Week 8 Update

This week's update is late; I have no excuses, I'm sorry!  It was a big week though, and I have lots to share this week.  This has definitely been Ida's most eventful week in a while!

Every action has a consequence.  Like baths

I'll start off with Snowball I guess; I've decided - for his health and mine - that we're doing daily walks every. single. morning.  Weather be damned, even if we only go out for 5 minutes on days when the weather is truly awful.  It's been going good so far, and we both feel much better for it.

On Sunday, we met up with a friend of mine and her sweet and steady chinook.  After a morning of tromping through (and drinking, ugh), the mud, Ida got the double joy of getting a bath at home and then going to the groomer for the afternoon.  She was great with the dogs that we encountered while I was waiting to drop her off (completely excitement-based barking, no fear at all), and when I arrived to pick her up she was curled up and taking a nap.

This week, of course, was Halloween.  We handed out candy, Snowball barked (from behind the kitchen gates) at tiny children, and Ida acted like the whole thing was boring, dressed like the princess that she is.

Everything the light touches is my queendom.

And all of that happened before our agility class on Thursday, where we were the only students....(because the other students that are enrolled are on vacation in Mexico this week and the head trainer).  So Ida got some awesome one-on-one time with a really great trainer who got her walking over the lowered teeter - something I've struggled with for months - in a matter of minutes.  It's not you Ida, it's me.


This last week Ida and I... 

... went to the big park for an off-leash walk with a doggo (and human) buddy.   Ida was nervous on the car ride, but wasn't immediately reactive to the first thing that she saw when she got out of the car (unusual for her).  I tried to be strategic about parking, so that we wouldn't be entering the park in a swarm of dogs.  Although Ida barked at my friend's dog, it seemed to have worked, and she settled down much faster than usual.  After those first 2 minutes, she was great!  Impeccable recall, and did great with the other dogs that we met.  I think I've found another method to add to this madness.

... worked some handling drills in the back yard.  I nearly had an asthma attack.   We will  be doing more running things as long as it is safe.

... started teeter work at home.  Now that I have a better idea of what I'm doing, I think we'll be able to make some progress with it.

I noticed...

.... Ida's shaking in the car doesn't seem to correlate with her performance at agility class any more. 

... Ida has been less reactive to the other dogs when she can see them running on the course.  Not sure if it's because she is relaxing, or if I am getting better at timing my counter conditioning.

... Ida likes to avoid the last jump of a course.  We'll have to fix that.

This next week I plan to...

... finish my list of Dreams and Goals for each of my dogs and myself.  It'll be in an upcoming blog post - eventually!

... take Ida to hang out at the shelter office for the first time in 8 weeks.

... decide if we want to enter an agility fun match on the 13th.  Even if we do not enter, I'm going to try to go watch to see what it's about.