Sophia's Story

[skunkstripe]

Sophia's Story Part I: Finding her and bringing her home

After having had Zircon for over a year, I decided I wanted another dog. For one thing, I thought that if we had two dogs, they would play with each other and give me some free time. For another, I had not been able to have dogs for most of my life, and I wanted to make up for it now. DH and I have the time, money and situation (both self-employed so we can be with our dogs all the time, enjoy being outdoors a lot) that I felt we could easily give a second dog a home.

Well DH finally agreed, but insisted that the second dog be a Golden Retriever. This was to be "his" dog, meaning it would stay home with him, while Zircon continued to go to work with me every day. We hike, ski and otherwise are outdoors a LOT, and his primary concern was how strangers would react to a dog out on the trail. So I set about searching for a Golden Retriever.

This was no easy task. I am not one to "buy" a dog, as I would much rather adopt a dog who needs a second chance. First stop, petfinder. And of course, there were no Goldens in the shelters anywhere near us. The rescues had tons of listings, but they were not willing to consider us because of our rural lifestyle (out in the middle of the wilderness with no fence). I placed a "dog wanted" ad on petfinder and got an education in what kind of slimy people are out there. Months went on, I had no hope of finding a Golden to adopt. I posted my experiences on a dog forum and someone offered to put me up AT HER HOME in Ohio, a day's drive away, so that I could adopt a dog there.

At last one of the non-breed-specific rescues near Boston had two Goldens listed. I inquired and found that they would be willing to adopt to us. The dogs were released from puppymills in NC. They were legit too. I did reverse searches on telephone numbers and everything checked out. So I sent in my check and we went to pick up Sophia.

Her name was "Hannah" before we got her, and we waited a while to choose her new name, but that is another story. She was spayed a few days before we got her. She had been a momma in a puppymill but was being given up by her owner. We were told that she had been very scared at the vets, and that the only thing that helped calm her was bringing in a male dog. As a matter of fact, our having a male dog already made us good candidates to adopt. Apparently these dogs do better if they have another dog to learn from. She and the other dogs rode overnight in crates in a box truck to their new homes.

Click picture for the slideshow

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q108/2dogmom_album/sophiapickup/pickup2.jpg (http://s134.photobucket.com/albums/q108/2dogmom_album/sophiapickup/?action=view&current=1170724300.pbw)

The gal who runs the rescue is a saint. I guess I should say "ran" the rescue because thanks to the head of the Mass Dept of Ag, these kind of adoptions out of the back of a truck are no longer possible. She told of about how our dog would be a "blank slate", never having been out of a ten ft concrete kennel in her life except for vet visits. She would have to learn everything that little puppies learn, except that she would already be 20 months old when we got her.

When we got her she was obviously scared to death. NONE of those dogs wanted to romp, play, or meet new people or dogs. All they wanted to do was to cower. We did our best to be considerate of our new, fearful doggy. She basically did not want to move. She had to be placed in our car and then we headed home.

We stopped at a small shopping mall on the way home. It was hot, August, and there was a creek. Our Golden did not know what the reflection on the water was. She did not know how to walk down a grassy slope. A twig cracked under her paws, and she started, obviously scared by the unfamiliar noise.

We had purchased the "Bil-Jac" dog food which we had been told she had been eating so that we would be ready for her. But she took no interest in food. Her first night in our home, she woke up every hour or so, running to and fro in fright through our house. Each time, I got up and lay down on the floor with her and stroked her until she fell asleep. She hid a lot in the farthest corner of our house, under DH's desk. If we wer outdoors, she flung herself to our feet very 90 seconds. We gave ger bones, she did not know what they were for. She ate almsot nothing for three days. I was so worried, I tried giving her everything from steak to Ol' Roy and everything in between. The only thing she would accept was Greenies, these seemed familiar to her. So I gave her a Greenie a day, just so she would have something in her stomach. After a few days she started eating. And we noticed what a beautiful dog she was.

