I took Raja with us on our morning walk today. I worked her around the playground equipment and had her heel with me along the walking paths. She did great. There were guys there weed-eating so there was a lot of noise around. There were also two little boys playing on the playground while we were there. She did very good around the distractions. At first she did not want to sit on bench, but after working with her a couple of times, she would jump up on her on. She is still a little nervous about some things. The key to her overcoming her nervousness is to not let her fear play into what you are going to make her do. If you ask her to do something, require that she does it. If she is fearful and her fear is irrational, require her to do as asked anyway. Help her through her fear and show her that she will be fine. By doing this, she will gain more confidence around strange things because she has conquered them already. When she first came to the house, she did not want to climb the stairs. Now she has no problem with the stairs. Even the little ones on the playground, she walked up happily.
