These two are good together when they have a joint mission; like sitting at the top of any stairs and watching for intruders. Charles has begone to bark more than Sofie (if you can believe that?) to keep aliens from attacking the homefront. That includes every package, food delivery driver, or occasional friend of the family.
Sofie: Do you see anything there yet, Chuck?
Charles: Hey, Sof, we need to protect Mom from the aliens!! You with me?
After the dogs have dinner (4:30 or 5 PM), Charles has decided that instead of waiting until later in the evening (7:30 or 8 PM), he wants his evening snack immediately. I have started calling it ‘Second Supper.’ He has become so insistent that he goes into his pen, which is where he eats because both he and Sofie are food aggressive and she will kill him, and starts to whine, yip, and fun around. I do my best to ignore him as long as I can, but if I am sitting in the living room, which is where his pen is, he will not stop. For some reason on this night, he actually went in his pen and was waiting patiently and sitting quietly for about 5 minutes, until he could not take it anymore.
Sofie, being the anxious mess that she is, cannot deal with this frenetic energy when he starts to do the little dog run around and barking thing, and she freaks out if I don’t watch the energy level before ‘second super.’
Louise and Sofie have their snack in fun toys that they roll around the living room and down the hall. It takes them a long time and Louise especially has a super time. Charles on the other hand, won’t play with any snack toys. I don’t know if he is lazy, stupid, or just manipulative. He wants a mini ‘Busy Bone’ and he wants it easy to get to and not hidden in any toys or anything. Lately he has been eating them so fast, that I have to make him wait at least 10 minutes in his pen until the girls are done. He sure doesn’t like that. These little dogs are so demanding.
I thought, as a dog ages, their fur turns gray – Louise’s has.
But Sofie is getting darker.
Her ears, mane, lower back, and tail are all browning.
I tried to research it but could not find any information about this type of color change. When her nose turned from black to pink the loose of pigment was due to something called ‘SNOW NOSE,’ but this is the reverse. She is getting darker. Maybe that is the way the blond dogs turn gray?
I wonder sometimes what the dogs actually see when a toy is just sitting there and they look like it is going to jump up and hit them. Sofie’s favorite toys are cat toys. I call them catnip tea. She loves to suck on them. Is there a catnip for dogs? I guess that is CBD or something like it. What is your favorite toy?
What a long strange trip it has been to get to 9 years old with this bundle of fluff. Sofie Bear continues to be a silly mess that we love with all our hearts.
Gotcha Day, Sofie
I remember Gotcha day so well. I meet Sofie’s foster in a parking lot outside his work. I had no car kennel so I put her in a giant rubber tube. She was so smart and precocious even at 3 months. They thought she was a collie/shepard mix. Well, she fooled them. I think she is a sheltie/chow/mischief mix.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SOFIE BEAR (aka SODA POP)
You have been my hardest dog lesson to date, but I would not trade you for a ton of non -anxious, door eating, carpet ripping, cat chasing, quiet puppies in the world.
The first Sunday of 2019. All is quiet at the Zoo. Sofie is watching the world go by. The weather has been weirdly mild for January. But wait, this is the mid-Atlantic, so tomorrow it may be freezing and snow. Sofie has taken to sitting on the bench lately. Maybe it is a good vantage point to catch squirrels? Maybe it allows her to see over the fence down the street? I never see Louise up there and I am not sure Charles even knows the bench exists (Bark Out Loud). Funny how different dogs prefer different places around the yard and the house. Over the years, this spot seems to be a Sofie favorite. Solemn contemplation for the coming year? I am just happy she is quiet for a moment. Have a wonderful first Black & White Sunday of the year!
Summer is not really my time. It’s hot. There are thunderstorms. There are fireworks. There are bugs. I am a winter dog. Maybe Mom can move north? – Sofie, 3 layers of fur, Bear
Sofie: Do you see anything there yet, Chuck?
DogDaz Zoo 