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q108/2dogmom_album/sophiapickup/sophside.jpg

She weighed 43 lbs when we got her. You could see where they had shaved her for the spay surgery. Her hind legs were too weak for her to stand on. But still she was a beautiful Golden Retriever. And so because of her beauty (her eyes were the same color as her coat, and her coat was truly beautiful) we decided not to call her "Hannah" as she had been named by the rescue, but instead Sophia, after the great beauty Sophia Loren.

[Doberman's]

She is very lucky to have you. Poor girl must have had some awful experiences in her life. Sometimes I wish they could tell us but maybe it is better we do not know.

Shower her with love and kindness; she will ten fold that back to you. :)

[brunosmom]

Thanks for the story about Sophia.....glad you found her and "rescued" her from an awful life....she knows only happiness now!!!!!!

[skunkstripe]

Sophia's Story Part II: Learning to be a pet with people

The rescue told us that Sophia would be a "blank slate", but I did not fully understand what that meant until she was in our home. She had not exactly been abused, unless you want to call witholding human interaction from an affectioniate dog "abuse". But she had no idea how to go up and down stairs or cross over the threshold of a doorway, never mind get in and out of a car. I suppose it was good that she was so underweight when we got her, because I had to carry her around a lot!

It took months for her to play with toys. Obviously she had never had any. The first time she tried to play with anything was when she found a dirty old piece of rope. I guess that was closer to what she had had to play with before.

I never thought I would have to teach a dog how to go up and down stairs, but there I was doing it with Sophia. And I thought it would take forever. We have five steps leading from the front door to our living room and one day I was determined to convince Sophia that she could climb these steps on her own. It was a slow process. First she would put a paw on the first step, acting as it it might burn her. Then when she had her paw on the step, she would look at me excitedly as if to say "I did it!". Next she withdrew her paw and did it all over again. I guess she was making sure that she could do it whenever she wanted to, and that her initial success was not an accident. This went on and on, each time she made a little progress, she backed all the way down, so that she could start from scratch.

Another thing she had difficulty with was doorways. For some reason she did not like thresholds. This was an annoyance one summer weekend when I wanted to go jogging. Sophia was not up to jogging with me along a country road, because the passing cars strill spooked her. She inisted on being within 3 ft of either DH or me, and this afternoon DH was out on the deck enjoying the sun.

This meant that I had to get Sophia out onto the deck, because I knew if I left her inside, she would want to go outside the moment I left the house. So I tried my best to convince her to cross the threshold. Same procedure as with the steps. First she put one paw over the threshold and looked at me excitedly. Then she withdrew it and repeated putting one paw over the threshold. I waited and waited for her to finally get her entire body across the thresohld. Once she did, I couldn't close the screen door, because she was now blocking it. I really wanted to go for my jog already, so I moved her about 2 ft so I could close the door. She panicked, tried to bolt, and slipped off the wooden deck, falling about 15 ft onto the grass below. I felt sick to my stomach, sure I had just seriously injured this sweet, scared dog. But when I looked where she had fallen, she was already up and running around the yard. It was the first of many examples I would see of how physically tough she is.

For the most part, she learned things from Zircon, and this made it much easier for us. Anyone who has ever installed a critter door knows that dogs have no clue that this is a doorway. You have to kneel down, hold the door open for them while they are on the other side, coax them through the door with treats, then hold the door partway open so they can learn to open it themselves. In other words, it can be frustrating. Well having Zircon there, Sophia learned to go through the critter door in about five minutes. It was "doggy-see, doggy-do".

Click picture to see Zircon teach Sophia how to use the critter door
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q108/2dogmom_album/sophiapickup/critterdoor1.jpg (http://s134.photobucket.com/albums/q108/2dogmom_album/sophiapickup/?action=view&current=1170729754.pbw)

[zobo]

Wow. It is great to hear rescue stories with happy endings.

[skunkstripe]

Sophia's Story Part III: Being the Second Dog

If one of the reasons for getting Sophia was so that Zircon would have a companion, I had plenty of reason to doubt that I had done the right thing in the first year. Zircon made it plain that he had in fact enjoyed being an "only dog" and resented Sophia.

