Goals in progress.

I feel like I've been doing really well on my goals for Jake and Burke this fall. Jake is doing wonderfully at school, in itself a great thing. I've thoroughly investigated GPS personal locator units, and we'll probably be trying one soon to see if it works here in the cell-signalless wilderness of the Northeast Kingdom. We've extended the dog fence boundary to enclose about 7 acres of our land, although Burke doesn't yet understand that the old wire boundary is no longer there. The good news is he does understand the most important part of the boundary: the end of the driveway. So there have been no more escapes to play with the neighbor dogs (and resulting car chases).

I've been reading Gregor the Overlander to Jake many nights - probably about half of them. I'm calling that a success. Some nights we're just too tired, or one of us falls asleep before the reading can happen. In the spirit of gentleness with myself, I'm not worried about that. It's the effort that counts, the consistent effort - so instead of saying, "I skipped three nights; I'm giving up," I just pick up the book the next night that works for us and read the next chapter.

I'm somewhat falling down on having him dress himself in the mornings - it's just gotten too hectic. But it's gotten hectic in part because we're being very consistent about doing his neb treatment and airway clearance. And overall, that habit is more important than his independence in dressing. So, one thing at a time. Back off one goal in pursuit of another, for now.

We have a good setup for Burke as far as vest and packs that is arriving by the end of the week, hopefully. Exciting! Have a new over-the-shoulder leash that works great for me, as I mentioned in the last post. I've been working on some more training with Burke, taking it to the next level on my own, watching videos online and trying to remember "short and often" as the rule for training, as well as "slow is fast." He's coming along, on the leash, anyway.

Life is busy, but good. We're enjoying crisp fall weather, roasted root vegetables, hot coffee and tea, and fires in the woodstove. Okay, life is bliss!