Next chapter of the Solei saga 😛

On Sunday evening he was eager for food as usual….so I got their food ready and I did a couple of steps of heelwork, good…a recall, fine, couple more steps of heelwork…no problem! Called it a day on a good note, and started hand feeding him. He took 5 or 6 mouthfuls perfectly happily, no problems at all and I thought he’d turned the corner….then totally out of the blue the next mouthful he started flinching again, even though it was exactly like the previous mouthfuls…and then we were no better off than we were the day before.

I hoped it was just a little blip, but yesterday he was back to how he was; flinching and reluctant…absolutely no progress made at all 🙁 I carried on doing what I’d been doing; what feels right for Solei. There’s a very fine line to tread with him, and what would be right for another dog isn’t right for him…I know he’s being silly, but for him it really is best to pander to him for now and try and avoid things which cause him stress, rather than “make” him confront it.

Today I’ve been really careful with him, but I’m ecstatic to say that he’s seemed normal 😀 He’s been taking food from my hand without flinching, and I’ve been able to interact with him in a more normal (if very limited) way….so fingers crossed he’s over “it” now and it’s onwards and upwards 🙂 Still early days….not going to count my chickens before they’re hatched….

I’ll be keeping all toys away from him for at least the next few days! As well as continuing what I’m doing slowly slowly, and be very careful about how I interact with him. We still have 10 days to go, so hopefully he’ll be raring to go and put in a good performance then 🙂