Dachshund Heaven

One of our foster homes just emailed this to me. I love it....I made a few changes to adapt it for dachshunds (and to make it a woman!). Thanks to Sherri!!!
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A woman and her dachshund were walking along a road. The woman was enjoying the scenery, and the dachshund was barking happily at all the squirrels and chipmunks, when it suddenly occurred to her that she must be dead. She remembered dying, and that the dachshund walking beside her had died of old age many years before. The dachshund was young and spry again, and she noticed that she felt younger, too.

She wondered where the road was leading them. After a while, they came to a high, white stone wall along one side of the road. At the top of a long hill, the wall was broken by a tall arch that glowed in the sunlight. When she was standing before it, she saw a magnificent gate in the arch that looked like pearl, and the street that led to the gate looked like pure gold.

The pair walked toward the gate, and as they got closer, they saw a man at a desk to one side. The woman called out, "Excuse me, where are we?"

"This is Heaven, ma'am," the man answered.

"Wow!" said the woman. "Would you happen to have some water?" she asked.

"Of course. Come right in, and I'll have some ice water brought right up." The gate began to open.

The woman motioned down to her dachshund. "Can my friend come in, too?" she asked.

"I'm sorry, but we don't accept pets."

The woman was surprised. She looked at her dachsie, who was looking on down the road, his ears pricked up and his tail wagging. He looked up at her with a question in his eyes. She thought a moment, and then said, "Come on, Moonpie," and turned back to continue the way they had been going.

After another long walk, and at the top of another long hill, they came to a dirt road leading through a rusty farm gate that looked as if it had never been closed. There was no fence. As the woman approached the gate, she saw a man leaning against a tree and reading a book.

"Excuse me!" she called to the man. "Do you have any water?"

"Sure, there's a pump over there, come on in."

"How about my friend here?" the traveler gestured to her dog.

"There should be a bowl by the pump." They went together through the gate, and sure enough, there was an old-fashioned hand pump with a bowl beside it. The woman filled the water bowl and gave it to the dog, and drank several handfuls from the pump. When they were no longer thirsty, she and Moonpie walked back to the man sitting by the tree.

"What do you call this place?" the woman asked.

"Why, this is Heaven," he answered.

"That's confusing," the woman said. "The man down the road said that was Heaven back there."

"Oh, you mean the place with the gold street and pearly gates? Nope. That's Hell."

"Doesn't it make you mad for them to use your name like that?"

"No, we're just happy that they screen out the folks who would leave their best friends behind."

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I wonder all the time how people can leave their best friends behind, but I am glad that DREAM is able to care for those friends and find them better homes than those that abandoned them.

Moonpie is one of our senior fosters. I hope she will find her new home in this life soon. If not, DREAM will care for her until she moves on to the next one.