Southeastern Iowa Kennel Club
Rainbow Bridge
By GG
In the beginning, I think Spook thought I was going to be a real pain in the neck. All I wanted to do was play and all she wanted to do was sleep. I was afraid the age difference between us was too great. After all, she was twelve years old and I was twelve weeks old. I spent much of my time nipping her on the backs of her legs to try to get her to play with me. I’d play bow and she’d just lay there.
One day when I was racing around the house, I discovered that it was lots of fun to run full speed and jump over her. She’d just lay there and let me do that. Then I started using her as a launch board instead of just jumping over her. That was really fun! Boy was I surprised when out of the blue one day, she raised up just as I was launching off her. I went head over tail and rolled a couple of times. When I looked at her, she had the biggest grin on her face that I had ever seen. I stopped crying and walked over to her and snuggled up. She looked at me and said she was sorry that she scared me, but she really didn’t like me doing that. Lesson learned.
Spook was a lot bigger than I was when I first arrived. Now I think she was just afraid she would hurt me if we played while I was still so small. As the days and weeks went by, I got bigger and bigger. All of a sudden things changed. I was standing on the couch and she was lying on the floor below me. I reached down and tapped her on the back. First she looked at me with a new twinkle in her eye. Then she stood up and started mouth fencing with me! Spook was playing with me!!! For a few more weeks, she would only play with me when I was on the couch. That made me taller and less likely to get hurt. Soon she would play with me almost every time and place I asked her.
In my first few months living with Spook, she taught me many things I needed to know about living with a human. Sometimes I would bark at birds or squirrels in the yard. She’d give me that look that said, “Good grief, what are you barking at?” So, I’d look at the bird or squirrel and say, “Don’t you see that? It’s in our yard! Why aren’t you barking?” She’d just sigh and say “You don’t need to bark unless it’s on the porch or really close to the house. Our human just wants us to let her know when something or someone is too close to the house.”
One day while our human was away, something came over me that I really can’t explain. Spook was so completely asleep that she was running in her sleep. Boy did that look funny. I wondered if I did the same thing when I slept. Since I couldn’t wake her up to play, I started looking around for things to play with. I really didn’t want to play with any of my toys, but I did want to chew on something. Then I saw it, a small crack in the floor covering. I started working on the crack and before I knew it, the crack had turned into a huge section of floor missing its’ covering. Spook woke up, saw the floor and said, “Oh boy are you in trouble! What did you think you were doing! You didn’t eat any of that stuff, did you?” I told her I hadn’t and that I wouldn’t do that any more. She said she understood, but I would have a lot of explaining when our human got home. Then, she went back to sleep.
I was soon looking for something to do. She was asleep again and I was bored. The floor looked tempting, but I had promised Spook I wouldn’t do that again. So, what was a puppy to do? Then I saw it, a place where our human had been working on a door trim and hadn’t quite finished. I went over to take a closer look and discovered white chalky stuff. When I smelled it, it didn’t smell like anything. So, I tasted it. It tasted pretty good. So, I tasted it some more. Before I knew it, I had tasted it enough to make a giant hole in the wall. Spook woke up, saw the wall and said, “Oh boy are you in trouble! What did you think you were doing! You didn’t eat any of that stuff, did you?” I told her I had and that I wouldn’t do that any more. She said she understood, but I would have a lot of explaining when our human got home. Then, she went back to sleep.
Soon, our human got home. She looked around, looked at me and then cleaned up my mess. It was later that evening that I got my own room for the time our human wasn’t home. Our human called it an x-pen. It was really neat. It had my bed, some of my toys, my blanket and water bowl. I had my own private room! Spook liked the idea because she didn’t feel like she had to take care of me by herself when our human wasn’t home.
I learned lots of things from Spook. She taught me to lie down in the car when we went on trips so I wouldn’t get car sick. She taught me that staying in hotels was fun because you get to ride in the elevators, get room service, get messages from dogs from many different places when we go out for walks, and most importantly to not make noise in the hotel.
She taught me how to distinguish cars and trucks that were permitted on our property and what to do when there was one that didn’t belong there. She taught me not to bother the coachwhip snake that lived in our yard and to stay away from the rattle snakes. She tried to teach me to not chase the rabbits and squirrels in the yard, but I have a real problem with that one. I don’t think I will ever be able to not chase them.
Before long, a couple of years had passed. Spook started getting very stiff in her back legs. Our human took her to the doctor and got her some medicine to help her to not be so stiff. Some days, she didn’t want to play at all. On those days, we would cuddle up together and just talk. One day I asked her why we were dogs and not humans. She said, “Humans have trouble recognizing love. Sometimes they think it must be earned. We are dogs because we know how to love without having a reason. We see the good in everyone. We know when our human needs comforting and we provide that. We are dogs because humans need us.”
Her stiff legs medicine worked for about a year then she started getting worse again. I felt sorry that she hurt and that I couldn’t do anything to make her feel better except cuddle with her. We spent most of our time doing that during those days.
One day we were lying together looking out the sliding doors when she said something I don’t think I ever expected to hear from her. As we watched the birds in the yard, she started. “I think the time has come for me to go to the Rainbow Bridge.” “Go where?” I said. “That’s where we go when our time on Earth is finished. The Rainbow Bridge leads to a wonderful place where we can run and play without any pain or disease. We get to see all of our friends who have gone over the bridge before us. All of the dogs who served our human before it was our turn meet us at the Rainbow Bridge and escort us over. When it’s your time to leave, I’ll be there for you. When it’s time for our human, we’ll all be there for her to help her over. You mustn’t be sad. Be happy for me; I’ll no longer be in pain. I can now cross the bridge knowing that you will care for our human and that she is in good paws.”
A couple of days later, Spook went to the Rainbow Bridge. I tried to not be sad, but I was. My human and I took comfort in each other as we made the adjustment to our lives. Spook was my very best friend in the whole world. I don’t think I will ever forget any of the time I was lucky enough to spend with her.
Many months have passed since that very sad day. But, I know that when my time comes to go to the Rainbow Bridge, Spook will be there to help me cross it. She’ll probably again think I’m a real pain in the neck as she shows me how to make the adjustment, but she’s a great teacher.
Spook GG
