We said goodnight to a hero yesterday, strong magnificent Max who lived for nearly fourteen months past his bone cancer diagnosis. His stunning blue eyes, his enthusiasm and his stoic pawsonality put smiles on the faces of everyone he met. Max will never, ever be forgotten.
In the spirit of our courageous hero, we want to share these fun clips of him with you.
This movie was taken at our Tripawds get together in Santa Barbara last December. You can see here that not even lung mets could stop this boy from having a good time with the other pups.
Tripawds is a close knit family, sharing our stories of victory and sadness, triumph and grief, from all corners of the world. Throughout the year, we become close with our amputee dog heroes and their pawrents. The more we grow to know about their daily lives while they recuperate from amputation and battle cancer, the harder it is when we lose them.
When a Tripawd warrior leaves this earthly life, we are griefstricken. We all know that this is the price we must pay for loving another being, but it doesn’t make saying goodbye any easier. Our community has suffered heavy losses this year, and our deepest condolences go out to pawrents who are hurting.
Many pawrents say they have avoided coming to the Forums lately, because they are afraid of finding out if any more dogs have passed on. But in the spirit of all of the Tripawds who have bravely lived life to the fullest, let’s not forget that the Tripawds we grieve for, are also the dogs who amazed us as they took on the world with fearlessness and courage. And every day, new Tripawds members are bringing hoppiness into our community!
On this New Year’s Eve, let’s all keep the good times of our Spirit Tripawds in our hearts, by remembering some of the highlights from the year gone by:
Our apologies for not including all of our Spirit Tripawds in the links above, but that’s where you come in! Please feel free to post links to more happy memories of our Spirit Tripawd Warriors, in the Comments field below, or in this Discussion Forum topic.
Thank you for being a part of our family. We send you all many, many warm wishes for a joyous, peaceful and hoppy 2010!
Looking back at our nearly two years on the road together, I recall my people often listening to their favorite KHSU program online. Once in a while they would call Mad Dr. Matt, the host of Alternative Therapy, with updates about our location or my condition.
Now, one year after my passing, Jim has had a little fun with iMovie to create this tribute video featuring yours truly, the voice of Matty Dread and inspawrational music from Kelly’s Lot …
NOTE: No crying allowed! Unless they are tears of joy for all the fond memories we shared together as a pack.
After I said goodbye to my pawrents, it wasn’t easy for them to adapt to life without me. After traveling the country together for nearly two years, all those lessons I taught them about living in the moment became harder for them to follow. Their hearts were simply too heavy, mourning my loss.
Over the following months, they shed many tears. And each time a dog crossed their path, they felt as if their hearts were sinking to the bottom of the ocean.
But slowly, and thankfully, all of you good Tripawd pawrents helped bring them back into the present. The Tripawds mission became something for them to focus on, other than grief. These last few months they’ve worked hard to build up the site to support more Tripawd pawrents, and it’s kept them very, very busy. With each anniversary of my passing, the heavy burden of grief slowly becomes a little lighter.
See, ever since I got sick, they had been looking for a new place for us to call home. Although we roamed from California to Maine and down to Texas, we all knew that the Rocky Mountains were our destiny. In spring, they headed to Colorado, and began their search for my land. But months went by, and nothing seemed destined to become ours.
They had just about given up on finding what they wanted, when I led them to our perfect spot in Red Feather Lakes, Colorado. Funny because in our travels together, we had driven by the turn-off from Hwy 287, just west of Fort Collins, three times. This time, the road led them to a beautiful mountain retreat they now call Jerry’s Acres.
As they began making plans to bring our storage stuff out from California, my friend Codie Rae, Girldog Extraordinaire, and her pawrents were hard at work, helping to rescue a fellow Shepherd in need of a loving home. While I wasn’t able to spend my last days on the land we sought for so long, I can’t help but think what a wonderful place Jerry’s Acres would be for a neglected puppy from the inner city… (to be continued)
When we lose a loved one, we enter into a series of long dark days, trapped in loneliness we think we will never escape from. Slowly and eventually though, we learn to honor our beloved’s memory by continuing to appreciate all the beauty life has to offer. It’s not that time has healed our wounds, but we just learn to more easily accept things as they are.
One year ago on June 2nd, my girlfriend Lalla, who battled bone cancer just as I did, was released from her broken body. We roam free together now, forever and always, an image that always brings true joy to our pawrents hearts.
As hard as it was for her Mom Sasha to say goodbye, Lalla’s spirit continues to play a big part in the life of her entire earth-bound family. Sasha wrote this letter to Lalla, on the anniversary of her passing.
Dear Lalla
I am obliged to celebrate your life rather than mourn for you one year after you left.
