Years ago, a half starved, abused year-old beagle followed my son home, and we adopted him. That dog was seriously grateful for the rest of his life, and would do anything he could to please us.
This dog loves us, and wants to be close to us, but seems to be very easily tempted to misbehave. He's a dog. He's young. He forgets.
I discovered that my grandson has been letting the dog sleep in his bed with him at night. And that's the consistency issue. It's hard for a dog to understand why one human will invite him up on a bed, but another disciplines him for being on a soft chair. So I've got the dog in bed thing stopped. The dog does have a comfortable bed, and is going to have to be content sleeping next to the human bed, not on it.
It would be a delight to train him to do something useful, like pheasant hunting or working cattle. He loves the water. But pheasants are pretty scarce around here, and I left the cows behind many decades ago. I don't think any of that is in his future. So far, his main useful skill seems to be announcing visitors. He is good at that, and I let him know I appreciate his vigilance.
