Sophie Seager's Day Off

Sophie Seager was a full blooded, hard core Jack Russell Terrier. She prided herself on this fact, and therefore turned her nose up at all the other dogs in the park. She was more intelligent, could trick a squirrel into falling out of a tree simply by circling the tree and making it dizzy, and she only pooped in one corner, not all over the backyard like other lazy and disgusting common dogs.

Being a Jack Russell, Sophie was naturally very mischievous. It was the ways of her breed, but she thought she was one of the sneakier and smarter ones. How many times had she sneaked out from under the space in the fence and gone for jaunts around the neighborhood, without her humans suspecting a thing? In and out she'd go, and they'd never be the wiser.

It was so much fun. She did so many naughty things.

Like the time she walked up to the boss human male, who was watching golf, looked him in the eye, and pooped on the living room floor out of spite.

As they say, however, all good things must come to an end.

One day, one of the younger female humans received a phone call from the local veterinarian who explained they had Sophie in custody. On this day, Sophie had run into some neighborhood children, who assumed she was lost. She went into their house expecting treats, but it was a trap! She found herself staring out from behind bars. She was in jail! Well, only for about an hour, until one of the humans came to get her.

The older human female, the boss female, came to pick her up. She was not very pleased that Sophie had run off. Nevertheless, she couldn't stay mad at Sophie for long. She loved Sophie, as did the rest of the family, and Sophie had to admit she loved them too, and she was happy the boss female human had come and taken her home.

As much as she loved her humans, Sophie had more plans in store. More troublesome plans. It was just her way. 

On a rather warm Sunday in early March, one of the younger human females whom Sophie adored, but enjoyed playing tricks on, decided she'd take Sophie for a walk and then enjoy a relaxing afternoon on the patio of a local cafe while sipping coffee and reading her book.

This did not fly with Sophie. A walk, maybe, but she was not content to sit like the other dumb panting dogs who drooled lazily onto the cafe’s patio. She just didn't do that. It wasn't her style.

As soon as the female human set down her phone and purse on the cafe table, Sophie bolted. She broke free from the leash and attempted to flee.

To Sophie's horror, her human made an attempt to catch her by throwing herself to the ground and managed to grab onto her.

Sophie was slick though, and she wriggled free and took off with glee.

If you don't already know this, Jack Russell's are little speed demons. Sophie would tear across the backyard at the family home along the fence, racing the dogs on the other side. The yard was BIG. Yet Sophie tore along, never tiring, rebounding at the end of fence with her back legs, propelling herself forward, like a champion Olympic swimmer.

Basically, her human had no chance of catching her. She tried though, oh, she tried. She heard the frantic cries in the distance behind her.

"Sophie!"

"Sophie!"

"Sophie, no!"

Sophie was miles ahead of her human. She remembered with a smirk that her human was wearing flip flips. FLIP FLOPS. What a poor, poor choice of footwear.

Sophie raced around a church in the distance, her human panting and reaching that same church long after Sophie had already come and gone.

The few times she deigned to glance behind her, she noticed her human talking to other humans.

Soon her heard multiple cries, different voices.

"Sophie!"

"Sophie!"

"Sophie, cheese!"

Like she would fall for that. How dumb did they think she was? She knew her human had no cheese on her, and why would people out for walks have cheese?

Suddenly Sophie came to what other more mere dogs would consider a major obstacle. A busy roadway, the main boulevard into the neighborhood. Sophie glanced back; she could see her human watching her with horror. The cafe was so far away now that Sophie couldn't see it anymore. Though the roadway was very busy, Sophie was quick. She darted across the road, one side going east, the other going west.

Much to her human's relief, Sophie made it safely across the roadway. What she didn't expect was the lady to follow her across. In flip flops no less. Even worse, she had enlisted the help of a group of people who were trying to catch her.

This made Sophie angry. There was a very large pond in front of her. It was March and, living in Canada, it was still iced up, but not very stable. It was a rather warm day, and there was the possibility the ice wouldn't hold. Sophie wouldn't be deterred though, her human could not follow her, and her feet were probably freezing because-flip flops. Sophie shook her head and headed for the ice.

She heard a gasp and a "Oh, no!" from behind her, and frantic calls from her human.

"Sophie!"

"Sophie, Grandma and Grandpa are here!"

Hah! There was no way she was going to fall for THAT. Sophie loved when Grandma and Grandpa visited, but she knew they weren't visiting today, and she wouldn't be fooled.

She ran happily into the middle of the frozen pond, which was at the bottom of a hill with houses lining the top.

Sophie decided that she was going to milk her newfound freedom for all it's worth. She taunted the humans by coming close enough to be in grabbing reach, then when her human got close enough, Sophie would dart to the other end of the pond, her human in pursuit, huffing and puffing against the tall weeds and grass, tripping over her flip flops (or as one of Sophie's older humans that they referred to as Nana called them, thongs.)

As Sophie trotted to the other end of the pond, she glanced back and saw something that alarmed her deeply. A familiar vehicle was pulled over onto the grass. Oh-oh. That was the boss human's car.

She watched as they got out of the car and approached the human female who'd  taken her on her walk. It was her male and female boss humans. The man called for her, the woman called for her. Sophie didn't care. She just stared down the man in a "screw you" look of contempt.

What Sophie didn't notice while she was staring down the male, was that the boss female had reached the other end of the pond, which Sophie mistakenly ran towards. Even worse, there was another human walking a dog down the hill, a lab. Sophie didn't want to be anywhere near that dreaded dog, so she rushed straight ahead, right to the edge of the pond, and to her horror, she fell into water that had melted.

Luckily, her boss human was right there, and pulled her out of the water.

Sophie Seager's fun day off was over.

They all got into the car and drove home. When they returned home, Sophie's boss human dried her off with a towel. Then Sophie asked to be let outside, and out onto the sunlit deck she went, drying off in the rays of the warm sun. She was rather tired from her adventures.

Sophie's human, who had taken her on this nice adventure, was also very tired, but nevertheless, she never stopped loving dear Sophie, who was the baby of the family.

Sophie loved her human family too, but she had more important plans in order, and as she drifted off to sleep, she hoped her dreams would give her ideas for new adventures and mischief.