He did not seem to mind that the bones on the floor were no longer "his" but now "theirs", nor that he had to share his toys. Zircon even took Sophia's pushiness when it came to affection with what appeared to be amazing understanding. If DH or I was petting Zircon, Sophia would immediately rush over to nose her way inbetween. Zircon left every time and moved several feet away. It was as if he was saying "Go ahead, she needs it more than I do". No, we did not discourage it, at least not in the beginning, because dogs like Sophia need enormous amounts of love to learn to trust. But at the same time we could see that Zircie was not thrilled about the new member of the family.

And Sophia was less than polite about how she chose which toys or bones she wanted at any given time. If I gave both of them identical toys or bones, she decided that his must be better, and swiped it the first chance she got. Most of the time this involved standing over him while he was chewing or playing, and then grabbing it right from between his paws. Again, he was amazingly tolerant. The only time he got fed up was the one time Sophia tried to take one of the Hide-a-Squirrels directly out of his snout. The snarling and growling was serious, and both got small blood wounds. Zircon still has a tiny scar on his snout. But he showed here where the line was.

Zircon also had to give up having the entire back seat of a vehicle to himself. Once when he was hogging most of it (I swear, just to be obstinate), Sophia had no choice but to wedge herself into the little space that he had left for her but she was still touching him. He shrieked, and it sounded for all the world as if he was saying "MOM!!! She's touching me!!!"

Probably one of the reasons he was not thrilled about us getting her was that in his mind, she was "no fun". Zircon's idea of a doggy good time is roughhousing, and Sophia was awful at it. He would play-snarl and charge her, and all she could do in the first weeks was to flinch, scared of this unfamiliar situation. After about two weeks she would flinch and roll on her back. Well Zircie thought that was an improvement, so he kept it up. Then she got annoyed and snarled back. Now it was getting to be fun for him, so he would back off about 10 feet and start over. She gradually caught on that this was play, and reached the point where she would rear up on her hind legs and box with him. These were the same hind legs that were barely strong enough for her to walk on when we first got her. "Doctor" Zircon's therapy was working.

Click picture to see a slideshow of a friendly early play session between Zircon and Sophia
http://www.dogforum.org/gallery/data/500/sophiazircsniff.jpg (http://s134.photobucket.com/albums/q108/2dogmom_album/sophiapickup/?action=view&current=1171726652.pbw)

But by far the most amazing example of canine solidarity occured on an early hike that the four of us took. It was around a nearby pond, and it was fairly soon after we got Sophia. Zircon practically grew up in the woods, so leaping over logs, climbing on rocks etc, what I refer to as the "New Hampshire Agility Course" were familiar to him, but not to Sophia. She realized that this was supposed to be "fun" and eagerly headed into the woods. But at one point I though I was going to be carrying her over an obstacle. We reached a simple footbridge. Zircon, out in the lead, was used to it and went off out of sight into the woods. DH was second, and was also over the bridge. I was bringing up the rear, keeping an eye on Sophia. Well dogs do not like unsure footing. Things that wobble or involve slats that their paws can slip through are scary, and Sophia began to panic. To and fro she ran along the banks of the 12-15 ft wide creek. The water was about 3 ft deep. And natural bodies of water in the great outdoors were unfamiliar to her.

What happened next, well, if I had not seen it with my own eyes, I would not have believed it. Zircon came running back from where he had gone on well ahead, did a belly flop into the water and swam over to where Sophia was on the bank. He might as well have been wearing a red cape with an "S" on it. Keep in mind, Zircon does NOT like to swim for enjoyment. If it is 95 F he will swim for 20 seconds and then romp on the shore. But here he was, in his way telling Sophia, "You're a RETRIEVER honey, so get your furry red butt in the water and SWIM". She slipped into the water and sawm clumsily, her back paws dragging, only paddling with her front paws. But she trustingly
followed him as he swam ahead of her and led her to the safety of mother earth on the opposite bank. To this day I do not understand why he came back from where he was to leap into the water nor how he knew she was in distress.

