A very good dog

Since I can't seem to do much today other than think about my Sophie, here are some pics of our sweet girl who left us too soon.

She was holding her sit for me so I could take her picture, but she really wanted to run!

This was taken just after the dogs arrived at our farm in November 2007. Sophie was a kissy girl from day one! You can read about how they came to us here. Because of the dogs, we have two great friends and a godson. Our godson's mother fostered the dogs for two weeks before handing them over to us. We have been friends ever since. As Patrick (godson's Dad) pointed out to me yesterday, that's Sophie's legacy. A fine one it is!

She didn't like dressing up, but she wanted to please me so she tolerated hats. :)

Sophie liked to herd ducks and chickens.

She loved her daddy a whole lot.

She and Tristan always had their noses to the ground!

And she loved to run. My, how she loved to run!

I think winter was her favourite time of year. She truly seemed to love the snow.

And I loved her.

I loved her blonde eyelashes and big brown eyes.

And her expressive ears!

I know that look. That was the "Please let me out of this sit-stay so I can come kiss you!" look!

She gave great doggy kisses.

Because she was a great doggy.

My walks won't be the same without her. She took such pleasure in them!

She was bossy with her buddy Tristan, but they were together almost their entire lives. Tristan was just a month younger than Sophie, and was adopted by their former owners when Sophie was three months old. Tristan seems to be doing okay without her. I think he's trying to cheer me up.

Sophie was always with me, whether outdoors or snoozing on her bed next to my desk.

Nothing made her happier than the prospect of a walk, except maybe the prospect of a swim! I only had to say the word "walk" and she'd go crazy.

She liked her food, too. We usually fed her outside, because she was on a raw diet and it was less messy to feed her there. She had a whole pre-meal ritual. As I carried her bowl outside, she'd launch herself off the porch steps (literally flying off the top and down to the ground, rather using the three steps!), spin around once, then wait expectantly for her meal.

I knew something was wrong Wednesday when she padded down the steps slowly, and didn't do her little spin. But she still wanted her supper.

Three weeks ago, on March 24th, we took one of our last walks together...

...she was so happy and energetic! I can't believe she was already full of cancerous tumours.

She adored the woods.

Tristan needed to lie down for a rest halfway through the walk. Not Sophie!

It won't be the same for any of us without her. 

She often found a cat in her bed, and would just stare at me beseechingly until I removed the offending feline. She sniped at the cats a lot, but she knew who was really the boss!

And there were always kisses! So many sweet kisses.

And mud. So much mud! And she was great at bringing me stinky dead things! And she LOVED butt scratches. Her favourite thing.

But most of all, she loved to run. Especially towards me. I'd call her name and she would come running, no matter where she was. Usually she delivered kisses upon arrival.

This week she really wasn't feeling well...

...but she kept her good nature. 

Every morning, the dogs and I had another ritual. I would eat my toast in bed, but leave a crust for each of them. Every morning, as soon as Sophie finished breakfast, she would tear up the stairs and sit next to my bed, waiting for her crust. Even yesterday she did that, albeit a bit more slowly. But her ears pricked up as soon as she saw me handing that crust to her, and down the hatch it went. I wasn't supposed to feed her anything before her vet visit yesterday, in case they needed to sedate her for x-rays. But I completely forgot when she came for her toast crust. I am SO glad I did. So glad she got her last little treat.

This morning Tristan got both crusts. He seemed pretty happy about that.

On March 24th, just before we went on our trip, I took a series of photos of Sophie running towards me. Today I figured out how to make an animated GIF with them:

You can see the joy etched on her face. She adored being outdoors and just running, running, running. It's so hard to believe that three weeks after these photos were taken, she's gone. This is how I will always think of her: running towards me with a big doggy grin, ready to give me kisses.

Our hearts are broken but we'll always treasure the memories we have of our Sophie, a very good dog!

Sophie, September 2002 - April 17, 2014