So Worried For Nothing

There have been many times in my life when I was worried for something that, looking back seemed so trivial. I would would get anxious, nervous, feel like I can't move, then the queasiness begins. After the ordeal was over, I realized that I had nothing to be worried about and felt foolish for getting so worked up.

This past Sunday in class was one of those scenarios. Our instructor thought that it would be a great idea to do a distracted heeling exercise through a crowd of people and their dogs. When she first mentioned this exercise I thought for sure she would have us sit this one out. Imagine my horror when she said that we were going to be the first ones!

I managed to stand up, but couldn't get myself to move. I honestly couldn't figure out a way to make this a successful exercise for Abby. I must have looked sick because she asked me what was wrong. I told her I was feeling a lot of anxiety because heeling through people and dogs is almost impossible for Abby. She recommended that we heel along the outside of the group - we ran. That was the only thing I could think of that would keep Abby happy and not stress her out for the rest of the hour.

After the heeling exercise we took our turn in the group and people heeled around us. I knew that Abby could handle this as she has pretty good stays and has amazing focus when I ask her to. But I knew that our time was coming around again and the anxiety was sticking around. But having had a few minutes to see different scenarios, I was able to come up with a plan for Abby to actually go through the people. Given Abby's great focus on the stay part of the exercise, I figured that she might do ok - meaning, she might not panic - heeling through the same dogs that heeled through us. I figured that I would give it a try and if it failed miserably, at least I would know for the next time.

I got Abby amped up, I set us up, and asked her to heel. As we started getting closer to the group, I thought she might loose focus, but she didn't! She heeled right through those people and had a great time! I was so proud of her and she seemed to be quite happy with herself too. Everyone clapped and I think that everyone was just as happy to see her do that as I was. It was very rewarding to see her accomplish something that has been so difficult for us in the past. I felt silly for being so anxious over nothing!