Cleta-phobia

Cletus, who answers to the name 'Potamus', has claustrophobia. He is 110 lb of quivering white fur when it comes to going through a doorway. It took some real creativity to get him inside of a 4-horse stocktrailer when we had to take him to the vet. He won’t even step inside the workshop which is open and has a high ceiling and a 15-foot wide, open doorway. Seriously, he has a problem. Or should I say, “had”. He cured himself.

Bruno has taken to coming into the house during the day and sleeping. It’s cool in here and no big deal, since Cletus has always been outside on chicken duty.

Once or twice Cletus has stuck his head through the door only to fly backwards at the slightest hint of noise or movement. We have caught him looking in at us, but the moment he sees us looking his way, he instantly disappears. No way is he going to get caught where he could be reeled in.

The other night we barbecued a couple of rib steaks. They smelled amazing. So amazing, that Cletus had to get a closer look. There is a magnetic screen on the door right now, so the other dogs can go in and out at will. His nose appeared through the screen. Then a pair of eyes…some ears…pretty soon there was an entire dog's front-end standing inside, with a big, white, pointy muzzle laying on the table next to Randy's plate. If power of the mind was capable, that dog's eyes would have levitated that steak right into his mouth. If a 110 lb dog is able to put on a cute face, Potamus did.

Unable to resist, I handed him a bite.  A bit more dog appeared on this side of the curtain. He begged what he could get out of us, then went slinking back outside. The experience was life changing for him. Apparently, as he returned to his outdoor post, it occured to him that life on the INSIDE of the house, held a great deal of promise.

The next day, Cletus began his self-prescribed therapy. Instead of napping on the lawn he laid in front of the door. An hour later, he bravely stuck his head inside the door. I found this very disturbing, as looked a bit like something out of the Godfather. Every hour, a little more of his body was on THIS side of the curtain. Within days he was actually inside the house. I stared at him, dumbfounded as he looked around, turning his head right and left. To the chagrin of all of us, he nosed around and found Cider's food bin, then he hunted down Randy's secret stash of chips by the chair. He wandered into the living room, emboldened by his discoveries of this canine version of the land of milk and honey, searched out a favorite spot and flopped down. The problem is, it was Bruno's favorite spot.  Taking offense at the pre-empting of his piece of rug, Bruno promptly marched over and sat on Cletus the Potamus' head. This started an extremely physical disagreement. Cider and I stood on the couch as there is little room in our tiny rock house for 200+ pounds of arguing dogs.

I was not anxious to have another hairy muddy beast living in our house. Even one is too many, but Randyman and I have been together a long time.

Now I seem to have large white rugs laying in the kitchen or living room most of the day. 

I am preparing to serve them their eviction notice. Someone needs to guard the chickens!