Are you fed up with the awful weather we’re having? I certainly am. Waking up each morning to yet another wet, cold, windy day is very wearing.
I’m fed up with the constant presence (and smell) from wet clothes, mud everywhere and dog towels drying on every radiator.
My hands are chapped and my nails are brittle. Spring can’t come soon enough for me.
We’ve got a stove in our living area which we’re using all day at the moment. I’m sitting huddled in front of it at the moment writing this email, with Gus alongside me on the settee – he provides some warmth too. And I’m wrapped in one of my favourite fleeces – my lovely pink and grey Ulster Rugby top from a couple of years ago.
I get up every so often to add more wood to the stove, which has two glass doors at the front. Normally adding wood is a simple procedure, but for some reason when I wear this particular top I seem prone to knocking my sleeve against the top edge or door edges on the stove.
Which are covered in black soot and tar deposits.
So my lovely pink sleeves gain an interesting pattern of grey smudges – the black lines just don’t wash out fully, despite a liberal dowsing with Vanish. I seem to add another one or two every time I wear it.
It never happens when I’m wearing my Down Dog top or any other dark fleece. Professor Sod had something to say about this sort of thing.
Sod’s law is ubiquitous in all sort of areas of life.
If you have an anxious or reactive dog, how often do you seem to meet a problem just at the most awkward part of your walk? The dog that appears round the corner at the narrowest part of the path, or the dog that appears suddenly over a sand dune on what you thought was a deserted beach? Or the volley of gunshots that start just when you’re walking past that copse?
Just as I need to be aware of how I can avoid touching the stove with my sleeves when adding fuel, you need to know what to do in these situations. How to move quickly and easily away from other dogs before your dog becomes a raving maniac; how to distract your dog in a positive and helpful way while people and dogs walk past, how to calm his fears and reduce his anxiety.
Just ask if you need help – all the options are on the website.
I’m much better at helping you with these problems than I am at remembering to be careful when wearing my pink sleeved top…
Keep training,
Carol