I currently have a eskimo Shiba mix that I have raised since he was 12 weeks old. He's now almost a year and a half. I owned a pit/boxer mix for about 8 years. He was very strong and stubborn and naturally dominant. It took some work but once he accepted me as alpha, walks and hikes were the best. Growing up, my family had a Sheltie. He was a very high energy dog and could not be off leash. I got very good at making sure he never got out without a leash as if he did, he would just run for hours. I've always had cats growing up and love everything about them. I used to work with a cat sanctuary and would always attempt to make friends with the less social cats. My favorite was Clarence. He was a blind cat that was super skittish. After a few weeks of just hanging out around him and being patient, he let me hold him. The sanctuary had never seen him warm up to anyone like that in the past.