Baby Steps & Leaps of Faith

Over the long Labor Day weekend, Rye stayed with her trainer while I was out of town. Rye was dropped of Friday morning and on Tuesday morning we had another private lesson and went home. Rye had a busy last few days, packed with more challenging situations. Some surprising things to learn was that Rye seemed to submit to a male trainer faster. Cynthia had sent me a small video of Rye with her trainer friend and I was shocked to see how relaxed Rye was with him getting out of a vehicle and standing in the front yard. Shocked and a little bitter, but whatever <eye roll>. Rye even got to meet another dog she didn't want to kill! Progress? Rye still did have GI issues and had an accident in her crate overnight. Yesterday and today her stool is still soft, but I wouldn't call it diarrhea. I'm continuing to add probiotics with her meal.

Rye seemed to really enjoy the Jolly ball. We worked on a slower paced leash handling without the ecollar. I need to be very strict with Rye's placement and not to let her move me. Over the weekend I had injured my foot, so I wasn't walking very well, which helped reinforce the slower pace.

Yesterday we did some long leash work in the field by our mailbox center and it went well. Rye saw dogs walking in the distance but didn't freak out. It's not a great field because there's sticker burrs and nothing very interesting.

Today I thought I could take her for a drive and do some leash work. I found a back street next to a large park where we play tennis and even though there were people dog walking, the main field itself was empty. Unfortunately as I tried to get Rye out of the car, there was someone walking their dog directly behind my car that I didn't see. Rye immediately started barking and I put her back in her crate. I felt bad that I wasn't prepared for that, but Rye seemed to recover okay. Instead we drove to a parking lot of a small shopping center where Zoey used to go to art camp. It was early in the morning still so not many people were there. It was still a challenging and distracting place for Rye, and I struggled to do leash work with her. I know it's super important to get it right and I feel bad that I'm not doing it very well. A lot more practice is required, so we'll try to get out there more. She had so much progress over the weekend and I don't want to ruin it.

Trying to give myself some grace and know that this will take baby steps. I have to trust the process!

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