The Ruby Rose and the Big Little Angels 3 Blog

  What do you eat out of? Do you remove from and take it a few steps  away from the dish before you eat it? Do you ever say no to food? Is there food you won't eat?

  Eighteen is an age all dogs aspire to reach because, true or not; it is when humans mature. JD had another reason for wanting to get that age:  To vote in the Presidential election. His mother told JD that even 18 years old couldn’t vote. But, thanks to a mistake in the city clerk's office, they didn't believe a dog could be mortal at 18 and assumed he was a teenager sent JD a mail-in ballot.  Mama Silvie didn't think JD voting in the election would be an issue. Once the clerk's office realized he was not human, they would discard the ballot.  But in the election day confusion, the vote was counted, helping Silvie’scandidate wins.  Once this was accomplished, JD decided it was time to retire to the Bridge. He could leave his beloved mom in the paws of his siblings. Two days after his 18th birthday, JD lay down his mortal coil and became an angel. You can imagine the uproar that accompanied JD when he reached Doggyspace at the Bridge.  No pup had ever voted in a p

  It was a sad day on the mortal side when Samoa departed for Rainbow Bridge.  Samoa spent 14 years as his mom’s unofficial therapy and velcro dog.  While he had siblings Barnaby and Jeremiah, who his mom loves very much, Samoa was her heart dog, and when one goes to the Bridge, so does a large and vital part of their parent’s soul.         Heart dogs usually keep secrets from their siblings.  They don’t want them to know all the little ways that they make their parents feel loved and  create a special bond between dog and human.  If they did, the siblings could usurp their position in their mom’s hearts.     At the time Samoa went to the Bridge, he was devoted to his mom.  After arriving in their dreams, he told Barnaby and Jemima his secrets to ease her suffering. One of his tricks was to stay with his mom while she was in the kitchen, not because he wanted food, although that was a fine side-effect, but because it made his mom feel loved.       “We knew that,” Jemima said.  “We t

   I was excited to learn that Daddy is related to Peter Browne, a prominent pilgrim who arrived in the New World on the Mayflower.  The news made me recall a conversation I had, here at the Bridge, with one of my ancestors, Elias Monster, who arrived with the Goodman family at Plymouth Rock in 1620.     Elias was the first Yorkie to arrive at the New World.  He was at the Plantation for six years before a female Yorkie joined him.  Prior to her arrival, he took a lot of cold swims in the harbor.     He also persuaded the Pilgrims to not settle in Provincetown.  The Pilgrims were happy to make the lovely beach community their home.  Elias explored the woods and came upon the Provincetown Indians, a bunch of proud warriors who protected and farmed their land, dressed in women’s clothing, and hung around in bars.  Elias rushed back to the Pilgrims and told them they should leave immediately.  He had no problem with the Indians’ lifestyles, but he figured it would clash with the uptigh

 

  Poor Tom.  If I knew this was going to be your fate I never would have retrieved you.

  What are your plans for Thanksgiving?  Have you changed them because of COVID?

Star was the first of Taz's Angel siblings to arrive at Hobo's Landing after the little Yorkie began her journey to the immortal world. I was preparing to swear little Taz in just like I had Star, Jake, and Jazzy.  They were too many babies lost for one mother to bear. I asked Star how her mother was coping with her latest loss. This is her fourth pup in a decade who has gone to the Bridge. "Of course she is despondent," Star said. "But Mom has undertaken the walkthrough that cold, dark,  hopeless forest called grief and come out the other side. When she walks it now, she'll have another angel to guide her way." That is the key to finding your way out of the grief woods: Look for your Angel's light.  It is densely dark in the forest of grief.  It can take angels weeks to muster up the power to shine a light out of the darkness.  With four angels, Aunt Valerie has a brilliant light, but the more times she walks it, the darker it becomes.  There is

  People get very excited when one of them is having a baby. There are parties, gifts, and many congratulations. But dogs who become pregnant don't get the same lavish attention that people do.  For us, pregnancies are either the byproduct of forced breeding or an accident when someone lets a lollipop in heat outside.  Frankly, dogs feel that the sacrifice we make to provide puppies to you goes widely unappreciated.  That was when I decided a change was in order. II determined to make sure pregnant lollipops had showers and not the kind that washes away the stink of shame.  A lollipop that gets pregnant should receive what she wants at her ceremony and not what the puppy needs since the litter is probably going to be around for three months at the most. Before we became house dogs, we were hurt and confused when they took our babies away from us when they were still little puppies.  Then we began to live our lives snuggled on humans' laps inside a safe, dry home, and we saw

  All dogs have incredibly close relationships with their parents, but therapy dogs, and their people, are entwined in ways that we traditional pups admire and are a little jealous over.  Therapy dogs get to go everywhere with their parents and are often the first soul humans turn to during dark times. They have earned this role.  These pups train intensely and have to always be on their best behavior while quelling the instincts that rule us and bring trouble. I don’t know if I could do it. While I would want to be with my mom all the time, I would miss being a free spirit who can bark at people, go to them with tail wagging, and steal attention.  Of course, the closer the relationship, and the love that is sparked by it, means more pain when one of the pair moves to the Bridge. Teardrops, in the form of rain, fall at the Bridge when a new angel gets their detachable wings.  When it is a therapy dog who crosses, those drops become a monsoon that can continue for days.  This weeken

  "What do you mean you are just having one?  Bit of a light weight aren't you?

  What do you parents do when you get in trouble?

