Why Loose Lead Training Is Like Self-Care.

Aside from the obvious, that having a dog that doesn't pull on the lead is lovely, what I actually mean is in reference to how I train loose lead lead walking and the one mistake I see all owners make.

Lots of us are guilty of leaving our self-care until we need it. Letting ourselves go too far, work too hard, get too tired, before taking some time out. Then we're repairing damage that is already done. But didn't your mother always tell you that prevention is better than a cure?

Last year, I took my first week off a little earlier than usual and when a client asked me if I was ready for my holiday, my gut reaction was to reply with the standard "oh yes!" but actually, I wasn't. For the first time in forever, I was taking a week off before I needed it and that felt strange. I quickly realised the difference that going into a week off with energy to spare made to that week; I didn't need to spend the first day or two recovering from weeks of burning the candle at both ends and was able to get straight into the fun activities that I had planned. Because I wasn't recharging my batteries from empty, it was quicker to return to fully charged and as a result, I had the best and most restorative week off I've ever had.

What's this got to do with my dog not pulling on the lead, I hear you ask...

The One Mistake I See All Owners Make

When I'm training a dog to stop pulling on the lead, I prevent them from pulling in the first place. As they start to accelerate away from me, I call them back so that they never reach the end of the lead. When it's time to teach the owner how to walk their dog, the one thing I see and correct time and time again is that they let their dog get to the end of the lead, start pulling, and then try and correct the pulling once it's already started. Prevention is better than a cure. Stop it before it starts.

Fast forward to this year and I'm really looking forward to my next week off because boy, do I need it. I haven't done a very good job of putting what I learned last year into practice and am definitely not firing on all cylinders right now. When I think back to how good that week off felt last year, I want to recapture that feeling. I don't want to feel as though I'm working too hard, where's the joy in that? When I take stock of my life, I want to feel good about my work-life balance.

I have started doing a monthly life scan whereby at the start of each month I assess how satisfied I am with the following categories on a scale of 1 to 10. It's highlighting for me which areas of my life aren't receiving the attention they deserve, because without actually stopping and thinking about it, I couldn't tell you. The areas of my life that I assess are:

1. Physical Health

2. Mental Health

3. Happiness with Work

4. Work-Life Balance

5. Financial Wellbeing (Earning Potential / Savings)

6. Relationships (Romantic / Friends / Family)

7. Time for Relaxation

8. Time for Hobbies

9. Homelife

10. Diet

The two main areas of my life are easily my business and my relationship with Watson. They get all of my attention on a daily basis, whereas my relationships with my friends and family only get the spotlight turned on them when I'm in contact with them. Mostly I'm ok with this because my best friends and family all live hours away so I obviously don't see them in person very often. As a massive introvert, seeing them in person can sometimes be more tiring than relaxing (especially if I've just driven three hours to get there) but I do take solace in hearing from them everyday either in the family WhatsApp group or through my daily outward gratitude practice with one of my best friends. Talking to them regularly and seeing them when I can is enough for me. When it comes to my relationships with other people, I've always believed in quality over quantity.

It's easier to notice when you haven't seen your friends in a while then it is to keep tabs on other areas of your life that may be somewhat neglected. If you're lucky, your friends will call you out on it but your hobbies can't send you a text saying they miss you and want to catch up. It would be handy if they could, I might actually pick up my guitar more often if it told me to play it. After a busy day at work, I often don't have the energy for my hobbies and so weeks if not months go by with me only indulging in them on the weekends which is fine until the summer rolls around and half of my weekends are taken up with housesitting. Now the time I have to spend on doing the things I love, that fill my cup, is halved and I'm left wondering why I'm more irritable than usual.

This is why I've started doing the life scans; to carve out time to check in with myself. When I wasn't doing it, the weeks were passing by in a whirlwind of dogs and I feeling depleted but not really knowing why. I didn't know why because the areas that were suffering were the ones that I don't think about on a daily basis - areas like hobbies. Now that I'm checking in on all of these areas every month, I can make adjustments to my daily routine to prevent myself from neglecting any one area for too long and hopefully stop any feelings of burnout before they start. Again, prevention is better than a cure.

And whilst we're talking about preventions, I have taken what feels like a massive step in hopefully preventing what might be Seasonal Affective Disorder next winter. For the past two years, I have struggled with low mood and lethargy from January to March. This is strange for me because I actually prefer winter to summer and I live for cosy blankets and fairy lights. Nevertheless, the past two winters have been an energetic slump and this February when a client mentioned they'd booked a last minute skiing trip, I found myself thinking "I could really use a week away right now".

Taking a week off in February feels like a luxury and I'm grateful to be in a position to give that to myself. Usually, I take my first week off for the year in April, by which point I have already worked for about 14 weeks (which as I'm writing it seems absurd!). In an attempt to give myself something to look forward to after Christmas and to bolster my mood, Watson and I have booked a week away at our favourite spot just outside of the Brecon Beacons. I wanted to do something that felt like going away but I also know based on previous years that I won't feel like doing anything that requires any brainpower, like exploring a new place, finding a good place to walk the dogs or choosing where to go for dinner. So we're going back to our favourite spot to walk the dogs in familiar surroundings, eat at a place we know does excellent food and see more of an area that always leaves us wanting more. A restorative week away, but without any of the mental load associated with going somewhere new. Perfect.

I had to do a fair bit of soul-searching before allowing myself to take this extra week off so soon after Christmas as I'll still be taking my usual week off in April as well. My money mindset was chanting that taking an extra week off means I won't earn any money that week and my inner people-pleaser was getting her knickers in a twist worrying that I'd be inconveniencing my clients. So to keep all facets on my ego happy, I chose to take half-term week off to minimise the impact on my clients and from the extra money I earn from house sitting over the summer, I have set aside what I would usually earn in a week, so that I won't be short a week's earnings when I come to pay myself at the end of February. Ta-da!

It felt scary at first, but now that it's done and booked, I'm already looking forward to that week off next year. I've even blocked out the weekends either side of it for "self-care" so that I don't book anything in on them and detract from the restorative value of that week off. I'm hopeful that it will help prevent SAD next winter, but even if it doesn't, that extra week off is bound to do me good and will almost definitely mean that I won't feel as though I need that week off in April when I get to it.