 CLEO
Cleo has now happily joined Murphy in Inverness, an IRR dog rehomed in 2005 as a very young puppy . Sheena and Jim wrote “We had a good, if long, journey up to Edinburgh, getting to my son's house at 11pm. Cleo went in the house and greeted my son and his partner as if she had always known them. Half an hour later they were in the hall throwing a toy bone for Cleo to fetch. We had a quiet night. The dogs slept beside us in the lounge and Cleo lay on her bed keeping watch for about an hour. At last she settled down at the side of the bed - bum to head with a rather jealous Murphy. This morning we stopped off in Fife on the way up and let them stretch their legs before heading north. She lay down and slept from Fife up to north of Inverness, where we stopped for a break and they had a short walk on the beach. Cleo settled down again for another hour and for the last hour of the journey she watched the world go by or rested her head on the back seat.
She has investigated the house and half the garden. She hasn't ventured up the woods yet. So, it is very early days but all is going well so far.” UPDATE 12. 9. 2011 Cleo is a 2 year old retriever cross who was surrendered due to her owner's ill health. She has just had an accidental litter of puppies, so is not spayed and will be rehomed under contract to be spayed when the time is right. Cleo is currently in foster with Jane and her family in Kidderminster. Jane said "Malcolm walked her last night and I have walked her this morning and she walks fairly well on the lead if a bit jerky when traffic goes past. She gets excited when you put the lead on but soon settles.
She is very nervous and needs plenty of reassurance. She is such a sweetie who loves her fuss and cuddles and spent most of yesterday evening sitting on Malcolm's lap !!
She is not bothered about our own dogs Tess and Harvey. She loves the flic ball and gave Tess a run for her money yesterday afternoon, I took the ball out of her mouth a few times and she was fine. She slept all night long and we didn't hear a peep out of her. Cleo loves her food but does not appear to be food aggressive. UPDATE 22.03.2011 Cleo is now in foster with Caroline in Nottingham who said: "Cleo has been here since last Wednesday and has come on in leaps and bounds. She has settled in nicely with my dog and he has helped her with her confidence. If he accepts situations and people and seems happy then she will follow his lead. She is still a little bit quiet at first, but nothing like she was. I think she would definitely be best placed with another dog, preferably one with plenty of confidence and a steady temperament. She is very submissive, so she is fine around dominant dogs and causes no problems with groups of dogs.
Cleo seems to really like children. She is always very gentle and quiet, so I thought children might make her nervous, but far from it. She is very happy and calm around children as young as about 5 (I haven't tried her with any younger yet) and she would make a lovely family dog. Cleo has fantastic recall. When off the lead she will stay really close to me, with occasional trips away to see my dog if he is close enough to me. On the lead she doesn't know how to walk to heel, but she is used to being on a lead. She has been taught not to pull hard, and should learn to walk to heel very easily. She has no interest in horses, sheep, cars or small furries and will not chase off after them. As soon as you take out her ball she is all business and will play fetch as long as you let her. Nothing will distract her as long as the ball is out. She does not mind other dogs joining the game. She is not possessive about the ball, and I think she enjoys the competition. You usually have to take the ball from her mouth, but she is learning to drop it and will get better if it is worked on. If her ball is away she will run with the other dogs. As she settles in her confidence is growing and she is starting to play with them more. She likes to meet new dogs, but will only approach them if given permission AND my dog is with her. With new dogs she will do sniffs, but really only plays with dogs she knows well. If something surprises or scares Cleo she run to and hide behind me. She does not respond by running off. She is not overkeen on large noisy vehicles, but is getting used to them and ignores other traffic. Cleo does not like men with shaved heads, and is more wary of men with really close cut hair than of other people. Once she has met someone she quickly comes around, but she doesn't like going near shaven headed men she doesn't know. Once again my dog does help with this, as he will happily approach these men, and Cleo will feel better about them. If he is not there she will just hide behind me and refuse to go near them. Cleo is really affectionate and loves cuddling up with people she knows. She likes to get fuss from strangers (obv. not the shaved headed ones!) and seems to prefer men to women - although she is happy to get fusses from both.
Cleo is fine at night. She sleeps under the stairs with my dog. She goes to bed when told and stays there until you get up. She has not had any accidents at night. She also eats next to my dog and there have not been any possesion issues. If she has a bone she will defend it (from other dogs) by growling and lying on it, but it did seem to be all noise with no intent. She will happily let any person take it and i do not believe she would ever defend to the point of fighting over a bone. Cleo will bark if she hears someone at the door or the boundary of the house / garden. She will also bark back is she is barked at by another dog but other than that she doesn't bark. She will whine when you start the walk, but it seems to be primarily excitement at getting going and may reduce when she realises she will be going out every day." FURTHER UPDATE Cleo is doing well. Traffic doesn't seem to bother her at all these days and she is getting better at dropping her ball. I found that when she came across unfamiliar dogs when she was on her leash or in a really tight spot she would lie down and try to avoid going near them. We have been working on her confidence and whilst she no longer does that, she will often now bark at them (which is a little more confident - if more embarassing). When off leash she doesn't do this at all, she will just avoid other dogs until my dog has approached them first, and follows him to make friends. The barking is not agressive and she is no danger to other dogs. Once the 'meet and greet' sniffs are done she calms right down. Once again having a calm dog who handles introductions calmly and confidently does help her a lot. I am working with her on this and hope to improve it and I really think that with time she will get better. I do not think she would be OK in a home with no other dog, or with another nervous dog. She really depends on the dogs she knows for her confidence and although I believe that with work her confidence will grow, I think that will always be the case to some degree. UPDATE 19 MAY Cleo has been getting more confident with time. She approaches other dogs with no problem quite often now and the scaredy-barking is reduced. I normally use a walking belt with the dogs, with them walking ahead of me, but I have done a little heelwork with Cleo and she seems to learn quickly. We have had some thunderstorms here and got no reaction at all from Cleo.
Cleo is a real sweetheart. She has a way of making everyone who meets her fall in love with her right away. She is incredibly affectionate and loves spending time with her people. She will make someone a loyal pet. She is such a sweet and loving girl, she really deserves a permanent family of her own.
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