Keep calm and carry on

As I sit here, my dog is chilling out beside me in his favourite spot. As you can see, his hair is a little shorter on his shoulder. As a pet parent of a sick puppy, I have to pivot: Sometimes, we are forced to adjust our expectations as we find ourselves in the middle of a marathon. I am forced to adapt my training schedules as I begin to prepare my puppy for necessary treatment, which involves an operation on the 25th of June. I now have to think forward and put into place a plan for postoperative therapeutic care. My new schedule involves not only my puppy but giving time to care for my feelings about my puppy’s diagnosis. The first tip I can give anyone in a similar situation is to reach out to your community who may have gone through the same thing. You may find, like you, they know how you can burden yourself with guilt as you think it might have been you that caused the condition in the first place. As I have said in my books, guilt wastes time. The best you can do for your puppy is to keep calm and carry on, and when the puppy is resting, do the things you enjoy, helping you to become resilient for the weeks to come.