The Swimmer, 2008

Sophie Brador (Canadian, born 1999)
Mixed media; dog, water, grass on park.
from the collection of Sherry H.

MORNING IN THE PARK

Strolling through her new old park, Sophie meets a lot of dogs.

There are dogs all over Parc LaFontaine and provided she doesn't want to kill them, she gets to say hello.

Check out the fat pug dude.

Check out the fat pug dude swimming.

I can't remember his name, so we like to think of him as Carl.

Go Carl Go

This is Bob Barker

This is Sophie.

This is Sophie and a couple of apes trying to convince Bob Barker to get his feet wet.

This is Bob Barker thinking they are all insane.

This is Bob Barker's Pa Ape ratcheting up his persuasive techniques.

This is Bob Barker realizing that the Pa Ape is never to be trusted.

This is Bob Barker mad as hell.

He did some yelling at the Pa Ape, told him to choose one of three dog bakeries and asked him to guess the price of the special cookie he would buy him. Bob Barker never loses the magic.

See Sophie?

This morning ... a stupidly hot one ... Sophie romped in the lake in her new park, Parc La Fontaine. It's actually her old park, because it is near her very first house in Montreal. She is thrilled to be living near Parc La Fontaine again, because she can go swimming .... sort of .... if the cops aren't around.

Side note: The cops in Montreal suck, for a lot of reasons, but mostly because they give massive tickets to dogs who swim and play. But that's another story for another time.

Sophie met up with these two new pals, Charlie and Shelby. Mere split seconds after this photo was taken, Shelby tried to mount Sophie and Sophie got mad. But it was a short lived spat and let's just say, Shelby won't be trying that again.

More pictures of Sophie's Sunday morning park adventure to come during the week. She met a lot of new dogs today. Her favourite? Bob Barker, a chubby dachsund with no use for the water.

Sophie with one of her birthday presents.

She would like you to know that despite the slightly glazed look in her eyes, she is stone cold sober, and despite the messy floor beside her, she did not spill her last martini.

Finally!

and without further ado

*** A WORLD PREMIERE VIDEO ***

of Ms. Sophina la Brador

Sophie at the Old House on her Birthday from Sophie Brador on Vimeo.

Since moving out of the loft, Sophie has been using it as a dog park.

Our loft neighbour, who is also Sophie's dog walker, popped over with her dogs Tricky and Charlot. Sophie, Tricky and Charlot all have four legs. The dog walker is the one with only two.


This video is in black & white, so as to be suitably artistic for Ms. Beast.

SOPHIE BRADOR TURNS NINE

WORLD PAUSES FOR A MOMENT OF REFLECTION





.

Sophie?

Look closer .....

.... same amber eyes, same crazy tongue,
but this beast is Betsy.

*****

Betsy was adopted yesterday by my friend Anjali,
who adopted Maggie yesterday too.

Except for the crazy tongue,
Maggie doesn't much resemble Sophie at all.

Both beasties went home to Anjali's cat Jolene,
who hissed at them immediately but said,
"Okay, you can stay."

Welcome Home Betsy & Maggie!

BTW, Sophie forgives you for the furs you left on me and in her car,
but she is not likely to give them back.

LOOK

We moved into a tree house.

That's right. Sophie and I now live in a 5 x 8 wrought iron box at the top of a maple tree. It gets a little chilly at night and the squirrels try to steal our food, but we are happy here.

Our wrought iron box also comes with the best two bedroom apartment, more commonly referred to as a 6 1/2, in all of Montreal. Sophie has two of these boxes, front and back, which gives her an excellent vantage point on the front street and the lane in the back. We are next to two of the best parks in the city and she has already met several dogs she hasn't felt the urge to kill.

It's been a bit of an adjustment for both of us. I had a week of packing and moving and job interviewing, and the only thing lost was the nobs on the stove. I highly recommend going to your next interview frazzled and with only three hours of sleep. It seems to be just the thing to get the gig.

Sophie highly recommends positioning your booty in the sun. It seems to be just the thing to cure those moving poo blues.

*****

Over the next few days, Sophie will take you on a tour of the rest of her new house, her new hood and her two parks.

The best thing so far?
No murderous cat stalker!
Yet.

Due to the recent move, there has been no time to properly update the beast's blog. However, this photo clearly illustrates her impression of the new digs.

Bruce
the dog formerly known as Zeus

Of course his name is Zeus. What else?

Frankly, Zeus seems like a lot of name for this guy to live up to.

We prefer to think of him as Bruce.

Bruce still has his boy bits.

Which may explain this.

He was definitely disappointed when his owner said, "Zeus, aller."
Probably because he prefers Bruce.

Bye Bruce! Nice meeting you.

Bruce
Dalmation / Great Dane X
je pense.

Wordless Wednesday

Belated

Sock Monkey Pillow

Sophie has been super cute lately. Way cuter than normal. Lately, she has taken to plunking herself done for a snooze with her favourite stuffies. I swear, this photo was not posed! The very next day, she plunked down with blue dog, but the camera was no where to be found.

Back by Popular Demand .... Sophie!

shhhhhh .... no applause necessary. Wouldn't want to disturb the beast.

The Grass is always Greener

Sophie simply cannot believe that this is not her life.

Sophie Brador
Over Exposed

Truth be told, I've been so busy lately, that the beast has been a little under-exposed. Yesterday, I tried to make it up to her with a walk in the sunshine and I brought the camera to capture some of her post-furminator sleekness.




It's the photos that are over-exposed, but Sophie's loveliness is still apparent. I can hardly believe she's gained seven pounds since Christmas.




She looks great, but this bootie-shot gives you a little glimpse of her pudgy tummy. It almost looks like she's got a tennis ball lodged in the side of her belly, but rest assured, it is nothing more than labrachunk.




She was just in for a full check up at the vet and everything is as it should be. But seven pounds is a lot of weight for a dog to gain, so she's been put on a strict diet. She is only allowed to eat whatever she can scrounge on walks.

Marc-Andre Laporte
of the Blaineville Wire Fox Terrier
cruelty to animals case has been sentenced.

Just heard it on the radio. Waiting for the details to pop up online. I can tell you that he got himself some probation and a bit of community service work. Oooooooooh. Wouldn't want to be too hard on him. He's also been forbidden to own a dog for two years.

Two years.
How about forever?



THE DETAILS

Okay, so here's what he got:

1. Three year probation
2. 200 hours of community service
3. $2000 fine
4. No dogs for two years

The article refers to this as a stiff sentence. Come again? STIFF? Sounds like a wrist slapping to me.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2008/05/06/qc-puppymill0506.html