Until Shazam finds his permanent home, we continue to train and condition — Carpe diem, as they say. We had some great 1:1 time yesterday first at the skateboard park to practice impulse control. He did quite well but we have more effort to invest with his high drive and interest in “organizing”. Sorry that there’s not much photo documentation of this part because I’m busy paying attention, being prepared to react to his behaviour and then rewarding his good choices. I got one successful photo of a kid on a scooter in the distance. The idea is for him to be present to the exciting adventures of others without having a need to be in the middle of it… effectively get to a place of neutral and being able to observe the world being his “work”.
We then went down to the river to play in the water and continue to make good choices around people and their kids, accompanying dogs and splashing water. In part because he was somewhat tired from the skateboard part and because there was less stimulus I managed more successful photo opportunities as the Sun started to set. There’s no question that this boy was a fish in a former life. He has huge 
for the water!
The secret to conditioning is consistency and enough repetitions that the stimulus becomes boring and normal. Of course, time and opportunity to mature helps too! I find that the end of the day (more tired & less resistant to change), before a meal (more interested in food rewards) and extra high value rewards (difficult to ignore) are also keys to success.
