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Sophie’s Dog Adoption – Reunion 2010!

Please join us in celebrating 16 years of dog rescue, and Sophie’s upcoming 50th birthday!

The Annual reunion party is taking place at Percy Walters Park for all of Sophie’s dogs and their families.

Saturday & Sunday, September 11th & 12th

Starting @ 1:00 pm

At Percy Walters Park

(Located on Dr. Penfield Avenue, between Redpath & Simpson streets)

Hope to see you all there.

Tyson 4 – In September

Please someone come through for me… I’m getting restless, stressed out, extremely bored and depressed. Sophie came to spend some time with me today and she noticed how much muscle mass I have lost as I’m not getting any exercise.

Sophie is really sad to see me in this situation but she’s helpless right now. There is no way I can return to her place as the city inspector tried to reach her again this week asking for proof of my execution, to which she replied she would go to jail before killing me based on that crazy letter he pulled out of his …

Im in a very safe place right now but this is the best she can do. If funds were available, she could find me a nice boarding facility where I would get playtime, long walks, daily exercise and people to hug and kiss me.

ACDC

Remember the Beagle found on Mount-Royal? Well that’s me and nobody seems to be looking for me. I’ve been named ACDC, as when I was found, I had part of an electrical cord still tied to my collar.

I’m about two years old, my grandpa may have been a Bassett Hound since I have a very deep voice. I’m very well socialized, well behaved, friendly with people, enjoy the company of other dogs (but a little dominant as I’m not fixed yet) and very street wise.

When I ride in the car I love to stand on the door and have my whole head out the window letting my ears flap in the wind. I’ve been good with the gang at Sophie’s and I’m now looking for a foster home and will be going up for adoption by next week if I’m still “lost”.

Levi 3

I’m Levi 3, a stunning five year old male Shepherd and after being adopted two years ago by what Sophie thought would turn out to be a wonderful family for me, I was given one hour to be picked up by Sophie or my family was bringing me to the SPCA.

You see, I’m a Shepherd and therefore very protective of my home and family. They knew this when they adopted me and had told Sophie they would work on this to make me more accepting of people entering my house. However, despite the numerous attempts to offer help and guidance, they claimed that the issue was getting resolved, that I was a wonderful boy and in fact didn’t mind this protective side of me.

Unfortunately my family split up and a new girlfriend came into the home. I’m not sure exactly what went wrong, but this new girlfriend called Sophie’s Dog Adoption tonight, claiming I had bit someone and if she did not take me back immediately they would bring me to the SPCA and ask that I be euthanized.

You can bet Sophie got in her car and I am now safe and sound. Thankfully she was not going to let this new girlfriend who obviously didn’t like me let my Dad have me killed because he didn’t know or care enough to work with me. You know what? I really didn’t like this new chick anyway I deserve better than that. So please give me my 3rd and final home, work with me on this over protective issue on my turf and I will be your most loyal, faithful companion.

Augustina

I’m Augustina a three month old black Labrador, I arrived at Sophie’s Dog Adoption early this morning. I’m not sure how I ended up alone on a country road out in the middle of no where as I was probably sleeping when I was dumped by whoever brought me out there.

I’m not sure why someone did this to me, but I assume it may have to do with small warts that are appearing all over my little body.

So when the “dog catcher” in Huntingdon caught me, he knew he couldn’t bring me to the local pound as it would be an automatic death sentence. You see, in Quebec dog pounds, if you have any booboos, illnesses or injuries you become a death row inmate but your misery doesn’t end until your death sentence arrives. You never get to see a vet to make you feel better, you just sit in a cage until the vet is scheduled to put you out of your misery or worst yet stick you in a gas chamber.

As I arrived on a Sunday, I will be going to the vet tomorrow to see what it is, but Sophie is pretty sure it will not be anything serious. Obviously I now need a foster home, one with no pets in case these little warts are contagious (which in most cases often are). Of course all medication and treatments needed will be supplied to the foster home.

Continue reading Augustina

Raymond & Raynelle

Raymond & Raynelle back at Sophie’s until someone can take us in. We spent two days with someone who started teaching us stairs, going outside and we’re attempting walking on a leash.

We’re both growing, are becoming very playful but that also means we are becoming a handful. Ideally we would still need to be fostered together, unless two foster homes with adult dogs who can teach us the ropes could be good as well.

