Sofie has been with us for just over two weeks now. In that short time we have
seen a shy, neglected dog turn into a sweet, bouncy, devilish Beardie. Her story began
three weeks ago with a phone call to Diane Newman from a woman living near Lachute,
Quebec. She thought that Diane might be interested in buying her six year old bitch for
her 'breeding program'. She'd had the dog about a year and couldn't cope with her. This
was already her third home! Sofie was originally from Germany, and the woman had her
pedigree and registration papers. She had never been shown or bred and was not CKC
registered. She basically lived outside, tied up to a doghouse, and had not been groomed
nor seen a vet in the time she'd had her. The woman wanted several hundred dollars for her
and was determined to sell her. One of our fears was that an individual we know of in the
area that breeds unregistered Beardies with no health checks might get a hold of her. We
did not want Sofie to get into his hands!That's when Pierre Chevrier,
a new BCCC member, stepped in. Being able to reason with the woman in the French language,
he convinced her that breeding Sofie was not a good idea and that the BCCC would be more
than happy to help her out by finding a good home for Sofie. A donation of $100 from a
very kind 'non-Beardie owner, but Beardie lover' had been offered to the Club to help
spring Sofie. Pierre was able to talk the woman down to $100 and Sofie was ours! He then
drove a considerable distance to pick her up. She was a mess...a matted, sad, skinny mess,
but through all of the tangled, dirty unkempt coat he could see those beautiful, soulful
Beardie eyes. On his return, as I looked into the crate in the back of Pierre's van and
whispered 'Sofie' the tail started to twitch. Well that twitch has now turned into an all
out Beardie bum wiggle!! In fact, this morning she wagged her tail so enthusiastically
that she whacked herself in the eye!
Sofie was bathed and clipped (unfortunately the only option) then, a few days
later was spayed, had her teeth cleaned and an umbilical hernia repaired. She's in great
shape now, has gained a few pounds and her hair is slowly growing back. She's fitting
right in at our house too...she assisted Abby in the theft of a lemon cake off the counter
last week (her sticky lemon beard gave her away!).
It has been a wonderful experience having Sofie with us but it also shows, once
again, that there is a long way to go towards educating the public on responsible pet
ownership. We will miss her, but today she starts her new life with her new family not too
far away. It just happens to be Thanksgiving day! Sofie enjoy your turkey but please try
to stay away from the pumpkin pie!
Special thanks to Diane Newman for alerting us to Sofie's predicament, to
Pierre Chevrier for everything he did to make this rescue a success, and to our anonymous
rescue donor!
