Inspect Yourself

I took the dogs out for a mid-afternoon walk today. I expected it to be a great time; the sun was shining, the wind wasn't too strong and temps were above seasonal. Once we got going, nothing seemed to click. The dogs were pulling in opposite directions and I was getting frustrated. Now, I know Minnow can walk well on a leash when she wants to, and PD just has to pee on every damn thing there is to pee on and yet, I found myself getting more and more irritated with them. I was barking commands at them, telling one to hurry up and the other to slow down. Poor PD was getting so confused and at one point she just stopped and wouldn't budge. Can you blame her?

She stopped and looked at me and said I needed to figure things out; that I was the human and why was I making this so difficult? Couldn't I get my shit together? She was right. This was my problem, not theirs. So I took a deep breath and thought about how I wanted things to work. I needed to change my attitude if I wanted things to happen differently. Emotionally, I started this walk over. I was consistent with my expectations of Minnow and gave her clear directions. I praised PD for being such a good walker. Before I knew it I had a dog on either side of me walking perfectly. Minnow is getting it, but needs consistent reminding (and no squirrels to chase).

As with most things, I find that I need to inspect myself when I am becoming frustrated. It took me a long time (along with a fantastic therapist) to learn that lesson. I really need to put it into use more often. It is a good thing that I still have a fantastic therapist - Peter the Dog!

Happy 2013 to my loyal blog readers (I'm looking at you dad!)! One of my New Year's resolutions was to be more consistent in blogging, no more excuses. Expect to see many more entries popping up - I hope at least some of them are thought provoking!