Thank you everyone for your kind words. She was a very special dog. I seem to have been talking about her a lot on here lately... see Bastard Dog and My dog killed a vole threads. :)
She was a Labrador/Curly Coated Retriever cross. The result of her Mum climbing a 12 foot chain link fence to get away from the stud dog and turning up at the farm down the road with their black lab. She was the first dog we got as a family. I'd grown up surrounded by dogs and wanted the same for my kids but my husband's family had only had cats and he wasn't very keen. He agreed to go and see the puppies on the understanding that if he didn't like them we wouldn't get one. I think he fell in love with her in about two seconds flat and he made me drive home so that he could cuddle the puppy.
She had all the intelligence of a Curly combined with the craziness of a Lab. She was a fine guard dog and took her warning duties very seriously. She loved the boys to bits. They were 5 and 7 when we got her and very quickly she was their best friend and playmate.
She was a dreadful thief, a shredder of anything soft and rippable, a terrible digger, the garden resembles a re-enactment of the Battle of the Somme and as she got older there were an awful lot of dogs that she hated on sight. Her favourite pass-times were swimming and rolling in fox shit. She also got me in trouble with the law for the only time in my life. The whole story is on the vole killing thread but long story short, she loved chasing swans and so we were always careful around the river. One freezing day in November we were playing frisbee when a swan flew in and landed on the river. Soph took off after it, I had to wade into the river to get her back and the swan lost a few feathers. Someone phoned the police and we were charged with having a dog out of control in a public place. The day it went to Court the case was dropped and the Police had to pay all costs but it was a really scary time.
When she was a year old she had her first season and then a phantom pregnancy. This was just about over when we got Teazle, a pure bred Curly. Sophie immediately adopted the puppy and looked after her like a mother. They were adorable together. A year and a half after that we got a six month old Golden Retriever, Bracken. He was completely unsocialised and although both girls beat him up regularly and stole all his toys, they also taught him how to be a dog and were prepared to put up with his obnoxious teenagerness. He became Sophie's best buddy. They slept curled around each other and spent hours biting at each others mouths while making noises like bull seals. The three of them were inseparable and got up to all sorts of naughtiness. One memorable Christmas they managed to open the fridge and eat everything. There was also the time they ate a sack of raw rice and pebble-dashed the Utility Room! When Bracken died from cancer of the spleen, aged only 6, she was devastated and really depressed for ages.
She was my tireless walking companion, covering at least 4 times the distance I did with her running backwards and forwards and sniffing everywhere. Whatever I was doing she wanted to be there. Laundry won't be the same without her 'helping'. She shed astonishing amounts of hair and when her allergies were playing up and her ears were itchy she would scratch they until they bled and then shake her head, making the room look like a scene from Dexter.
In later years she developed a heart problem and had cancer in her ears which made her totally deaf and when Teazle died in September we didn't think Soph would be far behind her. The arrival of Rain, otherwise known as Pupiranha, gave her a new lease of life. Hating on the stupid puppy clearly gave her something to get up for in a morning. It was hilarious how the puppy would chase her and she'd run away, protesting loudly, but if pup got sidetracked and stopped she'd come back to find out why she wasn't being chased any more.
Her eyesight was deteriorating badly by now and what had been thought to be a fatty lump on her hip began to grow at an alarming rate and was affecting her walking. Over the last month the cancer in her ears grew fast and she had some kind of growth in her throat and began to have difficulty swallowing. Her back legs were failing and her breathing was very ragged and the vet said that fluid was building up around her heart. She could no longer get up stairs and even lying down was becoming uncomfortable so we decided that it was time for her final trip to the vets.
She loved the puppy treats we were using for clicker training Rain but wasn't allowed them as she was allergic and they made her so itchy she would chew her paws bloody and scratch her ears off. She could not believe her luck when she was being given them by the handful at the vets and was still grabbing for more as the injection took effect. She was a very special dog and will be hugely missed.
Lord that was an essay! Pictures on my profile if they've worked. :)