Yoda Is Now Waiting At The Rainbow Bridge

Two weeks ago my life turned into a nightmare, a nightmare I so wanted to wake up from. No matter how many times I blinked the reality was I wasn’t having a nightmare but living one. On January 22nd, my dog Yoda had bit me for the second time and we had to do one of the hardest things a pet parent can do and that was surrender him over to the animal shelter.

This wasn’t something we wanted to do, however, we knew we had to. I ended up in the ER and if you’ve ever gone to the ER with a animal bit, no matter how much you would rather not have animal control involved, the ER reports to animal control. So Yoda had to do a 10 day quarantine to make sure he didn’t have rabies. We knew he didn’t have rabies, he wasn’t an outside dog. Yoda, being sent to the shelter was something we feared. We knew once he went in he wouldn’t come out a live because of how he was when he felt trapped.

We also knew that as much as we loved him, he couldn’t continue to call this home because after the first bit we gave him a second chance, if we kept him after the second bit we would have been gambling with our daughter’s life and that isn’t something I could do. I also won’t lie, I attempted to get Yoda help with a vet checkup and training, it was a little to late and the shelter already had it in their minds to kill him. If we didn’t have a child I would have lied and said a stray bit me. I know that is wrong, but I knew they would kill Yoda once he was put in the shelter.

Yoda was so scared in that shelter, he was away from the people he loved, the people that loved him, the people he knew and the people he in his mind needed to protect. He allowed my husband to be alpha in the pack, but no matter what we did, he attempted to take second and he would bully my daughter, Bones our other dog, and I.

Yoda wasn’t a bad dog, he was sweet when he needed to be, he played like a puppy. He would tuck his tail in to run and he looked like a kangaroo, he would waddle like a penguin to greet you in the morning, it was like a C coming towards you. When we left if him and Bones were out together he would eat everything, but if him and bones were in two separate rooms he wouldn’t touch a thing. Never did understand why he was only a goat when his brother was around.

One day when I was sitting on the couch he oinked like a pig, and I even heard him meow like a cat. I think Yoda was one of those dogs that was lost in his own body. He didn’t know if he was a dog, cat, goat, pig, penguin or a rabid beast. I know he was very much loved though and I tried my best to be a good mommy to him, however, he made it very hard.

On February 3rd, we got the call about 830am telling us they had “put” him to sleep and we could come get his body. This angered me so bad, because Yoda didn’t deserve to die, hell no animal deserves to die and it pisses me off when people get animals and throw them out like trash. These babies are not asking to be brought into your home, you’re bringing them in, you can at least treat them like family instead of disposable trash.

I didn’t even get dressed that day, my husband and I went and picked up Yoda’s body, he was soak and wet and gross, I cannot help but think of them spraying my Yoda with a water hose to back him in a corner while the other animal control guy shot him up with the drug to kill him. This angers me even more if it’s what happened, because it means not only did Yoda die without his family, he died a horrible death by being tortured.

Once we got Yoda’s body we took him to the Dixie Memorial Pet Gardens in Millington, TN to have him cremated. I couldn’t let him be thrown out like trash at the shelter, I wanted my baby home.

Dixie Memorial Pet Gardens sits on 23 acres of land and was founded in 1992 by Barbara Wells, after the death of her beloved companion Dixie. This particular pet cemetery is one of the largest in the country. When we pulled in I was in awe.

Dixie Memorial Pet Gardens has special sections within the cemetery for service animals, cats and even those smaller pets like rabbits, birds and guinea pigs.

I loved the option they had, where we could pay extra to have Yoda cremated by himself where we brought the ashes home, if you want to have your pet cremated, but would rather do it cheap, you can pay a smaller fee and have their ashes scattered on the island across the rainbow bridge. With it being winter time, my pictures don’t do the pet gardens justice, I am going to go back out there this Summer and I will get better pictures!

When my husband and I walked into the pet funeral home we were greeted and we let them know the reason we were there. We started all the paperwork, then we were able to pick out the urn. We wanted one that would be suitable for Yoda, I still was in disbelief he was laying in my backseat dead.

Once we had the urn picked out we discussed what we wanted the name plate to read. We went with his name, date of birth, date of death and his nickname. After we were finished we were met out by the car where they brought out a stretcher and took Yoda to be cremated. I cried like a baby on the way home, because it hurts. I was very impressed and happy with the service we got, we were told he would be cremated in the afternoon and he would be ready to come home no later than 10am the following day.

As I was about to call them to see if we could pick up Yoda, they were calling me. The urn we picked out just wasn’t going to be big enough for all his ashes. We had a few options, go with the xtra large which would be more than enough room for all of Yoda, or stick with the small one, fit it most and scatter the rest.

We decided to go with the bigger one, and since his ashes weren’t yet put in the urn, we got our daughter a heart necklace urn with some of his ashes.

I loved the new urn better than the smaller one, the new one was unique just like him. It has two sides just like Yoda did. I have set up his little memorial in the living room, in the memorial I have the blanket he slept on, his collar, his leash and his two favorite toys. Since Yoda has been gone Bones refuses to play with the toys because he knew those were the toys brother claimed. He did pick up the ball a few times and squeak it to see if Yoda would come running and try to steal it from him, because that’s what Yoda did, he would steal the toys from Bones if he tried to play with them.

I am sad and angry Yoda is no longer living on Earth but I am forever grateful for Dixie Memorial Pet Gardens for offering their services and their professionalism. This allows me to have Yoda at home where he belongs.

We love you Yoda and we will see you at the Rainbow Bridge.