Rainbow Bridge Day and the Dogs We Lost

I almost missed that today is Rainbow Bridge Day or more correctly Rainbow Bridge Remembrance Day. Rainbow Bridge Remembrance Day is a day of reflection and gratitude that takes place every year on August 28th to honor pets who have passed away. We lost several pets through the years, hamsters, snakes, rabbits and dogs. In this post I will focus on the dogs we lost including Daisy our Pug, Bronco our Leonberger, Ryu our Japanese Chin, Baby our German Shepherd and Baylor or Labrador, or rather Yellow Lab mix. I will start with the dog we lost last, our Pug Daisy and end with the dog we lost first, our Labrador Baylor. I should say that my wife had dogs before we met each other, but Baylor was my first dog. I did not grow up with dogs. We miss them all very much. They left a hole in our hearts.

Our Pug Daisy was a sweet and easy dog who lived a long life. On April 5th this year she died peacefully in our arms at the age of 15 ½ years old. This was just a few months ago, and it still feels strangely empty without her. Our dog Rollo, a mini–Australian Shepherd has been alone ever since.

A puppy in the arms of our son wearing a red shirt.
Daisy came to us a little pug puppy almost 16 years ago. Our son David, eleven years old at the time, was holding her. A few months ago, I held her for the last time.
Daisy is wearing a pink party hat. She is sitting in front of a cake and my wife is giving her cake.
Daisy’s 15th birthday. This is one of the last photos of Daisy.
Our pug Daisy on top of the sofa. Her legs are dangling over the sofa and her tongue is out.
Daisy on the sofa after an exhausting day of doing nothing.
Our daughter is sitting on her knees on the floor. Our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo sits on her left and our Pug Daisy sits on her right.
Our daughter is petting Rollo and Daisy. Our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo is still with us. He is six years old.
Daisy our beige pug is laying in the grass and there are some flowers.
A painting of our late pug Daisy who passed away in April. It is based on one of our photos and created by Etsy. I believe by the same woman who made Bronco’s portrait (see below).

The dog we lost before Daisy was our Leonberger dog Bronco. The Leonberger dog is a very large dog related to St. Bernards, Newfound land dogs, and Great Pyrenees, He died on June 16, 2020, just a couple of weeks before his 13th birthday. He lived a long life for a Leonberger. He was s sweetheart who protected our smaller dogs. He likely saved the life of our other dogs a couple of times, he found run-away hamsters, and he saved our neighborhood from a nightly intruder harassing the women in the neighborhood. He was also incredibly funny. I wrote a book about him and the Leonberger breed. Look to the right if you are using a laptop and at the bottom of the screen if you are using a mobile phone.

Color photo of Leonberger puppy. He is wearing a scarf.
Bronco our Leonberger three months old.
Our old Leonberger lying in the grass. He is approaching 13 years old.
Today’s walk with Bronco and rest stop : April 18 2020, Bronco is 12 years 9 1/2 months.
Painting showing our Leonberger Bronco’s face. Like all Leonbergers he has a black mask and fluffy hair.
The portrait was drawn by Veniceme at Etsy (Natasha Dall’Ara) and it is based on one of our photos.
Illustration showing Rollo our mini-Australian Shepherd, Bronco our Leonberger, and Daisy our Pug. Bronco lived a very long life for a Leonberger. Giant breeds don’t live long. The Leonberger Health Foundation International is trying to fix that. Bronco’s longevity is an inspiration for all Leonbergers and giant breeds around the world. Hopefully his DNA sample will be of some help.
Bronco lived a very long life for a Leonberger. Giant breeds don’t live long. The Leonberger Health Foundation International is trying to fix that. Bronco’s longevity is an inspiration for all Leonbergers and giant breeds around the world. Hopefully his DNA sample will be of some help.

