Week 6 - Distracted by Life

Week 6 is behind me and was another lesson.  This week I was faced with lots of challenges from physical (more bruises from more falls, water retention,  increased pain, sores from the sun and vision problems) and emotional (I'm done with the current medication and want to try something new and my son is having troubles at school).  

As a result, I needed to back up to basics and work on reinforcing skills that were easy for us to work on and didn't require me to move around too much.  So, we worked on staying near me off leash in public places.  We practiced at the Santa Fe Ski Area and at school.  At the ski area, I parked my walker at the Adaptive Ski shed unhooked the leash.  I practiced sending him up the stairs and calling him back and having him stay next to the walker even though there were many distractions including snow mobiles, skiers and walkers.   We also continued to practice loose leash walking both with the walker and with the electric carts at the grocery stores.

For months practicing loose leash walking was great and easy because we were the only one's out and about.  Last week it became more challenging when the warm weather returned, the snow melted and people started bringing their dogs with them to the Plaza shops.  We are no longer the only ones that know about the stores that give away dog biscuits.  Our favorite dog friendly stores are Origins (where you can find a water bowl inside), the First National Bank of Santa Fe (where they great us by first name and always have treats), Doodlets (the most wacky collection of beautiful and funny things like what you would find in a joke shop) and our favorite book store Collected Works (where they have a dog bowl outside and biscuits at the register).  We will continue to investigate downtown and report back on the dog friendly businesses.

I am so grateful to the stores for offering electric carts.  When you can focus on what you are looking for and take the time to read the labels and make good purchasing decision it feels better and takes less energy.

Focusing on only one thing at time is the only way I can get anything done now.  I understand how my compulsion for multi tasking wasn't as efficient as focusing on one thing.  However, I also enjoyed being very active and it was emotionally much easier for me to have 4 or 5 things going on at once and to be combining physical exercise with intellectual pursuits.  Now it is easier to only have one thing on my plate at a time.

Starting this week I am moving into more dynamic training.  We have attached a pull to the telephone and we are working on retrieving the phone.  This means that we are first working on marking the phone with the word 'PHONE" spoken in a firm way without up speak making it sound like a question.  This work also involves my moving around a bit, returning the phone to the charger and moving into different chairs.  It is harder for me and it is the main thing I am working on.

The other skill we are working on is back.  This too involves standing and walking and is harder for me but we are determined to practice multiple times a day.

I have an appointment with a doctor at Johns Hopkins for June 8th and I am on the list for an earlier opening if possible.  I hope that she can help me start on a new medication.

Have a great week.