The Winnipeg Humane Society Pet Loss Vigil
Wednesday Aug 22 2012What: Pet Loss Vigil
Where: The Winnipeg Humane Society
When: Monday, September 24, 2012 at 7 p.m.
Who: Please join us in celebrating the animals who have shared and touched your life. Tell the stories of your beloved pets and light a candle in their memory. Everyone is welcome to attend. The vigil will be lead by professional counsellor, Anne Mulders-Papadopoulos, and CEO of The Winnipeg Humane Society, Bill McDonald, will speak.
Why: If you are dealing with the loss of a pet and are in need of support, The Winnipeg Humane Society provides Pet Loss Support Group meetings in addition to our Pet Loss Vigil. Anne Mulders-Papadopoulos is a Certified Trauma Specialist, and will help facilitate recovery after the loss of a pet. The Pet Loss Vigil is an event where anyone mourning their late companion can meet without judgement, and pay tribute to the relationship they had with their pet through a candle lighting ceremony.
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10:48 AM September 24th 2012
Button
“Tomorrow will make 1 week since Button left us. There is a hole in all of our hearts. We got Button from the Humane Society when he was 4 months old and he lived a happy, healthy live until the age of 13 years. He was one of a kind and my husband and I with our two boys miss him soooo much!!!! R.I.P. Button, we love you! X0X0
9:47 AM September 20th 2012
Hannah, the Gun Dog That Never Was
“A long time ago, a man thought to himself, “It’s been a time since I’ve had a dog & I think I would like to have a hunting companion.” As one of the guys at work was constantly going on and on about Labs, although his were Yellow Labs, he thought maybe that would be a good kind of dog to have. He asked the fellow about where he could get one & Gord said to call Lab Rescue. So the man did. He went to look at a few Labs, a high energy brown male out of town, which was not a very good fit, then a low energy yellow female in town, which was also not a very good fit, which were all of the dogs in foster care at the time as two others had already bee adopted by the time the man got hold of their foster parents. Then about a week later he got a call from the nice lady at Lab Rescue about a 1-½ year old black female in foster care at the City of Winnipeg Pound, on Logan Ave. She was a standoffish fearful little girl that you could tell had been abused in her life. She looked so forlorn in the cage and so thin you could see her rib cage. The man thought that the dog’s spirit had been broken and would not be much of a companion. However, the young lady who looked after her said she was a different dog when she was outside of her cage. She got a ball & led the young dog & the man outside to the play / run area. When the ball was thrown, the dog’s spirits immediately picked up and she ran like the wind (also known as Lab Speed) to go get the ball to bring it back & drop it at the man’s feet & then look at him as if to say, “Why are you taking so long to throw it again????” So the man proceeded to spend the rest of his lunch hour there & that night thought, I wonder if this could be a good dog for me? So the next day he went back & spent another lunch hour playing fetch. Same for the day after & the day after that. Each time, the dog got friendlier and seemed to remember the man & the man got more comfortable around the dog. You see the man had been badly bitten by a Black Lab when he was 4 years old, because he just couldn’t help himself from petting every doggie that came into reach. After 3 days, however, the man decided he and the Black Lab would make a pretty good hunting team. So the man told the Pound Lady on his next visit that he would adopt the Black Lab & bought the Lab a red collar & put it around her neck. The man was later told that none of the Pound staff could remove the collar from the dog’s neck, under threat of a menacing snarl and the show of big white teeth to go with the snarl. So the Pound arranged to give the young Lab her shots & have her checked out by a vet. When she was deemed to be in good health, the man went to pick her up & got a big wet kiss for his troubles by the young black girl, who proceeded to immediately make her impatience at being kept waiting to get out of there known. When the front door was opened, she immediately broke free of the leash & proceeded at the previously mentioned Lab (warp) speed toward Logan Avenue. Fearing his newfound companion would be crushed under the wheels of traffic of the cars and trucks on Logan Avenue, he yelled, “Stop”, which apparently fell on deaf ears. But Lo & behold, the Lab put the brakes on right at the back door of the man’s SUV, sat down & looked back at the man, seeming to say “Hurry Up & Open the door, I’m waiting.”
