Clay020710

MEET:

CLAY

STATE: ME
AGE: 3 Years
DOB:   3/2007
WEIGHT: approx. 78 lbs
SEX: Male
NEUT/UTD: Yes/Yes
COAT COLOR:Fawn/Blk Mask
DOCKED TAIL: Yes
CROPPED EARS: No
CHILDREN UNDER 4: Yes
CHILDREN OVER 4: Yes
SEPARATION ANXIETY: No
OTHER DOGS: Yes
CATS:   Yes
CRATE TRAINED: Yes
HOUSE TRAINED: Yes
LEASH TRAINED: Working on it
OBEDIENCE TRAINED: Some
MICROCHIPPED: Yes
ADOPTION FEE: $320 (includes $20 microchip fee)

UPDATE 7/11/10 - Clay (now known as Hercules) has been home for nearly a month now. He has been so happy, and has been a very good boy.

The intermediate dog obedience class is working out very well. He is had his 3rd class on Saturday. He has been heeling very well on the leash. He will stay, even with the distractions of being in a busy store. He will wait whenever asked now. Amazingly he will actually come to a screeching halt when told to "leave it" when chasing the bobcat through the kitchen. The cat chasing has nearly stopped completely. The instructor is excellent, and I am planning to follow up with advanced classes when they are offered. He is one very capable and willing to learn.

It certainly is wonderful to be alerted when someone comes to the house. He alerts me to strangers differently than if my sons come home. If it is one of my sons stopping by late at night, Hercules will still awaken me but will not bark or growl.

It has been so hot these past few weeks, and the deer flies have been bad, so we haven't been taking any long walks on the trails. How he loves the large field where he can run free in the cool mornings. He runs so fast! He certainly gets plenty of exercise everyday. He's been spending time inside during the hottest part of the days sprawled out in the comfort of the living room in front of a cooling fan with plenty of water to drink. We go to the lake to cool off, and at home its fun for him to run through the sprinkler when I am watering my flowerbeds in the early evenings. He is very content and is very much loved.

6/17/10 - Clay has been adopted!

6/12/10- Clay has been here almost 2 weeks now and is doing great! He is just a big, loveable mushball! He loves going for car rides with me to do errands, but the big baby does want lifted into back of car though!-LOL He lies right down and goes along for the ride. He is doing great with my dogs, though not playful with either yet. Clay still seems a little bummed out about life, it happens a lot with dogs surrendered, they do not understand why their family gives them up--boxers are just so sensitive. :( I did introduce him to my 2 cats today and he was perfectly fine. He just sniffed them a little and didn't care that they were around. I wonder if he had lived with cats at some point as he just acted like "oh, you furballs again?" and went about his business. Even when they did their 100 mile dash by the "newbie" in the house to test out the dogs' resolve for the game of chase, Clay just watched calmly and then looked at me with his famous "worried look" he has mastered (such expression!). I think he thought the cats were just crazy and needed psychological help! Clay loves to be by my side and lays ON my feet any chance he gets! I tried to get him to use the couch instead, but he thought making my toes go numb was much more enjoyable. Oh, we also solved the battle of the crate we had on day one, Clay is perfectly fine with going into an EXTRA LARGE varikennel/plastic style crate and doesn't fuss anymore about being in there when I am not home. He is just too big for the large crate and didn't appreciate me trying to squish him into it the first night he was here when that was the only available crate at the time and I was running late to get to work--I guess you cannot blame the big lug! :P Clay is just a Gentle Ben type boy who wants a home to love him. Are you that home?

5/30/10- Unfortunately Clay is currently on his way back to rescue today to find another home. As you can see, all his updates even up until 2 weeks ago were glowing, so he is a wonderful dog. He recently had two incidents with strangers being in his yard and also had started some fights with the other dog in the house during heightened times (ex: people coming to door). All things are just Clay getting more comfortable and testing his boundaries, which he needs to learn he is not the pack leader in his home, his family needs to be. Clay is also showing the protective side of the boxer breed with their home and family, which is fully natural, but again he needs to be shown what is acceptable and not and have a home able to do that for him. More updates soon as I get to know him here.

