Farewell to my Beloved Sophie

Right before I was scheduled to leave for the Midwest Birding Symposium a week and a half ago, I had to have my beloved dog Sophie euthanized. Her health has been failing for many months, and she had stopped eating the previous week. I tried to tempt her with delicious canned dog food, but even that held no appeal for her. She had a difficult night on Tuesday (the 13th) and neither of us got much sleep and I knew on Wednesday morning that it was finally time to make that dreaded phone call to my vet. My trip was going to be 5 days and I didn't want Mr. Johnson to have to deal with that all by himself while I was gone. We have a wonderful vet and she had taken care of Sophie for her entire life, so I was thankful she was able to come out that very day. We were able to hold Sophie in our arms and comfort her as she passed peacefully.

Sophie was "my" dog from day one -- I picked her out and bought her and we were very attached to one another. I loved her with all my heart and miss her very desperately. We had almost 14 years with her and lots of memories -- good and some not so good -- as any pet owner would probably agree. In this post, I want to share some of my favorite memories of Sophie with you.

When Sophie arrived, Mr. Johnson wasn't happy! He didn't think we needed another dog, but I thought differently and brought her home without Mr. Johnson's approval. Sophie soon won him over with her cuteness!
Sophie loved Daisy from the start and wanted to be with her all the time.

Daisy, on the other hand, wasn't totally thrilled with her new and extremely pesty "little sister."

Penny was not quite a year old when Sophie came to live with us. Since Penny had only ever had Daisy as her "dog sister" she thought she was a dog anyway and Sophie and Penny were always great friends. Penny is also missing Sophie very much now.

Sophie loved sleeping on the bed -- no matter who she had to share it with!

Sophie also loved beer! Mr. Johnson trained her to drink from the bottle and she really excelled at that.

Sophie was an excellent retriever and loved playing with her frisbees -- no matter what the weather. Sophie was never trained as a hunting dog, but on one hunting trip when she got to go along with us and Daisy, she surprised all of us by finding and retrieving a pheasant!

In addition to people walking their dogs past our house and staying home by herself, Sophie had some other dislikes, including possums,
stray cats in the backyard (she got that from me!),

starlings (she got that from me too!),
and chipmunks.

Sophie always loved snoozing -- usually it was in a sunny spot in the living room.

But she would also burrow under the covers in bed if we forgot to make it in the morning.

Since she was always cold with her short fur, she would readily submit to wearing the sweater I knitted for her on cold winter days.

Because Sophie's health had been failing for a couple years, we tried to take her along with us whenever we went on our birding trips. She got to explore the Sax-Zim Bog in northern Minnesota.

And she came along to Crex Meadows in Wisconsin when we went to see Sandhill Cranes.

The weather was hot when we visited Blue Mounds State Park, so she just hung out in the shade with Mr. Johnson.

Sophie's special treat was a cheeseburger from McDonald's dollar menu. She even ate the pickle!

Earlier this year I found a cushy dog bed to put on the floor for Sophie since she wasn't able to jump up on the couch or bed anymore. She loved that bed so much I ended up buying her 2 more for other rooms in the house. I like to think they made her last days much more comfortable.

Sophie Belinda Johnson
10/23/97 - 9/14/11