Gratitude for
Sophie
Sophie has
died this morning.
She seems
to have had a cancer of the bone, although it was thought in the first place
that it must be ulcers and then the diagnosis changed to a possible lime, if
this is correct, disease.
She was
over twelve and with that, she is the one to have lived longer than any of the
other borzoi we have had, Chantal, Samoa and Noel, the latter being the father
of the only boy and dog we have left, Cheyenne, son of Sophie.
This white,
beautiful hound came all the way from Poland, where I have picked her out of
her litter, through the internet, not in person and because she was so special,
she was the only one more expensive than the rest…a ‘normal’ puppy was about $
700 and the white princess was $ 1,000.
When I met
her at the airport, the flight was just a little late, but to pick up animals,
one had to go to a different venue and for some reason, she would not arrive
there, but I had to travel back to the main terminal and there she was…
Scared and I
tended to think for the rest of her life that maybe this early flight, when she
was only – what, seven months? Old has had such an impact on her that she would
be rather tense, ready to cry out and moan very quickly, whenever she felt a
little pain or the approaching of a possible disturbance…sometimes in a rather
hysterical manner….well, hysterical is not the right word, but she was quite
neurotic at times…
Otherwise,
this poor girl was a splendid, valiant, ready to pounce hunting dog, that did
not have the opportunity to hunt, but still, she would chase at the fence of
some of the vicious dogs that have been on our itinerary, barking like mad at
her and our pack and when they had the opportunity, which they did a few times,
they would escape and they have bitten her and Chantal, just as the girls were
in a leach.
On account
of these unfair encounters and bastardy, cowardly bites, I decided to let them
free, without a leach, whenever we approached that ‘Russian ‘territory to allow
them to be on an equal footing if and when the enemy would approach, because being
attached with the leach impeded on their movement and they have been a few
times sitting targets for those jaws that could roam free and run circles while
we got entangled in our own devices and even tumbled once.
I remember this
ludicrous moments, when the little Chihuahua like specimen came running down
the street to attack my boys and girls, which are in the giant breed category
and try to punch at them, in the manner of a lightweight boxer trying to take
on the likes of Muhammad Ali…
This barking
toy belongs to a family of a rather loathsome figures, who had had another
animal before, a bigger dog who kept barking all the time, up to the point
where some brutes – who could stand the scandal no longer – decided to finish
it by poisoning the poor animal, a victim mostly of the killer, but in
important part of the owner who just does not care if others suffer because of
his stupidity.
Sophie was
able to eat that Chihuahua like toy if she set her mind to it and she was not
very tolerant when upset…indeed, her son has always been rather reluctant to
enter the ‘bureau’, where they have the couches and they sleep with the macaws,
because once in a while, Sophie would show she is the ‘boss’, higher up in the hierarchy
and lately, when they were the only ones left of a pack of five, she was the ‘alpha
animal’.
She will be
missed and this is to express gratitude for the twelve great years she has
offered her family, a brave, sweet –when nothing happened rot justify a change
of attitude – proud dog – borzoi are not the type of pet that always comes to
the feet of the owner to dance around, hoping for a scrap of food, they are
independent and rather difficult to train to perform tricks – it was often hard
for me to make her and the others for that matter to even come to me when I called
them…especially if she knew that something was wrong and I was upset that she
has a had some sheep bone out from the field…even if we live in the capital
city, we have a field nearby where flocks of sheep come and so do some foxes
and other animals…
Just as I finish
this, the man who has the ‘funeral parlor for dogs ‘has arrived to take her, so
this is goodbye and thank you dear girl…
I do not
believe in after life but if there is one, I hope to see her there!
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