There IS a life beside nursing.

In march I remember assessing whether I even had a life outside of work and study. This weekend I have realized that since completing the nurse anesthesia course, my life has become rich and full of the most varied activities and interests. Work takes up a large chunk of course, as well as the ongoing search for a nurse anesthetist job, but much of my attention is now focused on non-nursing related activities. For a while I studied Italian and soon I plan to take up Spanish. I continue to do excersises in meditation, observation and self-developement. I have discovered a new author, new to me that is: Stephanie Meyer. I read "The Host" first, a book that I found facinating. It was when I asked at the library if she had written anything else, that I discovered that she is the author of the Twighlight series. I have now devoured the first of these, and am on the library waiting list for the others.



Getting back in shape by cycling, orienteering and doing pilates took a lot of the summer, but once the orienteering season ended I began to spend more time on training Lucy. There is mileau training on mondays, obedience on tuesdays and agility on thursdays. Lucy is very nervous - afraid both of strange people and dogs. Her anxiety can quickly manifest as aggressive behavior, based on the premise (in her mind) that attack is the best defence. At the first agility training we went to, Lucy and I were the only participants, so the instructor spent about 15 minutes just getting Lucy to approach and make contact with her - not by giving her treats out of her hand, but by throwing a treat a little ways away each time Lucy came a little closer. Lucy overcame her fear, and because the treat wasn't coming out of her hand, she was more aware of the act of making contact with the instructor. At the next session we were again the only ones there. I asked if the principle could be applied to other aspects of training. For example I can get Lucy to walk at heel when I hold a treat in front of her nose, but she is so focused on the treat that I doubt she realizes what she is doing. So the agility instructor introduced me to clicker training, as a means of separating the behavior and the treat slightly so that the dog actually becomes conscious of what she is doing. It sounded interesting so I bought a clicker and after doing some research online I signed up for a 7 day free online clicker training course. This turns out to be a whole philosophy of dog training, which I am now trying to assimilate and put into practice. As I become more familiar with the whole concept and gain some practical experience I will post how it goes.