In February of 2018 we lost Bronco’s little friend our little Japanese Chin Ryu. We bought him from Petland not knowing that they got their dogs from Puppy Mills. One time when we went to Petland to buy dog food we brought Ryu with us. As we approached the store he started shaking out of fear. That was a wakeup call for us. He loved howling and it sounded like he was singing an opera. Perhaps he loved howling for the attention he got when he did. Everyone turned around and clapped when he howled. He was a happy fella who died a bit prematurely at the age of 10 from cancer. I was working 16-hour days in Oklahoma when he passed so I could not be with him when he died, which is something I will forever regret.

Photo of Ryu standing with Rachel. Ruy loved dancing and singing and Bronco partially visible on the left was his big brother and protector.
Ryu loved dancing and singing and Bronco partially visible on the left was his big brother and protector.
Photo of our daughter Rachel with Ryu her Japanese Chin. They are sitting on a chair at the dogpark.
Rachel and Ryu, the Japanese Shin at the dogpark.
Drawing of Ryu our smart little Japanese Chin. Our smart little angel was unlucky with cancer, and I was not there for him.
Our smart little angel was unlucky with cancer, and I was not there for him. That is Baby and Baylor waiting at the end of the rainbow bridge.

Baby was a female German Shepherd. One of Claudia’s sisters had rescued her. We were told she had been abused by her first owners and she was a very anxious dog. We frequently took the dogs to the dog park, but she was never comfortable there and kept to herself. She was very protective of our Leonberger Bronco when he was a puppy. She played with him and protected him fiercely as if she was his mother. She died from cancer at home on her mattress. It would have been better for her to get an injection at the veterinary, but we did not react quick enough. Another thing we regret.

Photo of our German Shepherd playing with our Leonberger puppy Bronco.
Bronco, at the age of four or five months, would soon outgrow his playmate Baby.
Photo of our German Shepherd Baby at the dog park.
Baby was always a little wary at the dog park.
Illustration by Naomi Rosenblatt showing our late German Shepherd Baby under a star.
Sometimes not thinking things through is cruel. Watch your emotions. We could have done better for our brave German Shepherd Baby.

Baylor was a ¾ Yellow Lab and ¼ Ridgeback. He was a happy and brave dog who fought bravely when attacked by other dogs. He was also food crazy and stole a lot of food. As he got older, he developed diabetes and cataracts. His passing was the saddest and most shocking. We had left our dogs with a dog sitter during a ski vacation when she called us and told us she could not stay at our house because she had several other dogs to take care of. Something she had not told us. We were forced to allow her to take our dogs to her house. The next phone call was much worse. She had put Baylor out in her backyard because he was barking at night, and he had escaped. It was a cold night. He was found dead the next morning halfway between her house and our house. Hit by a driver who just left him there. Apparently, he had tried to get back to our house. It was quite a shock, and the kids were bawling their eyes out. That was the last time we hired a dog sitter.

Photo of Baylor and Baby
Baylor and Baby
Photo of our Labrador Baylor. He is looking into the camera.
Photo of our Labrador Baylor
Illustration by Naomi Rosenblatt showing our Labrador Baylor crossing the rainbow bridge.
Our Labrador left us tragically and unexpectantly. Evidence that we humans our cruel.
Illustration by Naomi Rosenblatt showing a paw print in the sky.
The paw prints that dogs leave in your heart are eternal.

All illustrations are by Naomi Rosenblatt

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Author: thomasstigwikman

My name is Thomas Wikman. I am a software/robotics engineer with a background in physics. I am currently retired. I took early retirement. I am a dog lover, and especially a Leonberger lover, a home brewer, craft beer enthusiast, I’m learning French, and I am an avid reader. I live in Dallas, Texas, but I am originally from Sweden. I am married to Claudia, and we have three children. I have two blogs. The first feature the crazy adventures of our Leonberger Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle as well as information on Leonbergers. The second blog, superfactful, feature information and facts I think are very interesting. With this blog I would like to create a list of facts that are accepted as true among the experts of the field and yet disputed amongst the public or highly surprising. These facts are special and in lieu of a better word I call them super-facts.

