Self taught behaviours

Paige has developed a number of the behaviours that I wanted ultimately wanted to teach her all on her own.

She quickly figured out that when we stop at a till or a sink or a … that she needs to be flat against the counter and lying down. She developed a behaviour chain all on her own that I named “counter” and we use it all the time.

Another behaviour that she has figured out is blocking. Every time we stop, even if we’re just walking down the side walk, she will stop so she’s standing across the front of me. We went to the bookstore on the weekend to go to a family friend’s book signing. So excited for her (the friend). I can’t wait to read the book. Needless to say, there were a lot of people there that I knew and ended up talking to. A number of times, without prompting, Paige would stand between me and the other person. If we stood there for any length of time, Paige would end up lying down between us with her back towards the other person. Doing this, she guaranteed me space and was still able to watch me and what was going on behind me. It was very comfortable. She seems to know instinctually how much space I need and places herself properly. And our new, custom order leash is a perfect length for her to be doing this.

She has started doing a similar behaviour when I’m at the till at work or if I don’t ask for a counter when at a counter. She lays down behind me, typically facing away and keeps my back safe. It’s really nice at the till at work, the till is open to a partially blind hallway from the back. You have no idea what may be coming up behind you. Paige likes to lay in that hole and insure that everybody has to walk around the till where I can see them. She may not actually be thinking like this, but this is exactly what she’s doing.

Another behaviour that she’s taught herself is “guard my back”. This is where the dog stands in a heel position facing backwards. Paige does this when I’m unlocking the door on the apartment building. This is supposed to be a mildly difficult behaviour to teach. Happily, Paige has decided that she should just do it on her own. Now we just need to work out a better way for her to let me know that there is something going on behind me. Right now I can feel her tense up, either to say hi or to tell somebody to back off. It would be nice if she would lean into me or back up a bit or something similarly unobtrusive that doesn’t involve approaching the “threat”.

All of these behaviours have ended up helping to reduce my anxiety about being out in public and about talking to people or being in a place where my back is open. This is such a liberating experience! I would recommend it to somebody who needs this kind of support and has the ability to deal with training their SD. I was getting towards a point where I was getting worried that soon I would need to add anti-anxiety drugs to my cocktail. I didn’t really want to do this. I thought that a dog would be an excellent support but I had no idea how much. Paige has been life changing for me.

Doctor’s shock and amazement

I went to a doctor’s appointment this morning. My first meeting with him had been a couple weeks ago. He upped my antidepressant and wanted to see how I was doing. Life seems to be going much better. I have more energy. I’m getting more done – house work and homework. I’m making it to classes more often, although this morning I was tempted to stay home (it’s –30 Celsius outside today).

While we were at the Doctor’s, Paige alerted to me. She was looking asleep but when we started talking about Christmas, she altered to me. Christmas is a very stressful time for me. It’s way too many people in way too short a time. I can usually only handle a crowd once or twice a week. Christmas week is nearly 10 days of people straight. As we were talking about it, I started to talk faster. Paige gave me this stare that went straight through my skull. I took a deep breath and patted her. When I explained to the doctor what she did, he was amazed! It was an anit-anxiety tactic that is better and quicker than med with only positive side effects. He was so impressed with how effective Paige was at her job. I didn’t quite know how to explain that this isn’t something that I taught her to do. My Doctor is so interested in Hope Heels. He has so many questions, as do others in his office. This is an entirely new idea in this field. I left him with my email address so that he can send me questions as he thinks of them instead of trying to remember them for when I come to his office. This is a really good office to be introducing SD ideas into as it is the head office of the government’s mental health program. It will reach far into the system I hope.

Back on topic

Wow. It's been over a month since I last published! That's crazy long. I will try to publish more often than that. This blog has kind of fallen off topic since I've been sick again. Telling to outside world about me is one of the first things to go when I get sick. I wanted to make sure I signed in here to let everybody know that I'm feeling better and didn't come to any harm. I'm medically under the care of a doctor again. I had to take some time off and take it easy so I'm struggling with school a little bit but I have no fear of failing any of my classes.

I started this blog to focus on the process of training Paige and the experiences that I'm having while working with her. That focus has mildly gotten lost and I have been looking at me, me, me too much. So here are a few things that I've covered with Paige in the last little bit.

She goes everywhere with me now except for school. It's a very long bus ride for me to go to school. She goes to work, to restaurants, shopping (both grocery and to the malls). A couple of weeks ago, we took our first bus ride. We haven't done it very many time, not nearly as many as we should. I need to work up the length of our bus rides. Once she can go for long enough, she's going to school. Going to school will be a long day for her. Long bus ride there, sit quietly through class and then a long bus ride back home. The bus each way is roughly an hour and includes a transfer.

She's getting pretty good at ignoring people when we're out. Except we're having a bit of a slide back at work. She's getting comfortable, the same people come by everyday and it seems to be a long time for her to behave for so she really wants to say hi to some of them. The sandwich guy came in yesterday with our order and Paige came out from under the counter and followed him until I managed to step on her leash. Then I got the most puzzled look. "Why can't I say hi, Mom?" It will get better. Eventually, when I have a desk job and she has passed her public access test, I don't think it will be such a big deal to say hi to my co-workers.

If ever I disappear, you can always check Paige's blog to see what we're up to. Yes. Paige has a blog. A number of the people who are in the PSD community do and it's how we keep up on each other.