Clifford 3

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Clifford is truly the sweet dog that his namesake is in the children’s story Clifford, the Big Red Dog. MAESSR’s Clifford in not a giant of a dog but is just the right Springer size and proportion and is very healthy. He was found as a stray in Pennsylvania and was taken to a shelter. Eventually, his journey brought him to MAESSR.

Clifford was a true gentleman when he visited the vet, even when he needed to get vaccinated. He proved to be the same when his foster mom bathed and groomed him. Clifford is housebroken and will quietly go to the door when he needs to go out. He was a bit surprised to learn that this was not the only way to go outside in his foster family’s house. There was a doggy door, too, which Clifford quickly learned to use by watching the resident female Springer go in and out. Since she is crated during the work day, Clifford has been crated also which he is not keen about. He has worked his way out of his wire crate twice and may need a plastic, clam-shell type crate if his forever family wants to keep him crated while they are out. He was transported in a travel crate when he first came to his foster home from the shelter and once he realized he could not get out, he did not bark or whine eventually settling down. 

If people are present in the kitchen, Clifford does not counter-surf, but if left alone and there is any food near the counter’s edge, he will check out what is there. Trash cans are covered at his foster parents’ house, so Clifford is not given an opportunity to check out the contents. Dog proofing one’s house is always a good idea when a curious Springer with a good nose is around! Since Clifford is older and the days of cutting teeth are gone, he does not chew on anything inappropriate.

Smart and responsive, Clifford is learning to sit and come. His politeness is evident as he walks like a gentleman on a leash. When he meets and greets people, he does so by gently jumping up, but only if encouraged to do so. If people prefer to be greeted without a nose to face greeting, he is perfectly happy to stay down, as long as he gets the loving, too. Clifford sleeps on his dog bed next to his foster mom’s bed, but occasionally he jumps up to get cuddled.

Clifford is very gentle and patient with the young resident female Springer. He allows her to crawl all over him and chew his ears, but he never growls or fusses about it. When she gets too annoying for him, Clifford just gets up and moves away. When family friends brought a very large puppy into the house, Clifford growled at it not seeming to understand the play of the pup and the resident Springer. Once the resident Springer was crated, Clifford got along fine with the big pup. 

Clifford gets along well with cats too as reported by the shelter from which he was pulled. He had been adopted out to a family with three cats, but was returned when the family thought that two of those cats were not adjusting well to him as they stayed in hiding. This family wrote a three page relinquishment report stating how well Clifford behaved while he was with them! Obviously, they loved him too, but their cats were there first. Although he does not chase cats, squirrels beware!

Clifford loves to run and is very fast, but he can also be content just lying at his foster parents’ feet. He is not obsessed with toys, but does enjoy edible bones, rawhide chews, and mostly just biscuits. Clifford does not like being left alone and he will try to get out of a fenced-in yard by digging under it or finding a hole in it. That is one reason he is crated in his foster home because if he were loose when no one was home, he could get out of the house and possibly out of the yard. This happened once, but Clifford did not run away; he was waiting on the front porch for his foster family to return home! 

Clifford is ready for that wonderful, forever family to come into his life. What a lucky family they will be!