Tumbles and Triumphs

So, in case you are thinking that this is a made-for-TV movie love story where no bad things happen and no challenges are faced, well, you're wrong. Today, Trishna and I hit our first stumbling block. Trishna is having trouble with the Forward command. When I tell her to go forward, she sometimes will just stand there. Believe it or not, though, that was not the biggest trouble of the day.

On the morning route, she brought me to the curb after I crossed the street (which is called the up curb, because you're stepping up and out of the street). My left foot was firmly planted exactly where it should've been, on the line where the curb cut begins. But as my right foot came forward, my toe clipped the edge of the curb where there wasn't a curb cut, sending me sprawling onto the pavement, knocking over Trishna, and generally causing mayhem. I didn't do this just in front of my instructors; I did it in front of our class supervisor who was out with me this morning. He helped me up. The adreneline was running through me like crazy, so my hands were shaking. They were also scraped up, and so were my knees. All of this after Trishna and I had been having a little trouble already was a bit much.

When you're in this class, your perspective becomes very narrow, and many people have a tendency to fixate on the experience. So I was more upset than I usually would be. The instructor was very good. He let me get my composure and asked me if I wanted to just stop the route, but I said no and that I wanted to finish. He then took a minute to remind me of all of the good things that Trishna and I had done on the route, instead of just fixating on the one or two problems. He assured me that this was very normal, and it would be OK. I felt a bit better, but again, remember what I said about fixating. Trishna and I finished the route fairly strong. I got checked over by the nurse, and I'm good to go.

Then, I had the opportunity to sit for an extended period of time while others went out and think about all the mistakes. Mind you, I didn't think about the fact that I've been told numerous times that I'm a strong handler, I have lovely footwork, my gestures are good. I just thought about falling.

The instructors met with our entire class after the morning workout, and they gave the group (i.e., me) the most valuable piece of information to remember: I have only had this dog for three days, not ten years. Trishna is still under two years old; she's not eleven and a half. Bonds take time. So I started to feel better.

In the afternoon, we were told we were doing our first solo route without an instructor. You can imagine what went through my head: oh, s***. The anxiety came flooding back, but I'm happy to report that Trishna and I were perfect. Spot on, every turn, every command. The one time we reworked something, it was very minor. Perfect. So my hands and knees are scraped, but my confidence is back.

Later in the afternoon, I got the chance to do clicker training with Trishna. She was simply amazing. She loved it so much I thought she was going to come out of her skin. We ended our day with a romp in the large fenced area where you can let your dogs off leash. It was a long day, and I hope you can understand that it was a very real one.

Look forward to tomorrow's post, because it's traffic check day: they pretend to run you over with a vehicle multiple times. Fun times!