Top Dawg

Since Gracie passed away last month, we have been a little worried about Sofie. We've always thought she was older than Gracie, maybe by a year or two. (And we've always hypothesized that she might have had a litter of puppies before we got her, but we don't know that for sure.)

For the first week or so after Gracie died, Sofie didn't want to go too far on her walks. In fact, Mary told me she would dig in before losing sight of the house, constantly looking back for something. This could have been the new routine, walking without the other dog, but Sofie also has a little arthritis in her paws that probably make walking painful.

We've had another recent change in her routines as well - Mary took a new job downtown and isn't here for a mid-day break. So we have hired a walker.

At first, Sofie wasn't very responsive to this; it took a while. She might not leave the deck in the back when our walker was here, for example. It just took her some time to get used to the change.

This week the walker left a note. He said that now Sofie will go down into the yard when he asks her too, or that she will come with him for a short walk. She also now greets him at the door.

That's a relief. We know she grieved for a while too after Gracie, but like we are, she's coming around.