Big Little Successes

When working with a dog who has some significant issues (or a person for that matter), a caretaker needs to change their measuring stick of what constitutes "success".  Tiny steps forward become amazing accomplishments and the 2 steps forward, 1 step back pace has to be not just endured, but celebrated because, hey!, that is a net forward growth.  Without this perspective one can quickly burn out and the big negatives start overwhelming the tiny little positives that are happening - so much so that pretty soon the caretaker can miss that anything positive is happening at all.

The first special needs dog that I worked with, this was a HUGE struggle for me.  Every step back set me in a panic that she was never going to be able to be rehabilitated.  Now, with many difficult foster kiddos under my belt, I am for the most part able to remind my self of where we started and where we are now and pat myself and the dog on the back.

Langley is doing so much better but still has a long ways to go and recently we've been kind of stuck at the same level with not much progress and a little backsliding.  It has been getting tough to have a "glass half full" outlook.  However over the last 2 days we've had a couple breakthroughs that remind me that those little steps forward are still there.

After 3 months of Langley never being out of the house/back yard area during daylight (it sent him into overdrive anxiety mode and shut down his ability to focus) this morning Langley and I ventured into the side yard and even took a stroll into the middle of the front yard. With a little nudging he was able to refocus on me and even perform behaviors on cue while we were out there.  Now it was just 2 minutes total that we were out of the back yard, but those two minutes felt like a giant accomplishment.  And in the next weeks I look forward to the forward and backward steps that we'll be taking as Langley makes his reentry into the outside world.

The second big event this week was Langley 5 am - in the dark walk that he gets each morning typically follows the same route to avoid him getting over threshold.  Well, this week Troy tried to vary the route they followed and Langley didn't have a problem.  He still was a little ramped up as he always is on these walks, but he didn't completely come unglued.

Unfortunately I didn't get any photos as both events were spur of the moment decisions by me and Troy to push the envelope, so you'll have to make do with a previous cute photo of Langley.