Boat dogs are a special breed of animal. They show up with a joyful attitude and there’s nothing that could happen through the course of a day that’ll break their spirit. It could be the worst fishing day of your life, and your boat dog would be there next to you, waging its tail, just happy to be there with its’ best friend.
Dogs make our lives better. There’s no arguing that. They bring us great joy by just being themselves and loving us unconditionally. There’s a lot we can gain from looking at how dogs live their lives. I know I sure have over the past 15 plus years with my boat dog.
Meet Sophie
I was in college when Sophie entered my life. Still a kid trying to figure life out while playing a little ball and focusing on school. To be honest, it wasn’t a great time to introduce a dog into my life. My schedule consisted of early morning weightlifting sessions, class throughout the day, and practice that went well into the evenings.
She spent a good amount of time alone, but when I got home, she was always happy to see me and despite long days, she never failed to put a smile on my face. Once home, we were inseparable, I’d take her for a walk and when we got back, she would follow me all over the apartment. My little shadow.
She was insistent and as soon as I would lay down on the couch she would quickly jump on me and start licking my face. I was bald at the time, and she would lick all over my head. Of course, I’d try to tell her not to, but she was relentless and would not take no for an answer. It was hard to not give in to her cuteness.
As time went on, I always let her lick my face. Every time she did, there was a little voice in my mind telling me to enjoy this because there will come a day where she won’t be around to do it anymore. I’m heartbroken to say that Sophie has given me sugars for the last time.
Sophie took her last breaths laying on my chest with my arms wrapped around her, just like I held her countless times over the past decade and a half. Almost 16 years together and it wasn’t near enough.
Sophie had been with me through ups and downs and plenty of new beginnings. Sophie was always up for the adventure, and truly thrived on road trips. Whether it was a move from Northeast Texas to Southern California, in a U-Haul, or countless trips to Colorado (before moving here), Sophie was riding shotgun, anxiously awaiting the last bite of my burrito, which I always saved for her.
My little chiweenie dog, Sophie, served as the best companion for the 15+ years I was blessed to call her mine. We lived together in 7 states, both east coast and west coast, and visited dozens more. We spent days together in the truck, travelling well over half a million miles together road tripping from one destination to another, one of my favorite things to do.
She was a menace of a puppy. She chewed up corners of textbooks, rolls of toilet paper, and just about anything her little self could get ahold of. Can’t really blame her though, as I previously mentioned I was a student athlete in college when she was a puppy.
She developed a cute and admirable independence, especially for a dog who barely weighed 10 pounds. She learned how to take care of herself and was never shy about making herself comfortable, no matter where she was. Despite being self-sufficient, she never shied away from showing her excitement when I would get home.
Colorado
Colorado was her home for the better part of the last 9 years. I took her everywhere I could on my travels but my summers in Alaska I had to spend without her. Despite leaving her, she was always happy to see me when I returned. She was always left in good hands, nobody more so than my great buddy Logan.
Logan treated Sophie like his own dog, and I owe him a tremendous amount of gratitude for many, many things but especially so for taking such good care for Sophie, when I had to be gone. Logan’s a huge reason why we landed in Colorado in the first place.
Logan’s a good buddy from high school. We’ve been friends ever since we met in 7th grade. When I decided that I needed to move on from Southern California, Logan offered to let Sophie and I crash on his couch in Grand Junction until I figured out my next move.
Within the first two weeks of calling Colorado home, Logan, Sophie, and I hiked our first 14er and completed our first overnight river trip. We didn’t know it at the time, but Colorado would be basecamp for the rest of her life.
My first couple of winters spent in Colorado, I worked at Keystone Resort over in Summit County, about 2 1/2 hours from Grand Junction. I wasn’t allowed to have dogs in my slopeside dorm so Sophie would stay with Logan in Grand Junction. I would come back and visit as often as I could, but I always knew that she was safe, comfortable, and loved.
When Covid came around, my trajectory on life greatly changed. Instead of going to Alaska in the summer of 2020, I decided to stay in Colorado and work with Logan appraising homes. Often times, Sophie would accompany us on our inspections and while getting the required photos of comparable homes for our reports.
