Sophie's Song

It's been 2 years since I last blogged. I thought I would be better at this. Unfortunately I get great ideas for blogs laying in bed and then forget in the morning. I sat down one day to make a list and went absolutely blank. But I did think of a few after awhile. Here's my first.

Over the years I've had a lot of animals, cats, dogs, rats, turtles, etc. There are some that really stick in your mind and heart. One of the was our whippet mix Sophie.

She was that dog; smart, funny, and very, very busy. We got Sophie from the pound when I graduated from college and retired from the Navy Reserves and had more time for an animal. She was only the second dog I've ever had, I'm more of a cat person but Bruce grew up with dogs.

She was also a free rescue because she was "special." The story we heard was that her head was squeezed in the womb from too many puppies and she was intelligently stunted. They couldn't have been further from the truth. She had one owner before us who returned her to the pound because she was "too stupid" to be potty trained. Well, he was leaving her alone in the closed up house all day, no wonder she had accidents. We just left the back door open and she figured it out in a day.

The people at the pound were extremely happy that she found a forever home and were sad to see her go. She had been at there a long time and they were generally fond of her. First thing though that we did though was change her name, it was originally Little Bit.

She did have some issues. Because of her misshaped head, she had only one eye and her mouth was too small so she couldn't close her mouth properly. The vet removed some teeth free of charge for us so she could bite properly. None of these issues affected her at all, she adapted. Having one eye didn't stop her from running around at breakneck speed that's for sure. The only odd thing she did was bite her water instead of lapping it up.

Sophie when we first got her. She managed to get a ball in her mouth after the surgery.

The first few days we had her she was busy running around the yard, exploring everything and keeping herself busy. She was a happy dog right from the beginning. One day Bruce patted his chest to get her attention and got the surprise of his life when she just sprang up into his arms. No bunching her hind legs or any other indication. That's when he discovered she had springs in her hind legs. She also didn't bark at all. We started to think that maybe she couldn't and then one day she did. It was the most unusual bark, a rather high-pitched howl, like a coyote. She only barked a few times in her whole life.

She could jump.

Checking out the turtles 

I have to tell you she was a funny looking dog. She was part whippet part bull terrier (like the Target dog) so she looked a little odd. I called her our whippet on steroids with sticky-up ears. But boy, was she fast. She used to run around the turtle pond and bank up the side of the house when going around the corner. I wish I could have gotten that on video but she always was aware of mom's camera.

The only time her ears were down, she hated baths.

We did have a issue at the dog park and had to stop going. She didn't like chasing the ball, she liked chasing the dog that was chasing the ball. She was so fast thought that she would literally run circles around the dogs. The other dogs mad at her and growl, so she was banned. She also didn't like other dogs sniffing her.

Sophie was definitely daddy's little girl. Wherever Bruce was Sophie was. If he was sleeping on the couch, Sophie was sleeping on the couch. If he was out in the garage, I knew where Sophie was. It broke Bruce's heart when we had to let her go. His way of coping was to make her an urn on his lathe so her ashes would have a good home.

Sophie waiting for Bruce to come home from work. 

Later we acquired 2 other dogs, both of them big. My beautiful lab German Shepard mix Semper, who was the sweetest lover boy (we lost him last year and I will talk about him in a later blog) and 100 lbs and Lexi a pitty-boxer mix about 75 lbs. So who was the alpha dog? Sophie of course.

The day we took her to Dog Beach. She hates water but was so busy running after dogs with balls that she didn't realize she was in the water. Only she forgot to close her mouth and was so sick from the salt water. 

When we lost her to bone cancer at the age of 12 it was horrid. I still cry sometimes. When we found out we took her out for a trip and ice cream, we called it Sophie Day. We only had her for a month after the diagnosis. She slowly wasted away until it seemed time. She let us know by refusing to eat.

Sophie Day. A boy and his dog. 

The day we took her to the vet for the last time Cat Steven's song Oh Very Young was on the radio. It was a very short drive so there was only time for one song to play.

Oh very young, what will you leave us this time
You're only dancin' on this earth for a short while
And though your dreams may toss and turn you now
They will vanish away like your dads best jeans
Denim blue, faded up to the sky
And though you want them to last forever
You know they never will
(You know they never will)
And the patches make the goodbye harder still
Oh very young what will you leave us this time
There'll never be a better chance to change your mind
And if you want this world to see a better day
Will you carry the words of love with you
Will you ride the great white bird into heaven
And though you want to last forever
You know you never will
(You know you never will)
And the goodbye makes the journey harder still
Will you carry the words of love with you
Will you ride, oh, oooh
Oh very young, what will you leave us this time
You're only dancin' on this earth for a short while
Oh very young, what will you leave us this time

We called her our dancing dog because she used to stamp her feet when she wanted our attention. Seems appropriate and we now call it Sophie's Song.