Farewell Sophie.

Well, my “parent’s” dog died. Sophie (a Schnauzer) was actually my grandparent’s dog. They developed Alzheimer’s and when they had to go into assisted living, they could not take Sophie so she stayed with my mom and dad.

I went with my dad to the small town of Pine Level to pick her up one very cold day in November. This was my first “backyard breeder, puppy mill” experience and I was seriously unprepared. The breeder was old, could barely get around and I could not even see all the dogs but I could hear them and it broke my heart. Anyway, about Sophie. As I said, it was freezing, there was no food or water to be seen and my dad asked if we should get her. I said something to the effect of “I wish I did not have to leave any dog here, but we are definitely taking one, I grabbed Sophie and went to the truck. The next day I reported him but I am sure nothing came out of it. We were giving Sophie to my grandparents for Christmas so we had to keep her until they came down. Sophie was sweet, and cute. I had her crate trained, housebroken etc by the time they got there.

And then Sophie went home with them. And she was spoiled rotten, which made me happy at first because my grandparents took her EVERYWHERE with them and gave her everything she wanted. But as Sophie got older, and my grandparents became more confused, things went down hill. When she got to us, Sophie was so over weight she could barely get around (you would too if you constantly ate hot dogs and ham). She was so matted that it took my dad and I 3-4 days of grooming her to get her to a point where she looked like a dog. There were issues but Sophie finally settled in and became my parent’s dog. She was a staple of the household.

And so every time I go over there now I get a little sad feeling when she doesn’t come running out, barking her head off to meet me. Sophie, we all loved you, you were a good girl. And I miss you.