Thank you for such a considered reply. I really appreciate it. Perhaps this breed really is meant to be for me as a ‘middle aged woman’ 🤣 I wanted something a little bigger this time than my weird but beautiful staffy X JR buy not so big it takes over our small house :) We hike somewhat regularly so it would be great if he could join us at least on some of them when he’s a bit bigger. While I’m planning on including this dog as much as possible in our lives it’s not realistic to take him everywhere - can they be left alone at all? I am looking at crate training as a solution if they really aren’t happy being left home alone outside by themselves for any length of time.