JACKSONVILLE, Fla – In this week’s SnapJAX Stories, it was a pirate in a pool that got my attention, and I wanted to find out the story behind the picture.
So I invited not one but two Schnauzers to the station to give them a tour, and wait until you see how this visit ended.
Sophia Grace and Bella paraded around the newsroom meeting management first and a few familiar faces like Jennifer Waugh and Bruce Hamilton.
Sophia was clearly very likable and took control of her environment, but could she do the hard work behind the scenes, like on the assignment desk, gathering news?
Frank Powers has been tracking down news as our assignment manager for 25 years but on this day he forgot his meat treats -- so Sophia snubbed the job but found her home in the studio.
She met Meteorologist Katie Garner who exclaimed, “Oh my gosh, she should do the noon with me.”
So I sat her down for an interview on the news desk to see if she could do the job.
Then she sent me to talk with her agent, Angie Culleton, also her owner. She shared more of Sophia’s resume and I asked what life is like with Sophia.
“Well, our world revolves around her really,” said Culleton.
Sophia has her own Instagram page, but she’s not the original dog. Angie explained they had another Schnauzer who passed away at 10 years old and Sophia was a beautiful surprise.
“We weren’t going to get another one for a little while. And then she came along and she ended up healing our hearts,” Culleton said.
The SnapJAX photo that made me say “ahhhhh” was Sophia, the pirate, floating on her ship in the pool.
“She’s really sweet; she really is. They’re good, good dogs,” said Culleton.
Sophia often travels with her sidekick Bella, so during negotiations for the anchor job, we got Bella on the desk too. With a little teamwork, these two were hired for the day. It’s all in a day’s work for “The Local Schnauzers”!