“Well, guess I better try and figure out a name for the little black dog”, thought the man. The man’s new girlfriend & him thought & thought. They didn’t want a non-entity name like Remington or Ruger or Beauty or Beast or anything like that. They started seeing if girl’s names would fit and went through a bunch until they finally came to Hannah, which the man’s girlfriend said meant “Full of Bliss”. As it seemed to fit, since the Little Black Lab seemed to be a lot happier, or full of bliss, in the man’s home, than she had been at the Pound, the little Black Lab was christened Hannah.
The early times with her are now just a blur. Hannah was already housebroken and had very good table manners. The only times she had an accident were when she was ill or I had been late coming home from work. When the Pound arranged for Hannah to be spayed, as part of the adoption service, the vet phoned (after they had opened her up) and said she had already been spayed, after having a litter of puppies (not sure why they couldn’t have realized this after they shaved her and saw the scar, which they pointed out to me?). Anyways, I would gently rub her tummy where they operated on her while it was healing and talk soothingly to her, which was how she came to love having her tummy rubbed.
John & the Maple Log – A Root Canal
The first spring after we got Hannah, my son came for a visit from Kamloops. We were at my parents place on the Seine River bank and as Hannah loved to fetch anything, including sticks and my son was cutting trees on the riverbank. Anyways, a 10-foot long 2” diameter maple tress happened to be cut and thrown down the riverbank. Figuring this was just another stick to be fetched, Hannah proceeded to grab the log and attempt to bring it up the 45-degree embankment through a bunch of other standing trees. Her tooth got caught and so a quick trip to the vet brought the epiphany that dogs can get root canals too!
Thunder- The Bane of Our Existence
The first spring we had Hannah, there came one of the prairie’s June thunderstorms. You know the kind, thunder that rattles windows, shakes the house, and the lightning that precedes it lighting up the sky like day without the sun. I’m not sure to this day if Hannah was scared, or just wanted to alert us to danger, despite her being scared witless. She would start getting antsy before the storm and when it was in full bloom, she would jump up on us and start pawing at us and crawling underneath the covers if we were in bed. Even then, she would continue to paw us until the storm subsided. Some springs and summers at the cottage there would be a lot of sleepless nights. It did get less over the last couple of years as her hearing declined and virtually ceased this year as she went deaf.
No Guns
The first fall after Hannah came home, I figured it was a good time to go goose hunting with my Labrador Retriever! BAD IDEA! Turned out she didn’t like guns or the loud noise they made. I’m not sure if this was because it reminded her of thunder (or the thunder reminded her of guns?), but on the first shot off she went. It took me a half hour to convince her that it was okay to come back; I wasn’t going to hurt her. This could be tied in to her upbringing as the vet said it is common on reserves to shoot the mother after it gives birth to pups and is no longer needed. After that she didn’t come around even if I was only cleaning guns in the den. As she aged, she also became deathly afraid of cameras (the lightning flash?) so we have very few pictures of her in later life.
My Navigator
Up until a couple of years ago, after I retired, and even before that on weekends, Hannah would love going for car rides, sitting in the front seat and barking at the other dogs we passed or at men, especially Aboriginal men, dressed in green hydro parkas; more so if they had their hoods up. When that happened, they got a good piece of her mind in no uncertain terms, along with a big show of teeth until she lost sight of them. I think this had something to do with her early life as the Pound said she had been found walking down the back lane of Selkirk Avenue in Winnipeg’s infamous North End, going through garbage cans.
Swimming
Hannah, I suppose like all Labs, absolutely LOVED the water and going swimming, no matter what the temperature. For a lot of years, in summer she would go down to the lake (initially, sometimes without us, to go swimming or look for kids to play with) up to 10 times a day. Throw the lid, fetch the lid. REPEAT. She would come out of the water, find a bush to shake in, then bring the lid to get thrown again, until she got tired. Then it was back to the cottage, after drinking copious amounts of lake water, have a short nap, check to see who had been in her yard while she was gone, and then seeing as how nothing much was happening there, wanting to go back for another swim.
Getting Stuck on The Anchor Wire
In ’08 when my oldest daughter, son-in-law & 2 of my grandchildren came to the cottage to visit, Hannah, of course, had to show them where they could swim. Bounding off the dock, with a loud SPLAT (I’ve never figured out how come belly flops never seemed to bother her!), she proceeded to paddle out 50 yards or so, then look back to see if they were coming or I was going to throw her lid, which I hadn’t. When she loudly expressed her displeasure, I threw the lid, but she had to turn around and come back for it. When she got to shore, however, somebody had put a new anchor line for their water intake pipe float, which Hannah got caught on. She couldn’t or didn’t want to turn around but just kept swimming toward shore, only 5 yards away until Phil, my son-in-law jumped in, picked her up and brought her to shore, while she was still swimming. He got a big wet kiss from Hannah in thanks.
