Sophie

Adoption Profile

Background

Sophie was originally rescued by Amy with Tilcho Animal Care Society (TACS). When they first met, Sophie followed Amy to her workplace and waited outside for eight hours until Amy returned—at which point Amy brought her into TACS care and personally fostered her. During that time, Amy described Sophie as soft, goofy, and incredibly loving.

After her stay with TACS, Sophie was transferred to GEARS. Unfortunately, her foster placement there did not work out, and she spent a year in an outdoor kennel where she made many friends—including her best friend, Rickie, also part of the TACS/GEARS collaboration.

Snow Dogs was eventually contacted to help place Sophie, and during her first six weeks in their care, she made tremendous progress. Her indoor manners quickly returned, and she stole her initial foster’s heart.

Description

Sophie is an incredibly sweet, affectionate girl. While she does have the ability to be zoomy and energetic, she actually thrives best in a calm, steady household where she can release her energy in healthy bursts. She benefits from some support when settling after excitement.

She bonds deeply and loyally to her person—Sophie would move heaven and earth for the human she loves. She is not highly food-motivated, but she is very praise-motivated and adores verbal encouragement. Sophie is also talkative and playful, often “chatting” with her humans in the most endearing ways.

Her love language is snuggles and kisses. Once you earn the famous Sophie plop and a face full of kisses, you know you’ve won her heart.

Sophie is still adjusting to household life and wants very much to protect and love her person. She is eager to work through her challenges and will give you all her affection along the way.

🐾 Dog Friendly

• Generally yes, but she does not seem to enjoy very submissive dogs

• Can get a bit jealous when attention is shared

• Has done well with some smaller dogs

• Has shown reactivity toward larger dogs on walks—unclear if fear-based or excitement-based

• Has lived successfully with several dogs before

🐱 Cat Friendly / Prey Drive

• Has lived with cats—was not quite friendly, but not aggressive

• Shows some prey drive

• Mild chase/play drive toward cats; no witnessed aggression

• Will chase rabbits, birds, etc.

  • Not suited for rural homes with poultry

• Has shown promising signs of being trainable in this area

👧 Kid Friendly

• Extremely friendly with children

🦮 Leash Skills

• Minor pulling that responds to correction

• Will pull excessively if she sees something to chase

🚻 House Trained

• Yes

🍖 Food & Training

Food Behaviours:

• Mild food guarding around other animals (none with humans)

• Gets very excited at mealtime

• Not strongly food-motivated

Training Needs:

• Recall (currently improving; responds well to a sports whistle)

• Reactivity training (dogs, vehicles)

• Resource guarding work

• Prey-drive management

• Leash manners

• Not jumping up

Training Strengths:

• Very trainable

• Clicker trained

• Kennel trained (helps her self-regulate)

• Has some foundational guardian-dog training: alerts and investigates but does not engage

• Will hold your hand while walking if you let her — a very Sophie-specific charm

🚗 Vehicle Behaviour

• Very fearful of cars

• Benefits from a tether to remain calm

• Reacts to cars driving by

• With consistent, gentle training, she can improve

🐾 Other Behaviours to Note

• Has anxiety, high emotional sensitivity, and some fear reactivity

  • Requires a firm but gentle approach with training and corrections

• Highly capable of learning and excelling in many tasks and roles

• Requires a secure, fenced yard

• Has shown signs of property-guarding tendencies

• Will thrive best in a calm home environment, which helps her regulate and feel safe