The first time I saw Cleo, she was running in the snowy backyard at the rescue with a ball in her mouth, being chased by about 7 other dogs (mostly corgis). She was a very proud keeper of the ball and had a real air of authority. And she was such a cutie, I knew I had to give her a home. She was really relaxed during the ride back, like she'd done it a thousand times before, and really taking it all in stride that she was in a strange car with 2 strange guys and a strange dog named Thorin, who whined the whole way back.

Cleo has some hilarious little quirks. At bedtime, she will often jump up in my bed, get settled in, and as soon as I make a move to get in the bed, she barks, growls at me, and runs away. She will often come back within a couple of minutes, jump back on the bed, and if I make the slightest movement, she barks at me and runs away again. She loves to be petted and scratched but she snarls in response sometimes, as if to say, "Don't even think about stopping." Also, everyday when I get home from work, she barks at me angrily and authoritatively until her dinner is ready. Only then does she act happy to see me. I've been accused many times of encouraging her mean ways, but I know that she's not really angry, and that she loves people dearly. She's just "communicative", and that's one of my favorite things about her.

I nearly lost her in September 2004 after she ate a bunch of strands of carpet in my apartment. She was really sick for two days and wasn't getting any better. So we took her to a 24-hour emergency animal hospital to be checked out and after taking x-rays and seeing her condition, they had to do emergency surgery to remove the rest of the carpet that was getting stuck in her stomach and intestines, threatening to perforate her intestines, which could lead to death. After surgery and a short stay in the hospital, she bounced back really quickly. She's completely fine now and almost all the hair has grown back on her stomach. I don't know what caused her to eat the carpet because she and Thorin were home alone when it happened. I suspect it had something to do with her tendency to eat garbage off the street during our walks. She probably ate something that upset her stomach and thought that carpet would ease her pain. She's now crated during the day when we're at work to prevent her from doing it again. I also hired a dog trainer to teach us how to teach her and Thorin not to eat off the streets. The training has been a success...mostly. The whole experience was terrifying and made me realize that Cleo is just as important to me as any human member of my family.