They say time flies when you’re having fun, but time streaks at light speed when you’re having stress. I was making pretty good progress with my new rescue dog, Jake’s anxiety at being left by himself. By the first week of September, I was able to leave him for up to an hour by himself with no problems – yay! I had started getting out and running again and was starting to feel like I would be able to have my life back. But, then I had to go out of town for work.

I only go out of town for work like two times a year for strategic planning sessions, but of course, this one time had to fall a month and a week after rescuing this young, anxiety-ridden creature. Nevertheless, I could not bow out, so I had to make it work. A friend of mine, who had watched him before during the day, assured me that she would watch him and that it would be no problem. She didn’t have a lot of dog experience, but I figured he was doing so much better by then and that if I left her detailed instructions, it would be fine. Surprise: it was not fine.

I can’t know exactly what happened when my friend stayed with this dog. All I know is that there was high anxiety, destruction, and the necessity for me to call in reinforcements, in the form of my friend’s mom, who graciously dropped everything to help out. When I got back, Jake was extremely anxious about being in his upstairs pen/crate setup. So much so that the first night I was home I had to sleep with him downstairs just so I could get some rest.

Since I returned over a week ago, we’ve been working on getting back to our normal routine here. I’m re-working on making the upstairs pen a fun place to be, with lick mats, snuffle mats, frozen stuffed Kongs, treat dispensing toys, crinkle-sound stuffed animals, and chew sticks. I’ve been trying to manage my stress and grief over the whole ordeal and having to start over from Square One, but it was hard at the beginning. I know initially I muttered under my breath and blamed the dog, when he was just responding to his environment and was just as stressed as I was. Once I was able to shift the vibe to a calmer frequency, though, we started to get back into our groove.

I’m hoping to be able to start again with leaving him alone soon. This morning, I took a shower and left him in the upstairs pen and when I came out, for once he wasn’t up and whining, he was settled in his crate. This is definitely a good sign that he will be able to settle again. I’m trying to get him used to chilling out behind me in the upstairs pen while I work. He had some challenges today, but he eventually settled down and is now passed out on his crinkle chicken.

Kiss, on the other hand, is seeming to thrive, despite my woeful lack of time to exercise her. It appears she somehow marinates in the benefits of every lesson and training session and continues to improve. We’re still focusing on shoulder balance, but with her increased ability to shift her weight back out of her shoulders and to place her hind legs more underneath her body, her head can come down and she can start to be more relaxed overall. Now, we don’t rush into the trot, head tossed high; we launch into the trot, energy coming from back to front with impulsion, an upward motion, rather than a flat steamroller motion.

I’m working hard on my position. I’m still tippy, but my legs and hands are getting slightly better. I hope by the time full-blown winter gets here, I’ve fixed more things. That way I can start in the spring feeling more like I can really accomplish something. I hope next year we get balanced enough to attempt the canter. I’ve been terrified of it, given what I’ve seen on the lunge line and long reins. I know it’s different when there’s a rider on board, but still. I certainly hope she will be super balanced next year. I also purchased a cordeo to work on directing her shoulders and hopefully eventually we can go into bridle less riding (not in winter, though, because I’m not insane).

I’ll try to get better at updating, but that’s it for now!