Sich einlassen in den Hund is a zine of drawings by artist Sophy Naess (b. 1982), mostly made by direct observation between 2022 and 2026 during a period of frequent dogsitting which brought Naess into the psychological and emotional world of the dog. For Naess, the dog’s world became a mirror, or projection, for social anxiety, ennui, and aggression on the one hand, and freedom and play on the other.

Sich einlassen in den Hund genau in seine Mitte, dorthin, von wo aus er Hund ist (“To let oneself into the dog, exactly into its center, to the place from which it is a dog”). This phrase by Rainer Maria Rilke, written to young muse Magda von Hattingberg in 1914, later inspired art historian Robert Rosenblum to cite it in his reflections on Franz Marc’s dog in The Dog in Art: From Rococo to Post-Modernism (1988). Rosenblum’s book-length study provided context for Naess’s interest in the dog as figural motif, thematic subject and artist companion. Rilke's idea of letting oneself “into” the dog, into its center, reminded Sophy of her long walks in nature with a black and rust mix named Orzo––which helped her heal after a ravaging heartbreak. The dog's joy and vitality offered a vicarious source of energy for the artist.

Alongside the drawings of Orzo, Naess’s pattern studies of hunting dogs from an illustration in a medieval manuscript (which features on the zine's cover) are a glimpse into the artist’s interconnected practice of drawing, painting, weaving, printmaking and writing. Her prolific drawings are the fundamental element of this generative orbit of productivity, which often branches out to disparate art-making techniques and media. The drawings in this zine were compiled from pre-existing studies collected in a portfolio in the artist’s studio, related to her designs for silk scarves, prints, and artist’s books.