Angel Willie is our May 10, 2015 Pup of the Week

It is hard for those of you on the mortal side of the Bridge to understand how difficult it is to be an angel.  We watch over our parents the best we can but we can’t protect them from every bad thing that happens . This week Angel Willie learned that lesson in a very hard way.

Willie spends a lot of time watching over his Mom.  But when she is with his mortal brothers he assumes she is in good paws and spends his time swimming in the river.  

Willie stopped watching his Mom just as she was taking Roscoe and Jessie for a walk.  When he checked in on her a short while later he found her being loaded into an ambulance.  Her knee was heavily wrapped and she was in excruciating pain.  He couldn’t find out what had happened.  He could only enter his family’s minds while they were sleeping and everyone was too keyed up to sleep.

Willie ran so fast to my cloud he burst through the door and knocked me out of my chair.  It took several barks before I could understand:  His Mom was hurt and he didn’t why.  I took him to Tommy Tunes’ mansion where any answer can be found.  Tommy took us to a control room in the basement with thousands of televisions.  Our good friend, and long time Rainbow Bridge Angel, Teddy Bond, had placed thousands of cameras around his friend’s parents’ houses so if we miss something we could find out what happened.

Tommy sped through the tapes until he found Willie’s Mom Sandy standing on her landing, locking her front door when suddenly Roscoe took off followed by Jessie.  Sandy lost her balance, was pulled down the stairs and landed on her knee, crushing it.

Willie let out a moan seldom heard at the Bridge and covered his eyes.  Tommy and I lay down next to him and asked him what was wrong.  “It’s all my fault,” Willie said.  “I should never have taken my eyes off of Mom.  Oh what kind of angel am I?”

We both assured Willie he was a wonderful and devoted angel but there were two rules about being an angel:  Rule Number One is that bad things happen to those we are tasked with protecting and Rule Number Two is that there isn’t a damn thing we can do about Rule Number One.

Poor Willie stood up and began to pace muttering to himself.  “I told them not to pull Mom on the stairs.  And Roscoe!  I picked him out especially for Mom.  And he was the main puller.”

I went to him and gave him a hug.  Tommy sent out a distress call to our other angel friends who joined us.  After much discussion we decided upon Willie’s best course of action.

First Willie visited Jessie and Roscoe who were blaming themselves just as much as Willie was.  He told them that what happened was not their fault.  Dogs do things they shouldn’t, pull at the wrong time, go in the wrong direction, and occasionally humans get hurt.  But he knew they loved their Mom, and were heartbroken over the accident.  He gave them each a kiss and told them not to worry, that their Mom would be in the hospital for a night or two, and she would need a great deal of care and loving over the next few months as she heals.  Willie would not be able to do this, it was up to Roscoe and Jessie, and there were no two dogs he trusted more to take care of his Mom.

Next he assumed the body of a wee fly so he could sneak into the operating room and make sure his Mom’s surgery went accordingly.  He then climbed into her dreams even though, because of the anesthesia those dreams were quite disjointed.  He spent the next day, when she had to stay at the hospital with complications, and made sure she got home safely.

Today, on her Facebook page, Willie’s Mom posted that she was sure that she felt Willie brush against her twice.  And she was correct.  She is going to be feeling Willie’s presence a lot in the coming months.  He is her angel and he is pressing every boundary of angeldom to do what he can to keep her safe and heal.

And when he can’t he knows she is in good paws with Jessie and Roscoe.

And Sandy, Willie wanted me to leave you with these words.

Happy Mothers Day.  I love you.

Jessie is Our April 6, 2014 Pup of the Week

This week we salute a long time friend who was innocently walking along when near tragedy struck, a heroic Mom, and a beautiful angel, all three no strangers to this blog.

Our friend Jessie and her family are still recovering from Willie (The Dog Who Said No) who joined me at the Bridge a few months ago.  Willie led them to the perfect brother for Jessie, Roscoe, who, despite the bumps all families go through when a new member joins, was fitting in perfectly in his new family, and new love was being created in his pack’s hearts that had been destroyed when Willie departed.

But, on the mortal side of the Bridge there is always danger lurking, even in your own neighborhood, and even when you are doing something as innocent as taking a walk.

That’s what Jessie and her Mom were doing.  Taking a peaceful morning walk like we all do, if lucky, and that’s when two pit bulls came flying out a front door, down the steps, and straight towards Jessie and his Mom with malice in their hearts.

Like me take this moment for a brief aside:  While Jessie and her Mom were attacked by two pitties the pitties were just the tool used in the attack.  One of them was a female in heat, the other a male under full effect of a female in heat.  It is common for any dog to attack when they think there is either a threat to their mate, or to their position as mate.  In such instances intelligent humans make sure both dogs are kept out of danger and away from other dogs for their protection and that of other dogs.  But the humans who owned these pitties did none of that, so, while the pitties did the attacking, it was actually the pet parents who caused it.  End of aside.

Jessie went into a submissive position, a wise choice given the ferocity closing in towards hers, signalling to them that she was no threat.  But a lollipop in full heat and a mate protecting his red rocket launching pad weren’t taking chances.  They lunged at Jessie’s throat, an action, like the firing of a gun at close range, means certain death.

There are two reactions Moms can have in the milliseconds before death strikes their babies, frozen in shock, or self sacrifice, and her automatic response was the latter, grabbing Jessie, dragging her baby towards her and trying to cover her.  If the out of control pitties were going to kill her baby they would have to chew through her to do so.

The dogs were biting, growling, thrashing and gnashing at our friends.  At that point a third dog joined in, attacking Jessie and her Mom. Jessie was struggling too, exposing her neck, her most vulnerable point.  The pitties owners, having created and left unprotected killing machines, came outside yelling at the dogs and punching them (a training class to get your dog to come when called:  $100.  You can train a parent to make their dog come but you can’t train a human to stop being stupid.)

Other humans came running as Jessie’s Mom kept screaming no while praying that somehow her baby was surviving the attack.  The pitties were then pulled off and brought into their own personal hell house.  Jessie’s Mom checked her and found no wounds, no blood (although later she would find two puncture wounds and have to take Jess to the vet to get them cleaned.)  The pittie’s Mom defended her dogs as being kind and sweet.  I am sure they were when they came to her home, but they aren’t any longer.  Someone had called the police and they took a report.  Hopefully the pitties can be saved and brought into a home where they can be properly trained.

Jessie is showing no after effects from the attack.  Her Mom hurt her knee, and wrenched her back but the largest wounds were to her psyche, as any Moms would be.

How did Jessie and her Mom survive being attacked by three angry pit bulls?  There is only one answer:  Angel Willie helped protect her Mom and his sister, keeping those sharp teeth away from them, pulling off another Willie Miracle in a string of Willie Miracles.

So say a prayer of thanks to Willie and the Angels that his Mom and Jessie weren’t badly hurt, and pray for those pitties too and they can be removed from their careless humans and be allowed to have a normal life where they are agents of love the way dogs should be and not death.

And pray for safe walks for all of us.