Rainbow Bridge

Little Miss Sunshine was rescued and cared for by Braveheart Rescue.
She came to Merry, Gary, Theresa and all the Braveheart volunteers in terrible shape.
With lots and lots of love and much needed medical care she recovered.
Sunshine was then injured, she was hurt badly by another dog.
Through no ones fault. She is now looking at us all giving back "Sunshine" to all that cared and loved her so much that words could never describe. Rest in peace Sunshine. We will never forget you baby girl.
We will see you at the Rainbow Bridge.

In Loving Memory of Noreen's Bear aka Bubba,
who went to the Rainbow Bridge 2-23-06

Bear

We would like to thank the MSPCA and Chestnut Street Animal Hospital in Needham for all their support and care they provided to Lenny. Everyone put all their hearts and effort into making Lenny’s life comfortable and happy as they could. Even though Lenny had an incredibly difficult life, he was still able to love and trust everyone he met. And everyone he met seemed to fall instantly in love with his big brown eyes and that big head of his. Lenny will be missed by all. We will always think of him when it rains and snows outside. There were many days and nights spent outside in the pouring rain waiting for him to lick the grass dry, poor guy never did get the whole lawn completely dry, but oh did he try! There are so many parts of our days that go by and we notice it has changed without you in our lives, and while it makes us sad at that very moment, we feel comforted knowing that you are no longer suffering and that we were able to give you the love and affection you so enormously deserved in the past three months. Lenny, in the short time that you were able to stay with us, you brought us so much affection, compassion, and love. You are incredibly missed and will be in our hearts forever. From the day we met you, you captured our hearts and will always remain with us everywhere we go. You will always be part of our family.

It all started with a search... Rickie (my wife)and I decided to adopt a dog. We weren’t swayed to any particular breed. After hearing a lot of talk, good and bad, about the Pit Bull breed, we decided to see what all the fuss was about. We started our search on Petfinder and saw a picture of a handsome, 7 months old, black, tuxedo printed boy named Lyman. After passing all the interviews we decided to “just meet him”. Who were we kidding, one look at his sad, beautiful eyes and we were overwhelmed. All of a sudden…we had a dog!
We named him Wyatt. He immediately settled in with us and we were overjoyed by our new friend. When we introduced him to our family there were tentative introductions, “A PITBULL!!!” We stayed patient and continued to train and introduce him to as many people as possible. It was only a matter of seconds before hearts melted.
Wyatt loved playing frisbee more than anything else! He was a tremendous athlete. He would play for hours with the family dogs, and boy did he love the water. So much so that on vacation in Maine, as our boat passed the rocks he was playing on, he saw us and jumped right in. He actually swam the entire 300 yards to the boat where Rickie and I lifted him out of the water…He had no fear!!
After just 1 year and 3 months of life with Wyatt we realized that something was wrong. Our boy with the great appetite was suddenly unable to hold down his food. We immediately brought him to the vet to find out he had swallowed a piece of his frisbee. At first it seemed like a routine operation, however, after opening him up we realized that the piece had been in his body far longer than we ever thought. The vets did what they could but there was so much infection. He was so strong, so vibrant, and so full of life that we never could have imagined what happened next. After several days of fighting, Wyatt, just two years old, lost his battle. This innocent puppy had just come into our lives, and now our amazing boy was gone. We had no idea what to do? We were truly devastated and lost without him.
We decided to be positive, and focus on all that Wyatt did accomplish in his short time on this earth. He changed the negative view on Pitbulls in everyone he met. I think my mom’s quote says it all, “If it wasn’t for Wyatt I would never believe it to be true! He did his work on this earth and we need to celebrate that”
We believe that Wyatt was here for a reason and he accomplished his mission! We still miss him with all our hearts! We have since adopted two PitBulls, from PittieLove Rescue. They are both tremendous and we are enjoying them to the fullest extent. We will continue Wyatt’s mission to make sure everyone knows that this is a wonderful breed and with great responsibility comes great rewards.
Wyatt - we miss you so much buddy, we think of you often and smile! We love you…
Love Chris, Rickie, Mayble, and Cooper

Tux passed peacefully last night with us at his side. All the medications, transfusions and treatments did not work by yesterday, Day 5 as the vets had hoped and we didn't want him to suffer a horrible death. All he ate during the day was a few animal crackers, so it was time to let him go. He is buried in our backyard, with Ralph another of our shelter dogs of 17 yrs. Though Tux was only 9, he touched the hearts of many and loved everyone. Because he was such a wonderful boy, it drew us to rescue primarily pit bulls for the past 10 years. Our hearts are forever broken.

