It's a wonderful life!

[Elizabeth]

Hello friends! This is a long one....
I sit here with a ball of fluff lying next to me. I apologize for not writing sooner. It has been a busy three weeks for us.
It's a wonderful life for Sophie girl! Seven weeks ago Don and I brought home Sophie to foster. As many of you know, her surgery was December 1st. the surgery was a success (as of her last appointment when they allowed the cone to come off). We quickly fell in love with her and became "failed foster parents".

Tomorrow will mark 4 weeks since her surgery, and let me tell you, a day in the life of Sophie is full of discoveries. People watching and squirrel watching has not grown old yet. I"m pretty sure it never will. She has found her spot on our couch where she can lay looking out to the front yard. We had to teach her that it was not ok to jump up onto the window to look out- she would run and jump with so much force we were convinced the window would break! Now, when she sees something outside, she will go to her spot to see out the window.

The snow has been fun for Sophie- she enjoys buring her ball in the snow and finding it again. One thing we discovered, is that she loves to rip apart snowballs! My husband began making a snowman and Sophie would have none of that! She jumped on the big balls of snow and did everything to break them. No snowman for us!
Sophie is still the same girl she was presurgery- but now we get to see her come out of her shell. She would play ball in the backyard much the same as she does now- batting it around like a cat with her paws going crazy.. Before the surgery she would loose the ball when it was an inch from her face. Now, she never loses it and bats the ball all over the yard.

There are really no "downsides" to her having her sight, but certain things are much more difficult that they were before. For example, she is now easily distracted. When other dogs are in sight- it is very difficult to get her to listen. Before, she would not know that there was a dog or a squirrel running around in the neighbors yard- and if she did, she didn't care- she was focused primarily on us. However, now she is ready and looking for anything new and interesting. We plan on enrolling her in an obedience class to work on her consistency and socializing with other dogs. I am excited, but somewhat nervous of our first trip to Petsmart. I am not sure how she will act.

She loves to be loved! She loves attention and will do anything to get it. Today we were playing with our new Wii videogame we got for christmas- Sophie brought her toys downstairs one by one to intice us to pay attention to her. She would squeak them and set them on our laps as if to say- "don't forget about me, I'm here, right here, and look at my awesome toy, I'll let you play if you want!"

Sophie was certainly loved this Christmas. On Christmas evening she learned to unwrap presents given to her. "Grandma Kiserow" had a three toys for her to unwrap. I have never seen her so excited, I'm pretty sure she thought it was the best day ever! She even got a 3foot long bone- You should have seen the look on her face when she saw that one!

It's been an amazing adventure so far. My husband and I adore this girl. Don and I are going to treasure every second we have with her. From getting her "nummies" to "outside?" to snuggling on the couch- we will always be greatful to Second Chance Rescue for introducing our girl to us, and to everyone that donated to give Sophie her sight. She sure does love being able to see!

Her next follow up apointment is tomorrow. We will find out tomorrow how well she is doing! I pray that everything is alright and on schedule. We give her drops four times per day and she still has restricted activity. Hopefully we will be able to bring her around other dogs and play fetch soon!

Love,
Don, Liz, and Sophie

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

Oh Liz, I love hearing "The Adventures of Sophie the Wonder Dog." She has a special place in my heart. I am a "Failed Foster" Mom, too. Isn't it amazing how good "failure" feels.

Give her time to adjust to her "new" world. Once it becomes routine, she will settle down. Keep these stories coming, I love them.