Found on the Mountain (Mount-Royal)

Beagle found on Mount-Royal, alone in the wooded area, at around 3 or 4 this afternoon. The dog was brought to Sophie as this is the Berger Blanc sector. Sophie hopes to reunite this dog with the family as she has no available foster homes and will have to remain in limbo at Sophie’s.

If you think this is your dog please contact info@sophiesdogadoption.com or call 514-523-5052 with details such as, sex, age, name, weight, particular markings (colors) and if the dog was wearing anything around his neck.

Shadow – Paws for Life

Sophie’s Dog Adoption is tired of rescuing people from the clutches of Paws for Life. Since Melissa Di Stefano has started her lucrative business of reselling dogs from pounds and or puppies from puppymills under the name of Paws for Life almost three years ago, Sophie has been receiving calls from frantic people whose hearts went out to these “dogs on death row” that she has posted all over the net.

The problem these people face is they are getting a dog directly from unknown pounds whom absolutely no one knows anything about, have not been seen by a vet and many have parasites and some end up having behavioral issues that these people don’t know how to deal with.

Unfortunately, despite their numerous attempts to reach Melissa and or her staff / volunteers, they either get no response for weeks at a time or are told to tough it out until… And that’s where it usually ends until they call Sophie to the rescue.

Shadow is another perfect example, the woman who is stuck with this dog and has asked Sophie for help is now receiving threats from Melissa that they will charge her with theft if she does not KEEP this dog (in heat, very dominant, and very intimidating for this poor woman who is totally inexperienced).

Any suggestions from anyone out there to help with this particular situation is welcomed.

Shadow has been with this woman for a month now with no help from Paws for Life. Sophie went over to bring her a crate, toys, food and a decent leash as none was supplied.

This Paws for Life dog is a Weimaraner mix according to them. :D

Update: Further to an email from Shadow’s foster home to Paws for Life demanding that Shadow be picked up at 6pm tonight or else she would be surrendered to Sophie’s Dog Adoption by 6:30pm, we are happy to say that Paws for Life took their responsibility seriously and actually sent a couple of guys to pick her up at 6pm. So Shadow is safe and sound in the hands of her rescuers, Paws for Life.

Update 2: Following the post about Shadow – Paws for Life, Melissa has decided to take legal action against Sophie for alleged defamation and derogatory comments concerning her business practices.

The post and comments will not be removed…

Update 3: Sophie’s reply.

Zulu

I’m Zulu, a small framed, 18 month old, goofy looking Cane Corso male who was “imported” from Italy to compete as a show dog.

The plans changed with in the year, as running around to make me Best in Show would have been time consuming for my owner.

Having a busy life, he no longer has time for his dream nor to give me the kind of life I really need, so I’m looking for a new home.

Sophie came to meet me tonight and her first assessment is that I’m a very good teenager. I’m very mellow, well behaved and friendly, I didn’t try to eat Little Sue who tried to bite my nose off because I really like other dogs.

I don’t seem to pay much attention towards cats on the street so that would make it easy to introduce me to family cats.

Update: Zulu is presently on hold, as the owners neighbor who has been taking care of him will not relinquish him back to his owner.

Raymond & Raynelle

Hello big world! We are Raymond and Raynelle, also referred to as the “twins” by Sophie. We are the only two of the seven Rays still looking for a temporary foster home together. We have been at Sophie’s since Saturday but someone is taking us for a few days to give her a break.

We are cute as a button, Raymond weighs around 12lbs and Raynelle about 9lbs and we are only eight weeks old.

We are hoping to find a foster home by Saturday who can keep us together two or three weeks.

Tyson 4 – 33 days in hiding

Well it’s been 33 days, and Sophie got a call today saying that I was starting to really stress out. If I stay here any longer, I may start to develop some issues that I don’t have. My one and only problem so far has been with other dogs.

If someone doesn’t come through soon, it will just get worse for my chances at a life, since stress like this only leads to insanity. And who will want an insane Pitbull?

The other option to a foster home, would be a change of scenery, such as a nice boarding facility that could give me individual playtime and long walks (of course with a muzzle).

A third option, if I have to remain here, would be an experienced person who could take me out for nice long walks on a daily or regular basis.

Of course those last two options require more money, which at this point is not available. So I’m stressing out, Sophie is stressing out, bringing me back to her place is not an option as the inspector would most definitely love to get his hands on me and have me euthanized, especially after this streak of media attention surrounding Pitbulls. Sophie is at a real loss at this point and needs your help to help me.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, open your home or your wallet to get me out of here.

