Pinch hitter Ollie 1


Today was a rough day for me anxiety wise. I did two things yesterday and had a psychiatrist appointment today. That was apparently too much for me. So I was having a very rough time in the waiting room.

Hestia was not into helping me for some reason. She totally missed the alert for my panic attack. She just wanted to watch all the other people in the waiting room.

When I got back to the office, I had to place her in pressure therapy position and she wouldn’t lean in! It was really hard for me. I had a hard time in the appointment, forgetting things, not making sense, requesting things that didn’t make sense, etc. (Brad just reviewed my requests with me and we agreed they did make sense and I must just have a feeling like they didn’t.)

When we got back home, I did some training with Hestia (couldn’t do training at the office because I had forgotten treats). Whenever I train Hestia, Ollie gets treats and training, too. So I was giving little bits of pupperonis for responding to my anxiety.

When the treats went away, so did Hestia. But Ollie seemed to sense I needed something. He rarely helps me anymore at home, leaving it to Hestia. But today he was needed as a pinch hitter and he stepped right on in. He draped himself over me and wouldn’t move a muscle.

(Brad says I need to train Hestia for duration. Even though she can normally help me for enough time without treats, he thinks it would be good to work on her persistence between rewards during training sessions.)

Brad got some pictures of Ollie helping me, they are below. Note that Ollie is in the middle of a haircut, so he has short and long hairs all over, and it all looks really strange! All of the pictures show me covered up by a blanket on the couch, resting my head on a Japanese Chin pillow. Large silver standard poodle Ollie is lying across my lap with a funny haircut.


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