Age: 3 | Energy: Medium-High | Weight: 80 lbs
Nino loves long and fast walks. It’s his favorite thing - often the first thing in the morning he’ll find his leash and bring it over as his way of saying “Let’s GO!!”. He’s a happy guy with a bit of the puppy energy still. He likes to follow you around the house and almost always has a toy in his mouth, proud to show off.
He’s eager to please so should be easy to train. He is housetrained and knows some commands in Spanish. He was raised with other dogs and gets along with every dog and person we’ve met. He likes to be active & needs lots of toys and attention.
He pulls on the leash but learning manners and we are introducing him to crates. He’s a chewer so it’s important you give him a few options otherwise he’ll make do with whatever’s in reach.
Overall he’s a great pup, exhibiting many of the classic lab characteristics. He’ll have an easy time bonding with his new family.
We currently take 2 walks per day and go about 8 miles / 3 hours in total. We start with a fast pace and then near the tail end of the walks we pick up Bella who is much slower and take it easy for a lap around the block. He will be fine with less than this for sure, I wanted to push him a bit to help him relax in a new environment while adjusting (he had a lot of pent up energy when I first got him). He likes to stop to greet other dogs & people and of course sniff around plenty.
His favorite game is show and tell. He’ll bring over every toy he finds and is happy just to show off. He doesn’t seem interested in fetch or tug a war, he’ll let me take what he’s holding. I think he’d be into games like that once you show him how to play though.
He likes to follow me everywhere. Most of the time he’s right at my feet, and when he’s not he’ll try to keep an eye on me (like watching me from a window when it’s too hot to come out too).
He’s a chewer. If I don’t have toys around then he’ll make do with shoes, books, chairs, pillows, or whatever else he can find. He understands a toy box, once he found that he left my stuff alone (for the most part). He likes to rummage through the box to pick what to carry around next. He will scatter toys everywhere, inside and outside, but likes when I refill the box so he can do it all over again. His favorites are stuffless squeaky animals and rawhide bones.
Pulls on leash - he’s about 75 pounds and puts all his weight into it. We are working on leash manners, and is making fast progress, but still learning.
Runs/jumps down stairs. I don’t trust him to go down safely so I hold his collar to force him to slow down.
Chews on anything when not enough toys around.
Pushes in to steal food from other dog.
Steps in water bowl, making a mess.
Take shoes to play keep away.
Chases birds, squirrels, rabbits (but no barking at them).
Marking and kicking dirt (minor lawn damage) & prefers to walk through shrubs instead of around them. This is a big problem for our neighbors, hoping that it’ll get better now that he’s been fixed. He will also mark my outdoor furniture, but no problems inside (other than at the vet’s office).
Jealous - he’ll try to get in the middle when you give another dog attention (not aggressively), but his attention span is short and he moves on pretty quickly.