Clover
Clover
My name is: Clover
I came from: Cyprus
Now I live in: Folkestone, Kent
My favourite things are: Running around on the beach, naps, sitting awkwardly on human laps, any type of cheese
Clover’s story
We were really excited but nervous about rescuing Clover, but adopting a dog was something we had thought about for a while as I have worked from home for seven years so we knew that we could offer the attention and time a dog deserves, and having moved to Folkestone six months previously we knew that it was the ideal place to have a dog.
A colleague had adopted via Underdog so we had a look through the pages and fell in love with Clover’s sweet face. We had to consider the fact that she has leishmaniasis, which is an incurable condition and not usually covered by pet insurance, but after doing lots of research we decided that the pros outweighed the cons as it was treatable and she would be able to live a normal life.
Eve and the Underdog team were super communicative in the lead up to, and during Clover's transfer from Cyprus to the UK, and were really helpful when she arrived. We collected her from Folkestone services and 15 minutes later we coaxed her into her new home.
We had some initial struggles due to Clover feeling uncomfortable being inside our house, but the Underdog team had equipped us with enough advice that we knew what to do. After spending the first few days in the utility room and garden, she felt confident enough to explore further into our home which is weird to think back to because two years on she pretty much rules the roost!
After initially settling in, and through lockdown, Clover showed some severe separation issues at night time which resulted in the addition (and dog-forced removal) of baby gates, and a couple of ripped up floors during many sleepless nights of her breaking into our bedroom. She was also very reactive to other dogs which was to be expected as she had lived on the streets where most dogs were competition to her. We reached out to the Underdog team and we were put in touch with a behaviourist via who specialises in Staffy rescues. The advice was amazing and, though her training journey will never be complete, it made a world of difference to all of our quality of life.
One key thing to mention is Clover’s leishmaniasis. Our vet has been fantastic and we are lucky that as he is from Greece he has colleagues back there who are more aware of developments in medications due to a higher number of dogs having the illness. Clover is medicated daily (a pill crushed into her food), has special low purine food, and her blood is taken every 6 months to check that the illness has not progressed. I would advise that this is an extra cost to undertake (as previously mentioned it is not covered by insurance) but, given that she has been able to live a perfectly normal life, it is worth every penny - just make sure your vet is clued up on treatment!
We have put in a lot of time researching, training and socialising Clover and she is now a super well behaved dog who is a firm favourite in our local pub and has plenty of dog pals to walk, play and even stay over with when we go away. She was even recently invited to help out in our friend’s reactive dog’s training session which just goes to show how far she has come in her behavioural journey.
We recently celebrated Clover’s 2nd “Gotcha Day” which involved a long walk on the beach and a steak dinner and we are looking forward to many more of those days to come!