On the way back to Montreal from Boston,

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we are going to stop at The Paw House Inn in Rutland, Vermont for a couple of days.
Sophie may need some R & R after hanging with all those Boston beasts.
It's hard work being famous.

Sophie is willing to try just about anything to fix the dysplasia in her shoulders, so when my friend Jason visited last month professing his abilities as a healer,
Sophie said, bring it on dude.

As you can see, he did some laying of the hands upon the beast,
and although he has some very fancy technique,
Sophie still has dysplasia in her shoulders.

But we love Jason anyway.

All the ginger cashew granola you can eat anytime you decide to come back.

Sophie Goes to Boston

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Or rather, Sophie WILL go to Boston. In a couple weeks, Sophie will be enjoying the fine company of Agatha and Archie and Toffee and Riley. She cares not a lick what I do, but we are all very excited.

Yes, it's true.

I'm ga-ga over Greyhounds.

And I like to think that somewhere out there is a Greyhound who is ga-ga over me.

I really, really, really want to adopt a retired racer and give him or her the most fabulous off-track home a Greyhound could ever want. I've been thinking about it pretty seriously for a couple of months.

But Ms. La Beast is quite the loner.

She loves doggy company, but seems fairly pleased when the company leaves. She's just not that keen on sharing her space. She seems to enjoy her only-dogness and given that she seems to have aged three years in the last six months, I think she deserves to live out her mid- to old- age in exactly the manner she prefers.

I kind of feel like it is the least I can do for her.

In the meantime, I will have to resign myself to spending thousands of dollars on bronze statues of Greyhounds instead.

On second thought, since I'm not much of a knick knack person, maybe I'll just support Greyhound rescue.

*****

Secret side note: Truth be told, Sophie is also much more comfortable with shorter dogs, save for her favourite Akita Husky. She might not be so keen on a lean and lanky GH. At least not one who might try to steal her bed and cookies.

Confounded

This business appears on a hydro box in Sophie's small park.

Whatever it could it mean?
She has no idea.

Heading Off to Parc Baldwin

Parc Baldwin is a small park by our new house.

We almost never see the mean cops, so she gets to run free a lot.

She also likes to hang out by the fountain and meet new friends.

Oh look, here is someone now.

Who could that be?

We never did catch his name, so we'll call him Jean Phillipe L'Amour.

This is Caillou. We see him all the time.


He might be named after this guy, a popular French character.


***


This is Sophie.

She is named after herself.

Cappuccino Break

This is Chavez

No, not that one.

This Chavez is a Staffordshire Terrier,
not typically known for their swimming prowess.

But this Staffordshire loves to swim.


He's a bit of a doofus about getting into the water.





But once he does ...

... he is a swimming machine!

And he doesn't even sink.

Look.

In the flowers.
By the fence.
Is It?

Could it be?

Joe Stains?

Sadly, no.

This is Baloo or Baboo or some such name.
Sophie completely ignored him ... or her ... we aren't quite sure.

Despite her reputation as La Flirtador, sometimes she just can't be bothered. It's a lot of work to keep all her special friends organized in her brain, but one she never forgets is her favourite, Number 1 BF,
Mr. Joe Stains.

And apparently Joe never forgets Sophie, because he sent her a fabulous birthday present full of stuffies and cookies.

Check it out!

The purse was the first thing she took out of the box, and it remains her favourite.



She's also quite fond of the squeaky stuffy ball.




The wine goes beautifully with the kitty shaped cookies.



And as soon as Sophie's tummy is better, she is going to gobble them right up!




After all that excitement, Sophie had a fabulous nap on the big bed with all her goodies, and some spices for me too.


Thanks Joe!

A guy who knows the way to a diva dog's heart is through a stuffy.

It's raining presents.
Hallelooola

Stanley and Stella from Gooberstan sent Sophie the most amazing giant envelope full of stuff that made Sophie's eye's pop out of her head.

They rolled around a bit on the floor, but we found them and popped them back in.

This pig snout, for example.

Some squeaky tennis balls and a giant bully stick (yummers),

A really cool tomato worm and the aforementioned, totally rockin'
Sock Monkey Collar!

Thanks Stanley & Stella!
That was over-the-top, unbelievably nice of you guys.

For those of you not familiar with this duo, that is NOT Stella pictured to the left, although she possibly does aspire to having those lips. (No collagen injections Stella!)

*****

Stay tuned for our next installment of
Presents for Sophie
when
Sophie opens mystery box from #1 Joe Stains.