Clifford the big Red dog weighs 100 lbs even, is probably part Rhodesian Ridgeback and part either doberman or german shepherd or both. He came freshly neutered, shotted, heartworm negative, microchipped and he was in the pound 3 weeks and just a lovely boy, good with all people, all dogs, not cat aggressive.
He was eating that crate. I went to work for 3 hours today and left him in the main part of the back yard, and my rotti bronx in the pond area, to kind of keep him company without too much contact. He ate through a 40 amp line that was in insulated flex tubing, the only reason he is alive is it went to the kitchen range I pulled out and I had turned off the breaker. He also nailed the cable line, which I didn't properly fix but I have it working again.
Since it would cost more in fines for late sales taxes than it cost to board him 2 nights, he is now boarded til Monday around 4 or 5. Started him in a regular run, he had to move to a ceiling height run (5 ft cinderblock walls with cattle panel to the ceiling.) So he tries to go over the gate. He now has the gate cattle panel, only dog in the whole facility that has one.
I suspect he was raised as an indoor family dog, not crate trained, only out to potty (he is immaculately potty trained not a leg lift one.) then maybe the family moved or gave him away and he got put in a back yard and didn't like it.
My dogs sleep inside at night, are out in the daytime. If I can get a Clifford proof crate I can keep him, but I have to be able to set a firm boundary without constantly patching the crate. And he cannot run loose in my house until I know who he is really.
All of my dogs are death row dogs. I am allergic to every fur bearing animal, decided many years ago no one needs to breed a litter of pups to give me the perfect dog, after I had to give up all my childhood animals, and dreams of becoming a vet in 10th grade. I was 49 years old before I could bring a dog in my house, and having had them in, I would never just keep a dog in the back yard again. They are my security force and my family, and if they are guarding the back yard and I don't hear someone at a front window, well that didn't work out.
The rest of the current rogue's gallery started with Bronx, now age 7, every bit as bad a hooligan as Clifford except he didn't howl. I got Bronx at 18 months, freshly neutered, and my now RIP dog Spike helped me train him, putting a fatherly paw between the 80 lb boy's shoulderblades a time or 2 with a meaningful growl.
I am hoping Bronx will help me train Clifford, particularly since it is Bronx I had a mast cell tumor taken off of on 9/11. The photo is of Bronx as a young dog. Took me 2 years to convince him the rug would be an ok place for him to claim. He also likes the cave under the table now.
Camelo is my first and last SharPei. He has been blessed with better health than most of his breed, is just now experiencing some inflammation in his hocks and feet, I've put him on Glucosamine. He is almost 4 years old, and arrived when Fort Worth was about to euthanize hundreds of dogs, I saw his pic on facebook after a 16 hour computer shift and picked him up the next day.
Cici is a GSD Doberman mix, as near as we can tell. She was on death row about 30 miles away for over a month, over and over I networked her but we couldn't find her an adopter. I picked her up on July 23 2013, by which time she had a case of kennel cough so bad my vet wouldn't give her a rabies shot, and she forgot how to play ball while isolated and on a 4 week course of antibiotics. She has lived and thrives and is the baby of the family and chews on her brother's faces.
I suspect that Clifford might have had a lot of humans but no other dogs. He socializes well in public and on neutral ground but he seems iffy indoors. It takes time to learn to share and be a pack member.
