RD (short for Rock Dog) is sweet, goofy, lovable and obedient. He has never once tried to soil or mark in the house and he willingly goes into his crate. He loves to go for rides in the car and needs a good 30 minute “obedience walk” most every day. The rest of the time, he’s happy to just lay down and chill. He is very treat (and scent) motivated and easily makes progress on any training with treats. He likes the occasional sprint through a large back yard or open space that you can call him back from. He’s SO fast! We’re still working on recall though, so I only let him do a couple rounds of sprinting back and forth when we’re in an open space. Afterwards we go back to loose leash walking.

RD is not an affection seeker, so it’s really easy to tell when he wants something: He’ll walk up to you and nudge you hard with his nose. That usually means 1) It’s time for you to get out of bed 2)he’s hungry 3) wants to go outside or 4) we need a change of scenery. The latter can happen if you have a lot of noisy and energetic visitors and he’s “done”. While he doesn’t come to you wanting to be pet, he has learned that shoulder massages and jaw muscle rubs feel pretty good and are worth sticking around for.

RD has a great baritone bark/growl and will “moan” to also let you know if he’s bored or reluctantly complying with your instructions. His moans make me laugh and I find it cute. He will definitely bark at strangers (not all) and may need several days to warm up to new people. This will include family and friends. During that time, he will be quietly ‘on guard’ looking for incidents even when you think he’s not paying attention. Once acclimated, though (certainly after a few hand feedings), he knows where he’s getting his meals from and who is to be trusted. He does not like it when new people come up to him and start petting him. Anyone who does this is taking a chance of getting a lip curl or snap. Instructing them to simply ignore him and let him smell them first will suffice. You will have to keep people and dogs from assuming they can immediately invade his personal space. This is a small price to pay for having someone around who will always have your back.