Clover AmBulldog DofB 2020 RRemedies Centre

[clairer]

I had the great fun of walking Clover yesterday, she is such a loving, kind dog. She loves to get out for a walk and also loves attention and sits very sweetly waiting for a hug and a kind word. She’s not reactive to dogs or us humans, wants to play with other young dogs but also walks so well along side them. Honestly she’s a total sweetheart. Here she is walking nicely next to Sidley

[geoffcase]

Clover was a very good girl yesterday. She positively helped me put her harness on, and was delighted to be going out. We had a long walk, with Clover taking the time she wanted. We passed all sorts of things and the only reaction was to squirrels, which was a bit of a game. She loves attention and being made a fuss of.
Beautiful girl

[clairer]

Clover on holiday.
So Clover has been with me since yesterday and I’ve just extended her mini break for another 3 nights mainly because she is such a good girl!
Key highlights: she’s house trained, waits for permission to get on the sofa, when told not to come into a room (bathroom and spare room) now automatically lays down outside the room and waits for me, slept like a log and so far hasn’t begged or bothered me for food when I’m eating.

Day 1: we went for a lovely long walk around the woods at Nymans with my friend for company. Clover is an expert sniffer and found the smells wonderful, she walked beautifully on the lead all the way round, was very polite to all the dogs we met, even the small one that crept up behind her when she was sniffing and said hello. We stopped for a little snack and she happily had her chew whilst we had our tea and cake. When we got home she let me wash her feet off and then we did an intro to the house, there was much excitement for a few mins as she explored first the kitchen, then the living room and finally upstairs. Here she showed off how polite she is by waiting for permission to get on the sofa and also learning that the bathroom and spare room are places she can’t go into.
We had a quiet afternoon, she chewed on the tough toys I got her (I took the remaining box of toys away so she couldn’t get too overwhelmed by all the toys to play with) and then she just relaxed, snoozing next to me and watching Tv. We had a little stroll to the beach in the rain and then she had her evening meal. She’s well behaved around food, knows to sit politely waiting for it to be served and also doesn’t beg when i eat my food ( I sit at the table and eat my meals for now)
Then we had some quiet time before a final evening stroll and toilet. She slept like a log in my room, I got up in the night and she barely opened her eyes. All in all a successful day 1!

[clairer]

Day 2 of the holiday.
Key highlights: she’s such a good girl , coped very well with being left for 10 minutes whilst I popped to the shops, still sleeps like a log, made friends with dogs and humans along Hove promenade.

I could see how tired Clover was so we stayed local in Hove for walks, we did 3 strolls around the area, met the lovely people in a cafe and had a biscuit there, another kind lady in a sandwich shop insisted Clover come in for some chicken and then the man running the shellfish stall on Hove seafront gave her a prawn (which she wasn’t too keen on but there was plenty of tail wagging from the attention!) the evening walk was made more fun for her because the local foxes who like to play hide and seek! She’s a strong girl and can pull when she sees a fox but so long as you’re aware of that then it’s fine, walking with her is relaxing, fun, she potters along sniffing things with the occasional check in with me.
She did have a couple of moments where she became a bit overwhelmed and did jump up at the leads for a minute or so but it settled swiftly and I think her tiredness made it worse.
She also clearly loves a family, a few times where we stopped to chat with people especially with children she looks very sad when we walked away. I think she would love to be around children but when she gets overwhelmed she can be quite grabby so this must be taken into account- older calm children who are dog savvy would be a must. She’s very gentle taking treats and well behaved around food. I also think she would benefit from an older dog companion, someone to learn from.
Her playful nature is coming out, she likes to leap around the garden all 4 paws in the air especially after her meals and then zonks out in the sofa soon afterwards.
She slept like a log again all night and is now ready for day 3 of the holiday.
I can’t say it enough how much this lovely girl deserves a family to call her own, we get along brilliantly but a couple or family would be amazing for her so she can be surrounded by all the love she deserves.
Day 3 highlight coming up tomorrow…

[Amy+Ian]

Here are some videos of Clover enjoying her holiday with Claire

[clairer]

Day 3 of the holiday
Key highlights: travels well in the car, I’ve got a grill between the boot and the rest of the car, she gets in happily although does need a little lift of her rear end to get in, does wait on command as I get the leads on, again met several off lead dogs in the woods really well. She does get overwhelmed and lead rags, it’s definitely related to overstimulation, tiredness etc and maybe some stubbornness.

