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IAN: January 24th 2025 Dw i'n trist. [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-01-23
Monday Youffraita
Tuesday: bigjacbigjacbigjac
Wednesday Pam from Calif
Thursday art ah zen
Friday FloridaSNMOM
Saturday FloridaSND
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We got Sophie in January of 2013. Bit was 9. We went to Petsmart to look for some catfood and get some cat grass for Dori and walked into an adoption event. Sophie was in a crate with her brother, who looked just like her except he was tan and white instead of black and white. Bit saw her first and picked her up. Then I held her, and then Caedy, who lived with us at the time. Next thing I know we’re filling out paperwork, because there was no way we were putting that 4 month old pup back in the crate.
We went home without cat grass, but with a puppy, a bowl, a collar and leash, and other needed items.
When we got home, we got out of the cab and Freya, our old dog, who hadn’t been doing so hot lately, came out onto the steps. She saw Sophie and I thought her tail was going to wag off. Freya was fixed when we rescued her, but she was always a Mama Dog type. A puppy?? Oh yes! Please!
FlSNDad wasn’t as happy. We hadn’t gotten cat grass or the groceries we’d gone out for, instead we came home with a Sophie. But it didn’t take long for her to grow on him. We did go out for groceries later.
Sophie started alerting to my seizures within the first day or so, and to an asthma attack a couple of days after that. So we started training. We refined her alerts, started working on retrieval, which she loved, and the other tasks that I needed. She would help me pick up the house by picking up things and bring them to me to put away, be it a paper towel that was dropped or a toy. And some things she knew by name, like ‘inhaler’ and ‘pen’ and ‘lid’. In return she’d get a treat. She made it look easy.
Sophie sat with the kids while they did their school work, especially if it was a subject they were anxious about (language arts for Draco, math for Bit). She lived in three different houses: starting out in Orlando, and moving north with us to the house we rented for ten years, and then to here. She didn’t care where we went so long as she was with me.
She sat through several movies over the years, went to parades, art fairs, many many stores, and grocery days got her excited.
I used to say you can’t be sad when you have Sophie kisses. She would climb into your lap and lick your nose. She made you laugh. Now I’m trying to figure out how to be happy without her. I have the other dogs, and that helps. I get a little bit of joy playing with the puppies. Sometimes I just feel numb. Sometimes I feel like there’s a rock in my chest, or a hole. I know it will ease eventually.
Now she’s over the rainbow bridge with Freya and Dori and Morgaine. Those losses hit me hard too. But this is a lot worse. Sophie wasn’t just a pet. She was part of me. She was my partner, part of the team. She was my safety and my rock.
Sophie and Ivanova
Sophie helping Bit with math
Sophie and Dorina
Draco and Freya many many years ago. (In Orlando)
Sophie, Dori, and Morgaine
Bit, Sophie, Dori and Freya
Buddy and Sophie.
Sophie sleeping with Rhenn
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