Dear Aunt Foley: Rueful Romey

Dear Aunt Foley:  I love my Mom, and when she met my Dad I was very excited.  He’s a great guy and makes her happy.  Then Mom told me that I was her most trusted confidant, and there was no else she trusted planning her wedding.  The plans were coming together and we have worked together perfectly.  But then came the wedding dress.  I picked out one I thought was magnificent.  Mom agreed, but now she’s not sure.   Planning the wedding is my responsibility and I want her to wear the dress I picked out.  But, on the other paw, I think maybe I let Mom down by picking the wrong dress.  Please tell me what I should do. - Rueful Romey

Dear Rueful Romey:  I have been studying humans for a dozen years and nothing gets them more worked up than a wedding.  When humans are planning a wedding they take their brains out and put them on a shelf for a little time each day, and, as the wedding date grows closer they spend less time visiting their brains.  You can make lots of suggestions, and I am sure they’re all wonderful, but it is her wedding, and outside of the day you joined her pack it will be the best day of her life, so give her a lot of leeway and understand when she changes her mind.  It has nothing to do with your mind, her love for you, or what I am sure is a great job you are doing as a wedding planner.  It just has to do with her not visiting her mind too often.  So just stick by her, be the loyal friend you have been, ride out her changes of mind, and pray for the wedding day to come soon.

Dear Aunt Foley:  Hi Aunt Foley.  I have never asked for advice before.  But I am a new dog and I’m really not sure what I should be doing.  I have learned to do my business outside and not inside but I am stumped about the couch in the sun room.  It seems to come with odd rules.  I can get up on it (I am very proud of this) but I am not allowed to get on the back of it.  I lay down on the couch to nap and it is very comfy but if I stand on the back of it, or lie down on the back of it, Mommy makes me get down.  When I moved into the house I did not get a pamphlet on the couch rules, can you enlighten me? - Sophie on the Sofa

Dear Sophie:  The only rule to remember is that you Mommy loves you very much and wants to keep you safe.  Mommies are funny.   If we are sleeping on the couch, have a dream, and roll off, that’s funny, but if we jump on the back of the couch, then fall off, that’s a tragedy.  Speaking as another small in the leg pup I can tell you that Mommies get very worried when we get up high, so try not to get too high, and try not to make your Mommy worry, but, I can assure you, when it comes to Mommies, that is nearly impossible.

Dear Aunt Foley:  I had one of the strangest experiences of my life.  My Mommy sent me across the border to Mexico to get groomed.  She was very worried about this but my Dad said it would be fine.  And when I came home nicely groomed it seemed that Dad was, in fact, correct.  But that night I went out to do my business and when I laid my Vick on the grass a small plastic bag came out with it.  Then a man stepped out of the bushes and said “yo, dog, thanks for the package,” picked the bag out of my poo and left.  What’s up with that?  - Stuffed Pepper

Dear Pepper:  Oh Pepper I have seen this happen a thousand times.  We have wonderful friends in Mexico, and there are hard working, honest people there, but there are also bad people who will do anything to smuggle barkotics into our country.  It is obvious to me that sometime during your grooming you were fed a bag of these barkotics and when you were brought home, and Vicked, the package of drugs came out.  Don’t worry, you will be fine, but just keep in mind that, for part of this month, you were more mule than dog.

Angel Mollie, Angel Daisy, and Sophie are our August 19, 2012 Pups of the Week

I am certified in helping dogs with their problems.  But I also like to try and guide Moms who have lost their pups.  Any Mom who devotes so much time to being secretaries to their dogs certainly must love their pups.  When they lose a dog I encourage them to go out and find a new one as soon as they can.

What we dogs need is loving Moms and there aren’t enough out there.  The worst thing is when a great, loving dog warrior Mom is too broken hearted to think about bringing home another dog.  I recall Morgan the Miracle Maltese’s Mom being that broken hearted.    But up on the Bridge Morgan was not going to let that be.

He made sure that he put Jackson and his Mom together and now they are the loves of one another’s life.  There are dozens of other examples of dogs at the Bridge helping their Mom find a new pup of their life.  I am pretty certain that my sister Copper, when she went to the Bridge, helped Mommy find Pocket.

So it’s not full proof system, but, for whatever reason, Mommy does love Pocket (I just don’t see it.)

I know how broken hearted Mollie’s Mom Cindy was when Mollie went to the Bridge at a young age and four years after Daisy went, which is nothing in human years.  Aunt Cindy was too broken hearted when she lost Mollie to think of another dog.  But I was in contact with Mollie and Daisy at the Bridge and we all agreed that Aunt Cindy needed a new dog.  While I couldn’t do anything from here in Massachusetts I knew they could take care of everything from their spot at the Bridge.

I am going to let you loyal readers know the secret of how pups at the Bridge help their Mom find new dogs.  First Mollie and Daisy slipped into their Mom’s dreams and sweetly whispered to her that it was time to get a new dog.  Then they went back to the Bridge and started to look over the millions of available dogs in the world to find the right one for their Mom.  When the other dogs at the Bridge learned the same they eagerly jumped in to help.

