Today's Sunshine

Time to pull myself together, no more ignoring the blog! Let's see... Today Monster had zero reaction to a woman working in her yard (wearing a rain poncho - that's a dedication to gardening I just can't find in myself) who called out a hello as we walked past. Later he ignored... No, that's not right, he was interested and even slightly tense, but he had a very small reaction to a man walking his dog who called out to us as we were walking away from them across a field - apparently we looked a bit like Lil-something whom he wanted to talk to - and even though the other dog also tensed up a bit Monster just let it go. Finally he stopped to watch a couple throwing a ball for their Rottweiler, looked at the rottie (who ignored the ball in favour of staring back at Monster) for a little while and then just moved along past them. None of these encounters were closer than about four meters, the dogs were at a greater distance. But this is still a really good day for us! Monster really is self-BATting, and it's amazing to see.

Well, you're not exactly good at it, so...

Today Monster has also sniffed a leveret across its back... It was hiding in that peculiar hare way - meaning it was keeping absolutely still without hiding at all - and we were out in the garden with Monster working an item search. Amazingly he was so focused on his task he had no interest whatsoever in the leveret. Clearly it wasn't the coaster he was looking for, so why care about it? Conveniently it (finally!) ran away once he stuck his nose in its fur, so he could check the ground where it had been sitting. No coaster there, so the search continued elsewhere... That was honestly absolutely amazing! I don't think he registered the fleeing animal at all, searching was far more important. If only I could tap into that in all situations...

Sshhhh! I'm on the trail...