Meeting Navi

My older sister, Navi, is in charge of the household.

As I said earlier, Navi is my older German Shepherd sister. She’s almost five years old and somewhat dignified. Like me, she has an Eastern European heritage, but an entirely different personality. She’s reserved, cautious, and serious about being a guard dog. My parents don’t know it, but Navi runs the household. She’s aware of everything that’s happening and especially where our mom is all the time. 

The first time I met Navi, I wanted to jump all over her and play. Well, she quickly let me know that there are rules about our time together. 

• First: Navi sleeps late and isn’t very communicative until after she’s had breakfast. Even then, she’s not interested in a full-on play session. 
• Second: Major play sessions are reserved for late in the day, generally after dinner when it’s slightly cooler outside. These sessions must follow a similar pattern every day. We both do play bows, indicating that we’re ready to rough house. I have two play bows – a traditional, sweet one, and another that is more of a crouch and says, “I’m watching and am going to attack.” We chase each other, Navi rolls me on the ground, my mom screeches that Navi is too rough, and then we start chasing each other again. 
• Third: I must not bite Navi’s tail. OK, that’s the first thing I did during my initial meeting with Navi, and she wasn’t amused. I’ve learned to restrain myself somewhat. 
• Fourth: I must not eat Navi’s food, not ever, not even when she’s left it in her bowl. You see, she’s a dreamy, slow eater, while I prefer to devour my food immediately. 
• Fifth: Marrow bones are high value possessions and are fair game for stealing. I take hers every morning and then later in the day, she retrieves them. 
• Sixth: Only Navi is allowed to sleep on my parents' bed.

In return for all these rules, Navi does some very important things for me. If my parents don’t hear me whimper when I need to go outside, she’ll fetch them. If I’ve gotten myself into some predicament that is dangerous and that I can’t resolve on my own, she alerts them. Navi loves me, and I adore her, but even then, Navi is seriously jealous of all the attention I get, so I try not to cause trouble. At least not yet.