There are countless reasons, after all, as a dog you taught me all about living in the now. There are so many lessons learned from you, the main one being I think is never to relate to someone with a disability as disabled. I got that from you when three weeks after your surgery when you chased a heron across another one of your seized waves.
So many of your achievements have manifested into goodness which your family and friends at tripawds.com all share. Even Daddy, Cesar Millan’s own lovely companion, was inspired by you to choose you as his 2008 Valentine’s Day Sweetheart and gave a wonderful donation to the Rolling Dogs Ranch on your behalf.
And so your family and friends carry on; Eli and Sylvia still sing to world peace and understanding. Orit has a little girl now called Ella who will hear your name and smile when her mummy tells her stories about how much you loved ice cream. And Troy is here as you know keeping us in track – and very wet and sandy!
Lalla, I am so lucky you are a part of my life. I would like to end with a short song a little boy wearing a superman cape once sang to you at the beach when you were only a puppy:
Lalla you are so beautiful
You don’t know
How beautiful you are
For those who don’t know, my people still continue their fulltime RVing adventures after saying goodbye to me seven months ago. And while it’s difficult for them to go back to places where we traveled together, they have learned the best way to let go. And that is by never letting go.
By keeping me in their hearts and knowing that my spirit shall always travel with them, they find comfort in my absence. Every once in a while I just have to remind them I’m still around, if only in spirit. Take their recent stay in Luckenbach, Texas for instance.
We spent a couple nights enjoying the Luckenbach scene last year – lots of grass, good people, and a sign on the door that reads “Dogs On Leases Only” – my kinda place.
Missing me on their recent visit back, they stumbled upon my name lost in the sea of license plates that makes up the outhouse walls. Just another reminder from me for them to live in the now, with no regrets, and enjoy life as it is.
After a storm flooded the field where they had parked the trailer, they found themselves stuck in Luckenbach a bit longer than expected. But instead of getting upset, the license plate reminded them of my mantra – Every day is a great day, enjoy each one to the fullest no matter what life throws your way.
I could think of worse places than Luck to be stuck. If you’ve lost a furry friend to cancer, consdier checking out our coping with loss discussion forum. Fortunately – or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it – you’re not alone.
We must give a special shout-out to producer Ellen Goosenberg Kent and her crew. Since they first followed us around Santa Fe last March, we’ve wondered what would come of the hours of footage they shot.
Well, Ellen did a simply amazing job telling Jerry’s story! We have now seen it about a dozen times and still cry every time.
We are just astounded to think that our story has touched so many people, in such profound ways. If the response here and on the Nature website is any indication, Ellen is sure to be nominated for another Emmy!
And if traffic is any indication of our future success with this website, Jerry’s legacy is bound to live on here forever.
We typically averaged about 900 unique visits a day. Yesterday alone we had more than 6,000 visitors!
Thank you Ellen. Thank you Nature. Thank you PBS.
And special thanks to all the viewers out there who dropped by to discover Jerry’s full story and share their own puppy-love stories with us. Thanks to all of you, we continue to spread the word that it’s better to hop on three legs than to limp on four.
So what is the Rainbow Bridge? In short, it is a poem about doggy heaven.
Commercially, it is the title of many books about pet loss. In spiritual terms, it is a metaphorical place known by people whose beloved pets have died.
In reality, it is a blessing of hope for those who love their dogs enough to help them pass on when their time comes …
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
So, this clarifies something we hear a lot in the Tripawd discussion forums. When dogs pass on, they do not “cross” the bridge. When people lay their dogs to rest, they are helping them go “to” the bridge – where they will meet them once again someday. Glad we could straighten that out.
And for the record, the original author of The Rainbow Bridge is unknown. While it is said to have been penned by Oregon grief counselor Paul Dahm in 1981, the poem has been circulated and attributed so widely that no one knows for sure. We don’t care. Ever since my people received a copy along with my remains from the wonderful pet cemetery folks, they think it’s pretty cool and wanted to share it with everyone here.
My people will soon explain their timing and decision processes for helping me be free of my cancer ridden body. But let me share why I had to leave this earth on Friday, October 3, 2008.
You see, it was in Assisi, Italy on October 3, 1226, that one Franciscan friar by the name of Giovanni Francesco Bernardone was laid to rest. Catholics know him as the patron saint of animals, the environment and Italy. It is customary for Catholic churches to hold ceremonies honoring animals around his feast day of October fourth.
In July, I led my Mom and Dad to 
As they began making plans to bring our storage stuff out from California, my friend 
In spiritual terms, it is a metaphorical place known by people whose beloved pets have died.
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