A Perro

[Michele Firmasyah]

Thisis a bit different in Spanish, at least in Spain. If you are simply saying that you have a dog, you could say "tengo un perro", but it is just as fine if you say "tengo una perra", and nobody will think twice about it (a friend of my brother's always refers to his dog as "perra", not in a joking way). I think the b-word is not comparable to our word "perra" in that sense, as long as you stick to four legged animals.

Same deal with caballo/semental/yegua. If you are talking about horses in a generic way then you simply say "caballo/s", but if you were talking to a horse owner about a particular one, it'd be a lot more likely for a female horse to be referred as "yegua" rather than "caballo", even if you are not talking about breeding.

If you want to say that your dog is female but are a bit wary of using the equivalent to the "b word", you could consider using "perrita" instead. This is more informal (and can sound a little colloquial) but takes away any offensive/rude meaning.

Welcome to the forum. I would usually use perro, unless there was some reason to emphasize the fact that she was a female dog. As you've noted, there are other implications to that word. Horse, for example, is always caballo. There are other words for mare vs. stallion, if you need to differentiate.

That is a great question. Usually both male and female dogs are called "perro", but "perra" is not unheard of. However, you are correct to point out the possibility of slipping into oiffensive language without meaning to, and for that reason alone it would be better to stick with "perro".

Mara: Me rompa el corazn ver a tantos perros en las calles de la ciudad. As encontr a mi Beb. Desde que lo adopt fue mi beb. Yo lo vea como un hijo y no como un hroe de las protestas.

Mara: Mi Beb se transform en un smbolo de la lucha por una mejor vida. Yo nunca pens que algo as poda suceder. Saba que mi Beb era especial, pero esto es otra cosa. l ahora es una leyenda.

Mara: El perrito ladraba mucho y muy fuerte. La mayora de las personas alrededor de l le tenan miedo. El perro intentaba morder los neumticos de los autos que pasaban. Yo creo que tena hambre. Tal vez al perrito le faltaba amor. Yo no le tena miedo y camin hacia l para acariciarlo.

Martina: They immediately formed a bond. Mara started leaving water and food out for the dog. She even gave him sweaters to wear for the cold. A lot of people in Chile care for stray dogs. But Mara went further than most.

Mara: Desde nia, siempre me han gustado muchsimo los perros. Durante mi vida he salvado a quince perros de la calle. A los que no puedo cuidar en mi casa, les dejo comida en las esquinas para que no tengan hambre. Pero, de todos los perritos que he encontrado, Beb ha sido el ms especial.

Martina: Mara didn't grow up with much. She sold snacks and drinks on the street to get by, and dreamed of starting her own business one day. She always worked on the same corner in Santiago in the neighborhood where she first formed a bond with Beb.

Mara: Mi parada de bus estaba a un kilmetro de donde yo venda chocolates. Y el Beb me encontr y luego, l camin conmigo a mi casa. Le dej un plato de comida y agua, pero no lo dej entrar.

Mara: Me rompi el corazn. As que lo dej entrar a mi casa. Yo le hice una cama al lado de la puerta. Ahora yo tena dos perritos. Beb era especial. l nunca se quedaba tranquilo en casa, le gustaba mucho salir.

Martina: Beb was very curious. He slept at home. But he liked to spend his days outside, roaming the city. Mara lived downtown in a single-story house, just a few blocks away from local universities.

Mara: Recuerdo el da de la primera gran manifestacin porque fue un momento histrico. Cientos de miles de estudiantes de secundaria salieron a las calles a protestar. Hubo paros nacionales y los estudiantes ocuparon ms de trescientas escuelas secundarias. Eso continu por meses.

Mara: Muchas de las protestas de estudiantes venan de las universidades. Cuando haba una manifestacin, mi Beb se pona muy nervioso. l ladraba muy fuerte al lado de la puerta porque quera salir. Yo escuchaba los cantos de los estudiantes desde mi casa. Yo comprendo el dolor de los estudiantes por no tener dinero para poder pagar la universidad.

Martina: The protests became more and more heated. Over the coming years, the number of protestors swelled to the thousands. Students gathered again outside the universities waving signs reading: "free education for all." The government sent in tanks and armored trucks to break up the crowds. Mara followed the protests on the news, until one day, she saw a familiar face.

