About Cleo at 4-1/2 months

There is a bit of a learning curve on taking pictures of a light-colored dog. I’ve been used to a black cat or a black and tan dog. Many of these pics look over-exposed and the white color is actually more of a light tan right now. Her coat colors change almost daily so who knows what she’s going to look like when it’s done. In any case, I hope I learn to get a good pic of her someday. Or figure out how to fix it in photoshop. I don’t have any pics from July 26 to Sept 1 due the Second Fresca Incident where Cleo knocked a full glass of fresca into my laptop and bricked it. I hope to recover them from the harddrive if it’s viable.

She’s a pretty good dog and our communication with each other is improving. She used to bark at me when she needed something and now she’s starting to look at me in a certain way and I can usually figure out what she’s trying to say. That’s how Joe and I communicated and it worked quite well for 10 years. Her vocabulary is growing every day and knows several basic commands (sit, down, wait, stop, heel, come, get it, drop/trade, leave it, etc) and responds appropriately most of the time. I haven’t fully tested it, but I think she knows the names of her toys (squeaker, ball, pinkball, bone, bear, etc) and does a bang-up job of finding them on command when I hide them around the house. I can’t wait to try “find it” outside where there are so many other interesting smells to distract her. When her “puppy brain” quiets down a bit I think she’ll be able to find anything I ask her to.

For grooming, she’s pretty good with toenail clipping if I do it when she’s tired (after a walk). She’s getting better with brushing and ear cleaning but we still have some work to do on both. She thinks the brush is a toy I’ve been holding out on her but settles down when once I start brushing. And who likes having wet stuff put in one’s ears?

She sounds good on paper, eh? But she is teething and still does some puppy biting. Anything that is not attached to floor/ground is good eating and she needs to stop jumping on people and stealing off the counter top. But overall, she’s a good dog so far.

She is developing a nice low growl when she hears a noise I should be aware of or if someone comes to the door. She stops the growl when I investigate her suspicions and doesn’t over-do the usage of the growl. Yet. Right now she’s good, but alert with thunder. And gunshots. No cowering or hiding for either, but I think she’s developing a bark on the gunshots which I try to ignore. There’s nothing I can do about them, so she needs to learn there’s nothing she can do about them either. She loves people – everyone is her long-lost best friend. She’s curious with other dogs and plays well when given the chance.

I hope that playfulness hasn’t been ruined after a visit with Lori’s dog, Kenai, who relentlessly bullied her. Kenai repeatedly put her on the ground and continuously pummeled her head with his front paws, even when Cleo was clearly submissive (read: plastered to the floor). I was told to “let them work it out”. Lori eventually intervened, when she got around to it, and Kenai would stop for a while.

When Cleo could, she’d hide behind any human that would let her, just to get away from that bullying dog. This is similar to Joe’s behavior with other dogs when I first got him. He was shy and submissive, til he got sick of getting beat up. Then he went on the offensive. Next time Cleo encounters a bully like Kenai, I’m going to be more pro-active in protecting her instead of letting them “work it out”. When I saw my poor dog being relentlessly boxed in the head while she was plastered to the floor, it was pretty clear she was going to stay there and let it happen til someone stopped it. That isn’t “working it out”. That’s a mean, bullying dog beating up my dog.

I would normally think that this might be anomalous behavior on Kenai’s part, but he did the same thing to a visiting bulldog in July. Also it’s not surprising behavior because Kenai’s “trainer”, Lori, is a bully too. It trickled down the leash, as most things do. What’s really disappointing is that I went out of my way to keep Joe from traumatizing Kenai when he was a puppy but Lori clearly didn’t have that on the agenda with my puppy.

But Cleo is good, we’re developing a bond. I’d be surprised if it will get to be like me and Joe but one can hope. Most people look for their “soul mate” in another person, but I think mine was Joe. I don’t expect Cleo to wholly fill that space, but she’s a really good companion already, even with puppy-brain dominating right now.