Beat This Caption

It looks like a bone, but it don't smell like a bone or taste like a bone.  What sort of trickery is this?

Monday Question

How do you let your parents know that you love them?

Pocket:  At any sign of my parents getting upset I put my paws on them, their legs if they are standing, their lap if they are sitting and look at them letting them know it will be okay.


River Song:   I never let them out of my site.  My constant presence is a sign of my love.

Peco Dee, A Little Dog in a Big Controversy is our January 6, 2019 Pup of the Week

This week I planned to write about the passing of my old DS friend Peco Dee’s mom Mary.  The news of her passing spread among her Facebook friends at the end of December. There were dozens, perhaps even hundreds of comments left on the page Peco shared with his mom Mary and on the Facebook group Dog Euphoria that Peco had administered since Doggyspace folded.

Mary was very private.  Few knew how old she was or what she looked like. They did know that Mary had been ill. There was a post in March about her falling and breaking a hip. A couple of weeks later Peco announced his mom was okay. Astute observers of Peco’s page and his Dog Euphoria profile realized something was off. The voice they had known as Peco’s was different by just a tad. And occasionally there would be pictures of Peco pensively looking off into the distance while underneath the caption read “Thinking of someone I miss in heaven.”

After hearing of Peco’s mom's passing one parent, in a quest to get more information, and knowing Peco’s mom’s elusive last name did an obituary check of the St. Paul's area. They found a person with his mom's name, but she had passed in March around the time of her fall. 

For their friends on Facebook Mary and Peco were indistinguishable. In December, when their friends learned of Mary’s passing, they were heartbroken, and when it came to light that she had really passed seven months earlier their emotions were raw, and they felt betrayed.

Peco’s mom’s son Tom, either at his mom’s request or on his own, at her passing, decided to keep Peco’s profile unchanged.   Mary had been a very private woman and may not have wanted her passing known, or for people to make a fuss. Or that Tom, in his grief, just wanted to keep something of his mom alive. 

 Perhaps, in retrospect, he should have let people know his mother had passed and that he would be taking over the reins on Peco’s page and at Doggy Euphoria. But who makes good decisions when they are grieving?  We have all suffered together at the passing of a pup friend. We know there is no wrong way to grieve. 

The people who loved Mary and Peco were hurt.  Love is a big soup made up of lots of ingredients like faith, hope, and kindness.  When dishonesty is added, it turns the broth bitter, and people react to it. This lead to the unit-Peco backlash that occurred when the news broke. It is a byproduct of being hurt after betrayal, not deliberate unkindness.  

Humans don’t adapt well to the fact that two opposing opinions may both be right.  You need to be a Republican or Democrat, Red Sox fan or Yankee, bagels or English muffins.  How can you be both? I call it the cereal box conundrum. I sit on one side of the box and say there's a big picture of Tony the Tiger on it and you sit on the other side and say “no, there’s a  puzzle on it.” Both are right. It's just a matter of perspective. Peco’s brother’s perspective was that he was doing right by Peco’s followers and his mom. Some to their friends perspective was that they felt betrayed. Both are right, and if you can’t see it, you need to get up and look at the other side of the box.

Peco’s momma Mary is with us at the Bridge.   She has a huge farm that she shares with her pets that preceded her.  She has provided a home for thousands of dogs who never found love in the mortal world.  I have sat with her and watched everything that has unfolded since Christmas. She has been upset because she only wanted Peco to be loved as she loved him.


For everyone still hurt by these events, I can tell you what the old dogs told me.  Jump in the swamp and shake it off. Then go back to honoring the little dog who brought so may together:  Peco Dee

Abandoned by those they Love Sam and Cosmo Find A Way

New Year’s is a time of hope, but it is also a reminder of the cruelty and uncaring nature of certain humans.  A couple, and a veterinarian, in Valparaiso Indiana, have personified both sides of the scale.

My parents told me, when I was particularly persnickety, about the dogs who did not sleep inside, had to lick frozen water bowls in the winter, and didn’t eat healthy kibble, so I would realize, and appreciate how privileged I was.

But, they never mentioned, and maybe could not comprehend, people so heartless that they would send a dog to the Bridge prematurely because of a human lifestyle change, or change of heart.

This is what happened to Sam, a pointer, and Cosmo a lab mix, from northern Indiana.  First, their life was turned upside down when their parents got divorced. The dad got custody of the duo.  He met a new woman who was allergic to dogs, then opted for a “convenience euthanasia,” and brought these two perfect souls to the vet to be put down because they no longer fit in his lifestyle.