Mara: Un da, yo o a mi Beb ladrar. Abr la puerta y l entr con una bandana roja alrededor del cuello. Esto era nuevo; uno de los estudiantes se la haba puesto en una de las marchas. Despus de eso, nunca sala de la casa sin ella. Mi Beb siempre llevaba puesta su bandana. l pareca todo un superhroe.

Martina: But being a superhero can be dangerous. Just as Mara feared, one day, during a protest, the dog was hit, or atropellado, by a police tank. The students rushed to help their friend and tended to him inside one of the schools. Then, they uploaded photos of the tank hitting Beb to social media.

Martina: Mara feared that her loyal friend, her Beb, might die after being run over by the police. Since she couldn't afford a taxi to get to the school where the students brought him, she took two trains and a bus and got there two hours later.

Mara: Al da siguiente, yo llev a mi perrito al veterinario. El doctor me dijo que tena la pata rota y que necesitaba ciruga. Me pidi permiso para hacer la operacin. La operacin era muy costosa. Qu iba a hacer? Yo no tena dinero.

Mara: Me preocupaba no poder pagar la operacin de mi Beb. Uno de los estudiantes vino a verme y me dijo: "Vamos a pedir dinero por Internet". Yo no saba cmo se haca eso, pero me qued tranquila. Ellos queran a mi Beb tanto como yo.

*Martina:** While Beb was in the hospital, Mara brought him his favorite food every day: chicken and bread. The vet joked with Mara that they actually had dog food at the office. But Beb liked his chicken and bread, and ate it until he was strong enough to go home!

Mara: Mi perrito se mejor y nos fuimos juntos a casa. Yo pens que despus de ese accidente, l ya no iba a querer ir a las protestas. Pero estaba tan equivocada! Cuando finalmente pudo caminar bien, l ladraba al lado de la puerta porque quera salir a las marchas. Yo no lo dej porque tena miedo. Pensaba que algo le poda pasar.

Martina: Every time he heard protestors, the dog would bark at the door, louder than usual. He'd cry and cry and look at Mara with big, sad eyes. Initially, Mara stood firm. She didn't want to risk losing him.

Mara: Entonces el Beb se puso muy triste. No era el mismo perro de siempre. Si no iba a las protestas, su energa se apagaba. Al final me di cuenta de algo: si yo quera a mi Beb, tena que dejarlo salir a protestar.

Martina: So Mara let Beb return to the protests, and made sure to bless him every day. He went for years because education reform continued to be a major issue in Chilean politics. Then, one day in 2017, Mara was home when she heard Beb coughing in another room. It was a deep, strange cough. She was worried.

Martina: This time Mara was scared, and she didn't have time for buses. She immediately called a friend and asked him to take Beb to the vet. But when they reached the hospital, it was too late. Beb died of a heart attack, at the age of 12. Mara couldn't believe it. He had been completely fine the night before! She was desperate to have her companion back.

Mara: Estaba desesperada. Llor muchsimo. Los meses y los aos pasaban y la tristeza no me abandonaba. Pareca que los estudiantes haban olvidado a mi Beb, pero l estaba presente en mi casa. Sus cenizas estaban en mi saln.

Martina: There was even an entire website with artwork commemorating him: cartoons, sketches, and portraits. Soon after, the dog's iconic image traveled the world. He appeared in graffiti in New York and Tokyo, in a sign of solidarity with Chile's protestors.

Mara: Era tan famoso, que un grupo cre un servicio de adopcin para perritos negros como l. A los perritos les ponan la misma bandana. Eso me hizo muy feliz. Mi Beb ayudaba a otros perros de la calle.

Martina: This adoption group built a 20-foot high statue of Mara's dog, made of wood and paper mache. They put it at the heart of Santiago's protests, with a sign stating where and how to adopt dogs like Beb.

Mara: Era increble, se pareca a mi Beb, pero mucho ms grande, por supuesto. Incluso llevaba puesto su traje de superhroe: su bandana roja. Pero personas que estn en contra del movimiento social la destruyeron. Cuando lo supe, me puse a llorar. Por qu alguien hara algo as?

Mara: Qu alegra! Fue hermoso ver a la gente apreciar de esa manera a mi Beb. Yo pienso en mi Beb todos los das. Su espritu est vivo hoy y me doy cuenta de que l es mucho ms que mi Beb. Es un smbolo de la lucha por la justicia social. Es una leyenda!

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