Remembering Why You Do this.... the mental game

The agility blog'o'sphere is talking all about the mental game today.  This is one of my favorite topics as it is an area I struggle ... not just in agility of course.  Make sure you follow the link and read about the mental game from other agility bloggers. 

• Was in a new agility class with a ton of talented students and super amazing dogs and couldn't execute a thing!  When I walk to the line, I think about who is watching and what they are thinking. 
• First time at USDAA Nationals, cried in my trailer because I screwed up Snooker.  I got ZERO points.
• Felt like a failure when Fin and I went off course in a team relay.  Got all sad and mopey (we had been in first place).  Ended up in third and felt like an idiot for being such a baby.

During my life, I frequently forget why I do this silly sport.  Simple.  I get caught up in my own head, putting pressure on myself about my performance instead of enjoying every moment with my dog. Giving myself negative talk (not good enough, have no business being here, haven't done my homework, don't deserve this dog...etc, etc, etc.) instead of living in the moment.

 

I am not alone.  We all do it.

 

For the most part I have learned to get out of that negative space. But old habits die hard.  I spent the year of 2013 to work on this mental attitude problem and really have accomplished a ton.  Yet still, just last night found myself talking negative - comparing my progress with my young dog to that of my friend.

The pitfalls of wanting to be amazing.  

So, what do we do?  How do we "reset" our attitude so that we are free to truly live in the moment?  How do we stand with confidence?  How can we be satisfied with enjoying ourselves and not just be satisfied when we qualify.

My new thing is to walk to the line, be happy, breath, and know that nothing is more important than this very moment with my dog.  Whether she responds to me with the partnership I know we can have or she chases a dragonfly.  I need to take joy in the moment.  Laugh at mistakes and learn from them, and revel when that moment of brilliance happens.

Simple as that.  When I'm not feeling good.  Not able to focus.  Thinking of other things.  Being hard on myself.  I am not able to live in the moment.  Disappointed because my dog didn't live up to my expectations.  I need to put those other things aside, smile, and do what I practice everyday and simply have fun.

Simple isn't it.  But for some (including me) this is the hardest thing in the world to do.  Here are the three things I do before stepping to the line...try it to see if it works for you.

1. Visualize my run.
2. Take a breath.
3. Smile

Best of luck to you with your mental game.  Tons of books, workshops, and videos out there.  But my advice.  Have fun with your dog and don't let the pressures of trying to achieve greatness get in the way of actually enjoying yourself.

USDAA Nationals in Tennessee!

 

 

On October 22, Fin and I started a great adventure.  We weren't alone.  My best bud also was traveling with her two red boyz.  In addition, a few more brave soles were making the journey and meeting up with us there. 

 

The week before we left (I will not lie), I was a nervous wreck.  Doubts plagued me and I wondered, "Why do I do this to myself!"  Sometime during the week, I let it all go.  I felt I was driving myself crazy with all the worry.  I made the very difficult decision to "enjoy myself."

 

I know that some of you are laughing right now.  Only because you understand.  "Why go mostly across the country if you are going to be stressed?" is such a great question.  Letting go of that stress was harder than it sounds.  At the airport, all went very smoothly.  We had the dogs out for the pain free process of checking in (thanks to the awesome help of the skycaps).  Once we put the dogs into their crates and the skycaps took them away I looked at Laura and she said, "If you cry I will slap you."  I knew she meant it so I put a smile on my face and went and ate some dinner instead.

 



 

Truly, once we got to Atlanta and picked up the dogs, my stress was gone.  We got a van, put all the seats down, loaded the dogs up and started our drive up to Murfreesboro.  Neither Laura nor I slept on our red eye flight.  I remember sitting on the plane thinking, "I have to sleep...sleep darn it...this can't be happening....go to sleep."  I did doze, but as Laura pulled out of the rental car parking lot and I started my job as the navigator, I was suggesting that we just find a hotel and stop for some sleep.  As usual, saner heads prevailed (that would be Laura), and we were on our way. 

Making it into Murfreesboro with only a couple stops, we tried to check in at our hotel.  When that didn't work we went shopping and then lunch.  Still no hotel.  Drove out to the site of the 2013 Nationals and were able to set up in our lovely out door accommodations.  We walked around and loved the venue, but not the red dirt that was sticking to everything because it was a little drizzly that day.

