Sophie

 

I don’t think there has ever been a day in my life without a dog.  Most of the time, those dogs have been collies.  The first dog I remember was Robin, a sable and white dog who was my protector as a baby. If you look at my old baby pictures, if I am outside, Robin was usually in the picture.  All of them have been good dogs, special in their own way.  They wove a bright thread through the fabric of my life, soaking up my tears and warming both my heart and my feet.  It would be no surprise that Albert Payson Terhune’s Sunnybank collie books, the most famous being Lad a Dog, were among my favorite books from childhood, and my favorite picture in the house was Found, a large Walter Hunt lithograph which hung in our living room from the time I can remember.  I think I believed for a long time that our Robin posed for the picture!  I have pictures of myself on the couch, surrounded by a litter of collie puppies with that picture in the background. 

A long line of collies haunts my memories – Robin, Rinty, Lad, Bridget, Sam, Kelsey, Toby, Tess, and more held special places in my life.  For several years, I bred and raised collie puppies.  Tess was the last in that line, living to the remarkable age of 17 years.   

 

Tess

                                                        

Sophie came into my life on a bright January day almost two years ago.  Actually, her first appearance in my life was on my computer screen the previous Thanksgiving weekend, when a breeder posted a picture of a pile of newborn collie puppies.  I had been considering a new collie ever since I lost Tess and had joined a Scottish Collie group on facebook to drool over puppy pictures.  And here was a beautiful litter not terribly far from me.

At the time, I was remodeling a ten room 1880’s farmhouse and planning to move into it by spring.  I was going through everything in that house while packing up everything I planned to keep from my present house.  I did not need a puppy right now!  Two days later I mailed my deposit and there was no turning back.  Did I mention that the sire of these puppies was descended from one of the Sunnybank collies?  With Sophie’s resemblance to the heroic collie in the picture over my mantle, it was a true case of serendipity.

Sophie was not my first choice.  When the breeder sent pictures of the collie females, I picked a puppy with white markings on her face as my first choice.  But someone out there somewhere was looking out for me and whoever was ahead if me on the list chose that puppy.  I’m sure she would have been a wonderful dog, but I’m thankful I got my second choice.  The first video I saw of her, she looked right at the camera and barked.  I was lost at that moment. 

First look at Sophie

My friend Clay and I drove to pick Sophie up in late January.  Of course she wasn’t Sophie at that time; her litter name was Jane.  But on the way home, between bouts of carsickness, she conveyed to me that Sophie was her name.  It was not one of the names I had been considering, but she knew best.  She threw up three times during the 2 hour trip.  When we arrived home, she took charge of the house.  And when we moved to the new old house, she took charge of that one too.  The other dogs on the farm bowed to her highness – she was obviously born to rule Maple Shade Farm.

If she rules, she does so with a velvet touch.  I have never had a dog, I don’t think, with quite this much personality and the empathy.  She is smart, brave and funny, with brown eyes and a collie smile that melts every heart.  She loves children who visit; for that matter, she loves everybody who visits, from friends to workers to the man who delivers my Amazon packages.  He brings her dog biscuits, but I think that’s just a side benefit.  He does tell her how beautiful she is and that counts for a lot with a girl.

Sophie loves plastic bottles, sticks (the longer, the better), shoes and bubble wrap and she earnestly tries to help with chores around the yard.  Did you realize it is almost impossible to dig up flower beds with a 60-pound dog sitting right where you are digging?  She takes guard duty seriously but once she lets me know someone is here, she then becomes the receptionist and ushers them in with a wagging tail.  She loves to zoom, not on the computer screen, but in the yard.  It’s as if she just has so much joy in life, she must express it the only way she can. 

 

She lies beside me when I am at my desk and periodically gets up to lay her nose on my knee.  She seems to especially know when I need a virtual hug.  And If I don’t respond, she nudges me until I stop and focus on her.  When I am especially dense, or preoccupied, she uses her paw to tap my leg.  And if I am overly emotional, she coaxes me back to a smile.  She has taken to trying awfully hard to talk to me.  I’m not sure what she is saying, but it’s pretty intense sometimes.  I expect her to use words almost any day now. 

I meant to be very responsible with this puppy.  I was going to teach her to sleep in a crate.  I was not going to spoil her by sharing my snacks.  The crate I bought before I brought her home is still in the box.  And who can resist those pleading brown eyes when it comes to sharing my peanut butter and crackers?  I just have to face it, Sophie was born to rule this house.  And I am a pushover.