View from the bridge

It's been a month today since I made the journey to the rainbow bridge so I thought it about time I give an update on how things are going up here. At first I was a little confused becaue I wasn't with my momma and big brother Henry but then I the most amazing thing happened. I finally got to meet the most famous Ernie George. He came right up to me and gave me a gig sniff and greeted me with open paws. What a swell chap that EG is. His momma did a great job on raising him. EG brought along all the other pups that had made the journey to the bridge that my momma knows the humans for (Tim, Pongo, Ben, Bourdeaux to name a few).It was quite the welcoming party if I do say so myself.

So I just wanna let my momma know that I'm doing just fine up here at the Bridge with all my new friends to hang out with. I know she misses me and my adorable Pooter Belly but we will get to see each other again some day and I will be waiting patiently for her until then.

To my big brother Henry I give a great big bark out to you buddy. I sure do miss hanging with you and barking at everything that walked by our house. Things will be okay and I know Lily is really raising her kitty paw and stepping up in my place. She may be a kitty but she's okay in my book.

Well, I gotta run. There's a party getting started up here and you know what they say? Last pup to the table doesn't get a treat.

BOL!

Griffin

If You Only Knew How Much I Smell You

I have this book and the title is, If You Only Knew How Much I Smell You. It has pictures about dogs and sayings about how much they love their owners. I leafed through the book the other day and thought to myself how much I miss smelling Griff. I know this may sound strange to someone who doesn't have a pet, but each one of mine has a special smell and not in a bad way. It reminds me of the smell I would encounter when I entered my Grandmother's home, warm and inviting, home. It's that smell that I miss about my Griff. The smell of home and comfort. Of his wet hair after going outside in the rain.

As I spoke tonight with my therapist over the loss of Griff and my oscillating decision to get another dog I came to a light bulb moment....I'm not ready yet and that's okay.It's okay not to be ready. There is no deadline. After describing my connection with Griff and this unbelievalbe way we just knew what each other was thinking my therapist said to me, he was your heart animal. Wow. She was so right. Then I feared I didn't have the same connection with Henry and just as I thought that I realized that I had a totally different connection with him instead. If it wasn't for Henry I wouldn't be here today. If people ever wonder if dogs have the power to lift someone out of despair and a crippling depression I will always give a loud and resounding YES! Each one of my pets bring something special into my life and I can only hope that the feeling is mutual.

I know the old saying goes, everything happens for a reason, and I hate to admit it, it's true. As much as my heart breaks over the loss of Griff and I still cry myself to sleep most nights, it happened for a reason. Since he's passed I have constantly asked him to send me a sign that he's okay and to help me ease my pain. Tonight he did just that. He allowed me to realize that his passing is allowing me to work on some very long and overdue issues in my life. Ones that I pushed aside and deep down for many years. It's not going to be easy, not by a long shot, but it will be okay.

Grief is tricky. There is no easy fix or pill to take to make the pain go away. I learned that a long time ago. And as much as I wish there was a magic cure all I'm not sure at this point I would be so eager to take it. It's okay to cry, it's okay to feel sad, it's okay to be mad and it's okay to feel.

So if you ask me what my connection was with Griff I would say that he taught me to be in tune with another living being. To be alert and attentive to another beings needs. That it's okay to just be and it's okay to get really excited over the little things. Because every day can be just like Christmas if you let it and it was for him.

I will forever love you my little man.

Run Free Little Man

Today my little man went to the rainbow bridge. It happened suddenly and I am still quite numb from the whole day. I will post more later but for now it's till too fresh to talk about in detail.

I miss you Toots!

Love ,

Mom

All I Want for Christmas are my 17 Teeth. BOL

Oh goodness. I can't believe it's been so long since mom let me on the computer to give an update. Wow. Lots has gone on in that time. Most of all I lost 17 teeth recently. See mom really tried to brush my toofers but I just wasn't having none of that silliness. I would bite and snap at her too. Well my toofers got worse and mom decided to take me in for a cleaning. I was a little confused when mom dropped me off and I didn't get to go home with her. I liked sleeping with mom and snuggling. Then the next morning my favorite vet, Dr. Joe came and got me. A little later I woke up feeling all funny and he told me that they had to pull 17 toofers. OMD! I only have 8 left. Mom came later to pick me up and I sat in her lap all the way home. I'm doing GREAT now and you would never know I only have 8 toofers left. But last night as I was snuggling with mom I whispered in her ear that all I wanted for Christmas were my 17 teeth back. BOL! She thought that was pretty funny and I of course rolled over and expected a belly rub. Hehehehe.

Griff or as mom calls me Toothless Tooters.

Merry Christmas and POP to Ernie George

Merry Christmas to all my pup pals out there. Hope Santa Paws brought you everything you asked for. Our Christmas got put on hold cuz of this huge snow storm that came to town. Boy did we get the snow and then rain. Sure made for some tricky potty outings. Mom has been home with us the past few days. It was too icky for her to go into work on Thursday. So we hunkered down with her on the couch with her wonderful electric blankey.

Mom got home from the movies last night and saw a post about Ernie George. He's one of our good buddies. He has a bad leg and his humans had to take him to the emergency vet last night. They are worried and poor Ernie George can't chash those nasty squirrels. His momma is pretty worried too. We all know how much our humans worry about us. If you have some time go and visit Ernie George's page and offer some POP. Our other pal, Buddy Grau mentioned him in his diary entry today (Thanks!).

Take care EG and get better. We are all sending you pawsitive thoughts and prayers.

