Thank you

Thanks to everyone who left such kind comments about Sophie. She really was a special dog.

Sophie came to me when she was two months old and I was living in South Dakota. My mom found her for me in Chicago after a long and careful search and drove her out. (That's Mom with Sophie at right.) Working nights, I had a lot of free daytime to devote to the training and exercise of my goofy little girl, and even after we moved to Colorado, I continued with advanced training, both voice commands and hand signals.

I think good genetics and abundant exercise helped her stay healthy as long as she did. The training and her sweet nature meant she was welcomed everywhere and admired even by people who don't like dogs. When her hearing started to go, she still could follow hand commands, and she knew never to cross the street without waiting for me to give the OK.

When she was three, I adopted another poodle, a 5-year-old named Doogie (that's the name he came with). He was an awesome dog, too. Twice her size and a big love-sponge. Sophie used him as a pillow, and taught him the Good Dog rules by example. His later diagnosis of heart disease meant two years of constant vet visits, myriad medications and a long, slow decline. Sophie was with him when he died in his sleep. She knew he wasn't coming back. She seemed happy to be an only dog again, so I didn't adopt another.

After my experience with Doogie, I hoped that when Sophie went, it would be fast. And it was. On Monday we were getting ready to go for a walk when she had a massive seizure and didn't come out of it. The Sergeant and I rushed her to the vet but nothing could stop whatever was happening in her brain. So I let her go.

It was a hard decision and an easy one. By that point, her life had already ended. Her heart couldn't take any more drugs and she'd likely suffered severe brain damage.

She lived a good, long life, longer than most. So while it was horrible to lose her that way, I can console myself that it wasn't before her time and that (hopefully) she lost awareness very quickly. She went from fine to gone in 20 minutes.

If there is a doggie heaven, I am sure Doogie was there to welcome her.

Sophie, 1995-2009

The Poky Little Puppy

Back before all this pneumonia business started, Sophie was suffering pretty badly from arthritis. So I started her on an anti-inflammatory. But that messed up her stomach. It may have been throwing up from that that gave her the pneumonia. But she's always been a throw-uppy kind of dog anyway. She feels bad, she barfs, she feels better.

So now she appears to be over the pneumonia, but we've still got the arthritis to contend with. Here's how she walks. Notice the extra little painful skipping steps:


We're now trying something that doesn't involve drugs. Instead, it involves needles.
Yes, acupuncture. The vet at the emergency/specialty clinic suggested it. They have an acupuncturist there on staff, but I didn't want to subject Sophie to the place again. Or my wallet.

Happily, Beeb's vet does acupuncture, too, and is quite nearby. Maybe not any cheaper, though. I told her to use lots of needles so I get my money's worth.

Sophie seems to tolerate it OK, but it's hard to tell what, if anything, is improving. Then again, she's only had two sessions. The vet said to look for some "extra spark." Except she's plenty sparky. She just hurts a lot.
She really doesn't like going to the vet, but we'll keep doing this for a little while, anyway.

Poor old poodle

This picture is of Sophie using my leg as a pillow in the kennel at the animal hospital. Came home from work Sunday night to find her coughing this horrible gurgly cough and barely able to stand but also unable to lie down. I thought she was in heart failure and that it was Time.

I called my vet and she said she could meet me at the clinic, but I might consider taking Sophie to the emergency vet, that maybe they could do something.

So I did, and it turned out not to be heart failure but aspirational pneumonia. She must have thrown up and inhaled some of the vomit.

I spent the night in the kennel with her, and most of Monday and half of today, while she got fluid and antibiotics and painkillers pumped into her. (Note to self: When planning to sleep in a clinic kennel, take earplugs.)

I brought her home today. She perked up immediately, so glad to be back in familiar surroundings. She is on antibiotics for three weeks and hopefully that will get rid of the nasty lung bug.

She has now officially Not Dead Yet.

Bernice bobs her hair

Sophie got her summer "do" yesterday. I opted for a more sporty look this time, with short ears. Last week was her 14th birthday. She got extra jerky treats.

Dinner at Crazy Asian Cafe, Denver

It rained and rained, and then it started to snow. It rained and snowed and snowed and rained and the snow was like cement and the rain was really cold.

We took Sophie for a walk and she did OK but didn't like getting that wet. Then we went to dinner.

I used to get kung pao chicken to go from Crazy Asian Cafe all the time. It was right on my way to work, the portions are big enough for two or three meals for me (if I make fresh rice), and it's the best kung pao I've had in Denver so far. (And I've tried it from quite a few places.) I go less often since I moved and am trying to economize, but I should remember how good and affordable it is.

The folks who run it are from Dalian, in northeast China (Port Arthur, if you know your history). When I first went to the restaurant they were very excited to learn I'd been to Dalian three times – once for Christmas, once coming home from Shanghai by sea, and once right after Tiananmen. Good times.

The menu at Crazy Asian is not just Chinese, though. Hence the name. Miso soup, pad thai, Vietnamese noodles. It's all good, but we stuck with my Chinese fave, kung pao chicken, with some shumai for a starter.
Boy, I love this stuff. It fortified us to come home and shovel the cement, and made a great lunch today, too, after more shoveling.

Crazy Asian Cafe
290 S Downing St
Denver, CO 80209
303-777-8922

Seeking the spotlight

Most cats are happy to be invisible to Sophie.But this one lives with a great Dane and a Lab.
He or she wasn't about to be ignored.
"Yo, Poodle."
Invisibility ain't all it's cracked up to be.

