey had squeezed every second of life from his mortal coil.  In recent months Bailey’s body had begun to break down.  His parents were forced to watch their lively little boy, who had romped through their property, easing himself onto his bed, searching for a comfortable position. Bailey was born with joint problems and had been on supplements for most of his 14 ½ years.  But he never let those problems interfere with his life. Bailey was the leader of his pack.  Whatever problems its members or his parents had, Bailey put those woes on his back and bore them for everyone.  Problem after proble

Everyone loves the sun.  It is warm, it makes things grow, it sparkles off of water, and it makes the leaves shine.  When I was mortal, and we lived in the condo, when Mommy could “do” stairs, we had a skylight above the stairway, and in the afternoon the sun would hit this one spot on the carpeted step.  That spot would become so warm.  Oh, how I loved to lay on that spot. I have only found one such spot at Rainbow Bridge.  My friend Mollie, who came to the Bridge shortly before I did, after having her life tragically cut short by the terrible IMHF disease, had loved the sun during her mortal life.  Her parents built her a sun room that she could lie in and enjoy the warm rays.  She barely got to enjoy it before she departed for the immortal world. Now she lives in a beautiful house that is totally made out of glass, and the sun is always shining.  Mollie has a two story house, and she has carpeted stairs.  I like to go to her house in the afternoon when the sun is the stronge

Today is my Gotcha Day!  Four years ago today, after I left my Florida house where there were too many dogs, went on an airplane ride, which was too loud, and spent a night at our groomer’s house, who lived with my ex-boyfriend, I met my mom, and went to her home, where there were no dogs, only a Pocket.  From that moment forward I only wanted one thing:  Mom and food.  OK, I wanted two things, but food goes without saying. When Foley interviewed me as her replacement in our pack, she told me that Mommy had recently retired which meant she would be home a lot.  My former mom thought I needed a smaller family.  Coming from a multiple dog home helped me in the interview.  Foley thought my experience with large packs would help me deal with Pocket’s schizophrenia. Foley told me that Mommy needed a lot of help especially with rebuilding her heart, which was shattered when I departed.  She instructed me to get by her side and never leave.  I swore I was the dog to meet that challeng

Damn:  I knew I should have picked what was behind door number two

Who is your favorite dog from movies our television?   Our answer is Snoopy.

You know I am all for pup reunions at the Bridge.  Last week Nora joined Lady and Fitzchen after being apart for several years.  The week before Cocoa joined Ruger and Tanner after almost a decade apart.  While I love the reunions, I have also kept one paw in the mortal world, and I feel the pain of the dog parents who have sent their beloved paw child to the Bridge to join a sibling. On Easter, my friend from Blogville, Dory, came to Rainbow Bridge.  Dory belonged to a pack of six, including her parents.  She was lonely with her family all on the mortal side.  She visited her brother Bilbo in his dreams and said, if he was feeling ill, or was struggling daily, and was ready, that she had a spot for him on the couch at her house, and she sure would be happy to see him. Bilbo was born with birth defects, and the doctors told his parents that he would go to the Bridge at a young age.  But a funny thing happened to Bilbo.  He got so much love from his parents, and from Dory, and th

I was enjoying a bright, sunny day lying in the sun on the soft grass outside my cottage overlooking Rainbow Bridge.  I shut my eyes.  Hopefully, I could nap.  Then the sun went in.  I opened my eyes expecting to see clouds.  Instead, I saw my friends Tupper and Max looking down at me. “Foley, wake up, we are going poo bowling!” I squinted at them.  “Poo bowling?” I asked. “Yes,” Max said excitedly.  “It is going to be awesome.” My friends Max and Tupper had recently taken jobs at the Fun Factory.  This was the spot at Rainbow Bridge where all mortal dog toys were created.  Crack researchers, like Max and Tupper, invent and test toys.  When they find one they love they send angels into the dreams of human toy manufacturers, who wake up thinking the creation is all theirs, and, a few months later, our mortal brothers and sisters are enjoying those very toys. But poo bowling? “It is going to be bigger than the I-Phone,” Tupper said.   “The best thing is that it is inexp

A month ago River, allegedly, bit my ear.  (I have to say allegedly because River is litigious, but she did it.)  Since then, except for one late night scuffle when I laid on top of River in the dark, and she took exception, the situation between us has been peaceful.  But my ears have still suffered. Two weeks ago I went to the groomer.  I have been going to the same groomer my entire life.  They treat us very well and do a terrific job maintaining our beauty.  I wish I could say we woke up looking this way but it is just not true. The groomer was cutting my head when she snipped a little too close and cut the bottom of my ear.  It didn’t hurt nearly as much as when River did it, and I didn’t want the groomer to feel badly over a minor snip, so I didn’t flinch. Unfortunately, I did bleed, and the poor lady saw blood on her table.  She stopped grooming and began inspecting. I just hoped this would not delay my departure time.  She found the cut, stopped the bleeding, and, unli

I told you, mother, when I am done watching the ball game we can go for a walk   Until then you are going to have to wait.

