Baseball

 

We hit up another retention pond / baseball practice field for our long leash work yesterday. This time, my husband came along for a more challenging distraction. On our drive there, he noted how quiet she was in the car! Rye has certainly come a long way and I'm glad he noticed. 

Hubby was pretty distracting for Rye. While I was waiting to get her out of her crate, he was pacing back and forth nearby. Even though Rye knew who he was, seeing someone walk by was very exciting.

We had a nice time in this field. It butts up behind the city's league fields and isn't far from our house but takes a while to get around to the back road. There was a narrow entrance due to the surrounding houses and at the back of the field looked like a path that leads elsewhere through some trees. Hubby was good to forge ahead and make sure no one was coming.

He got to see how I work her with the long and short leash. We found some baseballs and some interesting limestone rocks (which he took home). It was still pretty hot out and I made sure Rye had some water before getting back into the car.

I'm still thinking through everything we've learned and processing it internally. Over the weekend I talked to friends that I went out of town with. We talked a lot about neurodiversity, OCD, and ADHD. I was pleasantly surprised that it helped me understand Rye better as well. I suppose I was unpleasantly surprised how this also painted a picture of myself, but it was nice to know I wasn't alone. I can better see how discipline works and can't help but wonder how things would be different if I was handled differently. 

On a different note ... man, there are a lot of retention ponds in the area ... no wonder we don't flood. I will try taking Rye out to one of the parks I met her with her trainer to change it up a bit. Rye's leash got caught up on a lot at this place, on rocks and brush and trees, etc.