Home / Rainbow Bridge

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.

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…

RIP Luke. We are all heartbroken.

We were hoping you would have a better life after your medical issues, but, it was not to be.

Heaven gained a other Sheltie Angel yesterday and we are all so heartbroken.
LUKE came to rescue in deplorable condition last summer. He was one of the 4 From The Shore. He needed surgery to fix an irritating inwardly turned eyelid, he lost 13 teeth and then another 7 recently. His teeth were very bad and he had not 1 but 2 fistulas under those rotten teeth.
We were so thrilled that we found such a wonderful adoptive home for our sweet Luke. He had been through so much and deserved no less than that. He was loved so much.
He had been doing well up until the last few days when he was not feeling great. Not much interested in eating, sleeping a lot. His adoptive mom took him to the vet and he was admitted to the hospital due to severe anemia. Turns out he had a large inoperable mass on his liver and a large amount of blood in his abdominal cavity. The only thing that could be done was to free him from his failing body.
Please say a prayer for Luke’s wonderful adoptive mom. She misses him so much.
RIP Shelly. You are beloved. May we meet again over the ‘Bridge.

Heaven gained another angel, Shelly.

Shelly is flying free over the Rainbow Bridge. You were held in my arms as you took flight peacefully. Go with love, Shelly. You were a delight and very loving dog. You radiated your love to all who met you. You were silly and loved to chase squirrels, acting like a much younger dog even though you were 14 years old. You ignored Leo with his antics and loved to get snacks and bark at football and sports on TV. You fit right into your home as if you lived there all your life. You were raised with love by your previous owner and it showed in your sweet personality.

Shelly was one of our forever fosters due to her age and medical needs. She had arthritis and had been diagnosed with Cushing’s Disease, both of were treated with medication and testing. Shelly did respond to her treatments while in her forever foster home where she was loved and cared for.

RIP Keira. You have gotten your wings to fly over the Rainbow Bridge.

Heaven gained another angel, Keira.

Forever Foster Keira had been having difficulties these past 6 months and yesterday she let her foster mom know she was tired and it was time. She gained her wings with her head in her foster mom’s lap knowing she was loved and cherished.
Keira came to rescue at the age of 3 from an Amish puppy mill, along with her litter of puppies. All the puppies had a heart murmur and so were worthless and could not be sold to the pet trade. A volunteer was able to convince the Amish farmer to not only give up the puppies (instead of ‘disposing’ of them), but to give up Keira as well since she was ‘worthless’ and produced defective puppies. The family came to rescue, ‘Mommy’ as she was called got her spay surgery and vetting, and all were adopted to loving families.
Mommy was adopted by an older gentleman who was lonely and needed a companion. He loved her so much, and she adored him. He would send photos and cards to rescue letting everyone know how thankful he was for her, and he came to a lot of the rescue events with her. Keira, as he named her, was lucky enough to have this home for 7 or 8 years. But then things changed. He started to have some significant health issues, and then ended up needing hospice care. It worked for a while, but Keira started to get protective of her owner. Keira ‘protected’ her owner when she thought the hospice worker was hurting her dad, and bit. The police were called, then animal control. Keira was not current on her vaccines because her owner had been sick. He begged them to call Rescue for Keira and thankfully they did. When the volunteer picked her up on that very sad day, she was upset and didn’t want to be caught, and her owner was crying. Keira was losing the only loving home she had ever had. But Keira came to rescue and went into a foster home and was so so sad. Her owner died a few days later.
Keira got caught up on her vetting and had time for her broken heart to heal. She got a badly needed dental, and she had a cancerous tumor removed from her foot. And slowly, that broken heart started to heal and she started to play with the other dogs in the foster home.
Eventually a new adoptive home was found for Keira with an older couple. She had not one owner now, but 2! Things went well for a while, but then it became necessary for hospice care to come in. Keira again went into protection mode. She had to protect her people from the strangers !! As time went by, the behavior got worse and worse and eventually a family member called rescue to come and pick her up. Again, Keira lost her home and her heart was broken.
This was Keira’s 3rd time going to rescue and she was 11 years old. Due to the protective behavior, age, and medical issues, Rescue decided to keep Keira as a Forever Foster, so she could live her life out in a foster home. The foster mom worked with Keira with the help of some volunteers and eventually over time this protective diminished but never really went away.
Keira was almost 16 years old. Puppy mill breeding dog survivor, cancer survivor. Not many dogs are so lucky.
Godspeed, dear Keira. You were loved, cherished and will be sorely missed.
Max
RIP Max. Join the others in play over the bridge.

Max came into Rescue and enjoyed many months of love and care with his wonderful adoptive forever family. He fit right in with his family and gave back as much love as he was given. It is with great sorrow that we say goodbye to Max. His health took a turn for the worse quickly so it was time to help Max cross the Bridge.

Sunny
RIP Sunny. Fly free over the Rainbow Bridge.

Sunny, half of the Weather Girls, lost her battle with a very aggressive cancer.

Her mom was able to keep her happy and living a great life with the help of several vets since the cancer diagnosis earlier in the year. For a few months Sunny enjoyed her life with her family, surrounded by loved ones, happy, acting like herself, and bouncing around the house and yard and full of life. Toward the end Sunny’s quality of life started to diminish so it was time. Sunny went on her own in her home with her family around her.

The Weather Girls were some of the first dogs that the new board helped out and they will always have a special place in our hearts. Gone, but never forgotten.

Grandpa Spanky
RIP dear Grandpa, you were very much loved in the sunset of your life.

The ER vets took him in right away. The fluids and glucose helped a little but not enough, he was fading away. His body was tired and was failing. It is with a very heavy heart that we decided the kindest thing to do for this sweet, sweet dog was to help him over the Rainbow Bridge.
Our dearest Grandpa Spanky, I wish we could have given you another 20 years. But we gave you 6 weeks, where you had a full belly, a soft bed to sleep in, the best vet care we could get you, and you are loved. Oh how much you are loved! Fly free, sweet angel …Grandpa Spanky.
When he was pulled from the shelter he was so frail, and so sweet. He was blind and had been for a long time. He had significant arthritis in his spine. His teeth were so rotten, and that combined with the smell of ammonia was overwhelming – the conditions he came from were pretty horrible.
We got those rotten, infected teeth pulled. It took 3 baths to get rid of the ammonia smell. He was getting accupuncture, cold laser, and chiropractic to help his painful back. That hunch in his back was going away and he was doodling all over the back yard in the sun until he decided it was time to nap. Then, he would lay down and take a nap. He enjoyed snuggling with his foster family.
We’re glad the our rescue got him out of the shelter and and that we got him 6 good weeks in a loving home with the best care we could get for him. We wish we could have given him more time but a lifetime of neglect and poor care finally caught up with him.

Our SSPSNJ Shelties who have crossed over the Rainbow Bridge...