Tell us about you water dish and food bowl. Our water dish is new.  It is smaller than our older one.  River used to drink all the water in our larger dish and she made herself sick.  Our new bowl is silver and it sits inside a faux wood bowl.  It looks like the kind of bowl dogs would drink out of at an old Englishman's Club. We are too dainty to eat off bowls.  We eat off plates

“At least she didn’t suffer.”  That is something humans say when one of their own crosses the Bridge.  How and where one crosses means a lot to humans as if, by not suffering, it makes the event less traumatic.  On Friday, I recognized but did not celebrate, my fourth anniversary here at Rainbow Bridge.  I have learned many lessons here as I have watched thousands of dogs cross over the River of Life.  The most important one is how a dog passes over does not lessen the pain of those they left behind. This week my good friend Nora joined her sister Lady and brother Fritzchen at Rainbow Bridge.  She suffered a double stroke and could not recover.  There was no lengthy illness, no multiple trips to the vets, no series of operations, but regardless, Nora is here with her siblings, and the woman who loved all three of them, Ingrid Schwabe, our friend from Alsdorf Germany, is missing them. We were very lucky to meet Lady, Nora, and Fritz when they were on the mortal side.  Their

Social media has made the world a smaller place.  I have made friends with dogs from all over the world, which is fascinating because I get to learn about so many different people and cultures.  But it is also worrisome because every time there is a violent crime anywhere in the world there is a friend I need to say prayers for. On 9/11 our human brother was asleep in his bed in his Queens’ apartment.  My parents knew there was little chance he was near Ground Zero when the attack occurred but they made frantic phone calls for an hour before they could confirm he was fine. Unfortunately, a family friend was on the first flight that hit the Twin Towers. Another family friend was two blocks away when the Marathon bombers struck.  Mom’s niece’s husband’s family was sheltered in place in their home in Berlin after the December 16, 2016, Christmas market attack occurred a half mile from their house. That same niece was a few blocks from Time Square last month when a driver crashed in

I have always suffered from separation anxiety.  I cannot tolerate being separated from my parents.   They have tried to contain me in several different manners, but they have all proven futile. They put me in the laundry room behind a five-foot high fence.  I pushed off my three-inch legs and scaled it.  When they put me in a plastic crate, I stuck my little paw through the crate door and opened it.  I did the same with the wire crates, and also forced my head through the top of the wire crate and got out.  No cage can hold me. My parents determined I would be less of a danger to myself if I were given free reign of the living room and kitchen while they were out.  Pocket stays happily in her crate, inside her kitty condo. While they are gone I pace, I look out windows, I get on table tops, I fret, and I worry.  What I don’t do is go to the bathroom, which is good, or drink water, which is bad. The Sunday before Memorial Day my parents went to a cookout without me.  I don’t k

On the one paw I am full, on the second paw there are starving dogs in the world, on the third paw we all know I am going to eat it anyway.

Where is your favorite(s) places to be rubbed or scratched: Pocket:  I am so tiny I can be rubbed from tip to tail with one hand but I do like butt scratches. River Song:  Give me a belly rub and I am a happy dog.   I love an ear scratch too

When I was still a mortal dog, and Tanner Bub passed to the Bridge, I entered his dreams and walked with him to the banks of the River of Life.  I watched my friend, who started the walk old and sick, become young and vital again.  When I arrived on the Immortal side, it was that young, vital friend who greeted me. When Tanner passed, more than eight years ago, he had a little sister, Cocoa Puff.  Like all of us Cocoa grew older, and as she did life threw many tribulations at her, seizures, arthritis, the loss of an eye, until finally, this week, Cocoa had no fight left, and her mom assisted Cocoa on her final journey. Cocoa was many things, the co-founder of social network for dogs, a sibling to humans, a sibling to dogs, and a daughter. After her passing, and before she went to the Bridge, I met Cocoa in the Land in Between where I showed her how to enter the Tanner Brigade, the social network site that we created together in 2009.   We walked by her house, and mine, and p