Abby update - February 23

Arby & Amigo accompanied me and Abby today and even got to participate in Abby's therapy! We took them to Austin so that Abby could work with Arby at the agility field, but, when Abby's OT learned that we had the dogs with us, he quickly created a therapy session that involved Abby and Arby in doing all kinds of hiking, obstacle paths, obedience courses, etc. I thought the two of them did great, and Abby was very proud to show Arby to her therapists, but she also ran into a lot of frustrations. Her relationship with Arby is so important to her, and, when he doesn't respond as he should or she can't communicate as she wants, she just feels such overwhelming frustration. I think her frustration is great because she values her accomplishments with her dog so highly, and I was sad to see the session cause such conflicting emotions.

I left St. David's wondering if it was a good idea to risk more potential frustration at the agility field, but we went anyway. I was glad we did! We set up a jumpers course with some pretty good handling challenges, and Abby and Arby did great! He was patient in waiting for her to move through the course, and she was patient when he needed additional cues. While I wouldn't have thought it possible last week, she's now thinking of entering her club's local agility trial in March. Just to see them on a course will be a great accomplishment (by her, Arby and God!).

Arby also tried to play a part in horseback therapy today, but I managed to catch him before he got into the arena. Instead, Abby got to focus on working with a different horse--Flower. She looked good and was able to get Flower to do some obstacles that she was trying to avoid.

So, anyway, that's why Arby gets his picture on the blog and gets to sleep inside tonight--he's part of this family therapy effort too!

Thanks for praying with us,
-the Linams (including Arby & Amigo)