Sometime during the day while I was dreaming of taking a nap, our friends called and asked us to a practice session.  At that point I realized there was no hope for a nap anytime soon and we headed west on roads never traveled to an incredible property with an indoor practice area.  Not only were we able to get a little confidence that our dogs remembered how to do agility, we were able to walk the fields with our dogs off leash playing.  I felt that the ability to just let the dogs play truly started our week off on the right foot. 

We met for an early dinner before heading back to our hotel.  I was sound asleep before 8pm (that is 6pm PST!).  I slept the entire night until Laura woke me at 5:15 to get to the show site for our walk throughs starting at 6:15am!!  I was so freak'n excited!  Okay...okay...I was a little grumpy, but once I woke up I was excited!!!

 

Each morning we would have to walk all of our courses very early.  Then we ran in groups throughout the day.  Sometimes not running until 5 or 6pm.  Imagine walking a Steeplechase Quarter Final at 6:30am, but not running that until 6:15pm.  Welcome to our world of National Champions...just how we roll.

 

I was looking all over the place for the practice jump areas.  When I found it I was glad I didn't have Tazz.  The practice area was jump after jump lined up in an area with each jump no more than 20 feet from each other as close as 10 feet.  No way if your dog is reactive can you do those practice jumps.  After nearly having a BC land on us, Fin and I decided we didn't need no practice jumps...we'd go to the field and play instead.

 

The warm up was supposed to be a nice calm practice where Fin and I would work on our contacts.  I got all adrenaline junkie and instead of giving Fin clear contact cues of, "Point" followed by a breath and a "Good Girly" followed by a "Fish!" release cue, I was screaming, "Go! Go! Go! Go!"  Ummm...Vici (WTF!!!).  I guess I have a little work to do on controlling my emotions.  Our only other run on day one was really important.  Steeplechase Quarters. I really wanted to make it into the Semi's.  We NAILED it!!!!  yee ha!

 

Regretfully, both Laura and I not packed enough warm stuff for the dogs.  Just didn't imagine that it would be as cold as it was.  Darn it, we had to go shopping.  I'm not even admitting to how much we spent.  I will say that as we walked back to our crating area there was much laughter and whispers about the two gals carrying so much stuff!



 



Much of the weekend we sat in a the arena watching agility and screaming for our friends, but Fin and I spent a bunch of time running agility.  We had two runs each day.

 

We also played a ton out in the wonderful fields.  Walking our dogs more than we actually ran agility and playing Frisbee, tug, and catch me if you can.

We also did a bit of celebrating.

 

Overall, Fin and I did what we did with gusto, humor, and joy.  I accomplished my goals of having fun, not letting the stress bring me down, and going out there with confidence and boldness. 

 

Some highlights:

• Got through the Quarter Finals of Steeple and ran in the Semi's...one off course tunnel got in our way...
• Ran clean in Grand Prix Semi's for a 14th place finish!  Not too shabby.  They took 11 competitors so no finals, but "WOW!!!" what feeling to know we were "that" close.
• Ran hard in all of the team events.  Snooker was pretty short, but we did ok in everything thing else. 
• Smiled bunches.  Really, truly enjoyed myself!
• Got to watch my friends have amazing runs! 
• Rachel and Kubby MC Biathlon champions!
• Got to watch Laura and her red boyz in all THREE Finals!!! Stat, you are a machine!  Fires, you carried your weight in Team and it paid off! 

The last competition of the Nationals were the Grand Prix Finals.  What a thrill is was to watch the best of the best and to know that Laura was right there with them!

 

The week flew by.  Almost didn't miss Olive...but yes, she was on my mind once or twice.  She was enjoying life at Jeanine's, while Tazz and Maddie got daddy all to themselves.  I can't thank Kel and Jeanine enough for taking care of my babies so Fin and I could have this adventure!

 







FaceBook is Killing My Blog

There it is.  I post on Facebook because it is easy and fast and I've been super busy (and sick) since I got back from Tennessee.  Another problem is I've been waiting for those fabulous photos so I could write a complete summary of my USDAA Nationals experience.  Finally got the Videos, but the photos have yet to arrive.  So the entire summary will wait and this will have to do to wet your whistle.  A complete summary of the trip is forth coming...I promise.

