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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2016
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‘I’ve never had a dog quite like him. He’s amazing.’
Leslie Brophy
managing broker and owner of Pacific Realty
GEOFF
BROPHY:
REAL
ESTATE
DOG
Photos by Lynda Layne/For EO Media Group
The friendly 5-year-old has the run of the Pacific Realty office in Long Beach, Washington, including this plush chair.
HE DOESN’T HAVE A BROKER’S LICENSE, BUT HE SURE KNOWS HIS STUFF
Eskimo, Bougie, to work. She said that his name,
“is French, for candle or light, or spark.”
Broker Diane Nichols often brings in her stan-
dard poodle, Red. Tall, curly and leggy, he seems
to be a favorite with Geoff, who will carry a toy or
two from his stash to Red’s desk and leave them
for him to play with.
And sometimes, Leslie will bring another of
her three Boston terriers, Elmo. “Elmo came to the
office a couple of days this week,” she said, admit-
ting that, “he doesn’t have the same temperament.
He’s sweet and he’s nice but totally different than
Geoff. Yesterday, they were fighting over a Dol-
lar Store bunny.” It was a former Easter decoration
turned canine play thing.
While Geoff sometimes does friendly bat-
tle with Elmo while Leslie is working at her desk
“until 8 or 9 o’clock,” the result is scattered dog
toys. She gathers them all up before she heads for
home. “I’ve had as many as 17 toys strewn all over
the office from them playing,” she said. “They’re
really into it.”
By LYNDA LAYNE
Observer correspondent
L
ONG BEACH, Wash. — He’s been showing
houses since the tender age of 8 weeks. Like
anyone in the business he has his favorite
listings. And most of all, this now 5-year-old Bos-
ton terrier keeps his owner on track.
Almost every day, Geoff loads up in the car and
goes to work with his human mom, Leslie Brophy,
managing broker and owner of Pacific Realty on
E. Bolstad in Long Beach, Washington. He has the
run of the office but often hangs out a lot in a cor-
ner near Leslie’s desk — a small space that some-
what resembles the dog toy section at Petco. Leslie
has to step over the fully stocked menagerie each
time she gets up to use the copy or fax machine.
The not-at-all-tall-tale of Geoff Brophy’s Surf-
side showing antics is known by many in and out
of the business. Leslie recalled a day when she
was showing a place on a little lake to prospec-
tive buyers. “The house had a big fence around it,
so I knew Geoff would be safe inside the yard,”
she said.
She let him stay outside and run around while
she went in with the interested couple. After look-
ing through the house, the couple politely said “it
wasn’t for them,” and they all filed out to get into
their cars and leave. But Geoff wouldn’t come
with them. He planted himself at the door of an
outbuilding adjacent to the home. His human mom
had not shown this to the couple, since they had
already decided they didn’t want the house.
Leslie explained, “Geoff thought we had not
done the complete tour. He is just so smart!”
So there he was, looking up at the door han-
dle and then at Leslie and the couple, shifting his
gaze back and forth. He refused to leave, in spite
of the fact that Leslie kept calling him. “He just sat
there,” Leslie said, admitting that she finally had to
walk over and pick him up to load him into her car.
The couple quickly figured out what he was doing
and, astonished, said to Leslie, “You need to You-
Tube him.”
Natural ambassador to the business
Geoff has been socializing since the beginning,
and he is never obnoxious to other dogs that might
come into the office, especially the ones that ven-
ture in with clients.
Leslie attributes this to his naturally outgoing
and enthusiastic personality, coupled with the pub-
lic time he has enjoyed since we was a pup. In fact,
he hosted a Halloween party for dogs recently.
Anyone who came into the office with a dog on
Halloween day was give a Milk Bone dog treat.
He picked his owner
Lynda Layne/For EO Media Group
Geoff sits up to snatch a chicken strip dog
treat from his owner’s hand. He subscribes to
Bark Box, a toy and treat delivery service. Each
month, he receives an assortment of goodies.
After the animal interaction, he follows Leslie
inside — and rolls on the floor.
Favorite listings
Other dogs welcome
Geoff plays favorites when they’re out show-
ing homes.
“I have a couple of houses that I know are pet
friendly,” Leslie said. “I know the people don’t
mind,” so Geoff is welcome to venture inside. Les-
lie said if Geoff really likes a house, he’ll roll on
the floors with delight.
And the enthusiasm sometimes starts before
they even arrive.
“There’s a house on the bay that he really loves.
The minute we turn onto 136th, he gets excited! He
knows. He jumps up. I’ll say, ‘Are you ready to go
to Donna’s house?’”
As soon as they arrive and Leslie opens the car
door, Geoff jumps out with glee. “There’s a cat next
door, and he and the cat play. And there are squir-
rels in the trees that yell at him, and he just watches
them. We’ve been at houses where the deer have
been 20 feet away.” The deer and Geoff just have a
friendly stare off, and he never chases them.
Sometimes, Geoff isn’t the only dog looking
at homes. Recently, a couple with a rescue dog
they’ve had for two years wanted the canine to
come along during the house hunt so they could
see his reaction to places. Leslie agreed that would
be fine and asked if she could also bring Geoff with
her. So, at the heels of the broker and the buyers,
the two dogs got to go into the pet-friendly homes
and check them out. “The dogs,” Leslie explained,
“were perfect together.”
These buyers were looking at homes with acre-
age, so that had to also garner canine approval.
Leslie said, “The dogs got to go out, run around
and check out the acreage.”
Leslie always checks to be sure this is fine with
sellers and prospective buyers, and it has never
been a problem.
When he returns to the office, Geoff some-
times has other furry companions waiting. Man-
aging broker Jamye Lucier brings her American
Leslie has owned Boston terriers for years.
She recalled when one of her other brokers, Judi
MacPherson, had not yet arrived at the office one
day.
The phone rang and Leslie picked up. It was one
of Judi’s customer, who said, “Oh, I was supposed
to call Judi earlier, but I just got back from breed-
ing my Boston terrier. Can I talk to you?”
“Sure,” Leslie answered. “Now, tell me about
the Boston terrier.”
She laughed when she remembered that day.
“I wound up making a deposit on a (future) pup
before we even knew that he was a twinkle in his
mother’s eye.”
Eight weeks after the pups arrived, Leslie drove
to make the pick up, but the puppy she had tenta-
tively decided on, “wanted nothing to do with me.
But Geoff chose me. He just wouldn’t leave me
alone.”
The lady said, “I guess that’s the one you’re tak-
ing home.”
His name choice? “It’s the English Geoff. He’s
a gentleman. He’s gentle Geoff.”
The name indicates refinement, but she admits,
“He doesn’t know he’s refined.”
As he sat in her lap at the desk one day last
week, her face was beaming as she stoked his shiny
black fur.
“I’ve never had a dog quite like him,” she said
quietly. “He’s amazing.”