75 thoughts on “Rainbow Bridge Day and the Dogs We Lost”

  3. So many good memories. I’ve lived with dogs neqrly my entire life. I can’t imagine life without one. Lulu, our yellow lab is showing her age. It’s harder for her to get up after she’s been sleeping. She’ll be eleven soon. She’s already lived longer then her brother Jake who we had to put down at age 8 when cancer took him.

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    1. That is great Pete. I really wanted a dog when I was a kid but we did not have any dogs. I had to wait until I was an adult. But it is sad that they don’t live very long. They get old quickly. I am so sorry about Jake. I hope Lulu will live a long life.

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    1. Neither did I until a couple of hours before this post. I found out late from another dog blog and they I looked it up. I will remember it in 2025. Yes that it is for me to. They are all present and alive in my memory and heart including the other non-dog pets I did not write about.

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  9. Oh my goodness!!! Look at all these beautiful babies!!!! A few I knew about but most I didn’t. Love the portraits of them. Such talented artists!!! I grew up with big dogs. My family kept no memorials of them. But as an adult I’ve kept mementoes of all my housecats that have passed. I have a special shelf in my living room for them. I’ll bet yours give you as many memory-smiles as mine do every time you see them. 🩷

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    1. Thank you so much Laura. I agree the artists are great, both the one(s) from Etsy and Naomi Rosenblatt, who did not charge much by the way. It is great that you kept momentos of your house cats. It is good to remember. You are right, our paintings and photos bring us smiles and good memories as well as some sadness that we lost them. I wrote my book about largely as a tribute and a memory to an amazing dog.

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  14. It’s so unfair that our dogs leave us much too soon! Such a lovely, poignant post, honouring your beloved pets, Thomas! 💖 What happened to Baylor is terrible and brought tears. 😢 I was a dog sitter for 27 years, boarding dogs in my home. Not only is my backyard escape-proof, but I would NEVER leave any dog out there unsupervised! I hope that woman was put out of business!

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    1. Thank you so much for your kind words Debbie. You are right they leave us too early. As you indicate this woman’s backyard was not secured, she lied about having to take care of other dogs, and once Baylor escaped she refused to go out looking for him for several hours, almost the entire night, until she relented in the early morning because we were screaming at her to go after him. But it was someone else who found Baylor already dead. She was not a good dog sitter. Since then we have used friends for our dogs rather than dog sitters. We know there are many good dog sitters out there, and we certainly would trust you, but how to you know unless you already know them.

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      1. That is unconscionable! 😠 She should have been searching for Baylor as soon as she realized he was missing. It’s disgusting that a dog sitter would be so callous. If that had happened to me, I would have been grief-stricken and frantically searching everywhere! Best recommendations are by word of mouth. My clients were always happy to recommend me to others. One of the biggest compliments that I heard often is their dogs got excited when they turned into my street! You are fortunate to have friends willing (and able) to take care of your dogs. That’s an ideal situation!

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    2. Unfortunately, references does not always help. It was our veterinary at the time who recommended her. I should say that after this we switched veterinary as well. There were a lot of things she did not do correctly. We were concerned about the safety for our dogs and worried about them staying with other dogs so we asked her to keep the dogs at our house, and not dog sit other dogs at the same time and spend as much time at our house as possible. She promised to do that but it was a promise she never intended to keep. My wife could also smell alcohol on her breath, but that may not have meant anything. As you say, the most infuriating part was her refusal to go and search for him. At least she called us after he had escaped.

      Afterwards we did not do anything about it. We did not write a bad review, or anything. We were too devastated for that. I don’t think that was very common anyway back in 2008/2009. There are good dog sitters and bad dog sitters, but if you don’t know them, how do you know who to contact? That’s why we stick with people who know us, even if they are not dog sitters. I wish you had lived in Dallas back then and that we had known you.

