Atlas and Bosco are our January 21, 2018 Pups of the Week

I have to issue a sincere apology to my friend boxer friend Bailey who arrived at Rainbow Bridge at the same time Hattie Mae passed over.  We all concentrated on Hattie’s arrival, and Bailey did not get the tribute he deserved.

Bailey’s brother Brutus preceded him to the Bridge by eight months.  A few years before that their brother Hans made his final journey.  That made more members of the Boxer Brigade at the Bridge than at their Mom’s house.

This is part of the reason I neglected to single out Bailey for recognition.  As soon as he crossed he disappeared with his two brothers.  We would hear rumors of an urgent project the Boxer trio were undertaking, but there were no details.

Earlier this week I found an exhausted Bailey lying on the river bank.  I assembled all my ovarian fortitude to perform one of my most difficult duties:  to apologize.  When I arrived at his side, he looked at me and smiled.  “Hi Foley, I want to apologize for not being around since I arrived,” he said.  I sighed in relief.  If Bailey was going to apologize there was no reason for both of us to do it.  “Hans, Brutus and I have been working on a special project,” Bailey continued.  “We found some new Boxers for our Mom!”

This was fabulous news.  I see so many parents still suffering from an ending, which is always sad.  It fills my soul with joy when I learn of a parent who is experiencing the elation of a new beginning.

The Boxer Brigade interviewed thousands of potential dogs looking for the perfect pup.  Hans chose one, Brutus chose another one, and they left it up to Bailey to decide.  There was only one choice he could make.

The three brothers then bombarded their mom’s dreams.  It was going to a strenuous task to convince their mom to agree to their plan because Bailey had decided her pack needed two new dogs.  That was a lot for a parent to shoulder.

But their mom knew, when the notion of getting two dogs came to her, that it had to be her boys who planted the idea.

Shortly after the concept was introduced the two beautiful boxer pups the trio selected, Atlas and Bosco, joined Thor and Lola making the Boxer a pack of four again for the first time in five years.

Their mom was certainly lucky finding t two dogs who were vetted so thoroughly by her angels.  Within three days of entering the Boxer house, Atlas and Bosco were already using the doggy door like they knew why it was there.  They also knew all the games Thor and Lola enjoyed.  The fit into the pack seamlessly.

While I was talking with Bailey, Hans and Brutus joined us.  I congratulated them on finding the perfect pups for their mom.  Then I watched the three of them take off, happily running through the hills and valleys, laughing all the way, knowing they had fulfilled their duty and made their mom happy again.




They did the same for me, because I love beginnings, and the new Boxer duo are quite a beginning indeed.

Atlas is Foley's July 7, 2013 Pup of the Week

This Rainbow Bridge place is kind of bittersweet.  When I get paged for a swearing in ceremony I know I am going to be happy to see an old friend, but also sad for the family they are leaving behind.  

This week, as I stood on my platform at the top of the stairs in my little black robe I looked down the Bridge and saw my wonderful friend Atlas slowly climbing the stairs, and with each step I saw him shedding the pain from the cancer that had ended his life on the Earthly realm and grow younger before my eyes.  Also with each step I saw him stop and look back, towards the wooden Bridge over looking the deep, smoothly flowing blue river with the silver fish softly leaping to and fro, towards the willow tree where the squirrels and bunnies hop and climb, and up towards the endless blue sky where the eagles soar.  I know he was admiring the beauty, but also thinking, as all us new members do, of the wonderful, loving family he was leaving behind.

Atlas and I arrived at the Bridge in similar circumstances. We both hid how much pain we were in from our families, we both had cancer, and we both had the number of heartbeats we were assigned run out before all the promises we had made could be kept.

Our parents did not have much warning that our songs were ending.  The first sign for me was an innocent cough, the first sign for Atlas was a nosebleed.  Mine led to an x-ray that showed a mass in my lungs, Atlas’ x-ray showed a mass on his pancreas.  While there was no chance of an operation for me the doctors did try to remove Atlas’ spleen but when they opened him up they found that his cancer had spread to vital organs and there was nothing his family could do. A short time later I saw him on the stairs to the Bridge as his family was left behind to wonder how they could live brokenhearted.

To all dogs Atlas, along with Presley and his brother Angel Taggert, was one of the first dogs:  One of the first to befriend them, one of the first to comfort them if they were sick or a loved one had passed to the Bridge, one of the first to rally others to their friends’ cause.  Atlas, like I tried to, made the lives of every dog easier just by being their friend, and made their lives more enjoyable.

Atlas was also a dog that was known all over the Internet, on Doggyspace, Tanner Brigade, Facebook, and other sites, and everyone mourned his passing.  I thought that, when he reached the top of the Stairs, he should be given a special award, named after a dog who was already at the Bridge and also was known throughout the Internet, so I have awarded him the Special Order of Sierra, to recognize him as a dog known throughout the world, in tribute to Sierra, another dog who was truly known across the world.

For the many loved ones of Atlas still on the Earthly realm, and his family, he wants you to know he needs no prayers, nor for anyone to feel bad for him.  He wants you to concentrate on his wonderful family, who miss their special boy, and helped create an award winning dog.

So here is to you Atlas, loved on Earth forever, loved, and recognized at the Bridge forever.  You are a once in a lifetime dog.