Stay Away From My Toys / Playing With TANK
While Hannah never had much time for playing with other dogs, she did love playing with Tank, a 120+ pound black Lab that our next-door neighbours had, which had been a police dog. Tank was the only dog who could steal Hannah’s lid or ball and Hannah would run after him. Of course, then Hannah would steal one of Tank’s toys, but it was okay with Tank, as long as they were playing together. Tank passed away a couple of years ago, but right up until the end this week, Hannah would go next door and sniff around the yard for Tank. They’re playing together now at the Rainbow Bridge.
Taking Treats
Hannah & I developed this thing for getting treats. I can’t remember how it happened, only that she was very gentle when she took treats from my hand; unlike with some other people, including my wife. Anyway, I figured if she was that gentle, (or maybe I thought it was finally time to lay to rest my old fear of getting bit by a Lab again) she would be able to take a treat from my mouth, without biting. Anyway, from denta-bones down to the smallest bit of Duck Jerky, Hannah would gently take the treat from my mouth using only her lips.
MMMMM-Pasta!
Yeah, Yeah, I know you’re not supposed to give human food to dogs. But after she wasn’t eating her dog food when we brought her home and she looked like she was starving (she had been on the street for almost 6 months according to the vet), we figured we better do something to get her weight up. Anyways, my wife made homemade Lasagna and Hannah started to drool all over the floor when it started cooking. We wound up mixing a bit in with her dog food and voila, no more fussy eating. Every time it was lasagna night, there would be a puddle of drool on the floor. We used to give Hannah a little bit of whatever we were eating with her bowl on the floor near the table, so that she would be eating with us and the vet said everything was good, especially the veggies and rice, but no to meat, which Hannah was never fussy about anyways, except for fish and chicken.
DON’T TOUCH MY LID!
While a lot of dog people initially felt intimidated by Hannah, especially if they were foolish enough to pick up her lid (she would devour Frisbees so we just washed the lids form the Costco laundry soap and used those to her delight), to which they got an earful. They thought they were in trouble with the big black 95 pound ball of fur behind a barking mouth full of teeth, but it was simply Hannah telling them that if they picked up her lid, they better be prepared to throw it for her & keep throwing it for her, until she said they could quit!
THE PIZZA MAN IS HERE!!!
On the first occasion when we would order pizza after Hannah was brought home, she raised almighty hell when the doorbell rang, as Hannah did not like any intruders coming to her den. After she found out what he brought, though, that changed instantly. She could figure out though, if it was not the pizza man & any other visitor, after being identified as not the pizza man, was immediately ignored, at best.
Mommy, It’s Time for Bed!
Every night around 10-ish, Hannah would decide when it was time to go to bed. She’d go in front of the TV, or if we were reading, she would sit down in front of us & start to bark. While sometimes she did need to head outside, a lot of the time she had been outside less than an hour beforehand, and didn’t head to the top of the stairs to go outside but would herd us toward the bedroom, so that all of her family would go to bed, because tomorrow was another day that we had to have a good night’s sleep to meet.
Wait, I Have to go Check on the Bunnies
Usually, on her evening visit outside to do her business, she would walk around the entire perimeter of the back yard, if we were in town and pee in a couple of places to mark her territory and then have a dump in one of her spots, but then she would proceed to walk over to the hydro box where rabbits have had a den for a few years. She would sniff at the opening, make sure they were okay and then head to the back door to come in. The bunnies didn’t run from her. It was like they knew Hannah wouldn’t hurt them.
I Want to Play with the Ducklings!
When she was younger and we were at the cottage, she would want to go swimming at least 4 or 5 times a day, (Typical Lab water-baby). Anyways, the first time she saw baby ducklings swimming, she wanted to go play with them, much to the consternation of the momma duck that was teaching them how to paddle. While Momma Duck expressed her displeasure at Hannah, both with frantic wing flapping and anxious quacking, Hannah barked gently at the ducklings, which after awhile, must have thought she was another duck, because after the third or fourth time, they started following Hannah on swimming trips, which did little to impress Momma Duck!
