I was expecting this week to be a bit challenging.
George tends to have more reactions in the days following a stressful event like a groom. But it's been a surprising week with a couple of winning moments.
Firstly, the back neighbour's light was on which has always been a big trigger for George in the garden. He looked at it for a second or two, then looked away and went about his business. Unheard of behaviour!
On a walk with a friend and her dog, we had to walk past a dog at a distance closer than I would normally be comfortable with. George initially growled once, then kept checking in with me for his reward as we walked past. I was really impressed.
But most amazingly, we had a whole day with absolutely no reactions at home. No reactions to any noises outside, the neighbours walking past, kids screaming, birds in the garden…nothing!
He did growl at a dog on a walk that day (unfortunately there was a neighbour dog next to the Sniffspot), and barked at the neighbour in the car park…but absolutely no reactions in the house or garden. I can’t remember that happening before. Certainly not since I started logging his reactions.
I'm definitely taking these as wins.
We've been training a bit more at home this week. Short sessions but more pattern games, more cooperative care, and more impulse control. George has been engaging well with these. He's also been enjoying playing in the garden.
Looking back on the stats for the week, we've made improvements across the board compared to the last couple of weeks, with the exception of rest which was slightly lower than it has been. I did notice George seemed slightly more unsettled in the evenings than usual (he usually sleeps the most in the evenings).
We logged our shortest ever average duration of reactions at only 2.8 seconds. When I first started logging the duration, the average for each reaction was 38 seconds.
I took an annual leave day this week to get some chores done - get my car serviced etc - things I can't leave George at home to do. Although it was all mundane admin, for me it was actually quite nice to be out in the world doing these normal boring things!
I also started a new online course this week (Mindset Mastery with SpiritDog Training). This focuses on my mindset, behaviour and feelings rather than what George needs to do. It's also intended to be a supportive group for others going through similar challenges. Hopefully it will be useful and I can share some takeaways in due course.
Overall, pretty pleased with the week!