Many, many times, I would roll down my window to get a quick picture of a house, and her little head would quickly make her way to the open window. There were several photos used in our reports that had the back of Sophie’s head in the bottom portion of the photo. That makes me smile to think about.
From then on, I was with Sophie much more than I was apart. That summer I got back into fishing and picked up a fly rod and took a real serious look at becoming a year-round guide. Wintertime would consist of guiding backcountry skiing & avalanche education. Summers would consist of long days on the water guiding fly fishing trips.
Boat Dog
In the fall of 2021, Sophie officially became a boat dog. I picked up my first boat which was a 2021 RO Guide drift boat that had been used that year by a guide out of Minturn, but it was in great shape and to this day one of the best purchases I’ve made.
This wasn’t the first time Sophie was on a boat. I had done some guided trips here in Western Colorado and Montana. Sophie even accompanied me during guide school on the Big Horn River with Sweetwater Guide School. Through the years, Sophie and I would visit the Big Horn many more times, as a sort of a pilgrimage to the place where my guiding career began.
Sophie was right at home in the boat. I think the thousands of hours road tripping in the truck prepared her for life on the boat. Her small stature allowed her to move around freely, and she seemed very comfortable in the boat. Sometimes a little too comfortable, as sometimes she would be up walking on the gunnels.
She never did anything crazy like jump in the water attacking a hooked fish. She would occasionally bark at another boat if they got too close for her liking, but I never worried about her getting into trouble. She was introduced to a few fish but all she ever did was give them a little sniff. She had a cute knack for finding her way into grip and grin fish pictures, which brings a smile to my face when I think about it.
Driving home from college on weekends and summers, road trips chasing snow, and driving around town appraising homes, Sophie was always there with me. It was just fitting that she would naturally be at home in the boat.
Sophie wasn’t a full-time boat dog. She mostly just joined on fun trips with friends. Some of my favorite fishing trips was when Sophie would join Jules and I. I don’t remember how the fishing was or anything in particular from most of our outings, but I’ll never forget the feeling of having Sophie along.
We spent countless days on local reservoirs chasing pike and bass. Sophie was there for Jules’ first fish ever, which is a very memorable moment. Sophie was there for my first fish on a fly rod, another memorable moment and I’ll be forever thankful for that.
Regardless of how much or how little time Sophie spent on the boat, she had the heart and spirit of a true boat dog. Without saying a word, Sophie was able to help put life in perspective just by sitting next to me. My failures and shortcomings meant nothing to her; neither did my success and triumphs.
Sophie loved me for me and that I was chosen to be her caretaker. But little did she know that she did a lot of taking care of me. She lifted my spirits when I hit rock bottom and gave me a reason to keep on keepin’ on.
A Tribute to Boat Dogs
Dogs are the perfect example of “The Journey Being the Reward.” We set these goals and expectations for our adventures and our lives. Some of them come to fruition and others fail miserably. Dogs are simply happy that there is an adventure in the first place; that they have life still to live.
Dogs don’t know what the future holds. They live in the moment and don’t even seem to care about what comes next. Dogs aren’t bothered by low water levels, or the fish aren’t biting. The only thing that matters is this moment, right now, and that they’re together, with you, their best friend.
What a beautiful perspective to have. How much happier would we all be if we just relaxed and enjoyed the adventure, good, bad, or indifferent? Being with the right people, doing what we love, in scenic and beautiful places. How does it get better than that?
Like any great companion does, they teach you about the important things: the small things that truly matter. They’re able to put things in perspective in such beautiful ways, naturally without even trying.
Boat dogs keep us grounded and make us pause, even for just a second, to appreciate things we overlook. They’re perspective on livin’ is one to be admired and used for inspiration as much as possible. Simple things bring them joy. They don’t need expensive vacations. A half hour ride into the desert to watch the sunset would be more than enough. Hell, you could watch the sun set over a garbage dump and they’d be just as happy.
Tiny moments shared throughout the day, throughout the years build a bond that unbreakable, even through death. They’re physical bodies won’t be with us forever but physical items that they wore such as collars and name tags find their way to places that are near us every day.
Our boat dog’s spirit will remain with us. Every time we go to load the boat and prepare for a fishing trip, every time we pack up the truck for a road trip, and every time we see a boat dog in the wild, we’ll be reminded of our loyal friends of the past. We may shed a tear but we’ll be forever grateful for the times we shared with one of God’s angels.