This Last Summer
It was getting pretty hard for Hannah to make it down to the lake, (and even harder getting back up the hill to get home, so much so that we started seriously thinking about getting one of the big Princess Auto red wagons, so we could bring her down to the lake & back in the wagon, so she could just use her energy to swim. She seemed to enjoy sitting on her new deck in the sunshine looking out at the road so she could bark at any dogs on the road that she didn’t know, but especially finding a place inside the cottage where the air conditioning blew on her to keep her cool. We also got a foam bed for her so her joints wouldn’t be on the hard floor, as she no longer had the strength to get up on our bed as she had for so many years. She didn’t have too much energy for getting the lid or her ball, but the puppy inside just wouldn’t quit, so it was short throws on the grass, so the gravel wouldn’t hurt her paws, and only 4 or 5 throws before she started wheezing, so Daddy had to be the one to say let’s go have a drink of water & lie down in the shade. Unlike before, when she would be the one to call it quits, she seemed to realize that maybe relaxing for a spell might not be such a bad idea after all.
It’s amazing how fast 10 years go, when sometimes a day, or even an hour, if it was in the middle of a thunderstorm, can seem to drag on forever. But fly by it did, and now Hannah’s gone, from everywhere but our hearts and minds.
Little Girl, I miss you so much! My heart aches; the tears won’t stop. I just want to rub your head, scratch your neck, rub your tummy and have you take treats so gently from my mouth. I walk around the house looking for you in all of your favourite lying down spots, but can’t find you.
REST IN PEACE, Little Girl, until we meet again.
Everything I learned in Life that was good, I learned from my dog!
Rainbow Bridge
Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.
When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge.
There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together.
There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.
All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigour; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.
The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.
They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers.
Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.
You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.
Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....
“Well, guess I better try and figure out a name for the little black dog”, thought the man. The man’s new girlfriend & him thought & thought. They didn’t want a non-entity name like Remington or Ruger or Beauty or Beast or anything like that. They started seeing if girl’s names would fit and went through a bunch until they finally came to Hannah, which the man’s girlfriend said meant “Full of Bliss”. As it seemed to fit, since the Little Black Lab seemed to be a lot happier, or full of bliss, in the man’s home, than she had been at the Pound, the little Black Lab was christened Hannah.
The early times with her are now just a blur. Hannah was already housebroken and had very good table manners. The only times she had an accident were when she was ill or I had been late coming home from work. When the Pound arranged for Hannah to be spayed, as part of the adoption service, the vet phoned (after they had opened her up) and said she had already been spayed, after having a litter of puppies (not sure why they couldn’t have realized this after they shaved her and saw the scar, which they pointed out to me?). Anyways, I would gently rub her tummy where they operated on her while it was healing and talk soothingly to her, which was how she came to love having her tummy rubbed.
John & the Maple Log – A Root Canal
The first spring after we got Hannah, my son came for a visit from Kamloops. We were at my parents place on the Seine River bank and as Hannah loved to fetch anything, including sticks and my son was cutting trees on the riverbank. Anyways, a 10-foot long 2” diameter maple tress happened to be cut and thrown down the riverbank. Figuring this was just another stick to be fetched, Hannah proceeded to grab the log and attempt to bring it up the 45-degree embankment through a bunch of other standing trees. Her tooth got caught and so a quick trip to the vet brought the epiphany that dogs can get root canals too!
Thunder- The Bane of Our Existence
The first spring we had Hannah, there came one of the prairie’s June thunderstorms. You know the kind, thunder that rattles windows, shakes the house, and the lightning that precedes it lighting up the sky like day without the sun. I’m not sure to this day if Hannah was scared, or just wanted to alert us to danger, despite her being scared witless. She would start getting antsy before the storm and when it was in full bloom, she would jump up on us and start pawing at us and crawling underneath the covers if we were in bed. Even then, she would continue to paw us until the storm subsided. Some springs and summers at the cottage there would be a lot of sleepless nights. It did get less over the last couple of years as her hearing declined and virtually ceased this year as she went deaf.
No Guns
The first fall after Hannah came home, I figured it was a good time to go goose hunting with my Labrador Retriever! BAD IDEA! Turned out she didn’t like guns or the loud noise they made. I’m not sure if this was because it reminded her of thunder (or the thunder reminded her of guns?), but on the first shot off she went. It took me a half hour to convince her that it was okay to come back; I wasn’t going to hurt her. This could be tied in to her upbringing as the vet said it is common on reserves to shoot the mother after it gives birth to pups and is no longer needed. After that she didn’t come around even if I was only cleaning guns in the den. As she aged, she also became deathly afraid of cameras (the lightning flash?) so we have very few pictures of her in later life.