 

Olive stayed at home with a friend for my week in Murfreesboro.  It was really tough packing and super tough giving her to Jeanine to keep for the week.  But it was best and I was super busy getting away for the trip.   When I got home, she and I were so happy to see each other.  She had loads of stories that involved cats and kittens and skeletons.  She had a super week!  Thank you Jeanine.

I made these super stickers for the Airline crates for all three dogs.  I wanted the airline workers to know that we love our dogs and hope they are well taken care of.  All the dogs survived the fight and Fin was voted most excellent traveler.

Had a fun time at a super venue.   Really glad it didn't rain though.  First day there was a little drizzle.  Dogs and people were red with the dirt.  Once that drizzle cleared everything dried up and we were free of the red dirt.

There was much to celebrate with Fin getting into both Semi's (had to work to get into Steeplechase).  And doing well despite the stress.  Laura made it into all THREE finals with Fireball on team and Stat in Steeple and GP. 

For me Flying to Tennessee and not only surviving, but thriving on the trip, has opened new possibilities.  I'll be posting some of the videos soon.  But suffice to say, my trip was awesome.

Highlights

I like to focus on the positive and many good things there were.  Fin Q'd in three things:

• Gamble
• Gamble
• Grand Prix

And in each she got first.  Loads of top 10 points for Gamble and a bye for the upcoming Regional in April for Grand Prix.  Her perfect weaves failed us for Steeple (a beautiful run with a pop at 11 and jumped the last jump before I could redo the weaves).

Heat was a factor.  It was high 90's and possible 100 on Friday.  Stomach issues plagued me.  And lastly the courses were incredibly challenging.

I loved the challenge and honestly, Fin really ran well.  Just a couple mistakes kept us out of the Q's.  No worries always stuff to work on.

Ran Olive. What a ride.  First day was a bust.  It was 100 degrees, I hosed her down (she does not like this) but I really thought I had her attention when I walked to the line.  But no.  She was not really into it.  A bit of distraction by a dragon fly and some smelling grass resulted in only a couple jumps and a tunnel and then me running to the finish line hoping Olive would come (which she did).  Sat was awesome with a very nice jumpers run.  Sunday was very nice with all contacts completed.  A good first try.

Here is the highlight reel.


Overall, I think I'm done with Woodland in September.  Just too hot.  I did enjoy myself and perhaps next September, I'll forget how hot it was and go again.

What? How did this happen?

Today the agility blogosphere is writing on aging.  Read more blogs on this topic here:  Dog Agility Blog Events

A couple weekends ago, I walked into town and strolled along the shops with my little dog in tow.  As I passed by a window, I glimpsed my grandmother staring back at me.  Why she keeps following me I'm not sure, but there she is, out of the corner of my eye in the storefront.  When I look again, I realize it is just me.  Oh crap.

So what's changed with me (because it is all about me!)?

• I love dogs - I still love dogs
• I love doing fun things with my dogs - I still love doing fun things with my dogs but now I have the resources to do many more things
• I often act like a kid going to Disneyland - but I have the money to go when I want
• I want to be the kid that knows the answer - now I have the knowledge and resources but don't care anymore
• I want to be popular - now I have the wisdom to pick the right people and have less interest in what others think of me
• I want to be the superstar champion - now I know that being the superstar champion isn't all it is cracked up to be and just plugging away at something gives me more in returns than that the fleeting stardom I so wanted
• I want that new shiny thing - Yeeha...I can get the new shiny thing anytime I want...funny, now I want less
• I get carded all the time - no one cards me anymore.  They ask if they can help carry my bags
• I go to parties and drink till I'm giggling and falling asleep in my bean bag chair on the front lawn of my college apartment...ahhhh those were the days, now I don't drink much and look forward to sleeping in my comfortable bed with my down comforter.
• I know everything and those old folks are holding me back! - now I'm old and the younger generation thinks they know everything and I don't know jack.  In a way I feel like I know less than I did when I was in my 20's and 30's because the more I know, the less I know.  I now laugh at the young ones because they haven't figured out how much they don't know yet.  Once those youngsters do figure it out, they'll be old too.  HA!  I totally tell my mom she is the smartest person I know...now.

Summary: Time, it marches on. I'm still the young kid, but with wisdom comes a sense of self that enables me to be happier and appreciate the things I have.  However, my body is NOT what it once was and I need to take better care of it.  Honestly, I know I look different, I just don't feel much different emotionally. 