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  16. Through out all of your tributes, you can see the love given and returned, and they all had a most wonderful life that you were able to give them..
    Our pets are family, and every passing is a heartbreak..

    Sending thoughts your way Thomas, and I am only just now getting to catch up properly with posts I have neglected during the summer..

    Thank you for sharing the love, and memories of your beloved friends.. ❤

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  17. I was not aware that there is Day of this nature also, but it’s so appropriate to observe. I love the way you have talked of your dogs with their fantastic pics, but Baylor’s story pained me a lot. But I know all dogs and their stories are still fresh in your mind and heart.

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    1. I found out about Rainbow Bridge Remembrance Day just 2-3 hours before I posted this. You learn something almost every day. Like you I will remember this day. I agree Baylor story is painful. I should give a warning when I bring it up. It is one of those things that we really wish never would have happened. It was one of the worst days in our lives. It took us weeks to comfort the kids.

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  19. I am so excited that I stumbled across your blog. We too had a Leonberger who lived to be around 13. Trooper was an amazing dog. We lost him in 2022 and still miss him so much. When we adopted him from the shelter they told us he had come in as a stray. They thought he was a shepherd mix and about 6 months old. It wasn’t until a few months later, when I took him to obedience class, that someone suggested that he was leonberger. I had never heard of the breed, so I started doing research. He had all of the characteristics. I can’t imagine why he ended up as a stray. I would love to have another leonberger but there are too many dogs in shelters that need homes, so we have committed to adopting from the shelters. We now have a beagle and a lab/shepherd mix.

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    1. That is a very interesting story. It is great you are adopting from shelters. There are many dogs who need homes. I should say that all LCA certified Leonberger breeders are required to take back the Leonberger in case it does not work out and in general they all want to do that. This makes it very rare that Leonbergers end up in shelters. LCA (Leonberger Club of America) is very protective of the dogs. It would be great if all breeders did took back the dogs like they do. I am so sorry for your loss of Trooper. Thank you much for looking at my blog.

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  21. I’ve read your book twice since I bought it, and the second go-round I skipped the part about Baylor’s unnecessary passing. I used to dog-sit, and I never lost one of my charges the way you guys did.

    And yes, our dogs sure leave an empty space in our hearts when they cross that Rainbow Bridge. I still miss Mary Joe, my yellow Lab retriever, and she’s been gone since April of 2003.

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    1. Thank you so much Alex. That’s the thing, unless you know the dog sitter personally, how do you know it is a responsible dog sitter. I would certainly trust you but someone else I can’t. I am so sorry for your loss of Mary Joe.

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  23. I’m gonna be honest with you and say that I had never heard of Rainbow Bridge Day. What a great idea though and it was touching to read through your memories of those dogs that were so dear to you. Enjoyed seeing a few familiar photos again and a few I don’t think I had seen. Your article got me thinking about two treasured dogs that we lost in our family – Indy and River – both Brittanys. I should get around to writing about them one of these years.

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      1. No worries though I haven’t come across it yet. I’ll let you know if I do. If it makes you feel any better I have a friend who uses a different blog host that makes wp seem like a walk in the park 😝

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      1. No, I wouldn’t be able to either. When I was a young teen, we had two Great Danes and a Chow Chow (Runt, who was my dog). We lived on a farm. One day the dogs escaped and went onto the next door farmer’s property. He had sheep and though our dogs were hunting them (they wouldn’t have been as they were trained dogs). He shot my girl with a shotgun and she came home badly wounded. She died and I was devastated. I’ve never had another dog.

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  27. I didn’t know there was something like Rainbow Bridge Remembrance Day, but it’s heartening that it exists. Your post regarding your dogs is touching one, especially, Baylor’s case. A dog sitter can’t be so careless. This Day, therefore, assumes significance.

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