The Ruby Rose and the Big Little Angels 3 Blog

You four on my right, you block, you in the back, you're the center.  You with the white spot on your head, go long and I will hit you at the ten.

How is your Halloween?  Do you dress up on Halloween  Do you get trick or treaters?  Do you help pass out the candy?  Do you find it fun, annoying, or don't pay any attention? Pocket:  I used to dress up when our grandchildren were younger but now they aren't into Halloween, just the candy.  When Foley and I lived across from the state mental institution we got a lot odd trick or treaters but when we moved to the land of the old white walkers we only get aa few small groups.  All in all, I can do without out.

It is hard for a pet parent to lose their fur child.  It is terrible for a pup siblings when one of them passes to the Bridge, and the other suddenly finds herself alone.  Sadly, that happened to our friend Mama Deborah and Maya when Jeni departed for Rainbow Bridge this week.   Jeni had been sick for a long time.  She kept borrowing heartbeats to stay with her mom and sister.  But the thing about borrowed heartbeats is that they aren’t as strong as your own heartbeats.  They leave you weaker.  The more you borrow, the weaker you become.  Jeni had borrowed a lot of heartbeats. We dogs can sense when a sibling is ill, and there is an instinct, deep inside of us, that we often keep buried, but occasionally rears its ugly head, that causes us to attack a weaker sibling.  That is what Maya did.  And that attack made their mom make the most difficult decision.  Jeni no longer was the dog she had been.  Her strength and will were gone.  Jeni still had a bit of dignity, and her mom wan

October completely passed us by.  The month is nearly over, and we still have leaves on our trees, although they have turned their bright colors on to make themselves pretty, the cold air has only visited us a couple of times, and some of the perennials in our gardens are still in bloom. I am jubilant about this.  I love our garden days.  River and I are snuggled together in our buggy.  Everything smells very fresh and when the ground is turned over the scent is heavenly.  Not to mention how good the flowers smell.  We have wished for an endless summer for a long time. My Dad has extended the garden on the other side of the driveway to be as long as the driveway and mulched it.  I am a big fan of mulch.  I would much rather do my business on mulch or stone, so my feet don’t get wet.  I also like to poop in the driveway of our neighbor’s at 101 but don’t tell them.  I don’t think they would appreciate it. Even though I am not a fan of walking on the grass, I do enjoy looking at i

I saw several vets during the course of my mortal life, none of which suited either my, or my parent’s needs.  There was the doctor who was always running late; the doctor who messed up my brother Jax’s diagnosis; the large animal hospital that was too impersonal, the doctor who was too far away, the doctor who retired, the doctor who held me up by my paws which upset me, the doctor who was too expensive and the doctor who was only open mornings.  My parents think they have finally good doctor now, but it was a couple of years past my expiration date. I think we all missed out on the great vets.  The kind that would come to your house with a little black bag, sit with your parents, have tea, mix some medicines and make you feel better.  Sure, lifespans were shorter, and cancer incurable, but no one was forcing overpriced food on you because they had sold themselves out to a food company, or insisted on unwanted vaccinations. There is little need for veterinarians at the Bridge.

Has anyone seen my ball?

On a scale of one to ten how big a barker are you? Pocket: I am a ten because there are so many noises, people, and vermin around. River: I am an eight but only because I bark when Pocket barks.

We dogs know that our time is short.  That is why we make sure that every day we use all our energy, eat with gusto, live every second to the fullest, and give the totality of our love to those we cherish.   And we have one secret wish, to spend our last seconds at our home. Unfortunately, when our time comes, we seldom achieve that goal.  We dogs pass over slowly and painfully.  We don’t ever want our parents to suffer while they watch us, so it has been agreed upon by all parties that we would allow the humane method to be used, where our parents end our misery via the assistance of a doctor.  Humans are still troubled by doing the humane thing for themselves. This week my friend Dixie was able to achieve her goal of leaving for the Bridge from her house.  Her Mom Jan had an appointment for Dixie to be assisted to the immortal world but Dixie decided to save her mom the trip and the cost.  Her mom thought Dixie was sleeping in the living room, but actually, she was enjoying

Everyone knows that we dogs will do anything for the humans that we love, but the same is accurate for animals we adore too.  No one proved that more than Odin. Odin resides with the Hendel family in Santa Rosa California.  Their homestead, located in Sonoma County was in the path of the Tubbs fire.  On Sunday, October 8, Odin’s father Roland made the heartbreaking decision that he, his daughter and their pets had to abandon their home to the fire.   The Hendels would never leave a pet behind, but they had no choice but to abandon the eight bottle-fed rescue goats they recently adopted.  When Odin saw that the goats would not be escaping with them, he refused to leave their side. Around them propane tanks were exploding, metal was being twisted from the intense heat, the winds were hot and swirling powering the fire.  Roland hated leaving his loyal friend, but the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one.  The Hendels left Odin behind to what he knew would be a horrific

