Dear Lord, please open your gates and call St. Francis
to come escort this beloved companion across the Rainbow Bridge.

Assign her to a place of honor, for she has been a faithful servant and has always done her best to please me.

Bless the hands that send her to you, for they are doing so in love and compassion, freeing her from pain and suffering.

Grant me the strength not to dwell on my loss.
Help me remember the details of her life with the love she has shown me.
And grant me the courage to honor her by sharing those memories with others.

Let her remember me as well and let her know that I will always love her.
And when it's my time to pass over into your paradise,
please allow her to accompany those who will bring me home.

Thank you, Lord, for the gift of her companionship
and for the time we've had together.

And thank you, Lord, for granting me the strength to give her to you now.

Amen.

I'm often there to protect your rights,  my presence often hinders fights.
I never attack with thought to kill, when subduing one, my job I fill.

I never worry a single thought, as to how I'll fare at a certain spot.
The love I have for a handler's care, is all I need, each day to fare.
And if some day my luck turns bad, I'll relish all the joys I've had.

To be with men who stand for good, in a special kind of brotherhood.
The story's end by now you know, of how I tried for a better show.

I did my best, though I did fall, when I was called and gave my all.