Objectively, Journey is an amazing dog. He is easy to live with, funny and silly, sweet and sensitive, controlled and driven. He is everything I wanted in an agility dog and more.

Below, I write about not only the good of Journey, but his weaknesses. I think every dog has quirks or things that could be improved, and I’d rather be up-front with them, to make sure any pairing is sensible and will produce better puppies, than to try and hide them and pretend he’s perfect.

Life, Temperament, Quirks

When he was young, he firmly believed that every person and dog was put on this earth to be his friend. This hasn’t changed much, especially with people. Whether at training, a competition, out on the street, or on a train, if there’s someone nearby you can bet he’ll catch their eye… fold his ears back… wiggle at them… wait for them to smile… wiggle a bit more… and eventually they’ll give in and say hello. He is incredibly friendly and open to all people.

He is not a fan of kids BUT I put that down to lack of socialisation – he was a COVID puppy and spent much of his first 12 months in lockdown in very rural NE England. He would love them if he’d had a chance to spend time with them. ‘

With dogs, he is friendly and wants to meet them, his tail whirring in a blur, however after being attacked by an entire male BC at 2 years old, he became more dog selective and while he WANTS to meet them, he gets uncomfortable when they’re in his space and would rather be left alone. He communicates clearly when he’s uncomfortable, ignores even reactive dogs barking and lunging, and is in general dog neutral – he just doesn’t want males in his space. He loves females and neutered males, and his BFF is his son in Austria (an entire male, lol) who he plays with at every opportunity.

I believe he genuinely enjoys making people smile and laugh, bouncing with a leaf in his mouth or whipping a stringy toy. He is incredibly sensitive to my emotions and acts as my unofficial emotional support dog – he is an incredibly calming presence, and I think most of his puppies are the same. 

In terms of weird BC quirks, he doesn’t have many. Occasionally things being blown about by a breeze inside the house cause some concern (we say that he’s afraid of ghosts), but things being blown in the wind outside aren’t a problem. It’s more about unexplained phenomena, like things falling over by themselves, plastic bags making sounds as they unfold, something sliding off a shelf when it’s been left unattended. Honestly, I don’t blame him for being afraid of ghosts. If frightened, he will come and seek comfort for me, and I become his emotional support human. 

He has always been open to new experiences. Curious and sometimes cautious, never cocky or brash, and once he knows the situation is safe, he’s happy and relaxed. Thunder, gunshots, traffic, dogs lunging or barking at him either on leash or behind a fence don’t bother him at all. Busy situations like Christmas markets worry him a bit – but I do put this down to those first few COVID months after his initial socialisation window. The thing with Journey is – he will go everywhere, he will manage everything, he will happily work – he never shuts down, but he doesn’t necessarily ENJOY being there the way Loki does. 

He has some slight resource guarding tendencies, nothing extreme, and oftentimes warranted. A lip curl or growl if Loki goes sniffing around while he’s chewing on something (fair enough), deciding that a dog that once stole his agility ball is enemy #1 and who he now can’t stand to be around (also, fair enough).