It feels like a little miracle

Life with Kiri has been filled with ups and downs. There have been times, when her excitement have stressed the boys (especially Gollum) and made them feel very pressured and insecure. Especially the walks have been difficult as Kiri is overly excited and can be very noisy. 

It upsets me, when the boys are upset and makes me wonder if I did the right thing. 

Today has been rather good though. We have worked intensely on calmer walks and our morning walk was semi good, but the afternoon walk was super. I tried something new this afternoon. Everytime I could see that Kiri's excitement was about to take over or that Gollum was about to react to her, I asked for a sit and rewarded the sit heavily. It broke the pattern for both Kiri and Gollum and we managed a good walk with a happy Kiri and a happy Gollum. And an empty pocket as they got so many treats.

The triumph was even bigger as we walked in an area filled with triggers. We passed this football field with children playing football and Kiri still managed to keep calm enough for everyone to feel ok. 

This picture is from Kiri's training session this afternoon. We went for a walk - just her and me - to practise keeping calm in busy surroundings. We stopped on the way to practise sit - stay and heelwork. This picture is close to a miracle. Kiri lying down next to a field with lots of activity. 3 days ago this would not have been possible. She would have been too excited about the children and the balls to stay with me and ignore it all. So whenever I feel like giving up, I have to look at this and remind myself of her amazing progress.  

I have uploaded a couple of videos here: 
Recall - day 4 with me. 
Heelwork next to children playing football. 

The boys had a Nose Work training session and especially Gollum was amazing. Two little girls followed him around whilst he was searching, waiting excitedly for him to find the hides. They were very close to him - right next to him and yet he kept focusing on his search and ignored them.

See you tomorrow
Emmy and the Hazyland Boys