I hope you are enjoying reading about Rio. Having a new dog keeps me humble and reminds me all of us have issues when we bring a dog home.
One thing I did with Rio was to establish rules right from the start. No jumping on the humans, no stealing food off the table and the trash can is off limits.
I taught him the “leave it” command on day 2 of our life together. I joke he thinks his name is “Rio, Leave it”. I use it a lot, but he keeps his nose and feet to himself, so it works.
One problem I do have, is Rio is used to a lot of activity. At the shelter and the Humane Society, there was constant activity. That over stimulation created a real busy body. Rio has a hard time settling down. You can see he is tired, but even when his eyes are drooping, he is ready to jump up at any opportunity.
Particularly the first month, I had to give him regular time outs in his crate. I wasn’t angry, but all of us needed a break.
As time has gone on, Rio has learned to relax during the day. He regularly naps from 10:30 to 3, sometimes crated, sometimes loose, depending on who is around and what is going on.
Late evenings are still a challenge.
We have lots of barking dogs in our neighborhood. Rio and Jesse both like to join in the nightly serenade.
I have made some progress, but definitely need to pay more attention to this problem.
