Our evil awning

It's a little sun trap and the ground gets pretty hot.

This was before I realised George was fearful and anxious. I knew he could be timid and nervous at times but at that stage he was still generally curious and excited about the world. He'd been progressing well with walks, puppy schools, training etc.

So not knowing quite how sensitive he was, I made an error in introducing George to the awning.

I didn't know much about desensitisation at that stage so I just opened it out when George was in the garden. I stupidly didn't really think about it. To him, it probably looked like a huge, dark mass descended from above and made the sky disappear. He went straight back inside and hid under the table.

That was probably the first time his fear was really obvious.

Although I knew little about fear and desensitisation at this stage, at least I knew that George was scared. I knew to stop scaring him so the awning went away and didn't come back out.

Over the next months, we had a multitude of issues to focus on so the awning stayed away. I was starting to think it was one of my more expensive mistakes.

But as we head into the summer months and the temperatures are starting to increase, I need to tackle this again.

This time starting very very slowly. I opened the awning a tiny bit for a short time this week. The next day, the same. The following day, it stayed out a little longer. And so on and so on. Gradually increasing the amount the awning is extended and the amount of time it is out for.

I don't make him go into the garden when it's up. He still looks a little uncomfortable and will retreat if I'm opening or closing it. So we'll keep it super slow and pair with high rewards.

I really hope it works!