A good dog never dies
she always stays
she walks beside you
on crisp autumn days
when frost is on the fields
and winter's drawing near
her head is within our hand
in her old way.

-- Mary Carolyn Davies

Donations have been made to
Airedale Rescue in memory of . . .

. . . BARON DeMerchant, who crossed over the Rainbow Bridge on 21 January 1998.

Dogs' lives are too short.
Their only fault, really.

-- Agnes Sligh Turnbull

. . . VIOLET, who crossed over the Rainbow Bridge on 3 December 1987.

The first dog is the dog who gives you so much that, the first dog is often the reason for the second dog.

-- Unknown

. . . PENNINE MORNING STAR, who crossed over the Rainbow Bridge on February 14, 1998.

Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out, and your dog would go in.

-- Mark Twain

. . . SUNNI, who crossed over the Rainbow Bridge on February 24, 1998.

Do dogs go to heaven?
With no dogs, would heaven be heaven for dog lovers?

-- Canidlover

. . . KATIE, who crossed over the Rainbow Bridge on February 28, 1998.

Ten years ago she split the air
To seize what she could spy;
Tonight she bumps against a chair,
Betrayed by milky eye.
She seems to pant, Time up, time up!
My little dog must die.
And lie in dust with Hector's pup;
So, presently, must I.

-- Ogden Nash, For A Good Dog

. . . ODIE BABCOCK, who crossed over the Rainbow Bridge on June 12, 1995.

The old dog barks backward without getting up.
I can remember when she was a pup.

-- Robert Frost, The Span of Life

. . . SAM, who crossed over the Rainbow Bridge in March 1998.

Dogs die too soon -- that's why we had kids.

-- Tim Allen, Home Improvement

. . . ANNIE, who crossed over the Rainbow Bridge in February 1998.

Is a dog's life so short because
its love is so intense,
or is a dog's love so intense because
its life is so short?

-- Anonymous, from CANINE-L

. . . REX

The poor dog, in life the firmest friend,
The first to welcome, foremost to defend.

-- Lord Byron, Epitaph for His Dog, Boatswain

. . . CHRISTINE TURNER, who crossed over the Rainbow Bridge on May 11, 1998.

MY BUDDY

Christine is gone,
I bear the loss
of such a fine friend
I welcomed the cost.

For it was easy
to add up the ways
She made me smile and laugh
every one of her days.

Oh, how I would pay
to feel her head on my lap
hear her tail on the rug,
her whimper at naps.

My sadness shall pass
most assuredly so
for tho' Christine is gone
her spirit won't go.

So loyal is she,
she left with me still
that which I need
my heart she will fill.

-- Anonymous

. . . TRIXIE, who crossed over the Rainbow Bridge on June 22, 1998.

We who choose to surround
      ourselves with lives more
      temporary than our own
      live within a fragile circle,
      easily and often breached.

      Unable to accept its awful
      gaps, we still would live no
      other way.
      We cherish memory as the
      only certain immortality,
      never fully understanding
      the necessary pain . . .

-- Unkown, from CANINE-L

. . . BUDDY DeMerchant, who crossed over the Rainbow Bridge on December 16, 1996.

MEMORIES

But what a crowd of memories come back, bringing with them the perfume of fallen days! What delights and glamour, what long hours of effort, discouragements, and secret fears did he not watch over . . .; and with the sight and scent and touch of him, deepen or assuage! How many thousand walks did we not go together, so that we still turn to see if he is following at his padding gait, attentive to the invisible trails. Not the least hard thing to bear when they go from us, these quiet friends, is that they carry away with them so many years of our own lives. Yet, if they find warmth therein, who would grudge them those years that they have so guarded? Nothing else of us can they take to lie upon with outstretched paws, and chin pressed to the ground; and, whatever they take, be sure they have deserved.

-- John Galsworthy

. . . DAX GADE, who crossed over the Rainbow Bridge on September 22, 1998.

This is the last I will speak of her. I owe her this eulogy, dog to dog, for fourteen years of companionship, of laughs and devotion and cheek-by-jowl existence on this hard and incomprehensible planet.

-- Stanley Bing, The Most Beautiful Girl in the World

. . . RIGEL Williams-Hunt, who was born on February 3, 1997 and crossed over the Rainbow Bridge on October 4, 1998.

OLD DOG IN A LOCKET

Old dog in a locket
That lies next to my heart
I will always love you
As I did right from the start.

You were right beside me
Through the darkest of my days
It was your kind and gentle nature
That made me want to stay.

Now I hold you in my arms
Your breath still warm against my hand
Our hearts still beat together
And I wonder if you understand.

Through the hours that I held you
Before the light did leave your soul
I knew a way to keep you
Forever in my hold.

I snipped the hair from around your eyes
So I would always see
The beauty that surrounds me
Even in times of need.

I snipped the hair from around your ears
So I would always hear
Music in the distance
To quiet any fears.

I snipped the hair from across your back
To bring me strength in times of need
And the power of your essence
Would always be with me.

I snipped the hair from around your heart
That beats in time with mine
So I would know that love would find me
At some distant time.

And so, your life slipped out of mine
On a quiet, spring-like day
But I knew that a part of you
Was always here to stay.

Old dog in a locket
That lies next to my heart
I will always love you
Even though we had to part.

. . . NEPHI Davis, who crossed over the Rainbow Bridge on November 1, 1998.

If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known will go to heaven, and very, very few persons.

-- James Thurber

. . . TUTU Cunningham, who crossed over the Rainbow Bridge on October 24, 1998.

You think dogs will not be in heaven? I tell you, they will be there long before any of us.

-- Robert Louis Stevenson

. . . TEDDY Barrett, who crossed over the Rainbow Bridge on November 18, 1998.

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AIREDALES IN MEMORIAM, PAGE 2