Advice:

• For agility, keep your dogs happy and healthy. Love every minute you have with them, their time with us is very short and we will live long and look back and regret that we didn't enjoy those moments more.  Don't sweat the small stuff.  If your dog goes off course, laugh.  No win is more important than letting your dog know that they are the most important thing in the world and that agility is just something we do for fun. 
• For Life, laugh more, and laugh again.  Be curious and focus on goals but not at the expense of fun.  Eat better, exercise more.

That's all on aging.  I'm going for a walk now...I'm getting older sitting here writing this.

SMART Runnings

So much news to report since the last post.  We'll start with the SMART trial over the weekend.  A huge shout out to my students who left their dogs at home and came out to volunteer at our trial.  Thank you, thank you.

Fin ran her heart out.  On Saturday, I signed her up for only 5 of the possible "EIGHT" classes she was eligible to run.  Eight is too many.



Snooker was a fun one.  With 5 possible reds, but only 3 could be taken it opened up an incredible amount of options.  My plan was to do three 6's in the opening until I watched snooker for a while and saw many people running my exact plan and going off course.  I saw many people doing other plans and going off course.  On the fly I decided to just go conservative and it paid off.  Doing a 6 and two 4's, Fin and I got through and did a fine job of getting through the end.

One of most favorite runs of the weekend was Master Challenge Jumpers.  A hard one that Fin and I did not perform successfully, but there was a bunch of good stuff that happened in this course as well.  I remember giggling and laughing and just simply enjoying the ride.



Still more work to do on contacts in general, I was really pleased with her weaves and happy with some successes with contacts.  We did get TWO standard Q's and both were first places giving Fin 10 more top 10 points.  It also gave us our Bronze Standard Championship in Performance (we have 15 standard Q's in performance). 

Despite the 10 second table, this was a pretty good run.



Sunday only had 4 possible courses and we Q'd in two:  Standard and Gamble.  In standard we had some contact problems, but got through sort of clean.  I think the judge was generous at the table and the shoot. 

All in all a lovely trial with good weather and excellent friends.

OMG - Olive is doing agility....

Granted, I have a tennis ball in my hand.  But still.  She is speedy and cute.  What more could a girl want.



Then we did the same course with more obstacles.  I need to work on her serps and weaves a bit, but overall she is doing great and making baby dog mistakes.  (Let's not talk about my mistakes, :) )




Love how on this one she comes out of the tunnel and shoot going all terrier on me looking for the ball.  Makes me smile.  But she comes back making some great tight turns and very mature decisions. 



We didn't do any contacts this morning at class.  She got sniffy (tells me she is tired of working).  That's ok.  Put her in her crate and let her be done. 

Last night we did work and got some good tugging and A frame work in.  I'm doing a running A frame (god help me) and using a box to get her striding in.  Much fun is being had by all.

Blowing in the wind

Yesterday after the drama, I was walking from the kitchen to go to my office and as I walked by the stairs, there was Olive sitting in the sun.  When I stopped to look at her she faced the upstairs and barked.  Clearly communicating that something she wanted was upstairs.

Since the lighting was beautiful, I grabbed the phone and snapped a few.  They turned out so nice.  Sometimes, the opportunity that presents itself is better than the planned activity.

 

She persisted in her insistence that something was upstairs.  I undid the gate and let her up and she immediately returned with her ball.  Why her ball was upstairs is still a mystery, but she is much quieter now.

 

Olive is now 1.5 years old.  I've had her a little over a year.  What a year it has been.  Certainly my life would be less complicated without her.  But what I would have missed!

 

Here is a post from about a year ago with photos of her at 6 months.  It was the same type of opportunity, she was sitting in the sun on the step and I happened to have my phone in my hand.  She hasn't changed much at all.

Why First Aid for Dogs is Important

Today was a day I won't easily forget.  My sweet old sheltie nearly died today.  It all started over the weekend when she came down with diarrhea.  I put her on a chicken and rice diet.  This morning I added kibble to the rice mixture.  I asked my husband to watch the dogs (Tazz can push the girls off their food) and I walked down the hall to feed Olive (she gets breakfast in her crate or for training treats).

