Remembering to Breathe

Today’s walk did not start out well. I took Dylan, Kim and Rio and stocked up on 1000 treats to reward Rio’s recall. We walked for 20minutes and Rio was appalling, barely recalling 50% of the time and haring off waaay out of sight.

Cue stressed, tense owner. And then I realised what an idiot I was being. So I remembered to breathe, kept my head down, kept walking, and stopped calling her. I have learnt this lesson before, many times, but sometimes I have to be reminded. Rio and I were fighting and it was going downhill. I didn’t think she was checking in with me enough, and as I responded by asking her to check in all the time, she responded by never checking in at all.

As soon as I stopped calling her every 2 minutes, we all relaxed, and guess what? She started responding to her recall again. By the end of the walk she was checking in frequently and voluntarily, just as often as Kim. Dylan is permanently checked in.

I can’t believe she’s 7 months old now, I need some more photos this week. The fur is slowly starting to grow now!