The Dog who Wriggles

 

Clio’s Story

me among the daisies; I love lying in the sun

I’m such a lucky dog now. But life was hard in the beginning. Born and bred to be a hunting dog, I was frightened by loud noises. I was frightened of the shouting men; frightened of the cracking guns. The men didn’t want me because I wasn’t a good hunting dog. They left me by the side of a road. I spent a long time making do, scavenging, hiding, always hungry. I was scared all the time for a long time.  I ran away from everything. There were other dogs like me, though. We searched for food together. They were my friends. I was never scared of other dogs. 

One day someone captured me and took me in a smelly van to that noisy place, the pound, where all the other dogs were in cages, some together, some on their own. I was in my own cage at the beginning. I was very lonely. Surrounded by dogs but separated by cages. At least I felt safer, and people brought me food. It was still very scary, specially when they came into the cage to leave the food or clean with cold water and brooms. The gates clanged open, people with big boots marched in then out and the gates clanged shut behind them.

all the dogs would jump up to see over the cement walls and they would all be barking

Whenever visitors came to the pound we all, every last one of us, jumped up and down to see who it was, to see if they were coming to take us away or just to look. We barked and barked and barked. It was very noisy at the dog cages, but specially when there were visitors. 

There were two sets of gates to my cage.  They always closed one before they opened the other. But one day someone made a mistake. It wasn’t easy, but I managed to slip through both gates and escape outside. But outside the cages there were more gates. There was no way out of the pound.  

This was me while I was in the pound. It's the photo the kind lady used when she tried to find me a home; on the notice it says: "Olga (that was what they called me), frightened, but with a great need of a little affection."

I met another dog out there. I don’t know how he got outside, but we ran around together while the people tried to catch us. In the end they cornered us and they put us back inside another cage. But this time they put us together. This dog was the same colour as me. They called him Aldo. We got on fine and Aldo became my companion. 

this could have been one of mine

Later I had puppies.  I liked my puppies, little squirming, whimpering creatures. I looked after them. When the puppies grew they left me one by one. I don’t know where they went but I hope they went somewhere nice, like where I am now. The only really good thing in the dog place, apart from Aldo and the puppies, was a lady called Giovanna who came every so often to take me and my companion to the green space where we could run about. She was very kind. She petted me and gave me treats. I wished she would take me away with her.

Me with Giovanna, such a nice lady, a member of ASSTA, an association of volunteers who look after dogs like me and try to find us homes

Then one day everything changed. A family came to the dog pound. That was such a day. All the dogs were barking and jumping up to see who was coming in. They were all shouting, Take me! Take me! Take me! I was jumping and shouting too, but I didn’t think anyone would take me. 

The kind lady Giovanna brought me out of my cage to show me to the visitors. I was trembling and trembling so much; I was so scared. There was a man and three women. They had a dog, I could smell it, but he wasn’t there. I know I was smelly and dirty and skinny and sad-looking. But Giovanna was saying things about me. They were talking about me.

And then they took me to see their dog, Argo, who was waiting outside the pound in their car. Argo is younger than me, and sometimes he acts like a silly puppy, but that day he was really happy to see me. He whined and wagged his tail and tried to smell me. I was too scared of everything to do anything, but I liked the look of him and he smelt nice.

This is the day they took me away from the pound in their car: I look a bit happy already, but I was also very worried...

Then suddenly I was in the family’s car. I was lying at the feet of one of the women. Argo was looking down at me from behind. He wouldn’t stop whining and straining to see me. I liked that. But I was still terrified. Where were they taking me? Was it going to be better or worse than where I was now? Were they going to leave me at the side of a road again?

The new people smelled nice. They gave me a treat but I was too nervous to eat it even if I was very hungry. I was always hungry in the dog pound. I didn’t know it then, but soon I would never be hungry again. I didn’t know it then, but I was going to a safe, happy place with a big garden, lots of food and treats, Argo for my friend and kind masters. 

From the beginning they called me Clio. 

It took me a long while to work everything out because I was so frightened. At first I was just trembling and worried all the time. I never liked to go inside the house because I didn’t know when they would let me out again. Maybe I would be trapped, like in the cage. But Argo went in and out, so I followed him. I still don’t like doors and gates to this day, but I’m much bolder now.

