The Arrival of Koha

There is a lot to catch up on. I used to have a blog where I wrote about Rio and I really enjoyed sharing stories about his life and training adventures. That was many years ago now. I was just a baby dog trainer then. I've learned a lot from Rio and Roscoe and every single dog I've met along the way so far. There is still so much to learn, which is great news. Learning about dogs and how to help them thrive in this crazy world is a passion of mine.

A lot has changed. Rio is gone. I miss him dearly every single day. His final resting place is in our backyard, a place he loved so much. We basically bought this house for him. When Kavir saw the backyard, he thought, "Yep, that's the place." Rio and I played and trained in that backyard almost every single day since the day we moved in. He was just four years old then. It's hard to believe it has been that long. He almost made it to thirteen.

A moment of silence for my dear, sweet friend who departed for his last adventure on July 31, 2025.

I didn't think I'd be ready for another dog for a long time.

"At least a year or more." Kavir and I both agreed as we stood by his grave side, sharing stories and sorrow as we often did since his death (and still do).

"What if, a couple months from now, a little black lab puppy shows up on our doorstep?" He asked. Again, we both agreed. I would be reluctant, but we'd have to take him in. That would be the universe telling us it's time.

Fast forward a couple of months. Kavir and I are away visiting family. Roscoe is with us, of course. We are surrounding ourselves with love and integrating our memories of Rio. It sucks not having him, but we are doing okay.

We have cameras in our front yard, mid-yard, and back yard. The one in the backyard is mounted on the shed near Rio's grave and newly planted flower bed. While we were away, Kavir got a notification, "Animal detected" in the backyard. This happens often enough. It is usually a rabbit, racoon, maybe a fox, or even a coyote, but it has never been a dog. Except this time, it was a dog. He appears on the camera, coming from the direction of Rio's grave - he trots across the frame and out of view. With his white-tipped tail and upright ears, he looks like he could be a fox or a coyote, but the size and coloration are wrong. Nope, he is definitely a dog.

Kavir shows me the video. I dismiss it almost instantly even though he jokes, "this is our next dog." Weird that he is literally in our backyard coming right from Rio's grave, but stray dogs appear and disappear, this one will be no different, I think.

When we get back, I've all but forgotten about our little night-time visitor, but Kavir hasn't. He has been in contact with our neighbors. They've been keeping their eyes out for him.

On the Friday after we return, Kavir has a conversation with his boss at work. She asks about Rio and how we are doing. They talk about the dog that showed up on the camera and she says to him, "If the dog shows up again, it's a sign."

That evening, Kavir gets a text from our neighbor across the street. She texted him a picture of the dog down near the end of our street. He picks up our slip lead and opens our front door. There is the dog, right in front of our door, looking at him.

That's how Koha came to us. Of course, the story doesn't end there, that's just the beginning.

Kavir felt from the very beginning that Rio was somehow behind all this, that Koha is a gift from Rio. He named him as such. "Koha" is a Maori word loosely translated as "gift".

I still wasn't ready for another dog. I think Rio knew I wouldn't be able to accept this gift immediately, that I would dig in my heels and say "it's just a series of coincidences." I didn't want another dog, I wanted Rio. He was my best friend, and I was not ready for the long process of opening up my heart to another friend - the patience, diligence, and care, the thoughtful observation, information seeking, mistake making, sometimes arduous and painful process of learning to love another dog. That's why everything had to happen first through Kavir. His love for animals knows no bounds, and he trusts my abilities as a dog trainer more than I can trust myself at times.

Slowly, I've come to accept the story of Koha as one of magic and meaning. Slowly, I've come to accept the challenge of learning to help this anxious creature thrive. Mostly, I trust Rio. I trust he taught me how to keep learning and keep loving even in the face of the impermanence of life, the changing of the seasons, turning of the wheel of time.

I've accepted when I start loving Koha, I don't forget my love for Rio, instead they are wrapped up together inside the same love. I've accepted Koha as a gift from the universe, from Rio. Where ever this story goes, I know I will keep learning and loving.

So that's how Koha came to us. Of course, we did our due diligence in trying to find his original home and owners. We scanned him for a chip (no chip). We called all the shelters in the area to post his description in case anyone calls looking for him. We posted him on social media and shared his pictures and scoured the lost dog postings. No one appears to be looking for this little guy. It has been a month now. What's his backstory? I guess we will never really know.

Now, this little creature has a few lessons for us, I'm sure. I plan to share some of his training and adventures here.

Here's some of our areas of focus and what we've noticed so far:

• "Resource guarding" tendencies with both food and toys

• Introductions to Roscoe, very slow and careful. They've seen each other, but that's about it so far.

• A tendency to snap with very little warning

• Probably has very little experience living in a house, e.g. has peed in the house, super anxious in the house at first, lots of pacing and whining at the gate/door

• Crate training - an absolutely essential first step if this is going to work for us

• Anxious and unsure about leashing and handling

• Anxious and unsure, in general

• Chase-driven - squirrels, cats, racoons, if it runs, it can be chased

• Getting vaccines updated and a heartworm test / bloodwork was an early stressor

• Had fleas, several kinds of worms, and fly-bitten ears that had started to lose fur on the tips

I'll write up more details on some of these things as we go.