Now that I am feeling so much better, I thought that it would be a good idea to speak out. I feel sorry for Kobi just now as it appears I am getting all the sympathy, whilst he is in the dog house.
He really scared me the other day when he went all weird and attacked me. Once he started he didn't want to stop and he hurt me a lot.
He has been very tetchy for a little while now, getting really irritated and using bad language a lot. If he was a human I think he would have spots and play loud music in his bedroom. He even has even sworn at the humans. He wasn't always like that, I remember how he used to be....
When he first arrived he was all skin and bone and scared of everything. Human pack leader wanted me to do things with him and kept giving us things to play with and take us out on walks together. I like when human pack leader is happy, so I let Kobi follow me around like my shadow.
Human pack leader is awesome. When I first came to live with her I was scared of the other dogs that lived there, but she was always there to hold my paw and help me become more confident. I learned not be scared of the other dogs and we all became really good friends. Sometimes I got a little too confident and teased Krofti until he got grumpy. Grandpa and human pack leader usually told me off for this behaviour. Grandpa was such a wise dog and smart dog and I think the human pack leader used to copy stuff that he did as he knew everything when it came to his canine family. Grandpa was so chilled and laid back, and so polite as well. I was really sad when we went up to Scotland one time to play in the snow and Grandpa didn't come back home with us.
Human pack leader and I do a lot of running together and it is the best thing ever. We run for hours and hours, sometimes with other people, which I know she is a little uncomfortable with as I sense her tensing up and it makes me a little worried too. I try to help her by not letting her slow down, keep her running and make her stronger. She always slows down when people tell her she is “cheating”, which is silly cos I don't think other humans are cheating when they run with their best friends. I think people misunderstand my intentions and when they see me running in front they assume that I am pulling human pack leader along. I will help her in that way if she asks me to, but most of the time I am just running ahead making sure she follows me and doesn't become lazy and slow down. If I was pulling all the time she wouldn't be working as hard as she should. Anyway, I know she has run for Great Britain and Scotland (when she used to be Scottish) and I know that they only let really good runners do that.
Anyway, little shadow dog Kobi started coming running with me and human pack leader. He didn't come on the really long runs as his little body wasn't strong enough and he got tired and bored easily. He was always really easily distracted and human pack leader had to constantly tell him what to do. Sometimes he wouldn't listen and it upset me to see human pack leader get upset too. She never got cross with him, but she started smelling differently and her face went all ugly.
Spending so much time with Kobi, I learned a lot about him and his life before he came to live with us. Humans had never really liked him or spent time with him. He never had any doggy friends and sometimes he would go for days and days without food. He always smelled really bad and had little beasties living in his belly and in his fur.
He says he ran away from a very bad place and then a little girl found him and tried to help him. He doesn't remember much about the little girl, but she changed his life as he then got food every day and a bed to sleep in. Then he went to live with a man and lady and their dog for a little while. He liked the other dog but didn't trust the humans cos he thinks humans can't be trusted. They don't know how to talk dog and get all confused and angry when we don't act like humans want us to. This bit I didn't believe as I know humans can talk to us, yes they get it wrong sometimes, but most of them at least make the effort. I met the dog the Kobi spoke of and tried to teach him how to to run one time. I don't think the dog liked me as he knocked me over and tried to hurt me when I showed him my belly.
I didn't mind running with Kobi when there were no other people around, but when we were running with lots of other humans he started acting really weird. At first he wouldn't go anywhere near them and would take a huge detour to avoid. Then he became happy running as long as they were also running. If they stopped running and looked at him or if there were spectators close by, he went all funny. Then he started goading all the runners into racing him – shouting “look at me” I am faster than you!” I didn't like this as it is bad manners and human pack leader always told us to be polite when around other humans. They don't shout at us, so we shouldn't shout at them.