This by the way is why this picture is so special to me.
http://www.dogforum.org/gallery/data/500/sophbuttbridge.jpg
It does not look special. All you see is a Golden Retriever trotting across a wooden footbridge, leaving muddy pawprints as she goes. This was the bridge she refused to cross several years ago. It is also the place where my white dog earned a new nickname: "Saint Zircon".

[S-J]

She is so luckly to have you,
Her life was horrid to start with and now she has a wonderful one.
She is gorgoues and a lovely colour.
I felt sorry for them all in that lorry, They must of been so scared.
It is so horrible what some animals have to go through it makes me very sad,
But the lucky one have someone like you come along and help them:D

My father in law has a rescue goldie, he got her in January she was used for breeding and apparently showing but when he got her and a few things she does i dont think the story was a true as it could of been.
But she is lovely and very good on and off the lead, she has settled in very well, seeing she had a water infection and the vet said she had had this for a while, that wasnt the rescue centre as she had only had her a day before my fater in law picked her up.

[KatzNK9]

I have to say that is the most touching story I've read in a very long time. I especially loved all your pictures & slideshows. I've come to learn of some very lucky pets in my day ... and your Zircon & Sophia are among the very luckiest to have such a wonderful life.

My dog, Ozzy (10.5 month old golden) says he's completely envious of the places you get to explore with your wonderful dogs. He was too young last year to learn the joys of a Golden & a natural water source but he has big plans this year when it is warm enough to learn.

Thank you for sharing your story. I enjoyed every bit of learning how Sophia left her demons behind & moved on to a wonderful life.

[rottnalex]

What a wonderful story! Thanks for sharing!
Cheers to you for rescuing Sophia :cheers:

[Mom to Lil Buddy]

I was so happy to ready part 3. So far Koko and Max do not play but they do get a pretty good race going coming in the back door so maybe it won't be long now. Whenever Max gets his toys to play fetch, Koko heads for another room but she has chewed on his rope and a little dog he has. Tonight she found a chew strip and carried it around in her mouth for a while, I think she was looking for a place to hide it.

[JustDogCrazy]

Loved the stories!! I just love to read about amazing people such as yourself and the amazing dogs.....

[skunkstripe]

Sophia's Story: Part IV: More than one year later

People ask so often, "How long until they play with toys?" "How long until they ask to go out?" "How long until they are normal?"

Really it is starting to get fuzzy in my mind and it has only been 2-1/2 years. So I thought I better write it down before I forget completely!

Sophia was NOT good about asking to go out. She caught on fairly quickly that we wanted her to do her business outside, but for one thing she was nowhere near as discreet as Zircon about it. Heaven help me if I ever need to do a fecal on him, because he goes far into the woods and leaves our lawn clean. Sophia on the other hand shows the signs of having been cooped up in a small space. Anywhere is "good enough"-on our walkway, on the grass. When we hike, she will poo on the trail whereas Mr Discreet takes it about 10 ft OFF the trail. What she would to was to go to the door and I guess hope that a human would magically appear by reading her mind. Eventually (maybe after more than a year) she started to ask.

Speaking of which, it took many months before she found her voice. When we finally heard it, it was pretty impressive. She has a deep "big girl" bark and a noise that I can only describe as a mix between a growl and "WOO WOO WOO". I would hate to hear what noise she makes when she is angry!

Recall turned out to be a non-issue. I had been so worried about her running off our property before getting her, but there was no cause. For one thing, she did not want to let us get more than 3 ft away from her. For another, she pretty much did whatever Zircon did, and his recall was very good. So if we called him, she came along. Now she will actually stay outside in the yard out of sight for about an hour, but she is still a "velcro dog."

The hardest part about training her was that she had a problem with submissive urination. Even a harsh word was enough to get her peeing. On some things I hung tough (like not eating out of the cat food bowl) and scolded her anyway, and just got used to mopping up the pee.