My Navigator
Up until a couple of years ago, after I retired, and even before that on weekends, Hannah would love going for car rides, sitting in the front seat and barking at the other dogs we passed or at men, especially Aboriginal men, dressed in green hydro parkas; more so if they had their hoods up. When that happened, they got a good piece of her mind in no uncertain terms, along with a big show of teeth until she lost sight of them. I think this had something to do with her early life as the Pound said she had been found walking down the back lane of Selkirk Avenue in Winnipeg’s infamous North End, going through garbage cans.
Swimming
Hannah, I suppose like all Labs, absolutely LOVED the water and going swimming, no matter what the temperature. For a lot of years, in summer she would go down to the lake (initially, sometimes without us, to go swimming or look for kids to play with) up to 10 times a day. Throw the lid, fetch the lid. REPEAT. She would come out of the water, find a bush to shake in, then bring the lid to get thrown again, until she got tired. Then it was back to the cottage, after drinking copious amounts of lake water, have a short nap, check to see who had been in her yard while she was gone, and then seeing as how nothing much was happening there, wanting to go back for another swim.
Getting Stuck on The Anchor Wire
In ’08 when my oldest daughter, son-in-law & 2 of my grandchildren came to the cottage to visit, Hannah, of course, had to show them where they could swim. Bounding off the dock, with a loud SPLAT (I’ve never figured out how come belly flops never seemed to bother her!), she proceeded to paddle out 50 yards or so, then look back to see if they were coming or I was going to throw her lid, which I hadn’t. When she loudly expressed her displeasure, I threw the lid, but she had to turn around and come back for it. When she got to shore, however, somebody had put a new anchor line for their water intake pipe float, which Hannah got caught on. She couldn’t or didn’t want to turn around but just kept swimming toward shore, only 5 yards away until Phil, my son-in-law jumped in, picked her up and brought her to shore, while she was still swimming. He got a big wet kiss from Hannah in thanks.
Stay Away From My Toys / Playing With TANK
While Hannah never had much time for playing with other dogs, she did love playing with Tank, a 120+ pound black Lab that our next-door neighbours had, which had been a police dog. Tank was the only dog who could steal Hannah’s lid or ball and Hannah would run after him. Of course, then Hannah would steal one of Tank’s toys, but it was okay with Tank, as long as they were playing together. Tank passed away a couple of years ago, but right up until the end this week, Hannah would go next door and sniff around the yard for Tank. They’re playing together now at the Rainbow Bridge.
Taking Treats
Hannah & I developed this thing for getting treats. I can’t remember how it happened, only that she was very gentle when she took treats from my hand; unlike with some other people, including my wife. Anyway, I figured if she was that gentle, (or maybe I thought it was finally time to lay to rest my old fear of getting bit by a Lab again) she would be able to take a treat from my mouth, without biting. Anyway, from denta-bones down to the smallest bit of Duck Jerky, Hannah would gently take the treat from my mouth using only her lips.
MMMMM-Pasta!
Yeah, Yeah, I know you’re not supposed to give human food to dogs. But after she wasn’t eating her dog food when we brought her home and she looked like she was starving (she had been on the street for almost 6 months according to the vet), we figured we better do something to get her weight up. Anyways, my wife made homemade Lasagna and Hannah started to drool all over the floor when it started cooking. We wound up mixing a bit in with her dog food and voila, no more fussy eating. Every time it was lasagna night, there would be a puddle of drool on the floor. We used to give Hannah a little bit of whatever we were eating with her bowl on the floor near the table, so that she would be eating with us and the vet said everything was good, especially the veggies and rice, but no to meat, which Hannah was never fussy about anyways, except for fish and chicken.
DON’T TOUCH MY LID!
While a lot of dog people initially felt intimidated by Hannah, especially if they were foolish enough to pick up her lid (she would devour Frisbees so we just washed the lids form the Costco laundry soap and used those to her delight), to which they got an earful. They thought they were in trouble with the big black 95 pound ball of fur behind a barking mouth full of teeth, but it was simply Hannah telling them that if they picked up her lid, they better be prepared to throw it for her & keep throwing it for her, until she said they could quit!
