Sometimes those we love get into “cages” of struggle and pain, and it seems like we can’t do anything to help them. But we can.
Joyful Springers are there. They understand that sometimes the best thing you can do for someone is simply be nearby.
You can’t solve everyone’s problems, but you can offer your comforting presence and your loving energy. Today and everyday, be there for someone you love.
In Memoriam
Angel Riley
August 1, 2001 – April 20, 2011
[It is with great sadness that I share that one of our regular guest stars, Angel Riley (with her adopted sister, Pump, in the photo above), a sweet girl from Whispering Pines, North Carolina, passed away last month. On April 5, she suffered a seizure indicative of a brain tumor (she had other related symptoms as well). Over the next two weeks, she went quickly downhill until she crossed the Rainbow Bridge.
Her momma, Helen, took the photo of Pump & Angel above and the two photos below during the last two weeks of Riley's life. In the one above, Pump had gotten into the crate to lie with Riley after Riley had ducked into the crate, not feeling well. In the first one below, Butch laid down by Riley (she's on the left) and stretched out so his head touched her. In the second one below, both Butch and Pump got between Helen and Riley when Helen was lying with Riley. They took over Helen's spot at Riley's side. Helen said, "The love and compassion for the those two sad weeks were incredible. I think Springers love you until the end and then some!!" And we love them the same way.
Please take a moment to send Angel Riley loving blessings for everlasting joy and love and a moment to send loving comfort to Helen, her husband, Rich, as well as Butch, Pumpkin and the rest of people and animals who knew and loved Riley as they go through these rough first weeks and months without her. ]
“A Treasure”
Angel Riley spent the first six years, eight months of her life with a family who eventually had to give her up to English Springer Rescue Association (ESRA). Rich and Helen Gibbons took in Riley as a foster dog, but they “failed” as foster parents; Rich and Angel Riley fell in love, so she became a permanent part of the Gibbons family.
Helen and Riley’s relationship unfolded more slowly. Helen had wanted a younger dog, but she discovered the joys of a more mature “girlfriend.” Riley weighed 76 pounds when she joined Helen and Rich, but with the addition of her 9 month old adopted sister, Pumpkin (Pump) and the fun sport of dock diving, Riley became 55 muscular pounds of “Caroline Dock Dog.”
“Everyone said she had such a sad face but a happy inside,” Helen says of Angel Riley. Winner of a tail-wagging contest, passionate about balls, Frisbees, swimming and diving, Riley was an obedient girl who loved life. On her 9th birthday last year, Riley took fifth place in the junior division of a Carolina Dock Dogs event, and later in the year, she got first place in “Junior Big Air.”
Helen says about Riley: “What a great dog!! What a smart dog! What a treasure; maybe that is why she was a pirate for Halloween and an angel the year before!” Helen says they won the lottery when they got Angel Riley: “She was a giver…a giver of love and happiness.”
The Gibbons’ only had Angel Riley with them for a little over three years, but they cherish every minute of that time. Their experience is encouragement for anyone thinking of rescuing a senior dog. As Helen says, “Rescuing an older dog has so many pluses…they outweigh the negatives.”
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) a very Happy Mother’s Day!
