Waiting to Exhale

Watched this movie over the holidays. Love to see scenes of Phoenix. Thought about it this morning on my walk with Maggie. Instead of being frustrated at her sniffing, we just played a game the entire time. Throwing the treats down the sidewalk is now "Find it" - a game I have played with Shane for months. She was happy. I exhaled.

Sunday was Maggie's first obedience class. I got a little concerned when all the other dogs laid on their mats so relaxed while Maggie was checking everything out. I never could get her to relax, but she did all the exercises. She was even the demo dog for the Find It exercise. We had a great afternoon.

I started watching the Control Unleashed DVD. I've read the book twice and do some of the exercises, but watching the DVD is an entirely different experience. She said that there are dogs that can just walk into an arena with no problem, but we do not have those dogs. Our dogs are different and we have to work with that. Every time we switch environments, we need to train. Never ends.

Goals for this week are to find new treats and dog food that have the ingredients to achieve calm, and to practice leaving our crates calmly instead of charging out like we are at a rodeo.

Leslie also mentioned thinking of positive things when we become frustrated. I'm going to assemble a little booklet on all the things that Shane has done to make me feel proud. I just exhaled.