Is it a changing of the gaurd? Or is it more of, “the times they are a changing?…”
From the day she joined the pack at four months old Koda challenged the status quo. Tenacious, vocal, and tough – for better or worse – are the qualities that come to mind when I think back on the first few days of her Golden K residency in 2018. At that time Kali was almost ten years old and in the middle of her senior years. Kali was the silent alpha. The founder. The gray beard. The wise old bruja that lived in a cave and would share the secret of eternal life if one was brave enough to enter her lair. Ok, maybe a bruja but no cave and I’m pretty sure she didn’t have the secret of eternal life. Otherwise she’d still be here with me. Although she is always with me in spirit. But as usual, I digress…
Kali was mildly interested in Koda and over the first few days came to not only accept her, but also endorsed her membership into the Golden K Pack that she herself had founded. But senior Kali was mostly interested in grazing and sniffing around the yard eventually finding spots in the sun to sleep. Someone else would need to show the four month old whipper snapper the ropes.
That someone else would be two year old Kloe. The protector of The Golden K.
The day I brought Koda home from the time we walked from my truck into the yard Kloe was very interested in getting to know who this pup was. She sniffed Koda up and down and back again, all the while having a bit of a scowl on her face. Koda acquiesced…. for awhile. Once the initial sniffing and posturing was over Kloe began to show Koda around the Golden K. Koda followed Kloe here and there like a good soldier falling in line.
Pretty soon they were running and chasing and wrestling. Kloe – with a 50 pound weight advantage at the time- instinctively went easy on puppy Koda. But Koda, on day one with her new big sissy, was tenacious and relentless. After a while Kloe had enough and schooled Koda and threw her down on the ground. “Ok that’s that” she probably thought. But it wasn’t. Koda jumped up and took another run at Kloe. Kloe threw her down again with that characteristic scowl on her face.
Koda jumped up again poised to take yet another run at Kloe. Kloe walked seemingly thinking, “ok – we’ll call it a draw”.And so it went and to some degree still does. It’s an interesting dynamic with The Red Girls (Kloe and Koda). Although now almost eight years later there is still a lot of competition and Kloe still maintains a significant size advantage over Koda. There is less rough-housing these days but when there is Koda rarely backs down. Early on I thought that Koda was trying to establish herself as the new Alpha. But that wasn’t it. Koda is just that kid on the playground who won’t back down and would rather go home with a bloody nose and black eye than back down to the older and bigger kid.
To this day Koda continues to take her queues from Kloe. Kloe stands at the door and considers going out. I open the door. Koda, who always has to be first, immediately runs out. But if Kloe decides to not go out, Koda runs back in. If Kloe is inside Koda is inside. When Kloe goes off to pee, Koda follows and pees too – in the same spot. When we’re on our walks if Kloe drags me to has interest in a particular bush or other object Koda sniffs it too.
But here’s what I’ve been observing lately: Koda more routinely goes out on her own. It started with Mole Patrol, but there are more and more times that Koda goes off on her own while Kloe sleeps inside or off in another part of the property. I’m glad that Koda is showing independence. But it makes me sad that Kloe is slowing down. At ten she is the same age Kali was when Koda joined the pack. And Koda at eight Koda is not far behind. Make no mistake; Kloe is still the alpha to Koda and the protector to us all. But for now much longer?
I don’t think it is a real changing of the guard. But I do see a change. And at times it makes me sad. For all us pet owners it’s the inevitable that we all face at some point. It’s what we sign up for the day we open our hearts and homes to these amazing beings, these dogs, our teachers, our protectors.
Golden Kali 