Sophie

Name: Sophie

Date of Passing: 09/09/2023

Message to Sophie: On Saturday, we said goodbye to our sweet Sophie Bear after 14 fabulous years. Sophie was truly one-of-a-kind. She charmed and became besties with everyone she met, two-legged and four-legged.

When first adopted those many years ago, Sophie was chaotic and always up to something. Constantly getting into and eating garbage. Walking for miles and miles refusing to pee then immediately going as soon as we went back inside…and making intense eye contact while doing so. But soon she settled in and became the perfect dog. Sophie spent endless hours at the dog beach and dog park strategizing how to keep up with the big dogs even with her tiny short legs. Her favorite thing in the world was playing in the snow. Even in her later years, she would run through the snow like a puppy diving head first into massive snow piles and climbing to the top of the highest pounds to 💩 like she was staking a flag at the summit of Everest. For a small dog, she snored like an old man with sleep apnea often loud enough to be heard through closed doors and waking us up at night.

On her first camping trip, Sophie the city girl climbed up a picnic table to escape the dirt and tried to save herself by running full speed and jumping into a closed tent door. On her second camping trip, she jumped into the car of the family at a neighboring site in an effort to get out of nature.

Sophie made everyone she met feel like they were her favorite person in the world. Some of her favorite friends were the firefighters at the station around the corner from our first apartment. At first they’d be offended when she wouldn’t take the treats they offered as we walked by, but then would turn to mush when she would roll over and demand belly rubs. Once when our CO2 detector went off at 3 am and 911 was called, the fireman who walked in first spotted Sophie and gleefully called on his radio that “Guys, this is Sophie’s apartment!” The whole truck filed in to show their canine friend some love and belly scratches.

When we decided to adopt a second dog, Sophie didn’t mind one bit that she was no longer an only dog. She took her big brother under her wing and taught him all about transitioning from stray to the spoiled fur child of a dual income no kid family. She also strategically used her big brother to her advantage whether it was eating food he swiped from the counter, stealing his treats, using him as a soft bed on long car rides, or ganging up to attack the garbage can and dragging trash all over our condo. A few years later, when we started fostering then added Roux and Callie to our pack permanently, Sophie just went with the flow and accepted every dog into her home…as long as they respected she was the Queen and called the shots. They did.

Sophie spent her final week living like the queen she is. We are forever grateful for the incredible kindness of @agentlegooddbyepethospice, especially Dr. Juliana for counseling our through this decision and Dr. Sarah for making her final moments and transition so incredibly gentle and meaningful. With their guidance, we were able to give Sophie the perfect last week filled with McDonald’s cheeseburgers and fries, filet mignon and eating her body weight in bacon, her most favorite treat. Sophie spent her last morning at Montrose dog beach watching the sunrise and dipping her paws in lake Michigan one last time. She passed peacefully at home in mine and Mike’s laps with her big brother Bruno by her side. We could imagine a better way to say goodbye to our best gal pal. ❤ 🐶