THE PIZZA MAN IS HERE!!!
On the first occasion when we would order pizza after Hannah was brought home, she raised almighty hell when the doorbell rang, as Hannah did not like any intruders coming to her den. After she found out what he brought, though, that changed instantly. She could figure out though, if it was not the pizza man & any other visitor, after being identified as not the pizza man, was immediately ignored, at best.
Mommy, It’s Time for Bed!
Every night around 10-ish, Hannah would decide when it was time to go to bed. She’d go in front of the TV, or if we were reading, she would sit down in front of us & start to bark. While sometimes she did need to head outside, a lot of the time she had been outside less than an hour beforehand, and didn’t head to the top of the stairs to go outside but would herd us toward the bedroom, so that all of her family would go to bed, because tomorrow was another day that we had to have a good night’s sleep to meet.
Wait, I Have to go Check on the Bunnies
Usually, on her evening visit outside to do her business, she would walk around the entire perimeter of the back yard, if we were in town and pee in a couple of places to mark her territory and then have a dump in one of her spots, but then she would proceed to walk over to the hydro box where rabbits have had a den for a few years. She would sniff at the opening, make sure they were okay and then head to the back door to come in. The bunnies didn’t run from her. It was like they knew Hannah wouldn’t hurt them.
I Want to Play with the Ducklings!
When she was younger and we were at the cottage, she would want to go swimming at least 4 or 5 times a day, (Typical Lab water-baby). Anyways, the first time she saw baby ducklings swimming, she wanted to go play with them, much to the consternation of the momma duck that was teaching them how to paddle. While Momma Duck expressed her displeasure at Hannah, both with frantic wing flapping and anxious quacking, Hannah barked gently at the ducklings, which after awhile, must have thought she was another duck, because after the third or fourth time, they started following Hannah on swimming trips, which did little to impress Momma Duck!
This Last Summer
It was getting pretty hard for Hannah to make it down to the lake, (and even harder getting back up the hill to get home, so much so that we started seriously thinking about getting one of the big Princess Auto red wagons, so we could bring her down to the lake & back in the wagon, so she could just use her energy to swim. She seemed to enjoy sitting on her new deck in the sunshine looking out at the road so she could bark at any dogs on the road that she didn’t know, but especially finding a place inside the cottage where the air conditioning blew on her to keep her cool. We also got a foam bed for her so her joints wouldn’t be on the hard floor, as she no longer had the strength to get up on our bed as she had for so many years. She didn’t have too much energy for getting the lid or her ball, but the puppy inside just wouldn’t quit, so it was short throws on the grass, so the gravel wouldn’t hurt her paws, and only 4 or 5 throws before she started wheezing, so Daddy had to be the one to say let’s go have a drink of water & lie down in the shade. Unlike before, when she would be the one to call it quits, she seemed to realize that maybe relaxing for a spell might not be such a bad idea after all.
It’s amazing how fast 10 years go, when sometimes a day, or even an hour, if it was in the middle of a thunderstorm, can seem to drag on forever. But fly by it did, and now Hannah’s gone, from everywhere but our hearts and minds.
Little Girl, I miss you so much! My heart aches; the tears won’t stop. I just want to rub your head, scratch your neck, rub your tummy and have you take treats so gently from my mouth. I walk around the house looking for you in all of your favourite lying down spots, but can’t find you.
REST IN PEACE, Little Girl, until we meet again.
Everything I learned in Life that was good, I learned from my dog!
Rainbow Bridge
Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.
When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge.
There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together.
There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.
All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigour; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.
The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.
They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers.
Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.
You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.
Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....
3:49 PM September 14th 2012
I miss Princess very badly
“Four years ago I adopted Princess from the Humane Society. She touched my heart from the moment we first met in the "backstage" where I volunteer as a C.R. I lost her in April when she run away from the dog sitter and ended up run over by a train. I and my remaining dog Dante still miss her badly and I am still having recurring anxiety attacks about her disappearance.
11:36 AM September 3rd 2012
lulu
“we are all finding the house is missing someone special right now. We just lost our beloved lulu on friday night here at the house. She was 12 yrs old. We may have only had her 4 yrs but they were very special and we know we gave her the best four yrs we could. She was adopted from the humane society. Our other two also from there are missing her greatly.
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