I love my new Canadian home. I’m Noushka, the three legged Shepherd who arrived from Lebanon back in January and I’m happy to say that I am officially a Canadian citizen as of tonight. I was officially adopted by my last foster home, and I’m here to stay.
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.
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.
I’m JayJay the two year old Poodle, and I’ve been around for about a month already. I’ve been in a foster home since my arrival, but unfortunately I’m now looking for a new one.
The reason has nothing to do with me, that’s just how the cookie crumbles. I’m a great little guy but can be quite barky, as most Poodles are, so a foster home with now immediate neighbors would be best.
Ideally I would need a new place by this week-end or I may end up at Sophie’s with the big Boy who doesn’t like yippie dogs.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Sophie does it once again! She has found me, Jika, a foster home by the end of the week-end as she had hoped. This will limit the further confusion of moving back “home” for a few days, moving into a foster home, to then move again into a permanent home.
As well, it will be less emotional for everyone and will be less time consuming to continue working on my issues with one foster home.
My week-end away was very positive as my evaluation and assessment showed, once again, that I am a great girl and have allot of potential for working through my leash aggression.
This new foster home knows Shelties, has learned through Sophie how to be alpha and show me who’s in charge so I should keep getting better during my stay with them.
I’m looking for a permanent home who will know how to keep me structured and level headed so that I continue to grow and learn how to become a model citizen while out on walks.
Despite this minor setback when encountering other dogs on leash, I really do enjoy the company of other dogs in an off leash environment. I do play in a bit of a dominant way, could be perceived as a bit of a bully if they ignore me but will back off if other dogs get annoyed by me.
Because I’m a new arrival, if I was to find a permanent home shortly, it would be better to be in a family with no children. Hopefully, as my training goes along it will help determine if I in fact like kids.
What I can tell you is that during my week-end, I got to meet 9 different cats and was great with all. I tried annoying the family Pitbull, he told me off and I totally respected him. He was the pack leader and made sure I knew where my place was. What a gentle man he was, he was very polite in explaining the rules and with a smile like his how could you not respect him.
My name is Fritz 2, I’m a two year old Wiener dog (Daschund) who came to Sophie’s Dog Adoption after snapping at the family kids.
I got pretty lucky because I went to a foster home who was looking to adopt one of us sausage dogs. So after two weeks in my foster home, they decided that I was a keeper.
I was officially adopted tonight and have become the newest family member. I even have a new sister who looks just like me, you could think we were twins.
I’m so happy and love them all so much.
A big thank you to Mylo and Erika for the fundraising to honor his birthday and five years with Erika.
The total donations collected brought in close to $1,500.
Sophie wishes to thank as well all the generous people who donated in Mylo’s name in order to help her continue giving other dogs a real chance.
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.
This is Youshi the young Yorkie mix who was recently adopted. I have a new name, Henry, and a wonderful new family who adores me.
They just sent Sophie and update to tell her that I am absolutely perfect for them. I had a few accidents in the beginning, but I have taken on to the routine and adjusted to my new life very quickly. They give me daily exercise, structure, discipline and of course lots of love. I have proven to be very mellow and a charm to be around. They don’t understand how two families could of given me up.
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.
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”.
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.
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.
Hi I’m Jameka, the black Chihuahua found as a stray out near Laval. It sure looks like in fact dumped there, because no one seemed to look for me.
It doesn’t matter, because I already found a wonderful home. I now have a new (sister), Emmy, who is a Japanese Spaniel. I have lots of beds around the house to choose from as well a bunch of new toys to play with. I really hope to grow old in my new home.
I feel like a million bucks. This is Boy, the big hairy boy. Sophie took me to the do-it-yourself grooming place to wash, brush and detangle all that wiry orange hair that covers me from head to toe. It took almost two full hours but I am absolutely stunning and no longer smell like a dog. By the way, I only weight 90lbs. So later in the day, feeling fresh and clean, she decided to see how I really do with other dogs since I am known to have leash aggression.
She took me to a quiet dog park which had only a handful of dogs present (of course muzzled and with the permission of the people who were in the park with their dogs at that time). It turned out surprisingly well.
Here is how it went down: when I got out of the car in front of the park, of course I reacted as the dogs from the park all ran to the fence to check me out.
Sophie had to control me and make me settle down, which can be a bit of a challenge, but doable. I the went into the park and started having a good old time running, chasing, playing, sniffing etc… but one little dog got really scared of me and started running around, screeching at the top of his lungs, which got all the dogs to come and see what was going on.
A protective Shepherd came around to protect his little buddy and put his paw over me, looking to dominate me. Since I was muzzled, Sophie decided it was time to leave as I had no defense if the rest of the pack teamed up on me.
The results, as per Sophie’s observations to my body language and reaction, were successful. Of course more sessions will be needed, but from the get-go, she was pretty sure that I have no real aggression, I just over react on leash when I see another dog.
Well I’m Petey, the two year old Chihuahua mix and I was one of the first dogs posted on Sophie’s new and improved website. I was looking for a foster home while my regular foster home went on vacation, or better yet, I was hoping to find a permanent home. Unfortunately, neither of those dreams happened during the two weeks, so I was stuck at Sophie’s with the gang.
Luckily for me, however, my original foster home is now back from vacation and were very excited to take me back but were sad to know I was not adopted.
You see, the big problem is that they are moving out of the province at the end of this month, so will be unable to keep fostering me.
So the emphasis is on finding that wonderful forever home by the 30th of August. I would really do best in a quiet home, maybe with retired people or couple with no kids, as I am still quite fearful of strangers and quick movements, so that can make me snappy at times. On the flip side, I am extremely cuddly, loving and affectionate. I will be the perfect little companion, I just need to find the right match.