 

Just as I let Olive out of her crate to play some tricks, Kel yells that he needs me NOW!  I put Olive in her crate with her food and run down the hall.  Kel says he thought Maddie was throwing up but he guesses she is ok now.  I see Maddie running, stumbling, falling at me...then past me as I grab her to see what is the matter.  I thought she might be having a heart attack or a seizure.

 

When I got down with her I realized she couldn't breath.  I figured she had something caught in her throat.  I knew that in cases like this you should lift the dog up by the hind end and see if they can work it out.  Doing this I called to Kel and he was by my side.  I had him hold her up and I got down and opened her mouth.  Her tongue and gums were grey.  Her eyes were sunken and looked wrong.  I opened her mouth and reached up and she had her breakfast caught in her throat.  She was loosing consciousness. I just kept scooping and pulling crap out until she bit me pretty hard (thankfully she doesn't have many teeth).  I stopped then and waited letting her try to catch a breath.

 

Maddie was still having trouble breathing, but at least you could see she was getting some air.  Then I said, "I'm taking her to the emergency vet."  Kel said wait for me I'll change and we'll go together. I put her in my car on the passenger side and waited for Kel.  The time it took for Kel to get there, she became calm and was breathing normally.

 

Thank goodness.  Been watching her all day and she is fine.  Even spunky enough to bark at the UPS truck!

 

I believe that Maddie started to gulp her food and with the rice it was too dry and sticky and got caught.  If she'd have eaten slower, or I had wet the food more... Tonight I'm feeding her kibble by kibble!

 

I have my friend Cindy Wilde to thank for the life saving advice.  We were talking about a class for first aid and specifically what she learned about choking.  That advice helped and I am forever grateful.  I am totally getting myself to the first aid for dogs class soon!

 

I may post and upload photos of my other dogs more often than Maddie (it is hard with a black headed dog to get good pictures), but rest assured I love this little girl.  She is my sidekick and office staff.  She loves my tomatoes, getting scratches, sleeping on the couch, and I adore her.  Nothing makes me happier then to watch her get the zoomies on the agility yard.  Every one of my dogs loves to wrestle with Mads...yet Maddie has ruled this house since she came to live here in 1999.  At 14 years old, we live and enjoy every day together and hope for many years ahead of us.

Update:  July 25 - Maddie is doing great.  After she rested, I cleaned her up and let her sleep all day.  She is normal this morning, causing trouble :)  Ate breakfast and all systems are functioning normally.  I believe I need to get an elevated food bowl for her.  I've been hand feeding and I see that he is bending funny and scooping her food but when I elevate, she is eating more regularly.  Such a weird experience yesterday.  Love my Mads!

Weekend Fun

Had a fun time at the USDAA trial SMART put on this weekend.  Certain Challenges plagued me, but despite these challenges I really enjoyed the interesting courses our judges presented us.

Fin ran her little heart out.  So much so, that I had to scratch her from her last class on Sunday.  Three days of so many classes did her in.  She is still sleeping.  Bringing home the bacon in our usual exciting style, we came home with a number of Q's as well as FINALLY not E'ing in Master Challenge.  We  are one refusal away from Q'ing in these crazy hard courses. We didn't have a ton of dogs in our 12" perf classes so despite a few wide turns, having to lay down after leaping her contacts, and perhaps a little lacking in listening skills, we did fairly well, even bringing home some steeplechase winnings.

Olive had a great time enjoying life, getting groomed by her bestie Julie and Jeanine, hiking, playing at the practice jump, and enjoying sitting on my lap, laying in the sun, and basically being her special little self.

Best of all, this was a debut for some of Morgan Hill Dog Sports students!  It was so much fun watching them compete in Starters and doing so incredibly well.  I could have just sat and watched starters all day long!

Can't wait till the end of August and we do it all again!!!!

Expectations!

My life, like many of my agility friends are full of dreams.  Each time any of us get a puppy and start our training programs we look down the road and wish for an agility partner.  A partner that is consistent, happy, eager ...and yes,  competitive.  We talk about how clever, smart, cuddly, joyful, naughty our little dogs are. We post progress videos and photos showing how amazing our dogs are.  But mostly we smile as we put hours upon hours of training into the teammate we will have for years to come.