Thanks again to all of you for your kind words, prayers, positive thoughts, compassion and caring which has made this difficult time more bearable.

Tayzha lost her battle with health issues and is now at Rainbow Bridge. She leaves behind her loving mom, dad and four legged brother, Beastie Boy. Tayzha was a sweatheart and such an athlete. She loved to run, romp and play with her brother. After long walks and play sessions, she loved to snuggle on the couch.
While Tayzha was only adopted for a few short months, her paw prints have left their marks forever on the hearts of those that she touched. She came her to her forever home not knowing how to sit, and left for the bridge being able to sit, lay down, give paw and heel on a leash.

She will be missed and loved by all.

With much love from Dad, Mom, and your brother.

Mimi was one of those puppies that come into your life and in a very short period of time touch you very deeply. Veronica made sure Mimi was with her all her waking hours from the time we began fostering her. We had no idea that Mimi was sick, but still I worried that Mimi wasn't getting enough rest, she was being carried around by Veronica so much. The vet told us that her being carried so much probably helped prolong her life since she didn't need to do much walking to get around.

As sick as she must have been, she was quite the little trooper. She ate like a champ and would still be at the food bowl long after her brothers and sisters were done. I always gave her her own bowl of food, but she always went to the big bowl to eat with her everyone else. She wanted to be part of the gang. One time I saw her and she was eating away lying down with the front half of her body in the food bowl and her back end on the floor. She was quite the character. When she got tired she would make little squeaks to be picked up and put in her crate. She loved to sleep in a big puppy pile with her brothers and sisters.

The day before she died Veronica dressed her up in one of her doll's dresses. Mimi was quite the princess in her little white dress and seemed very proud to be dressed up. A special memory of Veronica's is taking Mimi for rides in Jeep Power Wheels. Mimi liked to sit right up front on Veronica's lap while she was driven around.

While the other puppies are in their foster homes Mimi was supposed to stay with us and her absence is felt deeply by us all. She was such a sweet little puppy. I asked Veronica and Ava what they wanted to say about Mimi, Veronica said, "I love Mimi, she was a good girl." Ava simply said, "I loved Mimi." We all did.

In loving Memory of
Sheamus Donovan Cunningham
March 2006 – February 2007

One afternoon I got an email from Noreen asking if I could foster a little pup. I saw the picture and said “sure”. He was the cutest darn thing…his ears perched right up on the top of his head…how could I say no. I was picking him up that night in Sterling, Leigh looked to us for help in placing Pit Bulls, with us she knew they would get a good home. I picked Shea up and was instantly hooked. He fit right in with our little family, myself, Joe (daddy), Jada, and Scout (his 4 legged siblings). We went to the park daily, had doggie playdates all the time, and after about 8 months of age Shea’s dog aggression became evident. Then some other issues started to arise. Shea became very nervous and anxious. We took him to some of the best doctors and neurologists. Things were not getting better so we turned to, someone I like to call “my dog whisper” Terrie Christie. Terrie runs a training program called canine magic. We were impressed with her because she prides herself on working with Pit Bulls and other bully breeds, having rescued her own pit bill Daisy Mae and Dobermin, Cobey. After working with Shea we could walk him near other dogs and he wouldn’t react negatively and was really trying! We were so proud of Shea, that he would get a cheeseburger on the way home from class!!
Sadly, one day after training, we pulled into the driveway, opened the car door, and like always said “front door Shea”. Normally he would run for the door, but on February 17th he decided to run after the squirrel instead. Shea was struck by a car,( the man stopped and was very nice). We took Shea immediately to our wonderful vet Dr. Michael Krawshuck at Weston Veterinary Clinic. There wasn’t anything we could do to help Shea with his internal injuries, and sadly had to let him go to the rainbow bridge.
It is almost a year since my little guy has passed and it is still very hard for my husband and me. Sometimes I think that it would have been easier if he were sick, so we couldn’t blame ourselves. In our hearts we know Shea does not blame us, we know he is just waiting for us, especially his daddy.
We put our volunteer work on hold with Pittielove because it has been so hard to even see another Pit Bull. When we are ready, and our son is a little older, we will begin to foster again and save more Pit Bulls like Shea, because we know that is what he would want us to do.
We look at his picture everyday and every night Joe touches his urn and says “night pal”. We show Braeden, our 4 month old son, his picture all the time. We want him to know Shea too.
Shea you are sadly missed. We love you and will see you over the rainbow. Daddy will have a tennis ball and a “chuck It” just for you!