Same applies to all the out of control dogs that come charging up to us when we are out running. Only today one of those dogs came charging over, shouting and swearing at me. His owner did nothing to stop him and when I nose punched him, he squeaked and his owner said “serves you right”. Surely it is not my job to reprimand unruly behaviour from dogs living in other packs, is that not what their pack leader should be doing....?
Anyway, round about the time Kobi started getting really competitive with human runners, he started teasing me that human pack leader would soon prefer him over me as he was better than me. He obviously doesn't know human pack leader very well as I know that she doesn't have favourites and gives all of the pack very special one on one attention as much as she can. She sacrifices some of her runs just to make sure that we all get a little bit of what we all like as individuals, and sometimes she even tries to take all five of us running. I wish she wouldn't as she gets all stressed and grumpy when the youngsters misbehave – Oh yeah, forgot to mention my little brother. He arrived some time before Kobi started going all weird.
Kobi would walk around me teasing me and glaring at me. At first I tried to make jokes to try and get him to stop, but that only made it worse. Then I tried talking to him using really big intelligent words, tried to confuse him as I know his education was not as advanced as mine...
Thankfully the humans would usually cough at this point and Kobi would walk away muttering “get you later” under his breath. He started teasing me a lot, and got really grumpy when I returned from a long run with human pack leader. One time he tried to bite me after I had been running a marathon, and even swore at human pack leader when she scolded him. I think it was the first time I heard her actually get cross with him.
Kobi even tried taking over my identity.... He appeared in glossy magazines with my name and my achievements listed as if they were his. I chose to ignore this as I believe that it was a genuine mistake, but Kobi laughed at me and said it wasn't. I shan't tell him about the internationally published magazine that interviewed human pack leader recently – asked questions all about me and the relationship we have together when we are running. This can be my little secret until Kobi is ready to accept that we all have a very special place in human pack leader's heart....
And so, to the fateful event that happened the other day....
I think I may have bumped my head at one point as I cannot be 100% sure exactly what happened. Just before Kobi bit me for the first time he had been getting grumpy with my little brother. When this happens I usually try to get in between both of them to try and stop Kobi getting any grumpier. I remember Grandpa used to do this, and he always knew best. I used to wish I could be more like Grandpa, so chilled, relaxed and confident about what to do. I think human pack leader wanted me to be like that too, and Grandpa did try to teach me lots of things about pack behaviour, but I don't think I was the best pupil – I preferred to do things on my own or with human pack leader.
So maybe I was protecting my little brother, or maybe I did let slip to Kobi about the magazine article, whatever the reason he decided to bite me, again and again. Every time I ran away, he came after me.
After the humans had cleaned me up they let me sleep upstairs with them, little bro came too, snuggling up to me and nudging me every now and then to make sure I was OK. Human pack leader had to carry me upstairs on the second night after the attack as I forgot how to climb the stairs. I also forgot that dogs wee in the garden and the humans weren't quite quick enough to get me a potty. I think it was a little like an inside waterfall down the stairs.....
One night I couldn't even lay down as everything was so sore. The humans looked like pandas after that night, with big black patches around their eyes.
After a few days I allowed Kobi to come into the same room as me, as the humans watched over, ready to cough if he got grumpy. I knew they wouldn't let Kobi hurt me and Kobi respected this.
Then Kobi went away for a day. He looked so sad and lost when he came back, just like the day we first met him. I felt sorry for him and wasn't scared that he might hurt me again. Since then he has been trying really hard to be my friend again. Kroi and I still sleep upstairs, but when we come down in the morning he is really happy to see all of us and sometimes acts like a little puppy, which makes me laugh and I don't get tense when he punches me!
I think he is sorry for what happened and wants us to be friends again, but don't think he will apologise because boys are normally not very good at doing that....
Last night he came over when I was laying sleeping on the floor in the living room. He started annoying me and trying to walk around me. I told him to go away and play with his toys... and he did! He just went, “OK” and then walked away! Perhaps he really does want to be friends again.....