I received this cute card with a $50 donation today and words of encouragement and it made me happy to see people care.

Continue reading Tyson 4 – 33 days in hiding

Tucker’s final hour – R.I.P

My name was Tucker, and I’m now in a better place. My final hour was spent with Sophie and her son Rick as they were rushing me to the vet in a desperate attempt to save my life.

I, unfortunately lived through seven years of misery and neglect, which took it’s toll on me. I was the skinniest, most skeletal dog that Sophie has ever rescued in 15 years. I was down to barely 25lbs, when I should have weighed closer to 60lbs.

My story is not very clear, but goes something like this: I lived with a junkie who totally neglected me, an acquaintance of his, after meeting me, knew he had to do something but wasn’t sure what, since us poor dogs have no rights. Just trying to get any kind of authorities involved, and knowing that Berger Blanc would have been my final destination, he decided to force the guy to surrender me to him. In the beginning I was putting a little weight on, getting a little muscle back, was starting to play and had hopes for a new life. However the damage done was probably too much and in the last two days was unable to hold my food down. My “savior” tried and tried by feeding me small quantities, but it didn’t work.

The last day, I got so weak he knew something was really wrong, yet a series of blood tests had been done so he knew I had no illnesses.

He left a comment on this website asking for advice to give me back some appetite and strength, but as I got weaker he decided to leave a voice message with Sophie. Upon arrival she heard a message from a distraught, crying young man and realized the urgency of the situation.

Being the optimist that she is, she was fairly sure that she would be able, with the help of her vet, to put me back on my feet. She rushed as fast as she could, during rush hour, to get to me and was blown away when she saw me. Her optimism took a dive as she right away estimated my chances to be 10 to 20%.

She wrapped me in a blanket, put me in the car and rushed back from Pointes-Aux-Trembles to Verdun, unfortunately I was too weak. I tried to lift my head to look at her, couldn’t hold it up, put it back down and gave my final breath half way to the vet.

I will always remember that kind face and sweet words as she was telling me to hang in there. I’m glad that I was with her in my last moments rather than a place like the Berger Blanc.

I know that even though we met for a brief time, she will never forget me.

Juno

I’m Juno, a Husky Shepherd mix who was adopted about two years ago from the SPCA when I was between 8 months and a year. I’m now about two and half years old, an extremely active, dominant female, who requires a lot of exercise.

I’m a very smart and clever dog. I’ve been through obedience training and know all of the basic commands. I walk well on leash and stay close off leash. I spend lots of time outdoors and I enjoy all sorts of adventures.

I have two winters of skijorring and dogsledding experience and love to pull. I’m very loyal and follow my family around the property while they work outside. I really just want to be with people that I know. That being said I’m very unpredictable around strange people (especially males) and dogs.

I have a history of both human and dog aggression and I show no signs before attacking. In typical Husky fashion, I can switch from wagging my tale to an aggressive lunge in a split second. I’m a high maintenance dog that requires an experienced owner that has time to exercise me and work with me. I truly believe that I have the potential to become a balanced dog as I mature, because I have already come a long way since I was originally adopted.

Continued reading from page 1

Unfortunately after all the work and efforts, I’m definitely not for a family with children. And that’s where the problem comes in. My family is at a time in their lives where little humans are the next planned step and that will never be possible with me around.

They do not want to wait until baby is on the way as they know I will be a challenge to find a home for.

Being the responsible parents they have always been to my brother Koda (adopted through Sophie’s Dog Adoption) and myself, they have decided to start helping me find the right home so everyone’s future can go in the right direction. They do not want to be waiting till the last minute. It is devastating for them but the best for their future children’s safety.

Chestnut

Today Sophie got multiple calls about a lost dog and she is really hoping to reunite him with his family who is devastated.

Yesterday morning a 2 and a half year old Cocker Spaniel named Chestnut got lost running from Mountain Sights towards Powell street in TMR. He slipped out of his collar therefore has nothing around his neck and is a very frightened, fearful dog. Because of his fear he could easily bite if you approach him or grab him, so the best thing to do if you see him is try to lure him into an enclosed area such as a yard, inside a car, and enclosed porch and keep him there until someone can pick him up.

