• Trouble logging in? Send us a message with your username and/or email address for help.
New posts

Geo

Beach Fanatic
Dec 24, 2006
2,750
2,782
Santa Rosa Beach, FL
Sadly, my 9 yr. old Boxer AbbyGal died this morning after a brief battle with Lymphoma. My heart is absolutely broken but I am so lucky to have had this soul in my life. I hope to see her again someday on some level...

Hug your dog today. Take her for a walk and give him a treat...

:sosad:
 

Miss Kitty

Meow
Jun 10, 2005
47,017
1,131
69
My heart is breaking for you. I'll hug Molly and think of your friend.
 

Linda

Beach Fanatic
Jul 11, 2005
806
190
Sadly, my 9 yr. old Boxer AbbyGal died this morning after a brief battle with Lymphoma. My heart is absolutely broken but I am so lucky to have had this soul in my life. I hope to see her again someday on some level...

Hug your dog today. Take her for a walk and give him a treat...

:sosad:

I'm so sorry for your loss - I thought of this story when I read your post.

I woke up early this morning feeling quiet, awkward and sad. The house is ... quiet, awkward and sad. There's a "hole" that wasn't here a couple of days ago.



Yesterday my family said "goodbye" to our Willie, a Welsh corgi we've loved in our home for the past nine years.
If you've never had a dog, you won't get this and you're missing out on one of God's sweetest gifts. Then again, you're also missing out on the heartbreak of them passing away.



My sadness will fade eventually, but the joy Willie brought to our lives will always be with us.



In her portraits, The Queen of England is often seen holding one of her corgis, the "official" dog of her monarchy. If you aren't keeping up with the Queen, let me describe what a Welsh corgi looks like, what Willie looked like (and he was so much better looking that the Queen's scroungey mutts.) Bred for fox hunting, corgis have fox-like faces, pointy, almost rabbit-like ears, extremely thick, beige and white furry coats and a stump where a tail should be. Their most distinct feature though is their legs, or lack of legs. A dog nearly the size of a German Sheppard, but with three or four inch legs draws a lot of attention and smiles out in public. A corgi isn't the fastest dog, but with their legs and low profile they can stop and turn on a dime.



Willie loved attention from anyone that would give it to him. When met with a welcoming face, he'd smile (dog people can see their smiles, non-dog people think we're crazy,) wag his stump and run to greet his new friend. If you were especially friendly, he'd roll on his back and let you scratch his stomach.



I missed scratching his stomach this morning. It was part of our normal morning ritual. After carefully stepping over him where he stood guard in our bedroom doorway, I'd tell him "good morning," scratch the top of his head and then the side of his face, at which point he'd "melt" and roll over on his back to wait for the tummy scratch, smiling the entire time.



He would then follow me into the kitchen, the tags on his collar clinging and his nails clicking on the tile floor. I'd put on the coffee while he'd get a drink of water. By the time I finished the coffee he'd be waiting by the front door for me to accompany him to the yard. My trip to the kitchen was too quiet this morning.



Whenever I returned home, whether I was gone for 15 minutes or 15 days, Willie would be at the door to greet me, wagging his stump and smiling. I'd sit on the ground to be at his level and then he'd stand on his hind legs and give me a hug. We both loved hugging each other like that. He was always so glad to see me and I was always so thankful for the "welcome" my little buddy would give me, sometimes the highlight of my day.



Sure, there's the costly vet trips, cleaning the spots on the carpet, the 3am barking, the skunk confrontations, the dead spots on the lawn, the expensive foods, driving around the neighborhood looking for them, the mounds of dog hair everywhere and the "explosion" of chasing the cat out of the house (that's a good thing by the way ... I guess that's my job now.) I'm even going to miss all that stuff. But it's more than made up for with what they give you in return; their love and loyalty and companionship.



There's debate among theologians whether our pets will be in heaven with us. I think that's a "no brainer." Of course they will.



The Bible doesn't specifically talk about our pets, but in Isaiah 11 it tells us that:



The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them.
The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.



Am I supposed to believe that wolves, lambs, leopards, goats, calves, lions, oxen and bears will be there but Willie won't? That doesn't make sense. If we believe that pets are God-created companions, that He loves them and us, doesn't it make sense that they'll be in Heaven with us? A poem by theologian John Piper says:



And as I knelt beside the brook
To drink eternal life, I took
A glance across the golden grass,
And saw my dog, old Blackie, fast
As she could come. She leaped the stream-
Almost-and what a happy gleam
Was in her eye. I knelt to drink
And knew that I was on the brink
Of endless joy. And everywhere
I turned I saw a wonder there.



Piper's dog Blackie will be there. So will our Willie, Sadie and Bailey. And this may not be entirely biblical, but I'm looking forward to watching Willie chase that stupid cat around again. (Not sure what kind of Heaven that would be for the cat though ... God will figure that out.)



Get him Willie ... Good boy ... that's my good boy. Come and give me a hug buddy.
 

GoodWitch58

Beach Fanatic
Oct 10, 2005
4,816
1,921
Geo, so sorry for your loss. This helped me when my beloved Lab died; and again when Inkspot my son's cat died after 14 years.

Rainbow Bridge Poem
 

SneakyPete

Beach Lover
May 8, 2009
113
61
Losing a pet is truly gut-wrenching, and sometimes even more traumatic that losing a human friend or family member simply because there isn't a standard ritual (viewing, service, burial, community gathering and a public sharing of grief) to mark the occasion.

Personally, I think people are only allowed into heaven because dogs want them there.

Bark on AbbyGal.
 

ItzKatzTime

Beach Fanatic
Apr 27, 2006
2,700
285
Santa Rosa Beach
Ohhh Geo my heart goes out to you. Thank you for sharing and I will hug all my pets today. Peace to you my friend.
 
New posts


Sign Up for SoWal Newsletter