Our Dear, Sweet Sophie

 Hello friends.

This past Tuesday was October 19, 2021 - our 30th wedding anniversary. The day was as perfect and beautiful as our wedding day had been. A high of 70 degrees and nothing but blue skies. 

The beautiful day was welcome, but it hid a darker problem we had going on. Very late the night before, Zoe (our 19 yr old daughter who still lives with us) realized Sophie wasn't in the house. 

First photo we took of Sophie when we rescued her in 2006. She was around a year old.

Sophie is our 16 year old standard rat terrier dog. I've posted about her since I started my blog. She is almost completely deaf and blind. She can only hear very sharp loud noises, and can only see out of one eye, I think,  The other is covered in cataracts. She has several lumps that are fatty tumors, one of which is pretty large on her side. She has congestive heart failure which was diagnosed a little over a year ago, and they said we might have a year with her, then.
Recently, she's been having some pretty severe seizures, lasting longer and longer. To be honest, if we'd had the money available for it, we would have put her down to keep her from suffering any more. But also, we were being a little selfish, and just didn't want to let her go yet.  Some days we were really good, and she loved laying in the sun, and having her ears rubbed and having Wiggles groom her. 

A few days before, I had found Sophie standing in the middle of the road in front of our house. Thankfully, we live in a neighborhood that only has traffic from folks who live here, so she wasn't in imminent danger. I approached her and she was completely unaware I was standing right next to her. She as just sort of wandering around in a circle in the road. I let her know I was there, and scooped her up and brought her inside. I still don't know how she got out there. Both the porches had gates that latch, and we keep them latched or the doors closed. Besides, she stopped even wanting to go outside at all for a long time. It made cleaning up after her a real issue, but she's very old, and we allowed some leeway due to her age. She was definitely showing signs of dementia as well. So, it never occurred to me that she would ever escape the house again, or even how she'd manage to do it again. 

But there we were at around midnight on Monday night with the realization that Sophie was not inside the house, and neither of us had seen her recently.  I had been at work most of the day, and Christopher said he didn't remember seeing her come to dinner.  he assumed she was sleeping.  She slept most of the time. In fact the night before, Sunday night, Christopher and I noticed Sophie wasn't in our room, but we figured she was in Zoe's room, since she had taken to going in there recently. Zoe said she's not been in her room for several days. So, now it seemed that maybe Sophie had been gone since sometime Sunday.  Chris and I were out for over 6 hours doing Instacart that day. I have no idea when or how it would haven happened. The storm door would be left open sometimes to let a Fall breeze in, but the

gates were always latched, because Wiggles loved to escape, so we made sure they were latched. Even if it wasn't latched, Sophie was nearly blind and stumbled when she walked. A closed gate, even unlatched would have stopped her. That's another thing... Wiggles was still home. Whenever, or however Sophie got out, - Wiggles didn't go with her. It's still a mystery, and unfortunately one we'll likely never solve. 

We called animal control, and they took her description and our name and number. They hadn't seen her, but would call if they did. We posted on the local FB pages and groups and the lost and found groups in the area. I let the kids know in our family chat. Christopher and I went and drove around all the nearby streets. We walked the neighborhoods. Once I thought I saw her, but it must have been my imagination. After walking across a field covered in burs, there was nothing there. 

So, now it's Thursday evening, and we've all pretty much accepted the fact that we'll not see Sophie again. My dog when I was a child, Brownie, was also a rat terrier.  When he was 14+ years old, he barked and barked at my mom's house (I had moved out and married by then), and she had to let him out.  He would not stop barking to go out, even though it was so cold out. She said he must have known it was his time.  We never saw him again after that. I believe that's what happened to Sophie. She knew her time was near, and she chose to go out on her own terms. There's a large patch of woods behind our house with a duck pond. The trees and brush are so thick, they're impassable to people. She may have made her way into them.  There's been no sign of her in any roads, so that's my theory. 

It's so hard to lose her this way.  We didn't get to say goodbye. We don't know for sure that she went peacefully. We simply have to believe, for our own sakes. Of course I hope so for her sake.  She was a true member of the family. She went on little adventures with us and the kids as they were growing up. She LOVED car rides. She loved her "nephew" Wiggles. She loved "pizza bones" and chicken. And when she was younger, she loved going for walks, of course. I wish I'd taken her on more walks. 

 

We love you Sophie. We miss you. We will never forget you, you silly, simple, odd looking dog. You were family, and always will be. 

                                 Rest In Peace Sweetie