This may not be the right forum, but here goes...

Oh darn it. I read something the other day that was from quite a long time ago and I thought to myself ‘ so the rainbow bridge has been mentioned for a long time’. But can’t for the life of me remember where I read it or who said it or wrote about it.Now I’m not on Facebook I read a lot of things on instagram ( quite like instagram but I’m just feeling my way around it).

You can buy this book on Amazon..

AuntieE
could the story you're looking for be ...AT The Gate
written by Myla Jo Closser,written first about 1917, about a dog walking on his own and meeting other dogs at a gate but they wont go in until their owner arrives

AGAA4

It's just the arrogance of man to say that only humans have immortal souls. Animals are just as entitled maybe even more so.

Many religions believe that animals have souls.

It’s not the arrogance of man, just of some religions.

Will you let us know where your article is published AuntieE. It sounds very interesting.

Who was it who said "If my dog isn't going to heaven, then heaven is not for me" or words to that effect??

Humans can be so self-important sometimes. Some think they are so superior to animals but who does the most damage to the natural world - dogs or humans?

That’s my belief.

It's just the arrogance of man to say that only humans have immortal souls. Animals are just as entitled maybe even more so.

If animals don’t have immortal souls, the afterlife is not for me.

BlueBelle

I must get off this thread quickly the words ‘Rainbow Bridge’ are like finger nails on a blackboard to me

Sorry!
I dislike both the expression and the concept, but have to use it, in order to write the commissioned article dealing with whether animals have or do not have immortal souls, or more concisely what various religions and belief-systems say on the matter.

Reported wild earth

Rainbow Bridge is a lovely concept.

There have been some beautiful poems and pictures of this adorable place. The sadness one feels at the loss of a much loved dog can be unbearable. And Rainbow Bridge brings a touch of comfort .

There’s that drawing of two dogs beyond the rainbow bridge and one says to the other ‘ they still talk about us’. Even thinking about it brings a tear to my eye. When my pony was pts with colic the whole few days had unexplained things happening including people contacting me from out of the blue.

If the rainbow bridge brings comfort to those who've lost beloved pets then it's surely a good thing. I have an image now of our dog walking over the rainbow bridge looking back once then walking on to wherever the bridge takes him.
Silly and soppy I know.

BlueBelle

I must get off this thread quickly the words ‘Rainbow Bridge’ are like finger nails on a blackboard to me

I do usually dislike terms like this ( eg making memories) but, when it comes to losing our pets I find the term rainbow bridge quite comforting. A friend of mine lost one of their pets ( can’t remember if it was a dog or pony..think it was a pony) and soon afterwards their very young son saw a rainbow and said ‘ look, it’s whatever the animals name was’. When I’ve lost a beloved pet quite often strange unexplainable things happen that are comforting. And seeing a rainbow touches me in some way.

This might be it:

www.orderofthegooddeath.com/article/the-rainbow-bridge-the-true-story-behind-historys-most-influential-piece-of-animal-mourning-literature/

As a concept, what nineteen year old Edna* envisioned is a kind of limbo where deceased pets are returned to their most hale form and cavort in newfound youth in an Elysian setting. But it is not paradise itself. Rather, it is a kind of way station where the spirit of an animal waits for the arrival of its earthly human companion, so that they may cross the Bridge together, to achieve true and eternal paradise in each other’s company, and to thereafter never again be parted.

* Edna Clyne-Rekhy, Inverness, Scotland (circa 1959)

Me too I’m afraid.

I must get off this thread quickly the words ‘Rainbow Bridge’ are like finger nails on a blackboard to me

I just put your post into an AI tool and it came up with A Dog's Heaven" by James Herriot.