Champ's Rainbow Bridge Pet Loss Memorial

Welcome to Champ's Rainbow Bridge Memorial Residency

Memories of Champ

We will never forget how we got Champ. We went to a store called"Animals and Things" and we saw this yellow lab in a cage constantly barking and we took a look at him and we liked that he was trying to get our attention, so we decided to ask the keepers if they could take the dog out and put him in a room with us and they did and he was jumping all over the place and licking us as if to say, take me home with you. We liked his disposition and he had such a great personality, so we decided to purchase him. Next thing you knew he was in the back seat of our car coming home with us and we were so happy that we got him. When we got home he loved his new home and that made us happy. At night we decided to put him in his crate, but to our surprise all he did was bark and try to get out. He hated the crate and we could not imagine why. He had everything you could think of in his crate. We called the animal store where we purchased him and asked them why he did not like the crate and they said, because he was left in a crate for six months at the animal store. To me that was too long for any dog to be in a crate. They also told us at the store that someone had purchased him and had him for two days and brought him back for whatever reason. Now, that we knew the whole history of Champ, we decided not to keep him in a crate. We trained him very well and he was sleeping with us on our bed and he loved it and so did we. As the days went by, he was getting to know us and we were getting to know him and he was so much fun. I could not imagine anyone taking him back to the store, because he was a great dog to have and so much fun. He did everything with us and went everywhere with us, because to us he was not a dog, he was a person and acted like a person. We use to take him to "Round Valley" where we would throw the ball into the water and he would retrieve it. Champ loved it and we loved it as well, especially seeing the smile on his face. We did so many things with him. He went on vacation with us to "The Hamptons" and he enjoyed himself so much running on the beach and hanging with us. We will never forget when I got pregnant, Champ was so protective of me. Champ would not allow anyone near me. He was always protecing me with the little bundle of joy in me. At night on the bed he would rest his head on my stomach listening and feeling the baby move. He would not leave my side. Wherever I would go, he was right beside me. He was my guardian angel the whole time I was pregnant. When I had the baby and I came home from the hospital, he knew the baby was no longer inside of me. He sniffed me and went towards the baby and smelt the baby and he knew now was the time to start to guard the baby. As the days went by he started watching the baby and letting me know if the baby needed something. We will never forget this day, when I went to take a shower and he came into the bathroom and looked at me and barked throught the glass doors and I opened the doors to the shower and I heard the baby crying and I knew he came in there to let me know and we were so proud of him. He became our babysitter in letting us know when the baby was crying or needed something. This was just simply amazing to us. We have had so many dogs in the past, but never one like him. There was a day that We were coming home from my mom's house and the baby and champ were in the back-seat of the car and we were at a red light and this man came up to the car at around 10:00pm at night and he was banging on the window. We lowered it very little and he was asking for money. We told him we have a dog in the car and he will bite, so please get away from the car and all of a sudden Champ was starting to bark and growl at him. To our amazement Champ took his paw and put it on the electric window button and the window rolled down and he put his head out and almost attacked the man. The man took off like a bat out of hell. Champ did another great thing for us. He protected us and scared off the man. God only knows what could of happened that night, if We did not have Champ with us. As the days were going and Champ was getting older he was having a hard time going up the stairs and jumping on the bed, but yet never really complained. One day he just did not want to eat and I could not understand why. I thought it was the heat, because we were having a very hot summer and usually animals don't always want to eat. So I did not force him. During the next couple of days he was like in pain, so we decided to rush him to the doctor's to see what was going on with him. They gave us the news, which was very bad. Champ had lymes disease and he was in his final stage. The lymes disease had attacked the liver and he was having renal failure. We could not believe what we were hearing and said, this cannot be. We went home and we were crying over the fact that there was nothing we could do. That day when we brought him to the doctor's he had eye sight, when we came home at night he went totally blind. We could not believe what was happening to our beloved dog. WE than could not sit around, we decided to take him to New York Animal Hospital, in Manhatten, where they are known to treat Renal Failure. We gave it a shot. We left Champ there and we were visiting Champ there everynight. We were hoping that the antibiotics and medicine they were giving him, would help him get strong. Everytime we seen him at visiting hours, he was getting weaker, but we were still hoping for a miracle. That night we left him by telling him how much we loved him and to hang in there and we will see you tomorrow. The doctor took him out of the visitation room and walked him down the hall and as she took him back to ICU, We yelled to Champ we love you and we will see you tomorrow and he turned around to look at us one last time. We left and went back home and the following morning we got a phone call that Champ was going into cardiac arrest, do we want him resusitated and we said, yes. We still were not giving up. They tried and tried to revive him and to no success. They called us back and told us That they were sorry, they did everything they could and we just could not talk. My husband dropped the phone and all we did was cry. We could not believe that our beloved, devoted, Champ left us and was gone. We could not beleive that he was gone for good. We wanted to go and see him, so we decided to make an appoinmtment to visit with him, before we decide what we were going to do with him. We went to New York and went to visit with Champ, he was laid out on a table with a blanket over his body. When we walked in to see him, we lost it, we actually went crazy. We were crying like we never cried before. We were petting him and hugging him and talking to him. We spent a good 3 hours with him, because that is how hard we took it. The hospital gave us a paw print of Champ as a momento to Remember him by. We took it and left, so devastated. Our hearts were breaking. In the next few days, we decided we wanted to bury him in our backyard, so he will be with us always. Our friend went to pick up his body and when we he came home we decided to bury him. When we were done and prayers were said, we went back into the house. We were sitting at the ktchen table and all of a sudden we heard this big loud bang on our storm door. Champ use to make that noise everytime he wanted to come inside from doing his duty outside. We looked at eachother and it happened again. MY husband went to look outside and nothing was there. We knew who it was. It was Champ saying thank you for burying me here where I belong with my family and thank you for everything. This gave us a little peace, but what really gave us peace was finding this website, with the poem "The Rainbow Bridge". Reading this made us come to terms that we will meet again in a more happier and beautiful place. All we could say is that we miss Champ very much, he gave us such Unconditional Love and he will be with us in spirit. Until we meet again, my beloved Champ. We will Always Love You.

Photograph Album

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