(Note, as an angel,  I sometimes know, but cannot say, who is going to the Bad Place.  So, I am barred from naming the owner who requested the euthanasia, but, if you are reading this, and surrendered two dogs with matching names in northern Indiana, you might want to get used to the hot weather and to wield a  pitchfork.)

The blessed veterinarian refused to perform the euthanasia and talked the owner into surrendering the dogs to the Begin Again Rescue in Valparaiso.  The owner did not care if his companions lived, or died. He just wanted to be rid of these loyal souls. He left his two confused dogs with the vet.  Hopefully, he will never get another.

Poor Sam and Cosmo did not understand what was happening.  At first, they were part of a loving home; then their mom disappeared, then their dad left them at the shelter.  But, they knew they had one another.

The pair was given to the Peoples Animal Welfare Society in Tinley Pak Illinois. Knowing that Sam and Cosmo had led tumultuous lives the rescue did want to separate them.  Finding a family who would take them together made the adoption process slower, but the good people at PAWS knew they would find the right family for the two, charming but horribly mistreated dogs.

Eric and Tiffany Dybas of Lockport, Illinois, heard Sam and Cosmo’s lament and were happy to open their home to two adult dogs.  From the second the dogs entered the Dybas’ home the pups knew they would be loved for the rest of their lives and beyond. They had a yard to play in, and two parents to sleep with on the big bed.  Life was good, and their troubles gone.

The world needs more dogs like Sam and Cosmo, whose charm and tenacity kept them from being euthanized, and more parents like Eric and Tiffany, who opened their hearts to pair of older dogs, and less selfish, uncaring people like the dogs’ original owners
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Someday Sam and Cosmo will be at the Bridge, but only because they ran out of heartbeats, and their original owners will their too.  Perhaps, instead of going to the Bad Place the parents can become minions and wait on Sam and Cosmo hand and paw.

That would be a fitting eternal punishment for the people who tried to end the lives of such beautiful creatures. And perhaps, if their parents’ fate was known, no parent would ever try to do “convenience anesthesia” again.

Pocket's New Year Resolutions

The New Year arrived quietly at my house, as it always does.  My parents are far beyond the days of celebrating the New Year. We lie in the big bed together, and when the clock strikes twelve, my parents discuss what fresh hell 2019 will present.  My parents do know; whatever it may be, they will handle it together.

My parents have this same dread every year, and for the most part, it is unfounded.  Whether that will be the case this year, I do not know, but I am vowing to not contribute to any tension that may be waiting.

I resolve in 2019 to make sure I pee on the pad. Being in the same room as the pad, or a neighboring room is no longer good enough.  I must have all four paws on the pad, not just the front two leaving the back end off as my pee splashes on the floor, puddles under the pad and spreads like a stubborn rash.  I also vow to fully empty my bladder when I go outside and not cut short my urination time so I can get back inside, get my treat, then trot over to the pads for a squirt.

When I miss the pads, by forty feet or so, its usually because I am running around the house chasing my ball. I am very good at tracking it, but I need to improve in other aspects of this activity.  Sometimes, opening my mouth and grasping the ball is too much work for my nearly toothless face. I look at the ball, then bark for my human to retrieve, and throw it, so I can do what I do best, tracking.

I also vow not only to pick up my ball but to carry it back to my Papa, who does the majority of ball throwing. Until now I became so excited while carrying the ball I barked with joy, dropped it, then yipped at Papa to crawl over and throw it again. 

 Playing ball with me is very much like being a receiver for the Jets There is a lot of frustration, bending over and picking the ball up. But, no more. You have my bark.

Some mornings I am not hungry.  Occasionally this is followed by bag poops. I always eat by evening.  But, when I don’t eat, it makes my parents worry that the bad poops are coming, or, worse that I won’t eat at night, or the next day. I have to remember I am going to be 12 this year and any missed meal, limp, or yip will send my family into a fury of worry.

I told my resolutions to River and suggested she make a similar list, perhaps including not being so bitchy and snappish all the time.  River succinctly told me that these behaviors only bothered me, which, to an extent is true, but she still causes unrest, and no one wants unrest.


I am hoping for a low key year for myself, my parents, my friends, and their parents, although given what the strange white disc in the kitchen that, in a severe monotone, reads the headlines each morning, no matter how we dogs try, there will be more unrest in 2019 than we can handle.  

Wordless Wednesday

Beat This Caption

Don't interrupt me.  You're going to be neutered whether you like it or not.