 

We look for that shining star and our hopes and dreams lay on that little bundle of fur.  Some of us find a friend/mentor to help us on our way.  Most of us start right away working impulse control games, teaching tricks, and developing a relationship with our dogs based on time, effort, compassion, and love.

 

 

Our young dogs represent the future to us and a bright future it is.

 

But what happens when those dreams don't pan out?  When the going gets tough.  When your pup shows behavior patterns not consistent with a future champion of the world.  These challenges might be physical, or mental.  But challenges they are.  How you face that disappointment will test your mettle as a human being and a dog trainer.  Because, that's what we are, aren't we.  Dog trainers.

 

When your dog says, "Talk to the paw." What is your response.  Do you give up.  Do you look for reasons outside of yourself?  Do you look at your training program seeking answers?

 

Recently I've faced some challenges.  Olive (yes little miss perfect) has been having some motivational issues.  Yes they all occurred during the heat spell we recently had and I believe the heat and her lack of wanting to play agility are connected.  But how I respond to it is what is important.  I had a number of emotions happening all at once when Olive over a period of 2 weeks showed me that she was loosing connection with me.

• First I got scared and worried that after all this time why wasn't she paying attention!?
• I questioned, "Why is this happening (reliving all the years trying to get Tazz to play with me)." ... poor me :(
• Then I got a little depressed but pretended it was no big deal. 
• Why, I had dreams of starting agility in August!!!  What if she is like this and I can't sign her up?
• My stress in thinking she wouldn't perform and the honest desperation that I felt caused Olive to get lifeless and uninterested in playing with me. 
• Oh it makes me so mad when someone says, "well what did you expect, she is a terrier"
• Then I said, "what have I done wrong?"  Too much freedom, not enough training, did I get lazy?
• The spiral of non performance was humiliating.

Then something interesting happened.  I put my big girl pants on and started looking at the hard work other people were putting into their dogs.  Students and friends with bigger problems than me.  A little white dog that was demotivated seemed small compared to a 85 pound reactive dog.  People with dogs that were much older that Olive that still couldn't trial due to much worse issues then a little sniffing.

 

I realized that my expectations are getting in the way of Olive's fun.  Me feeling I need to push to get this pup ready for a competition that is meaningless in the long term was part of the problem.  Me expecting too much from her was simply stressing her out. 

 

Agility training is a journey.  It is a journey that has bumps and lumps along the way.  I don't know of anyone that has not faced challenges in their paths, reactivity, health issues, motivation, physical problems (both handler and dog), inexperience ... all these things are part of what makes this sport a challenge.  How you deal with the challenges that face you will say a lot about how much enjoyment you will get out of the sport.

 

I'm not proud of the emotional wreak I have been these last few weeks.  Why I'm a better person than to feel such things as sorry for myself when my problems are nothing.  But there you go.  It is real.  Negative thoughts slip in and sometimes it is difficult to stop them from happening.

 

What do I always say?  "Have fun."  If you aren't having fun, ask yourself why.  Well last weekend I did ask myself why and came up with an answer.  My expectations are getting in the way of my training program. 

 

Isn't that a problem we all face?  Silly expectations. 

 

As I watch Olive go through her paces this morning with a fire in her eyes and joy in her heart, I know that taking things slow is the way for her and I.  So what if we don't trial right away.  Most important is joy in both our hearts.  Because, the journey is not about praise or posting blue ribbons on facebook, the journey is about the relationship and connection I have with my dog. 



 

Today is my Birthday!!!! says the one and only Tazz...

Today is Tazzies day.  He is NINE!  I can not believe it.

A most beautiful dog.  Tazzie can be the most loving creature you've ever seen.

He loves humans.  All humans.  Humans that are in his house are considered his.  He will give you the best lovies of all my dogs.

He has the sweetest expressions.  Then as well as now he can look at me and my heart swells.

Tazzie did agility and taught me so much about dog training.  I wouldn't be half the trainer I am today without my little turd.  Love him to pieces.

Tazz is great fun.  He loves to play and will go with me anywhere as I work in the back yard.  He likes to swim with me, dig with me, pick up poop with me, all things with me (notice I'm not mentioning the other dogs).  Tazz is my little napoleon.  It's all about him.  Laura Hartwick captured him perfectly when she made his little cartoon last Christmas.  I sure hope she does it again this year. 

 

Happy Birthday my little man.