
Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
When you stop at a gas station/convenience store, you usually go in, get what you need, pay and leave, but at Rt. 39 Stop in Huntersville, there’s a special reason to stick around a little bit longer.
That reason is a nearly 11-year-old black Labrador Retriever named Sophie, and she loves her customers.
Sophie belongs to Rt. 39 Stop owner Audrey Pyne, who has brought Sophie to work since the pup was six weeks old.
“From day one,” Pyne said. “She always stayed under the desk when she was small. You never even knew she was here.”
Pyne’s plan was to bring Sophie to work with her until she was potty trained and could stay at home during the day.
“That didn’t happen,” she said, laughing. “She doesn’t want to be left alone.”
As she grew up, Sophie got more confident to mingle in the store around the customers and became an instant hit with regulars.
She would lie on the floor behind the counter and watch the people come and go. It wasn’t long before they started buying her Slim Jim’s as special treats.
“She’d start watching everybody and scurry around to them,” Pyne said.
It got to the point where Sophie was getting several Slim Jim’s in a day, but Pyne had to put a stop to that after family vet Stacy Tawney said the meat treats were doing a number on Sophie’s kidneys.
“With as many as she was getting, it was harming her kidneys,” Pyne said. “It takes a dog’s kidneys three times as long as a human’s to process salt.”
As a substitute, Pyne bought dog treats to have behind the counter for customers to give to Sophie instead.
Through the years, Sophie has become familiar with regular customers and knows when they’re in the store – even if she’s in the office and can’t see them.
“Sometimes when she’s lying back here, she’ll wind them,” Pyne said. “There’s one lady that comes in, she’s from Virginia. She’s Sophie’s buddy, too. She comes in with a biscuit in her pocket.
“[When she comes in], I won’t speak to her and she’ll go through the store; [Sophie] will raise up, she’ll wind her scent and come around the counter,” she added.
Even when she’s taking a nap, Sophie can sense when one of her people comes in the store. She knows their routines and is ready and waiting for her treat and a few pets.
On Wednesdays, this writer is one of those customers when I deliver newspapers to the store. Before Pyne can pay for the papers she sold the previous week, I have to have my Sophie time with scratches and treats.
When I can’t deliver papers and a coworker fills in for me, Sophie is a little disappointed.
“You can see it when she comes around the corner and sees that it’s not you,” Pyne said to me.
“She kind of deflates and you can tell she’s thinking ‘you’re not Suzanne.’ The one lady who fills in for you always apologizes to her and gives her a treat.”
As well as having her favorites, Sophie can also hold a grudge, although it is a lighthearted one. When vet Tawney enters the store with her husband, Freddie, Sophie will be happy to see him, but not always her vet.
“She loves Freddie,” Pyne said. “When they come in together, she would look at [Stacy] unhappy. It took her forever to warm back up to Stacy. She holds grudges.”
Sophie has become a mainstay at Rt. 39, so much so that sometimes customers greet her before they say anything to Pyne, who takes it all in stride. She knows how special Sophie is to everyone.
“I swear, I think certain people just come in to see her,” she said, laughing.
When the store is busy or there are visitors who don’t know about Sophie, the dog will make her presence known.
“There are times when I have people in who aren’t from around here and I have to explain to them that she’s friendly and she just wants a treat,” Pyne said. “If people take too long to notice her, she will bark, but it’s just to get their attention.
“This one time we were busy, her bowl was empty, and she kept picking it up and dropping it, making a loud noise,” Pyne continued. “I’d look at her and say, ‘okay Sophie, let me get to these customers first,’ but she wasn’t having it.”
Sophie likes to be the center of attention and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Just remember if you hear nails clicking on the floor when you’re at Rt. 39, it’s Sophie making sure you know she’s ready for her treat.