My Puppy Ruined My Posture!!!

I love cats...

I like dogs, but I'm not a dog person.

but..................I agreed with my pleading family to get a puppy after consulting with several also "non-dog" people with dogs who assured me that I would become "a dog person"!

After week one with the puppy, I felt sleep-deprived and that my nerves were fried. My shoulders and neck felt tense and I generally felt irritable and out of it, like I was jet lagged.

Given my state, you might imagine that Millie (the puppy) is a wild, untamable beast who barks all night and has chewed the legs off of all of the furniture.

Not even close. I've actually only heard her bark once and we've had her for a month. After a week, she started putting herself to bed when told it's "bedtime". She's playful, sleeps a lot, and is generally good natured. There have been challenges with territorial cats and that she only wants to pee outside when there's snow on the ground. (The snow melted Sunday!)

But is there really a big problem? No. Nonetheless, the puppy is a trigger. She needs constant supervision and this experience reminds me a bit of having small children. She's not doing anything alarming or out of the ordinary, but her presence exhausts me.

Or more like I exhaust myself in her presence. I realize after awhile that I've become unconsious in my body...so I look for what exactly I'm doing that's triggering all of this.

My conclusion is that when I'm observing her -- wondering what she's chewing on or looking for her if she's wandered off to another room where an attack cat might be waiting -- I become overwhelmed by what I'm taking in visually and I stop sensing my body.

The thing is though that most poeple go through the day not sensing their bodies much at all. Their awareness is mainly tuned into what they see, hear, and think until hours spent with unconscious poor posture set off alarm bells and they feel pain.

This used to be me. Now when I encouter a new trigger (aka a puppy), the alarm bells start ringing way sooner. That's how I know when I need to reset.

Posture doesn't magically fix itself by doing a few exercies or holding a position, but if you learn how to be more aware of your body and what adjustments to make in the moment, you can actually start to change things...like really change habits that you might have thought were unchangeable.

Want to learn more about how to reset your body and change ingrained habits? Learn more about my 1:1 sessions and group classes.