Maternity Leave & Coronavirus Update

Hello friends!

Just wanted to pop in quickly to give a quick update.  On January 8th (my husband's birthday!), I gave birth to our son, Wiley. The homebirth I had planned went perfectly, and Wiley and I are both doing great. As planned, both dogs were taken to my mom's house as soon as I went into labor, and stayed there for a few days while I took a few days to heal. We made a short video of their homecoming and you can find that video and more about our plan here.



Life with baby has been a huge adjustment, of course, but I'm incredibly proud of how well the dogs are doing. Muchacho was quite nervous around the baby at first, and especially uncertain when he made noise, so we gave him as much space as he needed and he has relaxed quite a bit. Koa was more interested in the baby at first, and "checked on" him frequently, but has lost interest in him for the most part (I see this as a positive because I don't want her to feel stressed or tense around him).

I began to write this update before the coronavirus pandemic really took off and changed our world as we know it so drastically. My paid leave is up in April, and I planned to write that I'd be offering private training session by the middle of next month. However, now we've all been instructed to practice social distancing and stay home as much as possible, which means going into people's homes is likely off the table for a while. In order to do so, I'd also need to figure out childcare, which also presents a challenge right now. Phone consultations are certainly still an option, so keep that in mind if you'd like help with any behavioral challenges. I'll also be thinking a bit about doing remote sessions via FaceTime or perhaps Zoom.

In the meantime, please consider joining my Dogly community, where I'm sharing lots of training and enrichment stuff to help keep you and your pupper sane during these crazy times. I hope you and your families are all safe and finding ways to cope with these stressful and fast changing events.

Love to you all!

-Tressa, Koa, Muchacho & Wiley