Rainbow Bridge

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 vigor. 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....

Author unknown...

Goldie was one of the "Missouri Six" boxers who were saved from kill shelters in Missouri during August of 2008. She came with hind legs that just were not working properly for her. She was in her first foster home just a week when it was recommended by a veterinarian that she be in a home with limited stairs. Goldie moved in with me and her two foster fur brothers...Murphy the bull mastiff and Kobe the boxer. Goldie enjoyed her outings at the park, often times hopping faster than Murphy could run! Then her legs started to fail her more regularly but this never slowed her down or dampened her outlook on life. I had read about VetStem a few years earlier and spoke with Wayne Scanlan about doing this procedure on Goldie. A few days post-injection, she was squatting to do her business instead of dragging herself on the ground, standing at her food bowl for the first time in months, and getting herself up on the couch again. The cells were moving throughout her body trying to regenerate the bad cells/nerves but the disease was to far along to help her further. Goldie crossed over the Rainbow Bridge June 16, 2009.

Goldie - Sunlight streams through the window pane onto a spot on the floor.....
then I remember, it's where you used to lie, but now you are no more.
Our feet walk down a hall of carpet, and muted echoes sound.....
then I remember, it's where your paws would joyously abound.
A voice is heard along the road, and up beyond the hill, then I remember, it can't be yours.....
your golden voice is still.
But I'll take that vacant spot of floor and empty muted hall, and lay them with the absent voice
and unused dish along the wall.
I'll wrap these treasured memories in a blanket of my love, and keep them for my best friend
until we meet above.
Pat Gagin - Murphy & Kobe

Champ was a big lug of a guy that came into our lives as our first Boxer foster. We kept saying that he was going to his forever home. Well, he found it….he ended up staying with us! He loved going for rides in the car or sitting on the couch. It didn’t matter to him as long as he was with one of us. He would look at you with those big eyes and your heart would melt. It was a good thing that we loved him so much because he could not be left out alone when we were not home. Each time we thought we had “Champ proofed” the house, he would find something else to do! He could escape from his kennel if there weren’t a dozen zip ties keeping it together. He especially loved donuts of any kind! If they were left out and he was left to his own devices, he would get the package open and eat them all.

Champ was with us for ten months, but it seemed like much longer. He had a growth on his back bone
which ended up making it difficult for him to move his back legs.

Champ holds a very special place in all of our hearts and we will always miss him.

The Cheneys
Champ’s Foster Family

Bear or “Care Bear”, as we called him, crossed over the Rainbow Bridge much too soon. Care Bear was only two yeas old and plagued with blindness and severe neurological problems.

To his last day, he did his best to be strong. Deep inside was a good, loving and loyal boy. The
swelling in his brain took too much away from him. He could not wag his nub, much less give a Boxer wiggle. While his time here was too short, he is now playing with many other Boxers who have crossed the Bridge before him.

He is running through the grass, biting at grasshoppers and watching over MNBR for doing everything they could for him and all of his brothers and sisters. We love you, Care Bear!

The Zimmermans,
Bear’s Foster Family

Shelly, often called “Shell-Bell” and “Shelly Belly” around our house, came into our
lives for just a short ten weeks. But what an amazing ten weeks it was! Many of the
people in the rescue group were familiar with Shelly. At 9+ years of age, Shelly was a
gorgeous white/fawn wannabe with the most beautiful Betty Davis eyes. Whenever
we were out and about people would stop to admire those eyes – they looked like I
had just applied a fresh coat of eye liner. Even though Shelly had moved from her
original family home later in life, spent many months bonding to her foster family and
then had to adapt to her new forever home, she did it with grace and ease. Shelly
protected our home and yard like she had always lived there. She made friends with
the black lab next door and the two of them would chase up and down the fence line
together – Shelly a bit slower due to her arthritis and age. I will always remember the
modified boxer wiggle she would do whenever I came home from work. And when
really excited, Shelly would try to jump up only to do a bunny hop a few inches off the
ground. I’m sure in her mind she was jumping up and planting her paws on my
shoulders. Losing Shelly was extremely difficult as I had planned to have this lovely
lady in my life for many years to come. She was not feeling well on that particular day,
but no definite signs of what it could be. Shelly passed away after treatment began at
the emergency clinic. She just collapsed while the doctor was administering pain
medication and doing blood work and she could not be revived. I lost my first boxer,
Libby, to cancer at 11 years of age. I know both my boxer girls are somewhere
together over the Rainbow Bridge, free of all pain and stress and enjoying all things
wonderful.
Lucy Blake

Jack was a 6 year old boy that came to MNBR from North Carolina. He had been left in a foreclosed home, and ended up at a high kill shelter. He was emaciated and had been diagnosed with heartworm. After his long transport to MN, he settled in nicely at his foster home. At his foster home, he had a fur brother named Jack, so he started going by the name of Tyson. Tyson finally had a taste of the good life! He had a loving family and a great canine companion. You could just see a huge difference in his attitude just looking at photos from before and after he arrived. He was very happy.

Shortly after Tyson arrived, he began his heartworm treatments. One day, Tyson started coughing and was rushed in to the vet. The vet determined that Tyson had complications from the heartworm treatments, and also confirmed he had cancer. Tyson didn't have the strength to continue to fight, and crossed the bridge on 9/22/09.

Tyson's foster family will miss the gentle, mild mannered boy that touched their lives in the short time he was with them.