by Linda Mann

Created on: May 10, 2008

"The Best Dog Ever"

My dog, his name is Cloud, is the best of the best for a family dog. My husband and I have had him since he was six weeks old and he is now five years old and he thinks he is still a puppy. He weighs probably over 60 pounds and he still tries to get up in my lap. He is part chow and shepherd and you could not ask for a better dog, and he loves everybody. If we bring anyone into my home, he thinks they are here just to see him. He is the one that usually meets people at the door and its a good thing that anybody that comes over all ready knows him, because anyone else would probably be afraid of him because he is so big.

My husband said when we were looking for a dog that cloud kept calling him back to the cage he was in at the humane society. He was born in a basement so he is afraid of ours, the only way he does go to the basement is if you make him. He is also afraid of the dark, which he lets you know at night when he goes outside he has to have a light on. We have a leash tied to our front porch for him to go outside on and if you let him out at night he will turn around and look at you real dumb as if to say "where is my light". He does not like loud noises like thunder and fireworks and he is too big to hide but he sure tries.

When he was a puppy, if you ask him if he wanted to go for a walk, no mater where it was, he would go and find it and bring his leash to you. If my husband goes anywhere, cloud thinks he is supposed to go with him, and when he doesn't get to go he pouts like a little kid not being able to go bye-bye. My husband will take him with him almost always, and he will get on the passenger side of a vehicle and sit or lay down and enjoy the ride. If I set on the porch he thinks he has to be right there with me he usually gets up on a chair right next to mine and looks around the neighborhood. At school time in the mornings he has to be out on the porch to watch kids go to the school at the end of our street.

We trained him to go outside giving him treats when he came in and he thinks he is supposed to get one every time he goes outside, whether he does nothing but stand out there and he will bug you to death until you give him one.

When it is nice outside and my grandkids get to go outside cloud thinks he has to be out there with them so he can play too. His favorite game is keep-away with the kids. They will throw a stick or a toy for him and he will fetch it and then run all over the yard with the kids in tow chasing him to get it from him.

Cloud is part of our family and hopefully we will have him for a very long time. He is the light in our lives, and he is really goofy sometimes but we wouldn't want it any other way.

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