My Girl Sophie

          A little less than three years ago, after months of poring through internet sites and visiting animal rescue facilities, I found the puppy I’d been searching for.  A fluff ball of brown, black and white fur, who tilted her head to the side as though listening to my question when I asked ‘do you want to be my doggie?’

          I named her Sophie because it seemed to suit her.  Much better than the ‘Princess of the House’ moniker she thought she deserved.  Sophie is a Bichon Frise mix.  No one was too sure what that ‘mix’ actually might be, but as her legs continued to grow and she lost some of the color in her makeup, I thought an Old English Sheepdog might have been in her lineage.  Either that or a white St. Bernard.

Sophie at 3 months

          A little less than two years ago, I had an emergency replacement of a perfectly nice, relatively new, laminate floor in both my living room and in my dining room.

          And what has one to do with the other?  Ah, you might well ask.

          At the time, my daughter was visiting from Australia when, at about 2 a.m.. she stuck her head into my room and, very calmly, asked about towels.

          ‘Towels?’  I gave you towels.’

          ‘We need more Mum…lots more.  The house is flooding.’

          I was out of bed like a shot and followed her downstairs.  The living room floor was covered in about two inches of water, the accent rug in the center of the room a soaked blob.  I looked further past the soggy furniture to the dining room.  It too was fast becoming a sea of wet rugs and wetter furniture legs.

          Frantically, we looked to find the source of all this water.  Now, there is no way for me to prove this…but I swear I heard distinct musical sounds coming from the half bathroom under the stairs.  Something like, ‘tra-la-la-la-la, tra-la-la-la.’

          And there was Sophie, standing under a gorgeous, and very large spray of water emanating from the chewed through flexicord that connected the toilet to the water pipe in the wall.  We stood transfixed as Sophie splashed and played and romped.  She was having the time of her life!

          Needless to say, despite our best efforts and every towel I possessed, it was obvious the water had gotten under the laminate flooring and it would all have to be ripped up and replaced.  And of course the toilet flexicord substituted for an unchewable stainless steel job.

          It took several days to dry out the floor and for the new laminate to be installed, with Sophie checking everything to ensure quality work was being performed.

          But one good thing did come out of all this.  We dispensed with ideas of sheepdogs and St. Bernards…Sophie’s mixed lineage obviously included a  Portugese Water Dog!

                   

                                                  Sophie at about 18 months