He will come towards other dogs in a friendly way so this could be a way to lure him back to your backyard or house and call to have someone pick him up.

If found or spotted, call Sophie at 514-998-7830 leaving a detailed message (if you do not reach anyone) and arrangements will be made to pick him up within the hour. There is a $1,000 dollar reward for his return.

Tiger 2

Better late than never! I’m Tiger 2 the five year old Poodle and I’m finally getting out of Sophie’s place for a few weeks. I’m taking Jika’s place in that foster home until September 7th, at which time I will need again a new foster home.

During this two week period, the foster mom will work with me on socialization, fearfulness, leash walking etc… and also give me structure and sense of security that I have been trying to achieve since I was rescued from that miserable life back in January.

Help spread the word to help me find someone by September 7th to adopt or foster me on a longer term basis. What I need most right now is stability.

Sunshine & The 7 Rays

Today was a rainy day, but me Sunshine and four of my little Rays came back to Montreal and brightened up Sophie’s day. I am looking beautiful, have gained weight and finally look healthy. My puppies are growing really well and have gotten quite big already.

They are about eight weeks old and the five of us came back to start the next phase, new foster homes.

Raylee is staying up in Ste-Adele to be fostered with the family dogs and possibly adopted.

Rayann and Raylen have arrived in Montreal a few days ago and are being fostered by our first foster home, who is thinking of adopting Rayann.

Rayven is being fostered in a home who adopted a wonderful Pitbull a few years back from Sophie’s Dog Adoption, and is looking to possibly adopt him as well.

Rayko and my self (Sunshine) are being fostered by someone with no pets, so I’m the one who will be socializing him and teaching him good dog behavior. The talk is that I could be “the one” for my foster mom so my goal is to be the best possible dog she will ever meet in hopes that she will adopt me and my search for a home will end there.

So here is the status update: Rayko, who is with me, is looking for a permanent home as well as Raylen who is being fostered with his sister (Rayann).

My little ones still in limbo are Raynelle and Raymond. Those two most probably take after dad or his side of the family, as they are the only two that are white and brindled. They they are the only two still in need of a foster home (together) as they are stuck at Sophie’s until then. It’s a good place, but not the right environment for my two little darlings as Ginger, Little Sue and Taco (her grumpy old Chihuahua) are never nice to puppies. Boy is quite pleased with their arrival, but I’m not sure that I really want him to be a father figure and teach them socialization and good dog behavior. So please come through for my little angles and offer them a roof over their heads so they don’t turn into a “Boy” or “Ginger”.

Boy & Ginger

Here I am again, the Boy who’s still hoping to find that foster home. Last night started really well. With my new clean look and friendly attitude with the gang, Sophie decided to take me along for a friendly little family snack and then playtime at the park with Little Sue, Ginger and Rocket who’s spending the weekend with us.

We all went and shared fries on a terrace and it was wonderful, we all sat nicely together waiting our turn for a fry. Sophie was really proud of me sharing food next to Ginger and Little Sue, without a muzzle, as I never even showed a tooth to either of them.

Later on we picked up Rocket and all headed off to the dog park in Old Montreal, figuring it would be empty at that time. We got there and in fact were all alone, so we all entered the park (without my muzzle on) and were having a blast.

Ginger, for those who don’t know her, is Rick’s (Sophie’s son) little “Witchihuahua”. She is the most adorable little thing, about the size of my nose, and the most vicious little dog anyone has ever met. She showed me teeth, she’s lunged at me, she crinkled up her whole face at me again and again, yet I like the little thing.

Rick left to get a ball from the car to throw around, but left his little Princess with all of us at the park. You have to know that she sticks to him like glue. So here we were trotting, sniffing, playing, Little Sue and Rocket were being themselves (macho little dudes) and I was just doing my thing, enjoying the park, but made the huge mistake of sniffing Miss Ginger’s butt, and that totally insulted her.

She turned around and crinkled up that little face to show me her teeth and walked away. Curiosity got the best of me and I had to follow her to see what she was really all about. I think she forgot who I was, saw a Yeti coming after her in her mind, and started running and screeching like a bat out of hell (kind of like that little white dog at the park the other night).

