Benji and Charlie Labradors’ Benji goes over the rainbow bridge

Benji Labrador has gone OTRB.

In sad Dog Twitter news, Benji Labrador, of the account Benji and Charlie Labradors, went over the rainbow bridge this past Friday.

Benji, a yellow hockey-loving British Labrador Retriever, was 15 years old, or roughly 89 in dog years, which was a full and lively lifetime.

He was adopted by Mum and Dad (Ruth and Matt) at the age of 10, when his previous owner grew too elderly and frail to take care of him.

Once a part of his new family, he quickly fell in love with Dad’s favorite sport of ice hockey and discovered he enjoyed watching sci-fi programs on television. He also taught his younger brother Charlie how to do important Labrador things like speed eating and mud wallowing.

Together, they started a Twitter account and helped educate the British doggo public about how great a sport ice hockey is, as well of their Canadian and American friends about the peculiarities of Chinese food differences between continents.

Lately, as they recounted in our interview a couple months ago, the daily routine had consisted of a healthy schedule of living room naps, interspersed with games of fetch, helping take care of the chickens and interrupting Mum’s work whenever pawsible.

Benji’s most infamous escapade was probably the time he fell down a river bank while out on a walk, resulting in the local fire department having to rescue a gloriously muddy doggo and Mum.

“Benji will be remembered by friends and family as an infectiously happy and positive dog,” Mum and Dad told Dog O’Day in an email. “He enjoyed absolutely every new experience and adored any opportunity to meet new people.”

He loved playing with tennis balls and chasing his football (soccer ball) in the yard, while indoors was best for cuddling his people. Mealtimes were also one of the joyful moments of his day, especially if the snack were sausages.

He was not a very vocal dog in terms of frequent barking, but was able to communicate quite clearly with a variety of squeaks, tail wags, soulful stares and the occasional pawing when an obvious point was misunderstood.

We didn’t know Benji Labrador for very long (our interview with mutual friend Canadian Penny was how we got to know them), but this loss is quite sad, and the entire Dog O’Day staff offers our sincerest condolences.

Benji Labrador was preceded in death by his canine brother Chip and his feline sister Jo-Bear, and he is survived by Mum and Dad, his brother Charlie, and numerous friends around the world from the Dog Twitter community.

Throughout the weekend numerous pals sent well wishes, as Benji is the latest in a string of members among the Dogs of Twitter to go over the Rainbow Bridge this year.

It’s taken a bit of time for the realization to sink in for Charlie, but he’s doing his best to keep his pawrents’ spirits up, which is a very worthy cause.