  I  hate to see old friendships ended by politics.  It is we dogs who lose friends thanks to silly misunderstandings and assumptions. On Doggyspace, we dog warned our adults that they would not be happy with what they found when they saw the humans behind the pup on the site.  One of the dogs I lost contact with was Ruby Rose.  I remember the beautiful Shepherd living life to the fullest with her mom. When we were on Doggyspace, I loved learning about her adventures and the special relationship she had with her.  Ruby even followed me to the Tanner Brigade ten years ago, but then we lost touch. I could picture her still going for walks and playing in the yard under the watchful eye of her loving mom. I am not sure how Ruby ended up in my district, but I was delighted to see her even under the harshest circumstances. Ruby had lived well into her senior years.   Like all older dogs, she tried to hide her discomfort when she began to slow down and feel poorly. Obviously, the pain of

  Being the dog who belongs to a member of the military can be challenging.  One of the biggest problems is that the parents are gone for long periods.  We all worry about our parents when they are away, but when they are out of the country for months, with an entire army trying to kill them, it can be hell for dogs.  When their parents return, their dogs joyfully dance as they flush all the worries from their system.     But, sadly, some of the parents don’t come home.  We dogs can tell when this catastrophe occurred by the way the other family members react.  Dogs cannot afford to mourn because they have to take care of the other family members.  They have to pick their moments to do so and pay tribute to the fallen.       Hawkeye was devoted entirely to his father, John, who was a NAVY seal.  John was gone for months, but when he came home, it was just Hawkeye and him.  They would go for long walks together, play ball, take car rides, and sleep in the same bed.  Hawkeye always ha

  One of the Rainbow Bridge engineers stopped by my house today with a warning. Because of the recent resume in coronavirus deaths, the Bridge would be expanding again.  I wasn't sure why I was made privy to this confidential information until he told me the expanded area would be over southern Massachusetts, where my parents live in a cheaply built house that sits on concrete blocks.   When Rainbow Bridge expands, it sends off a shock wave through the mortal side, which often manifests as earthquakes.   My soft, elite liberal East coast friends could not handle such a calamity. They shelter in place when the wind blows too strongly. I can only imagine Massachusetts residents’  reactions.  They are not too far removed from putting women on for being witches when they got a weekend of rain.  They may take this as they're due and owing.  Massachusetts residents believe if anything good happens, it is immediately followed by something bad to balance the scales. On Saturday, my par

 

    More people are hiring cats to be toilet guards and help dogs when they fall in the bowl.

  Do your parents have anything on your car like a window or bumper sticker to represent you?  

  Oscar, the bulldog, lived an idyllic life.  It was just him and his two parents in their Michigan home.  His parents treated him like a child, and he reveled in the attention.   He was the happiest and most content dog in the entire Upper peninsula.      His parents had no reason to add another soul to the pack.  But, often, life had other plans. Miles from Oscar’s house, a cat, was abandoned by uncaring parents.  She prayed to the cat angels to help her find a good home.  They searched the surrounding area and determined that the best possible place would be at Oscar’s house.  They knew his parents wouldn’t hesitate to help an animal in need.     They instructed the cat on how to find Oscar’s house.  It took her a day to get there.  He was cold and hungry.  The angels showed him how to act pitifully by shivering and meowing mournfully.  He played the part of tired, hungry, and scared cat to perfection.  That was because he was one.     Oscar was the first in the house to see

    Puck’s angel brother Ruckus found him at a rescue. He was an exuberant black lab suffering from a Dark-Colored Dog at the Shelter Syndrome.  They are always the last adopted.  But Ruckus saw something in Puck’s spirit and fierce loyalty that would make him an ideal replacement for the angel in his family’s hearts. Ruckus had been an only dog to his parents, Bob and Martha.  Their son Brad had taken a job on the other coast after graduation.  The two empty-nesters gave all their love to Ruckus, and he knew they would give it to Puck. Puck was a happy dog from the minute he got home.  He loved snuggling with his mom, going on long walks, playing ball, and tug of war with his dad.  Martha’s a high strung lady.  She doted on both boys like they were her children and worried when either pup showed signs of illness.  Martha thought if she had been more attentive to Ruckus before being diagnosed with cancer, she could have had more time with him.  She was wrong, but that is

  I have thoroughly investigated the strange activity at your home and determined that the woman who lives across the street and does nothing but smoke cigarettes and stares at your house is indeed a witch.  She is responsible for your everyday household items that seemed to vanish into thin air only to reappear in a place you searched thoroughly hours before.   She is also the one who has stopped appliances from working like the washing machine that wouldn't fill with water, and then as soon as an expensive repairman came out, it suddenly began to work.  Last week the witch performed her most infamous trick when she made the hot water pipe in the front bedroom closet leak and flooded the first floor.  If she wanted to inflict maximum damage, she made a critical timing error. Everyone knows that you and Daddy are night owls.  She could have done more harm by breaking it at 7:00 in the morning than at 2:00 at night.  You’d think she would know that after watching your house 24 hou

 

  The world's most valuable crops are patrolled by the famous One-Eyed, One-Eared Flying Yorkie

 What is the longest amount of time that you have been left home alone?

  As you know, dogs were put on earth to help humans, and in some cases, even save them, but sometimes dogs, through twists of fate end up at the wrong house.  The Big Angels tasked a dog named Reilly with protecting a young boy’s life.  But, a man with no children adopted him.   At first, Reilly figured another dog would take on the role of being the boy’s savior, but he had to know for sure .    There is never a good reason for a dog to run away from home, but that is precisely what Reilly did . H e only had a vague sense of what the boy who he tasked with helping smelled like. Determined, Reilly snuck out of the house; and he began to sniff the millions of scents embedded on the ground. After a few cases of mistaken sniffs, Reilly picked up the right trail and found the house where the boy lives.   Unfortunately, there was no one home .   Reilly decided to lie down in front of the house and wait .  It was growing, cold, and dark.  A female neighbor saw Reilly, put a leash