It’s painful to realize that they won’t be joining us on any more adventures. All we have left is the memories and a few physical items that remind us of their physical presence that was once in our lives. By far, one of the hardest things in life to do deal with is loss.
I suppose I’d rather suffer from a bit of sadness and heartbreak having known one of the kindest, sweetest little creatures that has ever graced this earth than to have never known her, been comforted by her, or shared such memorable life moments with her.
It's Tough Saying Goodbye
Watching Sophie grow old was a truly special experience. She was always unapologetically herself. If she wanted to lay on the pillow, she didn’t care if you were already there, she would kamikaze her way onto it. I had no problem with relenting the pillow to her and we often ended up sharing it. I would have a small corner of the pillow and her little body would snuggly wrap around my head.
The final year or so of her life she was on a few medications and we would give them to her via baby food. We used a small, soft spatula to make sure you would get the pills. I loved watching her eat it and loudly smacking. She would have it all over her nose and mouth and it didn’t bother her a bit.
As she got older, she wasn’t able to jump up on the back of the couch anymore. She loved being up there and looking out the window and barking at cars that drove by and of course, the evil mailman, who she had a special, intense bark for.
What a privilege it was to be with Sophie from her puppy years to her elderly years. She aged with such grace and fight rolling with every punch that was thrown her way. She was an extremely healthy dog for almost all of her life. It was only the last 10 months or so that she ran into complications.
Last summer she came down with some pneamonia and a weird object in her digestive system that she couldn’t pass. A hospital stay and a risky surgery was necessary. She did phenomenally well and recovered quickly. A few months later, she was back in the emergency vet clinic, on a breathing machine battling heart issues.
Several more nights in hospitals and she would be back home with a medicine routine that would be necessary to keep up with for the rest of her life. Sophie was a fighter and one tough little dog. She demonstrated that throughout her life, never more so than in her final days.
In Sophie’s final days I devoted to spending as much time with her as possible. Laying my head next to her while she was laying in her bed, tears of happiness and sadness filled my face, as I thought about all the good memories we shared together. It hurts thinking about life without her and not coming home to see her excited and eager to welcome me back with as many face licks as I would let her.
From hotels, to truck camping, product demos in Southern California, fishing trips in Colorado, sleeping on friend’s couches, and running on the beach in Texas, Sophie was there for it all. It’s going to be tough to do things without her moving forward but I know the pain will ease as time marches on.
But I’m not sure that I want the pain to ease. I want to keep these strong emotions close to my heart for the dog who knew me when I was just a dumb kid trying to find my way to the now “adult” who’s still very much trying to find his way. Maybe I’ll wake up from this bad dream…
I hope she knows how much I loved her and how much joy she brought to my life. She brought joy to everybody who spent time with her. Sophie’s little personality quirks and mannerisms made it impossible to not love her.
Sophie was much more than a dog; she was a companion and dearly loved friend who gave me much more than I could ever give her. Fifteen years together made her the biggest part and the most consistent thing of my life. Which is saying a lot because consistency has alluded me just up until the past few years or so. I’m losing a huge part of myself, with her passing.
She’ll be a sweet angel waiting for me when my time on earth is done and I very much look forward to that rendezvous. Until then, I carry her sweet and loving spirit with me in all that I do but especially in how I love and care for others.
Thank you, Little Sophie, for being the best dog anybody could ever ask for. I love you.
4 Comments
Dave Schultz · May 30, 2026 at 8:40 pm
Very touching Nick. What a blessing having her in your life.
nlatoof · May 31, 2026 at 10:18 am
She was a huge blessing, for sure. I’m going to miss her, terribly!
Hayden Stein · May 31, 2026 at 12:04 am
So sorry for your loss Nick, I’m grateful to have fished with your boat dog. Thank you for sharing Sophie with all of us while she was here, she’ll be watching all of the tight lines and sending a couple of fish your way I’m sure!
nlatoof · May 31, 2026 at 10:20 am
Thanks Hayden, I appreciate your kind words. I’m very thankful for all the years I got to spend with her and all the adventure we had along the way. Meeting great people like you and your dad are great blessings!