UPDATE 5/15/10 - We love him! We Love him! We love him!! Clay is such a good boy, I have nothing but the best things to say about him. He is such a happy boy, loves to bring my shoes outside to me when I get home. He is so funny. We kiss him all day, and he loves his boxer brother Thunder. He loves our 4 children and our 4 children love him too!!!
Because of the wonderful experience we are having with Clay, I know that I will adopt again and again in the future. He is such a gift to our family :) Thank you all so much :)

UPDATE 4/13/10 - He is the greatest dog ever. I dont know what we would do without him. We mooch him all day long and he plays with his boxer brother all day as well. Life is very good for our Clay. And what is really special, is that I believe he KNOWS what he means to us. He is very protective of us, if our youngest daughter is upset over something, he runs right over to her to be sure she is ok. I could go on all day how loved he is at his forever home. thank you for bringing him into our lives. :)

UPDATE 3/15/10 - Clay is the love of our lives. He is so comfortable here and we are crazy about him. We started his obedience training a couple of weeks ago, and because he is so smart he already knows everything. He sits, comes when called, gives paw, etc. He and his boxer brother Thunder go for runs with me while I am roller skating. It is quite an eye turner, watching me get pulled by two boxers while on roller-skates and they LOVE it! Life is very good here for our Clay and he has made our life great as well.

UPDATE 2/19/10 - Clay has been with us for one week today,and we feel he has been a part of our family forever. We are a complete family now. He has fit in perfectly with us. We smooch him constantly and he plays all day with his boxer brother Thunder. We are over the moon for him and we are so blessed to have him. He is such a good boy. He walks great on a leash, he takes treats like a prince, he sleeps with us like a baby. I couldnt dream of a better dog than Clay. Thank you for everything!

2/12/10 - I was adopted today!

2/10/10 - Hi! Hi! Hi! Hiiiiiiiiiii! Clay here - sooooooo how do you all like this snow? Personally, I love it… I am having a blast playing in it but it does make me slip when doing my daily laps around the deck and patio here….. no probs tho…. I just put on the brakes and hope for the best! I’ve got lots of energy but will calm down when asked to do so, and if you let me, I’d really like to sit ON your lap. That’s right, I’m big, but I can squeeze on - don’t worry! Can I tell you a secret???? I really don’t like the crate. FM puts me in there at night to sleep and during the day when she’s gone just to be safe since I’m new here and she has this one girl boxer that’s a bit “bossy”. FM tells me its better if I stay in there to sleep and when no one is home so that there are no scuffles between us - so far, all is good and we just hang out otherwise (I think she likes me cause she lets me kiss her face). Once I’m sleeping I don’t care since I’ve got a big blanket so I’m comfy. I did sleep on my own bed at my former home so I’d be okay if left out. I like it here enough - but I’d really like to get to my new forever home and just get on with it already… I do think I’d like a family that’s active, one that will take me on walks, runs, rides in the car, play with the soccer ball, throw sticks (LOVE IT!) AND (I’m not done yet….) and one that likes to give rubs, scratches, get leaned on (and sat on), accept boxer smooches and tell me how handsome I am. Till then, I’ll just hang here with my new friends.

2/7/10 - Clay has arrived!. He is an owner surrender due to a change in his human's job that left Clay alone for too many hours a day. He is a good back seat passenger and is a big strong clown of a boy, who knows sit and down. As expected, he has the energy of a puppy at 3 and after running in the snow with the two resident boxers (one male and one very dominant female) for a good 30 minutes (up the deck steps, down the other side, around the deck, back up the deck steps, down the other side, around the yard, back up the deck steps, down and around and around) he is resting in the crate, though not quietly. He is busy whining and moaning as though his comforter was made of nails. We did introductions on leash, and he displayed appropriate behaviour of being sniffed and sniffing. He play bowed and stared, but not for any amount of time before looking away and taking off into the snow for a chase. He waited (not so patiently... sort of like a toddler with ants in his pants) for me to throw snow balls and sticks, without jumping in the air OR on me to get them before they were thrown. He is wiggly and has a ton of wrinkles on his head and likes to lean in for a rub. Stay tuned but don't wait too long. I don't expect him to be here very long.

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