Shaping is fun

29/12/08

Restful indeed. Summer has finally hit, and Amika hasn’t been out since Boxing Day. The first day off was just as well, as I think she was a bit stiff from the pulling, but she is back to bored now. I had a bit of time off over the weekend and did stuff like filling up bird waters. I also spent lots of time inside either playing on the computer or collapsed in a hot heap.

Today was a stinker, so after sleeping in a bit I spent a lot of time watering things so they don’t die. Amika and I did a couple of shaping sessions in the afternoon, plus day 3 of RP on the mat in the hall. She wasn’t particularly sleepy, but was content to lie on her mat whatever I did.

The shaping sessions were good. I’m going to shape her to do left and right turns. The idea is to transfer this to scooter pulling later next year. So I started on her less strong turning direction, which is to the left (“haw”). She got as far as figuring out a head turn and a lean.

We have done very little shaping so both of us are not that good at it yet. However, I am thrilled at how I did, as the reason we have done so little was that I couldn’t cope. Previously, I had a very short fuse and “expectations” and, most critically, a bad attitude. In our shaping sessions today, I found myself smiling when she went for the default sit a few times and I had to wait her out. And I smiled some more when she started getting it. So despite the lack of exercise, today was a reminder to me on how far I have come.