Sophie

Sophie and her brother Roscoe (died 2/15/2020) were our first Australian Shepherds. They followed a long list of farm dogs and house pets, but they were our constant companions. Never did we go into a different room or head outside but they were there. Sophie was tough, had we had the genetic testing we have now, her genetic blindness may have not taken her sight, but hind sight is 20/20. She hiked thousands of miles in the Cascades, loved to swim in ice cold lakes, roll in snow, and picked delicious huckleberries right off the bushes like a bear. She would intensely chase a ball, but one day in middle age she tore her ACL and meniscus. We chose the conservative surgery, and she returned to hiking again, albeit a bit slower. As years passed, her sight began to fade, cataract surgery was not a viable option due to the genetic nature of her blindness. Arthritic and blind, she still wanted to be right there. Every cat at our home loved her as if she was their mom, all our barn cats would curl up with her in the sun while we did chores. She developed heart failure, was blind, arthritic and then deaf, she lived two full years with daily walks, slept by my bed upstairs each night and waited patiently to be harnessed to go up and down stairs for her safety. Her heart finally said no more, and she left us to run with her brother. She was the best dog and this family feels blessed to have had just shy of 14 years with her. The patience her aging taught us, the joy in every day with her makes her loss sting even more…..

A donation was made in Sophie's memory and the memorial was created on February 25, 2021.