Unlocked Petential

Well…we have officially made it to SOUTH CAROLINA! 🥹💚

If you’ve noticed that things have been a little quiet around here lately, there’s a pretty big reason for it… WE MOVED! 🏡🐾

The last few weeks have been an absolute whirlwind of packing, planning, traveling, saying goodbye to our old home, and somehow getting all SEVEN of our animals safely to our new home. 😂

It’s been a huge life change for us, and honestly, social media was one of the first things to fall to the bottom of the list. But now that we’re finally here, settling in, and starting to get into a routine, I’m SO excited to get back to sharing our adventures with you all. 🥰

And these dogs have already decided that the giant fenced-in yard is their favorite part of the whole move. 😂💚 Watching them run around and explore their new space has made all the stress of getting here completely worth it.

So, consider this our official “WE MADE IT!” announcement. 🎉

New state. New home. New adventures. Same crazy crew. 🐺🐾

I’ve got SO much to catch you up on, and I can’t wait to bring you along for this next chapter of Unlocked Petential.

Here’s to fresh starts, new memories, and a whole lot more dog content coming your way! 🥂🐾💚

🥰🥰

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Astrid is actually pretty biddable for a Wolfdog, imo, but I think this video is a good example of a medium drive dog compared to a breed like the Belgian Malinois, which is generally much higher drive.

Astrid is happy to work, she’s willing to learn, and she clearly enjoys our training sessions…but she wants to know what’s in it for her 😂

If the paycheck disappears, so does her motivation

That’s one of the many reasons Wolfdogs generally aren’t well suited for jobs like service work. They can absolutely learn an impressive amount of behaviors, but their motivation and engagement can look very different from purpose bred working dogs.

A high drive breed like a Belgian Malinois or Doberman is often much more intensely motivated to engage with their handler and work for the sake of the interaction itself, in addition to whatever reinforcement is being offered.

But Astrid? She’s basically like, “I would LOVE to do that trick… but first, what’s in it for me?”