💕 EVERYBODY LOVES OSCAR! 💕

I've genuinely never met a person who hasn't fallen head over heels with this boy,

and if I was given money every time someone asked if we could swap dogs

- so that they could take Oscar home instead of their own dog -

then I'd be really rather rich right about now!

💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰

But it hasn't always been this way...

...when we first met Oscar, he was just a gangly little 10(ish) month old Lab x Collie who had found himself living in a rescue centre.

He was nervous of everybody, and would spend most of his days hiding out in the back of his kennel; barking at anyone who tried to come too close (because he was terrified of what might happen to him if they did 😢).

HOWEVER

he soon changed his tune when he met us!

Gone was the cowering nervous wreck of an overgrown puppy, and in wiggled this bright-eyed, happy, licky little thing; who, after an initial quick sniff of our legs, jumped up on the bench behind us and starting nibbling lovingly on our ears 💕

It was as if he already knew us, and was simply welcoming us back from a prolonged separation 🥰🥰🥰.

I can't even explain how bizarre it felt for us to all feel like we were old friends, even though we'd only just met.

But that's exactly how we felt:

like old friends, reconnecting after spending some time apart.

It was so strange - and yet oddly comforting - to know that we'd met 'the one' in our little Oscar 💕🐶.

We learned quite early-on that Oscar's anxious nature ran a lot deeper than just being nervous of new people.

For example,

😟 We couldn't lift our arms higher than our elbows without him cowering;

😟 and we didn't dare raise our voices - not even a little bit - because even the slightest hint of a loud voice would send him diving for cover, and probably soiling himself in the process.

😟 He was TERRIFIED of the bin lorries who came to collect the rubbish.

😟 And if I so much as suggested going for a walk, he would shrink himself into the tiniest ball that he could manage, and look up at me through his eyebrows, as if willing me to not make him go outside - it was too scary!!

So as you can probably imagine, the first few weeks with Oscar were tough.

His anxiety was overwhelming our lives, and his constant state of panic was driving my anxiety through the roof too.

We were pretty much just triggering each other back and forth,

until one day

I decided to incorporate more games into his training;

and the more we played. the more his confidence grew.

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And it wasn't long before we had a more-or-less 'normal' dog, who could go out and do 'normal' things - just like everyone else!

😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁

Just a few short months later, Oscar had his first job as my assistant.

His job was to hold the paw of our [then] Support Dog foster, who needed some reassurance as she learned how to overcome her anxiety around other dogs.

Oscar then took it upon himself to go one step further, and he introduced her to Faith!

He showed our [then] foster dog how much fun it could be to go out riding with Mum (me), running alongside as Faith galloped across the open fields, or trotted down the winding woodland paths!

(please excuse the awful quality of this next photo - it is an OLD photo.

Long before the days of decent cameras on phones!)

In fact, I don't think he'd even been with us a year before he started making it known that he wanted to be our Resident Emotional Support Dog.

He was there to hold the paw of any worried canines who just needed a friend.

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Since those early days, Oscar has helped countless other dogs defeat their anxiety gremlins, so that they can go on to lead long and happy lives with their human companions;

and in doing so,

💕 He has helped me to refine my skills as a dog trainer.

💕 He has taught me how to play hundreds of new games (which we're slowly working on adding to The Games Library, here in the school 😉👍)

and

💕 He has shown me that, yes, Faith was right in that 'life does need to be interesting enough to be worth putting in the effort';

BUT

life also needs to have built-in 'safe zones'

i.e. somewhere that an overwhelmed brain can rest,

so that it's not always on the go-go-go

(because sometimes it can be nice to just stick with what you know / what feels comfortable, you know? 🥰)

💕 Oscar has taught me the importance of variety

but even more importantly

💕 He has taught me the value in familiarity and safety,

Just because we're learning something new,

doesn't mean that EVERYTHING has to be new.

We can still make life + learning interesting and exciting without going way outside of our comfort zones.

Some of the best learning your dog or horse will ever do, will occur when they're starting off in a place where they feel both comfortable and secure.

👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇

"So what has all of this got to do with the Pick 'N' Mix Method?"

Well, I suppose I could write another cheeky little blog post to explain...

SEE YOU SOON! 👋