Snowpocalypse

I was having a fairly leisurely morning, thinking, "Gee, this monster storm they were talking about sure isn't amounting to much." Then I tried to get to work early and it took me nearly two hours to get there. Total gridlock in the middle of the blizzard.

And then I'm sitting there in traffic, a block from the office, and the car in front of me is not moving, despite having many opportunities to do so. I get out, run up and see that the driver, an old guy, is slumped over the steering wheel. I yank open the door and shake him, "Sir! Sir! Are you OK?" He wakes up. "Huh, wha ...? I'm fine. I was just resting."

Well, he was either drunk or having some kind of medical crisis. I told him he needed to pull out of traffic at the next street. Which he did, then did a U-turn and got right back on the road. This while I was on the phone with 911.

I was able to jump out of my car again and go after him (traffic wasn't really moving), but he refused to pull over again. The police and paramedics couldn't do anything, they said. But they put his license plate on their "Be on the lookout" list, whatever that means. Sheesh.

Oh and my friend Jenny turned out to be driving right behind me when all this was happening. Small – and weird – world.

My commute home only took 15 minutes. There are some good drifts but I don't think we got more than 6 inches at my house.

My poodle is dorky, too

Schmutz on the cellphone camera lens gives this the soft focus of an '80s Glamour Shot.

Sophie is not thrilled to wear my old sweater, but when her teeth are chattering even indoors, drastic measures are necessary. She's like a little old lady who needs a coat even in the middle of summer.

If it's cold out

You can blame me. I scheduled Sophie's spring chop for today, which means the temps will plummet tomorrow.
Poor thing. The groomer has not really grasped the importance of head-to-body proportion. My dog looks like a poodle bobble-head.

This photo is from my cellphone. All I had time for on another crazy-busy day.

Out and about

I hate going to the dog park on the weekends. Too many people, too many dogs, too many people with dogs they can't control.
But when it's threatening to snow, the riffraff stays home. "Hooray!" yells Leo.
Sophie was a little more subdued, but happy to take deep whiffs of whatever was wafting on the brisk breeze.
The water in the ponds is really low. Guess who went wading in the stinky mud?
I tried doing another portrait. Again, not great. But they're all in one spot for the moment.
Now we're home again. They had some dinner, and I need to wash Leo's feet more thoroughly. Peeeeeee-ewwww.

"Now with extra poodles!"

Lannie and Leo are sojourning with me for a few days. I wanted to get a quick shot of them as I dragged them around the block before work. But posing three dogs presents problems. First, you have to get them all to stay still.
OK, that didn't work very well. I turned them around and tried it facing the other way.
Better, but with the sun behind them, Sophie's just a black blob.

No time to try again today, but I'm sure I'll find an opportunity tomorrow.

I spy

But Sophie doesn't.
Wow, talk about super-fabulous weather! Warm and sunny all week, and reportedly this trend will continue, thanks to La Niña. Really, I should be concerned about our declining snowpack (Denver's main source of water), but it's hard to complain about such nice days.

Sophie's due to get her winter coat removed in a couple of weeks. We'll probably have a deep freeze and three feet of snow the next day. Meanwhile, we're out walking and seeing what we can see. Or in Sophie's case, smelling what she can smell.

And as I've noted, the bees are out, too:
I hope spring comes soon for you, too!

Deaf as a doorbell

The doorbell needed new batteries. As you can see, it's a clunky old model but it still functions pretty well. And when the volume is turned up, it's loud.

An apt metaphor for my aged poodle, who's a bit on the creaky side but still pretty functional. And loud when she wants to convey her needs ("Jerky! NOW!").

Alas, the dog who used to bark at the sound of a doorbell even on the radio in the car is no longer quite as in tune:

Poodle fun

For once I happened to have the day off when a poodle meetup was happening. I love to go see all the poodles, even if Sophie doesn't really care much about playing with other dogs anymore.
She was the shaggiest dog there! But not much inclined to mingle.

Cindy, the organizer, made up little treat bags, and each poodle had to do a trick of some kind to "win" one, be it as simple as a sit-stay for Petey:
Or as complex as a game of tic-tac-toe for Inca:
But really, there were enough treats for everyone – we all came stocked with full pockets. And every moocher knew it.
A treat also helped keep the interest of Sebastian, the youngest attendee at seven months, as I snapped his picture with Sophie, the oldest.
Poodles are the best!

Crime scene

Sophie scans the scene for the perpetrator of this nefarious crime and hopes she won't be framed for it.

Still oblivious

Still fluffy

Sophie has decided to forgive me for the grooming torture. Though her face itches.

It was about 12 degrees out yesterday when we went for a walk, but the abundant sunshine made it all right. Once you've gone through a South Dakota winter with a puppy, anything above zero is a piece of cake.

That's Sophie at about 10 months with a snow-covered snoot in Aberdeen, S.D. You can tell she still had puppy fur then. She needed it!

So 13 years later we come full circle to shaggy.
While we were out walking, we passed that empty lot whose scraping-off I documented.
Well, well. It's for sale again. Looks like the builders who bought and scraped have given up on it. The neighbors had told me the lot was not big enough for a duplex, but the sign shows two addresses, so I'm guessing it is indeed zoned R2. No idea what they're asking for it. It went for $340K last time.