Griffin

Rolling in bones

It's been a while again. I keep having to talk to mom about letting me on the computer to update all my peeps about what's going on in my life. The weather has finally gotten chilly up here and all the leaves have fallen from the trees. Which makes it so fun to run through them and get them stuck all over my face and butt. Mom just laughs when I come in the house with some all over me.

Mom was all excited this weekend. She got herself a new job. This of course means more bones for us pups. I promptly sat her down and went over the new household budget to make sure she was putting enough money aside for our treats. Thankfully she is so I can now uncross my paws.

I've been hearing rumblings about Turkey day coming up soon. Boy oh boy I can't wait. You know that means? People drop food on the floor and good food too. Gotta be on my bestest behavior.

Shout out to my pal Afro Ken for learning how to ride the skateboard. Dude, that looks so hard but you make it look so easy. Raising my paws up to you.

Hope all my other peeps are doing well and staying warm.

Griffin

I'm alive, honest

Okay, so mom finally let me on the computer after, like ages and ages. I don't know what her problem was. It's been an interesting few months. First mom started this new eating program and is really kicking major butt (that's what she says). I've noticed a big difference in mom since she started eating right and exercising. She's always happy and of course that makes up pups happy too. We go on lots of walks with her and I do my best to keep her on track and motivated.

Then in September mom left us for 9 days. Can you believe it? She said she was going to work when she left but never came back. I have to talk to her about lying to us. We catch on pretty darn fast. While she was off trotting around this place called Ireland Grandma came over and took care of us. Gotta love Grandma. Treats, treats and more treats. Plus a couple of new stuffies. Mom made sure we were well taken care of. We were both pretty darn excited when she walked through that door. I didn't leave her side for a good two days.

Since then it's been pretty much the same old same old. Get up, eat, play, potty, sit and watch the cars go by and wait for mom to come home from the gym. It's getting colder here in MN and I'm afraid that this white stuff they call snow will soon be covering the ground. Although Henry loves it I am not too fond of it.

Hope everyone is doing well and I promise to update more often, okay, Kirby!

It's too hot to play today

Boy oh boy am I glad that ma put in those air conditioners the other night. The fans just weren't cutting it. I told her about when I was laying on top of her as she was trying to sleep the other night (hahaha).

My good pal Kirby tagged us to play a game since we haven't been on Dogster very much lately. Mom's consumed with other things and we had to remind her we need our time on the computer too. I am sneaking on her while she is at work. Little does she know what we do during the day.

Last night she tried to clip my nails and I didn't like that. She cut one a little shorter than I would have liked it and I squealed. Ma felt bad and gave me a belly rub and an extra treat. See, I know how to work it. Then she put me up on the table and trimmed my beard and butt. It was quite embarassing as Henry just sat there and looked at me like a big goof ball.

Nothing too exciting is going on besides it being so dan hot outside. No walkies for us until it cools down. Henry gets too hot now that he's getting older.

Oh, grandma dropped off a couple of new stuffies for us. Ma said they are zebra's but honestly I could care less. It's just great to shake and run around with.

Toodles!
Griffin

I call shotgun!

Well as my brother wrote we all got to go on a car ride today. I was told that I was going so I didn't, and let me say this right, didn't FREAK out if I was left at home. I beg your pardon, me, little ol me, freak out? Why I never....okay I would have freaked out.

Mom started up the car and I immediately took my position of co-pilot and sat on the arm rest between the two front seats. I never turn my head while driving and always look forward. Mom told me I should keep my paws at 10 and 2 but that's kind of hard with no thumbs. It was a great ride. I saw some big trucks and a couple of things that mom said were motorcycles. Boy do those make a lot of noise and they look hard to co-pilot.

We arrived at this new place one with lots of new smells. I immediately marked the outside of it and mom just laughed. She said something about shooting blanks. Whatever mom. We all went inside and again all those smells but I didn't find it necessary to remark it(mom's applauding). We went in to this room and in walks the dogter. I really liked him. He's a really cool dude. He bent down to pet me and I rolled over. Hey, belly rub, down here, you hoo!!

He first looked at Grace, the cat, and talked to mom. She looked relieved about what he was saying and I took it as good news. I feel bad for Grace, she sneezes a lot and doesn't look happy. Mom said with this new medicine her sinus infection should clear up. Kitty sneezes are bad especially if you are snoozing too close.

Henry got looked at next but I wasn't paying too much attention. There were too many new sounds and smells. I was in heaven. Then the dogter picked me up and put me on the table. Wait a minute, I'm just the tag-a-long, what are you doing? He opened my mouth and checked out my toofers. Said they were pretty good but I had one that needed to come out in a few months. Oh great. The good news is I'm going at the same time as my brother Henry. It's for moral support, that's what I'm telling myself.

Like Henry said the next car ride better be to Dairy Queen or I'm not going. I put my paw down.

Griffin
Co-pilot

To pee or not to pee

Mom had her big party last night and boy oh boy were there lots of people over. More than we've ever had in the house before. I was doing pretty well to start out with and then I got a little nervous with everyone talking. Mom said I looked stressed out but I was just scoping out which person to sit by in case some food dropped on the floor. At one time I even got up on one of the chairs and pretended to be one of the guests. It worked for a while too. Everyone thought I was cute. Well, duh, I already know that.

The party went on for a couple more hours until some people started to leave. I guess I got confused because I strolled over to one of mom's friends and lifted my leg and peed right on him. I really had to go and well, he was standing right there. At least I hit his leg. Mom was in shock but she was laughing at the same time. She was saying something about having a couple of drinks so it made the shock of what I did a little less. Maybe I should have had one.

After everyone left I crashed on the couch. Mom came back out and picked me up and took me to bed with her. We slept until 11:00 this morning. I think we both had quite a night.

Griffin