Bye, Clive

Well, we decided that Clive wasn't working out for us. Primary reason (and we haven't told the charity this) is that he nipped our neighbor when he came over for a visit. No blood or anything, but aggressive behavior and a nip on the bum. Luckily it was Neil, the dad, and not Rose, the young daughter. And luckily it was through his jeans and not directly on his skin.

This after he had the car wash guy cornered in the garage earlier the same day. Poor fellow was protecting himself with a work bench. I was yelling and grabbing for him (Clive) - but he was fixated on protecting the house. Once he gets into his protective behavior, he will not obey either Russell or I.

Added to that is his behavior towards the cats. Somehow, he and Jet Girl have reached detente. But Peter still spends most of his day upstairs and away from the dog. Even when Clive is in his kennel. I think some of Peter's recent weight loss can be attributed to the stress of the dog barking and growling each time he sees Peter.

This all makes him sound like a bad dog. He's not. At home with us, he's a real sweetheart. A very clever dog who loves his family. But he's not into strangers or cats. And really if it weren't for the fact that he nipped the neighbor, I'd probably get all soft hearted and keep him.

I asked Lyra this morning if she'd miss Clive. "No," she said. "I don't like him jumping up on me." It was difficult for her to get attached to him. He jumped on her when he was excited, jumped up to see what food she had in her plate as she carried it to the table, jumped on her when she was going in the door to try and get inside. She did learn how to be firm with him - which is a good thing to know. Many times he would listen to her and get down, for a moment. And then he'd jump back up again.

I've learned from this that as much as puppies are hard work, I'd rather get a puppy and train him with good behaviors than to get a dog we don't know and try to break bad habits. Or if we did get an older dog, I'd like to know the background and habits first.