Getting a handle on Clyde

Clyde has been on the back burner for a while now. He was in rather rough shape when he arrived so I knew he'd take some time to get ready for adoption. There's been a lot of dogs coming through here lately and most of them have jumped over Clyde in the line because they were ready, or almost ready, for adoption whereas Clyde was not. But Clyde's day is coming.

He has pretty much shed out all of his old, dead, sunburned coat and he's got a new, sleek black coat, although he needs a bath to really make it show and shine. He also still needs to gain some weight, at least 15 pounds I would say. All the running really burns off calories and although I've started re-worming him today,  I should have done that at least a couple weeks ago. The biggest hold up with Clyde, however is his manners. He's wild, unruly, and jumpy, particularly now that he's feeling good and is full of energy. I can deal with that around here, but it's not exactly a quality that adopters look for in a dog. He didn't even know "sit" until Cooper came along and taught it to him. After starting Cooper on the Gentle Leader yesterday I decided it was time to do the same for Clyde today.

I got it on him and walked around the yard a little to make sure it was secure. Then I loaded him into the van, along with Maya, and we went for our daily two miler. I was surprised that Clyde didn't fight the Gentle Leader more than he did. I was expecting flailing paws and the alligator death roll in an effort to get that thing off his face, but he seemed to settle down and accept it pretty well.

We had a nice walk with Clyde on a short leash right next to me. The only problem was that Maya usually walks in that spot and she kept trying to push Clyde out of the way. I finally convinced Maya, more or less, to let Clyde have that spot at least for today.

I wasn't taking any chances with the Gentle Leader so I also
put a leash on his martingale collar although I never needed it.

His coat looks pretty good, but he needs more meat under it.

I don't really care for the look of the Gentle Leader on
the dog's face, but it sure does make him easy to walk.

Clyde now does a pretty fast "sit" when you are
holding a food dish above his head.
Cooper taught him that, I can't claim any credit for it.