Presence · The Magic in Dogs

Presence

I've still not officially restarted the PAWS 28-day journey. It has been a(nother) rough week and I realised another layer of stress I was unintentionally adding to myself - I "should be" doing PAWS! When I realised that, I paused to reflect and also realised that I'd still achieved my daily walk ritual with Lois every day, and inside of that, I had also actually worked on being more present...

I still took a photo every day. Yes I feel the same FOMO pressure to do it, but a daily pic is also important to me. So I try to do it in the first part of the walk so it is done & then I can put my attention back into presence. I did miss 1 day on the a dual walk, so took one when we got back instead.

I've been using presence to focus more on leash work. I love the conversation ability good leash work can give, and believe I'm pretty good at it. Lois & I definitely have 2-way conversations, but as she is not one to walk in front, or add pressure really at all, I wanted to really tune in and use the leash to bridge the presence gaps. Feeling those micro-movements in my hand has helped refine my leash handling skills.

It's not perfect but I am enjoying the process. And Lois is even occasionally forging ahead a little!

I've tried to add a pic from each day (since Thursday), plus the video is from this morning after breakfast - just after this she full barked at me! I think she's telling me to hurry up and finish my tea.

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Presence