shiny happy people

This statue sits outside our wonderful public library.  While I am normally alert to potential triggers for Maya, I failed to consider this one, and so we walked quite close.  Quite suddenly, Maya caught sight of what looked like a dangerous group of children at play and just about jumped out of her skin.

 

I played a round of BAT with the statue, but it only took a few repetitions before Maya realized it was not as freaky as she'd first assumed and then progressed to ignoring it completely.  Still, it gave me an idea. 

We live in a town of about 12,000 people, but there are a disproportionately large number of statues/fountains/etc. in the downtown area.  So I thought we might try to seek them out, firstly because it ties into a number of goals I am currently pursuing, and second because it gives me the chance to take a series of Maya photos.  I'll post them as we go!

evening dog

Looking at me looking at her.

 

optimism

Yesterday, I took Maya to a pizza restaurant, just to hang out.  We walked around the parking lot, practiced some basic skills, and watched people carrying pizza boxes.

It made me think.  "People carrying objects" was one of Maya's earliest and most obvious triggers.  A person with a box in their arms was a dangerous and terrifying threat, and Maya would bark and growl at them even from a considerable distance (up to several hundred feet).

Now, Maya is a much more sophisticated dog who knows exactly what's inside a pizza box.  She has also experienced people who give her delicious treats, and as she watched the delivery guys, she leaned toward them in a yearning fashion.  Eyes soft, mouth moist, tail quivering...she was not exactly begging, and not exactly expecting anything, but it was clear that she was entertaining a wistful sort of hope that someday, sometime, a complete stranger might give her a whole pizza of her own.

Turning Maya into an optimist may be one of my proudest achievements.