I have read several news reports about people protesting Civil War Memorials.  As always I stay neutral in all human arguments.  I would hate to offend a friendly lap or a potential hand to feed me. But I also believe I am in a unique position to help solve this quandary.  I am planning to go on tour as aa Travelling Civil War Memorial.  People who want to visit me to pay respect to the men who fault in the war and if it offends you I will be gone before a protest can be mounted. My tour will begin in Nashville Tennessee where I will be appearing November 2 as a Nathan Bedford Forrest Memorial. On November 5 I will be in Richmond Virginia as a Jeb Stuart Memorial On November 10, I will be appearing in Fredricksburg Va as the Braxton Bragg Memorial On November 15, I will be a James Longstreet statue in Gainsville Georgia Finally, on November 30 I will be in Lexington Kentucky as the  John Hunt Morgan Memorial I hope my efforts will help heal

You were right, its a boy

Is there a command your parents to try to stop your barking or some other unwanted behavior?   Pocket:  My parents can't settle on a word, which is why we get away with murder.  Daddy either does "Un-huh," "Shush," or going back and forth from "good girl" to "bad girl" depending on how we are doing.  Mommy does that strange noise and that Cesar Milan does.  Nothing seems to be working  

Part of being an angel is being a worrier.  It is like belonging to an exclusive club where everything is perfect, but you don’t want anyone in your family to be a member, and not in a creepy middle-aged executive hiding out at the Playboy Mansion way, but in a “if they come here they are going to be leaving all their family and their friends heartbroken” way. We lead a terribly contradictory afterlife.  We miss our loved ones with all our hearts, but we don’t want them to join us.  Our greatest wish is our greatest fear.   The Big Guy himself called Cooper the perfect dog, and as soon as he came here, he was determined to be the perfect angel.  He has watched over his family and siblings with an unmatched intensity.  When his beloved brother Chipper tore his ACL Cooper paced so much he could have worn out his own if our parts weren’t eternal. At first, their mom hoped that the ACL would heal on its own.  “This is just the job for an angel,” Cooper told me.  “I am going to wa

Being sick is a terrible thing.  I was not sick long during my life but when I became ill it was brutish and short.  Cancer hit me hard and swept me from the mortal world without a fight. I have had many friends who have battled this insidious illness, but there is one person who has fought like a superhero. Michelle Kenney is the owner of four beautiful little dogs who she has provided a perfectly loving home for.  She is a dear friend who has delighted my mom, as well as hundreds of other women, with her spirit and humor.  She is also a superhero who has fought the arch-villain known as cancer harder and longer than anyone I know. The cancer has come and gone so many time I have lost count.  We have rejoiced when it went it remission and cried when it inevitably returned.  We were overjoyed at her wedding, her trips to the beach house, the renewal of her vows, and commiserated as the treatments ravaged her body. No matter how many times she was knocked down, she has arisen s

As I get older more things make me nervous.  Noises coming from the TV, screeches, beeps, cries, whistles, whacks and whispers all cause me to sit up and tremble.  Once again my parents set out to combat my anxiety which always makes me nervous. They dug out my Thunder Shirt.  I hate that thing.  When I see it, I know something terrible is about to happen, and I shake.  But they added something new to the Thunder Shirt torture.  They bought a spray that was supposed to soothe my nerves.  The first time they sprayed it on me I got myself into more positions than the Kama Sutra trying to get the horrible smell off of me. Once I was done everything in the house, but me smelled like lavender.  This did not make Mommy happy, so Daddy decided to spray the Thunder Shirt before strapping it on me.  They termed this a success after Mommy made a noisy supper and I sat next to Daddy slightly trembling instead of running around the house trying to hide under everything. At our house, if no

Hey!  I don't tell you how to scratch your butt you don't tell me how to scratch mine!

When Cappy arrived at Rainbow Bridge, I explained how every part a dog loses, like hearing or vision, reaches the Bridge, and we keep it safe until the day comes when the rest of the dog arrives, and everything becomes whole again.  We got a short black leg this week with no name attached.  I got on the computer and searched my friends, and I learned that leg belonged to my friend Prince. Poor Prince had contracted cancer and had to lose his leg to keep cancer from spreading and taking his life.  Prince was more than happy make this sacrifice.  Truthfully, we dogs would exist as just a head on top of a beating heart if that meant more time with mom. Sadly, this sacrifice came with post-surgical pain.  Little Prince lost his front leg and shoulder during surgery.  He did a lot of crying the first few days.  Prince’s mom got his medication increased, but every time she lifted him to help him go potty she hit a sore spot.  Her heart broke for her poor little gentleman. Three days

This is the story of a 14-year-old-lab-pittie mix named Chloe who, on a hot August day decided to hike up a 14 er Mount Bross, ran into a speck of trouble, and came down six weeks later Chloe was a mountain dog, and she was experienced in finding her way home.  But she also had gotten older, and her body did not respond the way it used to.   On this beautiful summer day, Chloe kept going up and up.  She felt young again.  She knew she should turn around but the sun was warm, the scents were heavenly, and time slipped away.  She saw a large rock and knew if she could get on it she could see everywhere.  It took a mighty leap, but Chloe made it. Here is something about dogs that humans have trouble understanding.  We have tremendous confidence going up, but not so much going done.  Chloe was stranded on a rock in the middle of Nowhere Colorado. Chloe nervously padded to the side of the rock but her instinct told her if she jumped she would land on the steep slope