A true story
It
was a dark and stormy night when Thistledown's
Spirit Song came to live at Daze O Grace. She was 10 weeks old, taken
from the comfort of her parents and littermates, stranded at an airport
with her new mom, sent on a noisy airplane ride, then brought to her new
home full of strange dogs barking and clamoring to see the new kid. A
tough beginning to be sure. But then Katalina Rose is a very special
dog...after all, she is a Spirit Song!
As the days of winter passed, Spirit Song soon learned that she was at
the bottom of the dog pack. The Alpha male made a point to let her know
she was not welcome or appreciated. There was an Alpha female as well,
named Kamaria, then came another female, Sofia, and last a cute little guy
named, Golden Rule. The other pack members began to accept her one at a
time, especially Golden Rule. After all, the Golden Rule is
"do unto
others as you would have them do unto you." And so it was that little
Golden Rule became a playmate, soul mate and kindred spirit to Spirit
Song. They would frolic, wrestle, chase, play tag, and nap together.
They washed each other's faces after breakfast, they napped together
after exploring in the woods. Still there was the matter of Angelo
Koibito, the Alpha male to contend with. He would watch them play and
finally began to make an effort to play with them but would always get
caught up in the competition and took his aggression out on Spirit Song.
She was small and young but she would not submit to his bullying. She
would cower down against a wall or in a corner and growl fiercely and
show her teeth, still he was not intimidated by her courage. Spirit Song
was always traumatized by these assaults. She learned to avoid him at
all costs. When she saw him coming, she would hide. She didn't
understand why Angelo Koibito didn't seem to like her or even tolerate
her presence. Everyone else seemed to be accepting her just fine. What
was she doing wrong that this big, handsome male dog didn't like?
One evening as the dog pack was resting after dinner, Spirit Song was
playing ball all alone in the middle of the living room floor. Without
warning, the Alpha female, Kamaria, came bounding down off her high
look-out and attacked Spirit Song. Again and again she laid into her,
but each time Spirit Song cowered and growled back, showing her teeth
and would not back down. Soon the pack was distracted outside by
squirrels and even then Kamaria didn't forget that she had issues with
Spirit Song. As the dogs began to gather again in the living room, once
again, Kamaria attacked little Spirit Song. It seemed unexplainably
vicious but as we watched and waited, we saw an unbelievable sight.
Spirit Song finally rolled over onto
her back with all 4 feet in the air
and lay before the Alpha female in complete and total surrender. Kamaria
stood over her like she was her prize for several minutes grunting her
dominance then walked a
distance away, still watching her. Spirit Song lay as quiet as death on
her back with her feet in the air. Then without taking her eyes off of
her, Kamaria, the
Alpha female, tenderly walked up to Spirit Song and bathed her from head
to foot. She washed her slowly and deliberately as only a mother would tend her child, snuggling
and caressing. It was a beautiful testament to the call of the wild in
these small dogs. Spirit Song knows now that she must show her respect
regularly to the higher ranking pack members. From that day until now,
the Alpha male has loved and cared for Spirit Song as one of his dearest
friends. All he wanted was respect.
The End