Love,
Mommy, Daddy, Braeden, Jada, & Scout

Hi Noreen--
I am sorry to tell you that Rudy passed away on Saturday(8/25/07). He started limping in his back right leg a couple of weeks ago. My vet referred him to the chief Neurologist(Dr. Sisson) at Angell Memorial back then. Dr. Sisson said it seemed to be localized to his back leg and the odds were about 90% that the nerve damage would heel itself and he'd be back to normal in about 6 weeks. Last Friday he took a turn for the worse. I got him in to see Dr. Sisson first thing Sat. and after examining him again he said it was now effecting his whole right side. An MRI was schedule for the next available time(Monday). I took him home late Sat morning and around 1pm he suddenly got a lot worse. They tranquilized him on Sat afternoon and did a spinal tap. He never came out of the tranquilizing. He went into a coma and died at about 11pm. Dr. Sisson said that because of his rapid deterioration he was almost sure it was a brain tumor and he was shocked that he went downhill so fast.
I'm sorry for all the details but I thought you should know. I am very grateful to all of you that helped nurse him back to health and bring him into my life. He was a great, great dog and I loved him to death. He was by my side 24hrs a day and seven days a week. He made dog lovers out of people who didn't like dogs. There were probably a couple 100 people who were friends of his. He was our company mascot and when I came into work he would always go through the building and say hello to everyone. When I jogged with him around town people frequently stopped there cars to get out and say hello to him. He was a great ambassador for his breed and changed a lot peoples minds about the breed. He had as happy a last 15 months as any dog could possibly have. He experienced very little pain near the end and essentially died in his sleep. He was my best friend and companion and the feeling was mutual. I still can't beleive he's gone. He will be sorely missed.
I want you to know that I have the deepest respect for everything you and your group do. Through your efforts you saved my dog from a miserable life he didn't deserve and gave him 15 months of very high quality living. Both Rudy and myself felt like we won the lottery! For a dog who appreciated every day and never took anything for granted, that was a great gift.
Sincerely,
Mike

In Loving Memory of Jackie's Grover
who went to the rainbow bridge

Grover was rescued at the age of four weeks after he was found abandoned in a vacant building with his mother and littermates. He was the only survivor. Grover was a much loved member of our family for eight years until his death from cancer. Rest in Peace, baby boy.
Love,Jackie

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...

Pit Bull Adult: Female. White with brown brindle. Very pretty girl. About 2
or 3 years old. Stray. Unaltered. Has cut on tip of tail from wagging in kennel so much.
Appears to have had puppies (large nipples). Large and well-built. Strong. Could use some
leash training. Knows sit and paw (tries to give both paws each time she sits).
Very happy to be around people and has great, goofy personality. No handling,
toy, guarding or food aggression. A little mouthy when taking treats from your
hand. Shelter staff says that she is fine with male and female dogs and will
walk away if another dog bothers her. My gut feeling was that she might be
aggressive with cats or show some prey drive, but she just sniffed and wagged
her tail when face-to-face with a cat out of its crate being held over the
counter. She was able to be called away from t he cat and even walked away from
the cat on her own at one point without being called. I know we don’t have many
open home who are willing to take a Pit Bull and Pittie Love Rescue has taken in
a lot of dogs recently, but I am really hoping that somebody can help with this girl. She is a great dog.

Rocky
Rocky was at a Massachusetts shelter. Rocky was a smiley boy. He was full of energy and spunk. He was sometimes unsure of how to behave, but quickly learned what was expected of him and would then follow the rules. Again, another victim of the shelter not having enough space for all the adandoned dogs and his time ran out.

Cocoa
Cocoa was at a Massachusetts shelter for about 2 months and doing great. She got adopted, but was being returned. However, before the adopter brought her back in he sold her to a man in the shelter parking lot. This man had her for a night before he found out he couldn't have her at his apartment. He too returned her to the shelter, but just dumped her in a play yard while the shelter was closed. She was found by shelter workers the next day. After that she went downhill. She was a great dog who deserved to be in a stable, loving home, but she never got that chance.

Dezel
Dezel was a pit/lab mix at a Massachusetts shelter. He was shy initially, but warmed up very quickly. He was the typical shelter story, too little time and too little space.