Understanding Bugsy

Apologies in advance this will be a longish post.

Bugsy will be 5 in September - we will have had him in our lives for 5 years in December. I would have hoped I would have figured out and accepted some of this years ago but hey - we've gotten there. So here it goes.

1) He has no use for going slow. I think if you could ask him he would say he hates walking. Trotting with a few sprints thrown in seems to be his natural rhythm. We have tried various methods, collars, harnesses and tricks to get him to walk. He will humor us and walk a few feet, nicely, with a loose leash. Then he gets a whiff of something and he trots. Oblivious to the task of walking.
Bugsy from here on out I will do my best to kick it up a notch. I do have to look out for your knees but we'll go faster and quit this 'walking'

However please slow down in the house, when I see you fly down the stairs it really stops my heart. I know you've put your TPLO behind you but pal I will never be able to, so humor me on this one and slow down.

2) He should have been an experienced bird dog handler and hunter's dog. He hunts and works non-stop. I believe if he had consistent outlets for his prey drive and that from early on it was worked on he wouldn't have been so troublesome. As it is we constantly try to manage the prey drive and contain it. I have in the last year worked on using it more and it does make him more balanced. Unfortunately keeping/getting control over him while he is 'hunting' is exceptionally difficult to try to implement at this stage.

3) He should have always had at least one other dog to live with. He is a pack animal and yes he sees himself as leader of that pack. His happiest moments are with other dogs, always have been. Fortunately we always seem to be able to find him a buddy to run with at least once a week. This helps but again I will state he'd be more balanced if he had his own canine pack.

4) He needs challenges thrown his way regularly. Intellectual challenges. We do a fair job of this I think but I wish there were more interesting classes to go to or groups to attend. Obedience isn't his thing (LOL) but I think classes in which he was active and asked to achieve things would be great. I realize it is late but perhaps we can do some basic agility with him.
He loves to learn and gets excited when he sees the clicker or one of his intelli-toys come out of the closet. He doesn't just want to 'play' he wants to learn. I have always known this too but I have better skills to deploy now.
I contacted various agencies in the first month that we had him because I was able to see that he wasn't 'just a pet' sort of guy.
Wow am I glad no one was interested in a mutt!

5) He has extraordinary pain tolerance. Seen this over and over and in case you think it is just me when I picked him up the morning after his TPLO, the girl came around the corner with him and when he saw me he started wiggling and attempted to sprint to get to me. She laughed and said, 'wow he really loves you' and 'I've never seen a dog the day after surgery so stable and happy' LOL Oh and she also told me he took his Fentanyl patch off a couple of minutes after it went on so he wasn't too doped up.
I have heard so many stories of dogs crying and not being able to sleep for the pain. He was just my Bugsy, happy and alert during the day and asleep at night.
So when he limps or yelps it really, really hurts. Pay attention to it, take note and watch him like a hawk.

ah well that is all I can think of for now.
Thanks Bugsy for hanging with me as I learn who you are and how to work with you. You are a good boy and I love ya lots - even if you give me fits at times!