ReFOCUS

Sophie has grown weary of her
"quest for comments" mission
and has decided to take on a new challenge.

After much contemplation,
she settled on rolling in the snow.
-----
Not that this is much of a challenge for her.
The challenge really is for me.

Try photographing a dog wiggling around in the snow
in -15, with icy winds that make it feel like -26,
(according to the Weather widget on my desktop)
while wearing gigantic mittens.

But the time I was able to properly zoom out
to accommodate the action,
she was off.

Sophie's Blog Picked up for
Another Season

It's been like sweeps week over here to try to boost Sophie's flagging ratings. She's always been jealous of Tigre's oversea's attention, so we set out to even up the comments.

Our strategy? Hit the dog blogs.

Who knew there would be so many? Over the past few days, I've seen hundreds of dogs, each one better dressed than the next ... and some quite skilled on the treadmill.


Mr. and Mrs. Rusty Reed are definitely the highlight of our tour.

Brilliant!

(click here for more)

What else can I say?

Yes, it's beautiful.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Do you have any idea how frickin' cold it is?
No?
Well let me tell you.
It's so cold that Sophie won't to go out to poop.
She's just going to hold it until spring.

For those of you who want something more precise,
it's -18,
which in itself is not so bad except that with the wind chill,
it FEELS LIKE -31.

That's celsius, of course,
but for you Americans reading this, it is truly as cold as it sounds.

Brrrrrrrr.

Wanna Be My Friend?

Sophie joined Dogster today, mostly because I am procrastinating.

Dogstar is a massive, world-wide collection of dogs.
http://www.dogster.com/dogs/471973

It's Friendster for Dogs.
Remember Friendster? Does Friendster still exist?
Does anyone still have a Friendster account?

Anyway
I made it Sophie's mission on Dogster to collect Pup Pals (TM?) also named Sophie.
It seems a plausible mission and as good a reason as any to collect dog friends online.

Within moments of signing up, another dog recruited her! How exciting.
It wasn't a Sophie, but an Emma Peel.

Close enough. A friend is a friend, after all.
I thought it must have been Sophie's beautiful photo,
her impressive bio or maybe her recent surgery.
Whatever the case, I immediately accepted Emma's paw in friendship.
Emma is a gorgeous Swiss dog, who actually lives in Switzerland.
How cool! Sophie's first Dogster Pup Pal.

Ah yes...
Imagine my disappointment when I discovered that
Sophie is Emma's Pup Pal #5382!
Sophie hasn't even sniffed that many butts in her life.
Oh well. I guess Sophie will have to learn to be one of a crowd
instead of one of a kind.


On the other hand, if you know any dogs named Sophie .....

Sophie's Adventures with TPLO Surgery


As Week 7 draws to a close, we are anxiously anticipating Sophie's x-rays next week, which are sure to tell us that she can resume her life of chasing the tennis ball and attacking other dogs.
(Well, Schnauzer's at least).

Sophie, herself, is not anticipating the x-rays. She hates the prospect of being lifted up onto a table to have her picture taken and has been known to release her anal glands mid-hoist. I like to think of it as a cleanse.

Fingers crossed.
She seems to feel great. Let's hope she photographs well too.

Uncle Ted Pays a Visit

This is Sophie's favourite uncle, Ted. She thinks he's the bomb.
She's always had a thing for men and this one holds
the number one spot on her fave guy list.


***


Ted claims he came all the way to Montreal just to see Sophie.
Of course, that's a bold-faced lie.
He really came to Montreal to see Cha Cha.




Sophie, of course, became very depressed.




After several seconds of brooding,
she flew into a jealous rage and launched an attack
so viscous and brutal that everyone present is still recovering.


It was bad ... very, very bad .... and ugly.
Cha Cha was hurt.


***


Fortunately, Uncle Ted had taken time out from his Ph.D. research
to learn doggie chiropracty and worked his magic on Cha Cha's neck.




Despite a bruised ego from having been savagely attacked by the
beautiful but dangerous Sophie Brador,
Cha Cha held her head high as she made her exit.



We are all looking forward to Uncle Ted's next visit.

Sophie has been maintaining high spirits
throughout her convalescence.
Cha Cha stops by occasionally and there are
moments of extreme play.

But mostly, she's taking a rather zen-like approach to life.

Cha Cha, as you can see, is a zen master.

A special shout out to Tigre and the crew.

Cha Cha stopped by for a visit.
No photos to prove it, but she was here.
Sophie chewed her head a bit and they
played tug-a-war with a stuffed chicken.

The long overdue blog update.

Much has happened since Sophie last graced the screen.

She's been quite busy, in fact.
She traveled extensively over the holidays, venturing off to a far away
land known as Ontario to spend the season with her wee toddler
friends who periodically mauled her, ignored her or wiped snot on her.

And that was only half the adventure.

She also stayed in two hotels, was stranded on the highway,

refused a ride by a CAA tow truck driver on Christmas day,
despite the halo on her head which clearly indicated her heavenly status,
returned to the toddlers who in turn,
returned to periodically mauling her, ignoring her, and snotting on her.

At the end of it all, she returned to Montreal, had her staples removed,
retired the cone and took up her position on the bed.
She leaves this spot to eat and chew bones.
She seems to think she's earned it.
She probably has.


On the medical front, so far so good.
Aside from her superior attitude, she seems to be coping quite well
with her reduced activity load. Only five more weeks to go.

