Balance

This year is my busiest yet. My full-time job is busy and intense. I'm taking on more and more of my 'second' job training people and their dogs, as well as working hard to complete online learning. I'm beyond excited about my upcoming US trip, but apprehensive about the work I have to do before this. 

My dog's lives are also busy, just like mine. They train and compete in agility, have a relatively busy fitness schedule, work with the kids at my school several times a week, and we try to squeeze in some down time and walks. 

I know when I'm tired and can re-arrange things to take a break, organise some stress relief (tonight it's pizza and Netflix), and generally have some down time. 

I'm fast realising that our dog's have the same needs, however, they are not able to tell us when they need a break. WE need to make sure our dogs take these breaks when they need them. 

I've been trying hard to actively work in more decompression type activities to my fur babies lives. These include enrichment puzzles with food and treats, decompression walks, some training or shaping of random things for fun (not serious agility work all the time), and like I talked about in the last blog post some time off agility training and competition. I'm also trying to be more considerate of my dog's mindset when training, and reading their behavior. Do they actually want to train? Are they getting stressed? Have they mentally tired? 

This is a snapshot of me and my dog's week from Saturday, until today, from my Instagram account. What does your snapshot look like? 

Interested in more on this topic? I recommend reading any of Sara Stremming's Cognitive Canine blogs, podcasts, or the Fenzi Behavioural Wellness course.