When anyone new came to my new home I would run away to the farthest part of the garden or the farthest corner of the house, just in case they were coming to take me back to the pound. Now I'm pretty sure that's not ever going to happen. Still, I don't like changes and I'm wary of strangers.

Argo is my pack leader, I accepted that from the start, even if he’s a bit silly at times. He’s not very sensible. He’ll go madly chasing after all sorts of creatures, whatever their size; I’m more cautious. If he hears a loud noise he barks and runs towards it. If I hear a loud noise I ran away from it. When the big rumbles happen in the sky he races up and down barking at them; I race inside and hide in a corner. 

I hear them say I've put on weight since I came...I do know that I feel so much better now

But nowadays I’m happy. Little by little I learned to trust my masters; to go in and out the door; ask for tickles and cuddles; ask for treats; even play with my masters a little bit. What I love about my new life is: Argo; food every day, twice a day, and treats; our masters who are so kind; the garden which is so big and full of lizards and grass and good smells; the walks that our masters take us on.

I LOVE walks

I LOVE walks. When our masters take down the harnesses and leashes for us I am so happy I dance and wriggle and skitter up and down. It’s so very exciting. On the walk I love to sniff new smells and explore alongside the path. I love to listen out for animal noises. I love to pull ahead to smell more good smells and follow a trail. I've got stronger since I've been here and if my master is walking too slowly I can pull very hard. Going uphill I put on a special effort which is my 'turbo tug': my hind legs pull together then my forelegs pull together and up we go. It's very efficient.

But if there is an animal in the bushes I bark and yelp. I don’t actually want to chase that animal. It might turn out to be dangerous. That’s where Argo and I are so different: he would go charging after anything, whatever its size. He’s reckless because he’s fearless.

Argo marks his territories a lot and sometimes I copy him. The curious thing is, if I mark where he has marked, he’ll come back and leave another mark on top of mine. I just let it go...it’s not worth insisting; otherwise we'd go on marking that spot forever...

Also, if my masters don’t want me to pull, I listen. I stay next to them. I don’t like to displease them. Argo never obeys unless he wants to. He’s strong-willed and independent as well as fearless.

My best time of the day is mealtimes. We get fed twice a day plus treats and other good things. It's heaven. I also like naptime because our masters are nearby and they sometimes tickle and caress us. I’ve learnt to butt their hands with my head so they notice me. I also love rushing out in the morning to see if there are any new smells or noises. Argo always gets out first. Because he was here first and because he’s my pack leader, I let him. He lets me know that this is important to him. I don’t mind. Actually, I’m faster than he is; but I don’t rub his nose in it. 

We like to rough and tumble together, we play great games, pretending to fight, pouncing and nipping and holding each other by the throat. It’s just for fun. But I never let him mount me. I don’t want that. In the dog pound after I had my puppies they took me somewhere and did something to me...I was asleep, but after I was sore. Since then I haven’t wanted to be mounted. That’s just the way it is. But we play a lot: we wrestle and chase and play hide and seek all around the garden. We hunt lizards, dig holes, explore inside bushes and patrol the fence together. And of course we rest together. We’re a good team, and I’m a good follower.

We're good companions, Argo and I

Argo has lots of toys. They are his toys. Sometimes I take one; I like the balls. Or, if he’s chewing a stick I sometimes take that. Sometimes we both pull on the stick. Sometimes we get cross and growl, but we never hurt each other. Sometimes Argo nips me a bit too hard, but he doesn’t mean to. I know that. He loves me and I love him. When he goes away outside the gate I cry and cry. 

we play a lot together, but we also just hang out a lot

Life is good these days. When my masters talk to me I wag my tail; when they come up to me I wag it some more. I wag my tail a lot. When I wag my tail it makes my whole body wriggle and squirm. I know because they say this. I wriggle a lot these days. Because I’m a happy dog. 

Another thing I do which Argo doesn’t, is jump up to say hello and thank you to my masters. I like to dance on my hind legs with them, get my face close to theirs. I would like to lick their faces to say ‘I love you’ but they don’t let me do that. Still, I can lick other parts like a hand or an arm.

As I said, I’m a lucky dog and I know just how lucky I am. That’s the difference between Argo and me. He doesn’t know; I do. And I say thank you to my masters every day with every wriggle and every dance and every loving lick. Thank you, thank you, thank you for bringing me here. I love being your Clio.

happy days