Meet Axel

Bonus Points

Lead walking?
He can tug quite a bit on walks, but it's not been something that I've not been able to handle myself. My partner struggles a bit with this as she's a little smaller. When he's focused on something external, such as a squirrel, he will tug to his hearts content to pull towards that animal, this is also true with dogs. We have tried to progress his heel, but there can be a lot of distracting noises for him during training that it's difficult to keep the focus on me.

Can he be left alone any time?
Yes, we've been building this up for him and been able to get him alone up to 2 hours without any noises or issues. This is usually in the crate, but we have left him alone in a room as well for a period of time without issues.

How is his sleeping?
He's quite a light sleeper, but will happily settle down in the crate. He is easily disturbed by noise and will alert bark to let us know there is somewhere near by, this commonly noticed as we have neighbours in the block whom he sometimes reacts to if he hears them walking and talking up and down the stairs.

Is he high energy?
He seems to have gotten used to my routine in the morning, remaining calm until later during the day when I've got time for play, training or walks. we do find on walks that he can be very high energy, and can struggle when he's restrained by his leash. He can be stimulated by seeing critters, dogs, or any other animal in which he will remain focused on that vicinity for a long time. This is usually when begins to pull on the lead, and it can be difficult to get his focus back, even with treats.

How is he around other dogs?
He can be difficult around other dogs, and has always had that reactivity. It's rare we see an opportunity where he remains calm at seeing a dog, but this definitely can be trained out of him. I've witnessed him be civil around a dog or two with enough time and patience, but it's difficult where I live seeing lots of off dog leads which will startle him. I'd say if the dog is further than 5 metres away, he won't react, but closer than that, he will stare them down and then bark & lunge.

How is he around kids?
I've been able to socialise him around kids and families who have been able to pet him. He loves the attention and is likely to jump on adults if they're tall enough, but has been careful around the kids them pet him around the face and ears. An issue we have noticed is that he can have very unpredictable behaviour around babies (Anywhere under 2 years) in which he will quickly pull and has launched himself in order to get closer. My partner has witnessed him barking and attempting to lunge at babies, we're not entirely sure about this behaviour.

How is his food aggression & toy possession?
We've seen some signs of food aggression at the start, but we're not seeing it from him right now. We've taken food away while he's eating, taken toys away while he's chewing, he will eagerly await instruction so that he can get them back. He can be quite a handful when he's playing with his toys, but I think that's just how he enjoys to chew and mouth.

Other
The biggest issue for us is how he attempts to get attention from us. He can be visibly aggressive towards my partner and I when he wants this attention. He's snarled, snapped his teeth, barked, and has bit on rare occasion. It's been difficult for us to diagnose why this happens, sometimes it's over excitement or sometimes it can be challenging behaviour. Within the house, we put him in another room until he calms down, then he can come join us. Recently, he's started doing this on walks. attempting just to mouth my legs, in which we ignore the behaviour and mark rewards when he walks back to normal. He will attempt to chew the lead, playing a tug of war until we manage to get it back.