The network to find a Mom a dog at the Bridge is the same as it is for the Earth bound humans.  Dogs started to bark to one another searching for a sweet cocker spaniel.
When one was found Mollie and Daisy floated down to check it out and decide if the pup was right for their Mom.  They finally found an eight week old in nearby Williamsburgh Virginia.

When the puppy was asleep Mollie and Daisy slipped into her dreams.  They told her what their Mom looked like and when she saw her to act like this was the Mom she wanted her whole life.  Then they slipped into their Mom’s dreams and told her to look for a black cocker spaniel in Williamsburg Virginia.  That morning Aunt Cindy awoke with an undefined urge to look for a cocker spaniel in Williamsburg.

She looked in the paper and found a Cocker Spaniel there.  She took Molly’s and Daisy’s Dad with her.  The little black Cocker did as told, going to Aunt Cindy and letting her know that she had picked her out as her Mom.  But there was an unforeseen problem.  Their Daddy had wanted the pup’s brother.

Angel Mollie smacked herself in the head with her paw.  They had never gone to her Daddy in a dream.  And if she had tried it is so hard to squeeze in between the cars, young girls, grilled short ribs, and football.  But Angel Daisy told her not to worry.  She knew her Mom could handle the situation.  And she did so convincing her husband that the girl was the one they belonged with.

Sophie was brought home and she settled into the sun room.  And now we have a new friend.  So thank you Angel Daisy and Angel Molly for bringing up Sophie.  We will teach her all she needs to know.And we will watch over your Mom too.

And the two of you will always be in our thoughts as we watch little Sophie grow.

Our Memorial Day Rainbow Bridge Pups of the Week: Tanner, Sophie, Hershey and Baron Bear Bear

It is Memorial Day, when we remember those we have lost, and so this week I would like to honor all our friends at Rainbow Bridge, and four in particular.

First there is the dog who brought us all together, Tanner Bub.

For those of you who don't know, let me tell the story of the Tanner Brigade.  A long, long time ago, at a website far, far, away, we all belonged to a group called Doggyspace.  Tanner Bub and I were good friends there.  But there was a lot of drama, fighting, and meanness around the site then.  There was one pup, well, it wasn't really a pup, just a guy who pretended to have a pup, who was writing some very rude things.  Tanner's Mom made a mistake and listed his name in a comment to one of my blogs.  Now this mistake came from a very emotional place.  Tanner's Mom had just found out he had cancer and would be going to the bridge soon.  Sorrow causes humans to lash out at night.  But in the morning she realized her error, e-mailed me, and asked me to remove the comment she had made.  I removed the comment.  But an hour later we were informed that Tanner's account had been deleted.  We sent a very nice message to Levi, the owner of Doggyspace, asking that Tanner's account be reactivated so we could help him and his Mom through the difficult days ahead.  His response should be read at every Tanner Brigade anniversary because it was the insensitive words and incredible misuse of the English language that were the seeds of what became our close net group.

"“As you know the rules are laid out clear, and we can not allow this bickering to continue, nor slander. It may be unforchunit for her personaly, however she knew she should not have done that before she even posted it, and we can not make exceptions in this case due to the size of the event. Dont expect it to be the last eather, the entire admin/support team are hunting down anyone that was part of the event on bothsides as its a clear break of the community rules. Its sad to see so many adults act like children."

I sent a private message to my closest friends at DS telling the story and attaching the message.  The response was the same, they were all angry.  My sending the PM caused my account to be suspended.  Writing about the situation on my own blog site caused my account the be deleted.

We took a brief refuge at Doggyweb, but on the night Tanner went to the bridge, many of us signed up under phony names on Doggyspace, and posted our profile picture as Tanners.  Many DS members changed their profile pic to Tanner's and that night you couldn't go to a page on DS without seeing Tanner's photo.  But that bad human, who was pretending to own a dog, came on Doggyweb, and celebrated Tanner's passing while lashing out at all the members.  The next day the Tanner Brigade was born.

Just before Tanner died he married Sophie.

Sophe is just about the sweetest dog I know.   Even from the Bridge she sends us lovely messages and make us feel so loved.  There are now three dogs living in Sophie's old house.  That's how many dogs it takes to fill the void left by a wonderful dog like Sophie.

Our third pup is Hershey.

I can't find better words to explain why Hershey deserves this then Hershey's words.  This is his message to his Mom from Rainbow Bridge, but be warned, you will need your tissues.  You can read it here.

Our last pup  of the week is Baron otherwise known as Bear Bear.

This week Bear did the most important work a Bear the the Bridge can do.  But Bear hasn't posted it here.  His Mom did on Facebook.  So I won't spill the secret here, I'll just say Bear's work here is done, but as Hershey says so perfectly, they never leave us.

So here is to all our dogs at the Bridge, and all the Moms and Dads we have lost, brothers and sister too.  Someday we will all be together.  And we won't have to call up a web address to see a friend, but simply think of them and they will be there.  Until then, Bridge Angels like Tanner, Sophie, Hershey and Bear will be there to watch over us.