Preparation is key - this is definitely one of the key concepts I’ve learnt from dog training - fail to plan, plan to fail. I even spoke about this last night in my Calm Your Dogs For Fireworks Night Challenge.
With dog training you always want to set your dog up for success and if you have an anxious or reactive dog that is even more crucial. Walks need planning, both time of day and venue and contingency plans too for those little times things might go wrong.
Today I failed to plan - we went out for a walk to some playing fields near me - all 6 dogs loads of room to see people and lots of space for the dogs. My blind dog Inka was having a lovely time, sniffing and rolling in grass and it was relaxing.
Across a field was a dog walker with 4 dogs all milling around him, one dog headed off he recalled them back and I was impressed that here was a sensible dog walker. One of his charges was heading in my direction just ambling over no issue, a long way away. Inka was milling her 10m line trailing and again no issue. I thought “shall I pick the end up now or wait and see” what do you think the answer should of been?
I decided to wait and see (I'm still so mad at being such an idiot!) - the dog continued to walk over still a good distance away, Inka now had a scent and decided she would wander over to the doggy which obviously I don’t want her to do. As she is blind I need to make sure there is a clear path and I like controlled greetings as men (aka the dog walker can upset her) so I went to grab the line but I decided to use my left as my right arm is painful with movement currently due to tendonitis with impingement. I missed with my left, and missed again, by which time Inka is moving a bit further and there is now only about 2m left to grab the dog walker has recalled his dog back. Panicked I leant forward and I fell, put my painful arm out to break my fall - ouch and then re grabbed with my left. Inka back leashed and feeling the jerk turns towards me and comes back. The pain in my right arm was far more than ouch, it involved a lot of deep breathing, tears and snuggles with Bambi and Inka.
The dog walker called sorry I was in too much pain to respond and I feel awful because this was not his fault! This was totally my fault, if i had planned to hold her lead just a few seconds earlier I would not have fallen and I would not now have spent the whole day in pain. Failure to plan - I have posted on social media so I hope he sees it in the local groups! But preparation is key! Prior Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance as we used to say in the RAF.
Anyway nothing broken, no need to go to A&E but I have just aggravated what is already going on.
Planning really is essential to reach goals and in order to be organised and living the life you want to live. I plan my meals and batch prep. I have reminders for my supplements, I fill a bottle with water and put in the fridge so I know I have drunk enough. I have a habit tracker to keep me on track (you can grab that here >>>>>>
https://www.thehealthfuldoctor.com/thdlinks ) !
I know better but sometimes things go wrong and today is a very painful reminder of the need for prep making things smoother!