Playing with toys also did not come naturally to her, but she made up for lost time. She developed a habit I have never seen in any other dog: if she REALLY likes something (it can also be a pig ear) she will put it on the floor or ground and ROLL on it, kicking her legs high into the air like a horse.

And is she "normal" now? Skittish still but I guess she could be called "normal". Right after we got her you could see that her behavior was definitely strange. She would run up to strangers, wanting to be friendly, but when she got to within five feet or so, suddenly dash away. Eventually her love of people won out.

In fact, since she loves people so much, and could spend the entire day being petted, I really wanted to get her certified as a Therapy Dog. There had been one day where I was scheduled to take Zircon to his gig at an Adult Day Services facility, but DH had to go on a trip. Sophia normally spend the day at home with him. We did not quite trust Sophia home alone all day (she kind of enjoys checking out the garbage) so I had no choice but to take her to work with me. Well of course I did not want to leave her at my business alone while I was gone for the hour or so doing the therapy, so into the truck she went along with Zircon, who was wearing his official bandana. When I got to the facility I asked the actitivies director if I could bring them BOTH in. This is kind of a no-no, since we are only supposed to visit with certified dogs. Well she said it was ok and I took them both inside. I was in the habit of having Zircon do tricks for the clients, and this visit turned out to be a hoot. Sophia had not yet mastered "roll over" so what happened was I would have Zircon "sit". He sat and got a treat. Then I would have Sophia "sit". She also sat and got a treat. "Shake" was a little weak, but they both did that ok. "Down" was also ok. Well "roll over" was one that Zircon did like a pro, so he got his treat. I turned to Sophia and said "roll over" and she just looked at me like "huh?". I repeated it, and the whole crowd started to laugh. I heard a yelp from behind me. Zircon had been rolling over repeatedly and was frustrated at not getting a treat! I'm sure the crowd thought this had been rehearsed.

So the following February (2004) when I had to get Zircon re-certified, on a whim I took Sophia with me. What the heck, I thought. It's only $10 for the AKC CGC, and if she passes, she will be certified, and if not, I know what to work on. Well she passed with flying colors and I have to say I was so proud of my little Golden Girl. Here is the picture that is on our badge.
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q108/2dogmom_album/s-jtherapy1sm.jpg
She now visits along with Zircie 2-3 times a month at nursing homes and is really in her element, which is having people pet her. She still kind of noses Zircon out of the way when we pet him, but we are gradually insisting that she stay put and not run over to hog attention.

The End

[KatzNK9]

Sophia's story is such a wonderful one that I had to go back to the very beginning & reread her entire special story as I remembered how much I loved it the first time I read it.

She's such a special girl & I loved every bit of the read seeing how far she has come since coming to live with you. I look forward to many more stories of Sophia's adventures ahead.

[Doras mum]

Wow, I am in awe of all four of you, what a special story and what special people you are. Your dog's are so lucky to have you, how nice that others are getting the opportunity to get some love from them through your therapy sessions.

[applesmom]

Somehow I'd missed this thread, glad it came up today! What a heartwarming story and what lucky dogs they both are.

[Christine283]

I LOVED this story!!! Thanks for sharing! What lucky dogs they are to have you...and each other! :)

[skunkstripe]

If you like this one, there are more in this section...most have titles like "Sophia's Story". We wrote these to help adopters of rescue dogs get an idea of what to expect. :) It's not like adopting a puppy, sometimes these rescues have their own set of issues that need to be overcome.

[agilityk9trainer]

Thanks for sharing Sophia's story. She is very blessed to have found such a loving home. What a great time she and Zircon have!

[CountryGirl]

Skunkstripe! You've got tears running down my face here.

You rock!!!

[cassiesmom]

Skunkstripe! You've got tears running down my face here.



Same here! Could you give Sophia and Zircon a pet for me, please. They are beautiful and I'm happy they have come so far together. I like to look at their pictures in the gallery because they always make me SMILE!