Springing Forward Into Optimism

Trying to fall asleep last night at an earlier hour than usual because I knew the time change would be taking its toll on Monday morning, thoughts and conversations from the weekend coalesced into something thematic:  

 

Take the leap, spring ahead, trust in what you don’t know. 

Before turning off my light, I had just read the first few chapters of Relaxed and Forward, a collection of horse training essays written my friend Anna Blake. We share the idea that training is about relationship, and that's why her training book is less how-to and more meditation. We had dinner together Friday night and discussed the life-changing magic of the long-line and flying disc for Ruby. Earlier in the month I wrote about using the long-line for recall training but we’ve been doing much more goofing off than training. The interesting thing is…goofing off is working wonders.

Recall Preschool

A reliable recall is probably the most important thing you can teach your dog. It is also, in my opinion, one of the hardest. Ruby has gotten away from me a couple of times due to equipment failure and human error, and they've been some of the scariest moments of my life. With a reactive dog and no yard, it sometimes seems in the outer realm of unattainable. Even if I never plan for my dogs to be off-leash and our real-life training scenarios are limited, there are still steps I can take to lessen the chances of a runaway and to strengthen the recall cue.