So she slept very well, had breakfast and a chill out, I think she prefers to go for a wee and poo outside of the garden so we went for a short stroll around the block and then headed off to Stamner Park. There she showed off how great she is walking calmly up and down steps and across the bridge. Lots of sniffing then ensued as we mooched around the woods. We met several dogs, some fellow rescue dogs one of whom got frustrated that Clover couldn’t play and started to get a bit barky and snappy, Clover was great, she sat down and looked at me, she did not react or bark back at all, a v good girl.
We slowly made our way back to the car but along the way Clover found some fox poo and before I knew it had rolled in it, her head and ear were covered so for the last bit of the walk I had to warn everyone who wanted to say hello to her not to go to close to her head otherwise they would smell as bad as she did .
I gave Clover a wash/rinse in the garden, she did well initially and let me wash her head and ear with a flannel and wipe down her legs but I think the towelling off afterwards was a bit much and then we had a mad 10 mins in the garden and she did get a bit mouthy. She settled swiftly and I managed it by leaving her alone in the garden but stayed in view of her. She snaps out of it very swiftly but it highlighted how overwhelmed she gets and how important a calm and gentle approach to life is for her.
We then had a peaceful rest of the day, she slept next to me on the sofa, had her dinner and short evening stroll before going straight back to sleep again. I have been able to leave her for short periods to pop to the shops with no obvious issues, she’s always there at the back door to meet me with a wagging tail but so far no signs of distress. She is now happy settling herself down in the living room when I’m cooking in the kitchen which is good to see and still remembers the no dogs in the bathroom and spare room rule and subsequently lays down on the landing waiting for me.
She is admired and adored on every walk we go on, tail wags whenever we see families, other dogs and life in general for her is great. She is a quite lovely dog who just needs to find her forever home and sofa

[Tamlou]

Wow what a lovely foster break she has had with you Claire. It just goes to show that most dogs are totally different in a home environment and love the calm home life. She is such a great dog.

[clairer]

Last day of the holiday
Highlights : she loves people, dogs and the pub no issues with the washing machine noise or a hair dryer, prefers to go to the toilet out of the garden and goes to stand by the back gate to indicate she needs to go out- v good girl

We had a quieter day yesterday, just local walks, lots of sniffing and then a visit to the pub in the evening where I met a friend and Clover met 1 old bulldog who after a v polite hello made it clear he didn’t want to play anymore and she then got lots of attention from everyone and several biscuits.
I also thought I would see how she was when the washing machine was on and also when I used a hairdryer close to her…. Well she didn’t react at all and sat there happily as I did the washing and also sat on the bed watching me dry my hair- 10/10 reaction I think!
She made friends at the coffee shop, with people renovating their front garden and attempted to say ‘hello’ to the local foxes. She’s definitely a dog who thrives on company (both human and canine) and has a lot of energy, my garden isn’t the largest and I think at times she feels a little penned in but all in all we have both had a lovely few days.
On our final walk here in Hove I met my neighbour who was walking her dog, a 2 year old Westie called Ayla, after some fun ‘hello’ sniffs they walked together all the way round the block.

I am taking Clover back full of hope that her future family are just about to a fill in that form and will secure her the loving, warm and safe home she definitely deserves.

[M1zzyLegendre+]

Oh Clover, what a dream you are! Your future family are out there waiting for you somewhere! Home life, time to settle and forever loving TLC will make you realise your next chapters are only going to get better. Beautiful special girl, anyone will be so lucky to adopt you