Look at that sexy leg!



Sophie's big, ugly, green bandage came off
a couple of days ago
and it's been mayhem ever since.

From her perspective, I've ceased to dress her in this ridiculously
movement inhibiting outfit so LET'S GO OUT!






But the cone. Damn the cone!





I think it rolls over in Sophie's brain like this:
Tis the season ... I've lost my mind and I'm making her wear a halo.

(please download and colour)



From a medical standpoint, and according to the
surgical technician, her incision looks great.


To me, it just looks like she's stapled together.
For the queasy amongst you, you may
wish to not view the following photo,
although in the age of popular forensic science,
is such a warning even necessary?




This pic is actually pretty tame in comparison to prime time TV.
The only difference is, this is REAL!!

Sophie is doing very well today.
Our stand off over the litter box has ended
and she has succumbed to relieving herself
in this unspeakable place.

Sorry, no photos to prove she's doing her business.
(pause briefly to allow for resounding groans of disappointment.)
You'll just have to take my word for it.

Yes, it's been a good day for Sophie.
Two of her favourite aunties came over to visit.
She was so excited to see them that she almost
wiggled her big, ugly green bandage off.
It could not have been too soon for me
since that thing is getting a bit stinky.

It comes off bright and early Monday morning,
which is sure to be the first and best
birthday present of the day for me.
The next batch of photos should be of her lovely pink leg.
I'll spare you all the incision since I'm not too keen on seeing it myself.

And a side note: Hi Bosco and Jodene! It's great to hear from you. Of course Sophie would remember you. How could she forget a dog who waves and a person who took her for fabulous off leash walks? I hope Bosco doesn't have to go through the surgery, but if he does, it's not all that bad. It's very boring for Sophie and expensive for me, but I don't think she's in much pain at all. She just isn't very happy lazing about and doing nothing all day. We live in a second floor condo, but it's on a park and she's used to two big runs each day. Of course, that's how she tore her ACL. Fortunately, she's in great shape otherwise and that should help her recovery. Give Bosco a big hug from me and keep me posted on how he's doing.

Since arriving home from the hospital,
Sophie has been eating like a trooper.

Unfortunately, she hasn't been pooping like one.

Here she is investigating her outdoor litter box (pre-surgery)
... the realities of living on a second floor.
She can't use the stairs for two months so she has no choice.

The good news is, after two days, she finally pooped.
It was late last night and she immediately tried to bury it.
I think she was mortified by the whole experience.
I'm putting my condo on the market in January.

TPLO

This is the name of the surgery Sophie just had to repair a torn ACL,
which is more or less, the ligament in her knee.

It stands for Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy and if you are interested in exploring further, there is a complete explanation and a lot of non-gross photos on this website: http://vetsurgerycentral.com/tplo.htm

The really important thing to know is that
Sophie will now beep if she goes through airport security.


She had the surgery on Tuesday, December 12 and came home from
the doggie hospital this afternoon. She seems good, happy to be home,
but definitely not happy about the cone.

Today, she starts the first of 60 long days of complete inactivity.
It's anyone's guess which one of us loses our mind first.
I'm betting on me.

So much has happened since Sophie last blogged ..... and she's on her way back to tell you all about it. Here she was enroute to share some of her adventures when she got just a little bit sidetracked by Cha Cha.
Damn that Cha Cha!

So much has happened that Sophie has even come to love Cha Cha just a little.


Stay tuned for more furry fun .... Beginning next week, Sophie invites you to join her on one of her biggest adventures yet. She won't win a million dollars, but you might!

On Hiatus

Sophie has been very busy this summer, traveling extensively, swimming the waters of the Eastern Ontario and Upstate New York, and working through her issues with Schnauzers.

While you wait for her return, please hum a pleasant tune and peruse this lovely photo of Tulip and Gazoo.....

I also urge you to visit Tigre's blog (link provided to the left) and feel free to option it for a book or movie deal.

Kiss this Beast!

Sophie had her first ever professional grooming today.
She showed up wearing way too much makeup (see pic above)
and left wearing way too much pink (see pic below).

Back home, it's become clear that she smells.
The groomer has shellacked her with a horribly raunchy doggie perfume.

But she is clean and sparkly
and eagerly anticipating a new, raw bone
... her reward for putting up with the salon.

Please note: This post is in no way intended to promote regular, expensive dog grooming. It was merely a freebie from the neighbourhood pet food store and an indulgence I suspect Sophie will never have to endure again.

It's a Cha Cha -a-Thon!

Sophie's been busy.
She hasn't had much time for blogging lately.
....Summer.....

Leader of the Pack!

Sophie raised $505 for the SPCA in the Shaggy Dog Strut.

She was showered with gifts when she arrived for her walk
and got top billing up at the front of the line with dozens of
Fox Terriers who were rescued from a puppy mill a few months ago.

Pictures to follow ... I hope.
I forgot to bring my camera.
Oops



Thanks everyone for your support!!!

It may seem like Sophie is always sleeping, but not true.


In this case, she's resting up for her SPCA walk,
which will look like this......

......only with lots dogs.

SPONSOR THIS MAGNIFICENT BEAST

in the SPCA Shaggy Dog Strut!
Sunday, May 28th at Parc La Fontaine

Sophie's sponsorship link

Feel free to join us and bring your own beastie too!