1st June - Attachment Walking

This week was Alex's first training for attachment walking.

We had two sessions on Monday and today, and whilst Monday was a little hectic, today went so well, and you know when you really enjoy it that it must be working.  The plan was Dave would stay at home with Tom, whilst Michelle, me and Alex did our thing.  But he came along to take a couple of photos, and it was really good as it was more like our usual family walks with all of us, only this time we had Alex totally calm!

This was a great example of Lucie doing her stuff, whereby Alex left the house in meltdown having to part with the beloved ipad, but before we even got out of our close he had forgotten all his woes, and just got distracted by watching Lucie walk.  Even better was Alex naturally fell in with Lucie's commands.  Before long when Lucie was given the 'to the kerb' command, to which she sits and waits before you cross a road, Alex naturally stopped and picked up his handle to have a controlled walk across the road.  Magic.

In other news this week, I took Lucie to a cafe, with Tom.  We were meeting a couple of my friends, a semi informal meeting, so needed to do some talking.  The cafe was right by a duck pond, so was testing the 'leave it' command, but she did great.  2 hours, and I was happy.

Another highlight this week was Alex in tantrum in the back room, and Lucie just plodded in and lay down next to him, just chilled.  It distracted Alex and changed the mood.  Top trick.  And the cat/dog thing is going fine too, to the point the cheeky moggy decided to see if she could tuck into Lucie's breakfast.  Nice try - no cigar.

One week in and I am made up with the progress. The tough bits have been the regular dog walks, pulling on the lead, and dealing with her excitement at visitors, but one thing at a time.  Michelle keeps giving me good tips, so will chip away till we get there.

I need to surrender the computer so Dave can watch his beloved Wigan Warriors playing now (rugby league - don't ask, it was part of the marriage contract) - so as they say in text speak....ttfn.....and I have a chilled New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc with my name on it....