#i should do a report card thing like what kangals has been doing for funsies tbh

[hashtag-xolo]

Showing some signs of learning to settle!

I don't know the full background but Nico was raised for his first year of life in a neglectful home. From what I could glean, it sounds like he was basically left outside and mostly interacted with other dogs. He obviously had some human socialization as a pup but he never had to learn anything close to manners or patience because he was just left outside. He learned some great dog social skills but when it comes to living inside with humans and learning that we don't just let him do whatever his little xolo heart desires? Tragic, appalling, the greatest tyranny. He came with almost zero impulse control or patience with people because he never had to learn it. Learning that has been the biggest priority and why you don't see me post a lot because... It's not really thrilling stuff to post about in the interim lmao

But basically we have been working on being able to entertain himself for short periods of time, learning that demand barking isn't appropriate behavior, that some locations are forbidden (mostly for safety reasons please stop trying to get on high surfaces), and that he doesn't have to be involved in every little thing I'm doing (laundry used to be impossible when he was in the room too). He really struggles with these things and it also makes training sessions difficult because he doesn't have the impulse control to train for long without just launching himself towards me for the treat bag because he gets too excited. It's not a difficult experience but it's a slow going type of training because he's an adolescent to boot.

But last night I was able to do all of the laundry and he just stayed on the pillow and watched me or snoozed! It was really nice to see this progress. We're still working a lot on his self control around food but we will get there. I understand that for him food was scarce so that doesn't help his demanding food at every opportunity! I'm really proud of him though. He's shaping up to be a great dog.