So just like that night, I started chasing her all around the park, Little Sue and Rocket got into the action acting like “Macho Man” and that freaked her out even more. She spotted Rick coming back to the park and made the mistake of running up to the fence, stopping there as though her savior had just arrived. Well, that gave me the upper hand and having no hands, I grabbed her with my mouth. She wouldn’t stop squawking while I was trying to get her to submit, so once Sophie got her out of my mouth, I had made a little puncture wound on her inner thigh.

Obviously, being the little actress that she is, she limped and squawked all the way to her daddy. She played the “broken dog routine” all night but after disinfecting and cleaning her boo boo up, she proved to be a very good actress. She pouted and wouldn’t let anyone near her that night (including Rick), took over his room for the night and basically played little martyr.

Guess what! Today she was jumping around for fries. So I’m not sure that we will be friends again, but I would like to. I really like that little thing. I’m really not a bad guy, I hope she will save me a fry as I’m usually in my room or on the balcony, separated from the gang, still waiting for a foster home that will share food with me.

Here I am again, the Boy who’s still hoping to find that foster home. Last night started really well. With my new clean look and friendly attitude with the gang, Sophie decided to take me along for a friendly little family snack and then playtime at the park with Little Sue, Ginger and Rocket who’s spending the weekend with us.

We all went and shared fries on a terrace and it was wonderful, we all sat nicely together waiting our turn for a fry. Sophie was really proud of me sharing food next to Ginger and Little Sue, without a muzzle, as I never even showed a tooth to either of them.

Later on we picked up Rocket and all headed off to the dog park in Old Montreal, figuring it would be empty at that time. We got there and in fact were all alone, so we all entered the park (without my muzzle on) and were having a blast.

Ginger, for those who don’t know her, is Rick’s (Sophie’s son) little “Witchihuahua”. She is the most adorable little thing, about the size of my nose, and the most vicious little dog anyone has ever met. She showed me teeth, she’s lunged at me, she crinkled up her whole face at me again and again, yet I like the little thing.

Rick left to get a ball from the car to throw around, but left his little Princess with all of us at the park. You have to know that she sticks to him like glue. So here we were trotting, sniffing, playing, Little Sue and Rocket were being themselves (macho little dudes) and I was just doing my thing, enjoying the park, but made the huge mistake of sniffing Miss Ginger’s butt, and that totally insulted her.

She turned around and crinkled up that little face to show me her teeth and walked away. Curiosity got the best of me and I had to follow her to see what she was really all about. I think she forgot who I was, saw a Yeti coming after her in her mind, and started running and screeching like a bat out of hell (kind of like that little white dog at the park the other night).

So just like that night, I started chasing her all around the park, Little Sue and Rocket got into the action acting like “Macho Man” and that freaked her out even more. She spotted Rick coming back to the park and made the mistake of running up to the fence, stopping there as though her savior had just arrived. Well, that gave me the upper hand and having no hands, I grabbed her with my mouth. She wouldn’t stop squawking while I was trying to get her to submit, so once Sophie got her out of my mouth, I had made a little puncture wound on her inner thigh.

Obviously, being the little actress that she is, she limped and squawked all the way to her daddy. She played the “broken dog routine” all night but after disinfecting and cleaning her boo boo up, she proved to be a very good actress. She pouted and wouldn’t let anyone near her that night (including Rick), took over his room for the night and basically played little martyr.

Guess what! Today she was jumping around for fries. So I’m not sure that we will be friends again, but I would like to. I really like that little thing. I’m really not a bad guy, I hope she will save me a fry as I’m usually in my room or on the balcony, separated from the gang, still waiting for a foster home that will share food with me.

Continue reading Boy & Ginger

Jika

Remember Jika the one year old Sheltie mix that Sophie went to work with? Well that’s me! Here I am looking for a foster and or forever home, as my “family” has decided that I am going to be too much for their life style and therefore may not be able to give me what I really need as far as exercise.

They have gone away for the week-end so I am staying in one of Sophie’s experienced part-time foster home who helps work on some of my foster buddies who may have issues. She has evaluated me as well, will continue the work with me during those two days and agrees with Sophie that I am very workable but have been under-socialized, under-exercised and definitely uneducated.

So with an Alpha person, experienced, knowledgeable, energetic and knows my type of breed can defiantly make me into the absolutely perfect little gal. I just need that chance to learn.

Ideally I’m looking for a foster home by Sunday as my “family” has gotten somewhat attached to me but knows that I am not the dog for them and would prefer I don’t return Sunday night as it will be to emotional to keep me until I get adopted.