The three musketeers are together again...

Rocky made it to 15 years, give or take a month. I found him at the local pound. I was window shopping. Not really serious, but we had lost our previous dog a few weeks earlier, and we knew it was time to find another one for the family.

When I went into the room that had all the cages with the dogs that were available, they all were barking and jumping up on the front of their cages. There was one dog that just watched. He was not barking, or jumping, but watching. He seemed to be paying attention to what was going on and who was there.

Long story short, I went back and got him later the next day. He was a Shepard mix, maybe with Rottweiler. He had the coloring and markings.

Rocky was joined by Apollo (Yellow English Lab) three months later. Boy were they different! Apollo seemed smart, quick to learn, played games, etc. Rocky did not. He had no idea what to do with a ball. Did not understand the concept of catching popcorn. I could not get him to stay, or come with much success.

What Rocky could do was run and jump! He was fast! It was fun watching him run. When we had our son’s dogs over for a week, he could run circles around them.

But his special skill was jumping. Our house’s back door opened into our kitchen. We placed baby gates in the two doorways to the rest of the house to make a impromptu mud room. Rocky jumped the gates with ease. Luckily I had installed 5 foot chain link fencing in the backyard. He did not know he could easily clear them if he tried. He was more interested in squeezing thru any weak points in the fence gates or other areas of similar openings. Then he loved to travel the neighborhoods till I found him. The bad thing is he would take along Apollo, and any other dog we had at the time. He was a true escape artist.

Rocky never really enjoyed hugs or petting, but at the end he seemed to turn into a regular dog. He loved begging for food, actual hugs and everything.

I will miss him. I miss all the dogs that have shared my life with theirs. There has been a long list. My family has used the same vet office since 1961. When I go there, I can see the ghosts of each one that has passed in the exam rooms. I don’t know what will happen when my time is up. Will I see my furry friends waiting for me? All tears are supposed to be wiped away. Will my pack greet me?

Dogs are special. They love us without condition. We see ourselves in them. Birth, youthfulness, adulthood, and the ravages of old age. All at a faster pace than that of our own. I believe that God has given dogs to us as a special gift. They force us to be a better version of ourselves, to consider our place in the world. We have to give of ourselves to them, take care of them, provide for them, make the hard decisions for them.

We get back so much more!

Condolences on the loss of your pal

Heaven has got to be a big, big place. When you figure that about 100 billion people have walked the earth - according to the wiki. I have owned about 10 dogs in my life.

I believe you’ll be with your buddies as I will be with my buddies, etc. That’s a bunch of buddies.

Just a rambling thought.
Mike

My condolences on the loss of your buddy

Seriously sorry to hear you lost your friend. I’m glad you had many years with him. He sounded like a fun companion, getting the other ones in trouble.

So sorry to hear about the loss of your dog.

A wise man said, when our dog leaves us, he takes a piece of our heart with him, but leaves a piece of his heart. Eventually, when our race is run, we will have more pieces of dog's hearts than our own. Somehow, I think that would be okay.

We have presently an escape artist, though age has slowed her down considerably. First thing she does is run a perimeter seeking any hole or weak spot.

There are those of us on this board that know of the Rainbow Bridge and I would hope it is true.

Sorry about your loss....


ARman

Thanks for sharing the story,sorry about Rocky.
BTW I have the spitting image of Rocky.
he meets most of Rocky's habits but wants petting all the time.

Sorry to hear about Rocky. Our late Bud & Wendy will be welcoming Rocky on the other side of the Rainbow Bridge.

Dogs are truly man’s best friends, sorry for your loss.

Sorry for your loss. Thank you for sharing your time with Rocky and friends.

Sorry for your loss.

That's a nice story. It really is true about each dog having their own personality. Sorry for your loss.

Sorry about Rocky.

If dogs don’t go to heaven, I WANT TO GOWHERE THEY GO.

quote:

Originally posted by ArLEOret:
Sorry about Rocky.

If dogs don’t go to heaven, I WANT TO GOWHERE THEY GO.

THIS! Sorry for your loss. Dogs are amazing wonderful creatures. I could not imagine life without them.

I'm sorry for your loss. Three years ago yesterday I lost my Scarlett O'Hara, a Staffordshire Terrier that we adopted from a rescue on Halloween 2003.

I truly miss my girl, they are all unique.

Condolences...

quote:

Heaven has got to be a big, big place. When you figure that about 100 billion people have walked the earth

I'm not sure all of these people are in Heaven, but it is a cinch that all the dogs are there!

Sorry to hear of your loss.

You have my sincere condolences. It's so hard to see them go.

I resolutely believe all dogs go to heaven, and you'll see all your fuzzy buddies again one day.