Sofía's Strange Wisdom

Sofía - street punk or high priestess of ancient Egypt?

About a year after Tuva the dog had passed away, I rented a house with a giant yard, and realized it was time for a companion for Azrael. Dogs are pack animals, and they just feel better when they have a partner in crime.

Consulting with him, Azra told me he would prefer a female dog. „OK“, I agreed, having no particular preference myself. A couple of days later, I came across a post in facebook. A young dog who had been rescued off the streets was looking for a home. She looked very cute, and it said that her name was Sofía. „What a pretty face and lovely name“, I thought. „I bet she’s really calm and gentle.“

A few days later, Sofía and her rescuer came by our place, so the two dogs could get to know each other. It was pretty much love at first sight, and both her rescuer and I agreed to give it a try.

When she realized that her rescuer left, she started getting anxious, so we sat down on the sofa, Azrael on one side, I on the other, and hugged her tight. Half an hour later, she decided that it wasn’t so bad with us after all.

After a few days getting used to her new home, it was time for Sofía’s first walk. Hello! I soon realized that her wisdom was not the calm and gentle one I had imagined. She barked and flipped at anything she was scared of. A car driving by? Let’s bark at it. A bull grazing in the fields? Let’s run right up to it and bark at it. Motorcycles? How dare they exist! I know, I’ll just bark at them!

I was so used to Azrael’s uncomplicated manners that I felt quite overwhelmed with this little street punk who would wave her fist at just about anything. While she clearly didn’t like being on the leash or being told what to do, she absolutely didn’t care about any petitions such as „Come here!“ when she was off the leash.

Sofía made it perfectly clear that she would come when she wanted to, not when she was told to. I admit that I despaired more than once, when neither calm reasoning or growing frustration and anger on my part had any effect on our new housemate whatsoever.

Azrael was out of his depths too. He had not expected this. At first, he followed her and tried to bring her back, but at some point he determined that he could only look after one of us, and if she decided to run away from the pack, he would rather stick with me.

At home, Sofía is the cutest dog. She loves being cuddled, squished and squashed in ways that Azrael would never tolerate (he’s far to sensitive for that!). She also loves looking after children, so long as they behave, but in the field, the story is quite a different one and her hunting instinct can only be called one thing: savage.

Over the past two years, since she arrived in our lives, I’ve come to understand that Sofía does not teach any kind of stoic or calm philosophy, as I had expected. Her specialty is quite clearly Streetpunk-Wisdom: „Carpe diem! Life’s here to be enjoyed, so let’s make the most of it.“

Her focus is razor sharp: It’s not so much that she disobeys, she simply does not hear or perceive anything outside her range of focus while she is engaged in hunting rabbits, crickets or whatever captures her attention. Once she has made up her mind where she wants to go, her whole body goes stiff against the leash, and despite her small size, it’s impossible to drag her away.

While her hearing is completely gone in those moments, sometimes she can be interrupted by gentle touch. Thankfully, she has also become a lot more chilled since her early days of road rage, but farmers: keep your chickens locked up when Sofía is on the loose!

She prefers not to talk about the past. Several times, I asked her about the strange spot on her fur, whether  it was a scar, and what had happened during the first few months of her life, but she refuses to answer. „That’s a long time ago, it doesn’t matter. I don’t like thinking about it.“

However, she does quite happily tell anyone who will listen that she used to be a high priestess in ancient Egypt, living in a beautiful temple. It was pointed out to me that she still wears the makeup around her eyes. She also insists that’s where she has her natural sense of leadership and entitlement from, and why I have to always feed and snuggle her first.

Makes perfect sense to me, Your Royal Highness Sofía of ancient Egypt. Azrael and I are simply your humble, grateful servants, and we perfectly understand that sometimes, it is hard for you to be incarnated as „just a dog“, when really, you are used to a different kind of treatment. Life can be a bitch, but we love you anyway.

Azrael & Sofía: The Archangel of Death & the hellraising Punk-Princess