Hi, everybody. Welcome to the Canine Connection
podcast. Today, Lori and I are going to talk
about mental management around bigger events,
whatever that looks like for you, right? It could
be your national specialty or it just could be
like, you know, I spoke to someone not too long
ago and they were like, oh, the closer I get
to getting my arch, my championship. The more
nervous I get. So that could be. You know your
big event. Or it could be like. You know. A national.
An actual national. Titling event. Like rally
nationals. Obedience nationals. Any sport. Right.
Most sports have. Some sort of a big event. Yeah.
And. As that. event approaches our brains start
to go haywire true um right so basically in its
simplest form when we get nervous we go into
fight or flight and when we go into fight or
flight our brain just fires and does things says
things reacts a certain way that if we are not
consciously aware of it it takes over right um
and so the most important part is awareness because
the reality is you are going to be nervous like
i think back in way back it used to be like how
do you Not how do you make it so that you're
not nervous on the day? Well, if you really could
care less, you won't be nervous. But if you care,
you're going to be nervous. That's part of it.
Like, so I think people spend more energy trying
not to be nervous, which is futile. So you're
basically wasting energy and you're beating yourself
up for being nervous. Also a waste of energy
because guess what? Everybody's nervous. Yeah.
So what's. Yeah, the difference is understanding
it and managing it. Yeah, and that's a big one
because, you know, people will be like, people
will sit there. You hear it all the time. Oh,
my God, I'm so nervous. I'm going to throw up.
Oh, my God, I can't even think straight. I'm
so nervous. I get so nervous. I know I ruin everything
because I'm so nervous. And then I say, well,
have you ever like asked yourself in that moment?
Why am I so nervous? Like for real, why am I
so nervous? Am I so nervous because people are
watching and I don't want to look like an idiot?
Am I so nervous because my goal is to win the
whole thing? And what if I don't? Like I think
a lot of that, asking yourself why you're nervous,
you can easily put things into perspective, which
will help you. have some sort of like mental
management of controlling your nerves on the
end of like not losing your shit in the ring.
Because at the end of the day, like you can't
control, you can't control the judge, you can't
control the environment, but you can control
how you're looking at the whole event in a whole,
right? Does that make sense? Yeah. And you can
you can only control yourself, really. Right.
That's the only thing you have control over.
So have some control over that. Right. Because
if you give control up. So what a lot of people
say that this is my pet peeve. Oh, I get so nervous
and then everything's a disaster. Some variation
of that. Right. And then I'll say, well. You
know, have you tried? And before I can even give
some suggestions, they're like, nothing works,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So you're basically
just being a victim. You're just saying this
is what happens and I have no control over it.
OK, so be it. That's your choice. But then you
really don't have a right to complain about it.
You do have choices. You can work on it. Right.
You can employ any number of strategies. So,
for example, when I get nervous, I always I can
feel it in my body and that works for me because
I'm like really in tune with my body. So if I
feel like pain in my chest, that's anxiety, pain
in my stomach, that's nervousness or. If I feel
myself starting to speed up, like I have to,
like I start racing around, then I know that's
just nervousness and anxiety. It's causing me
to speed up. So when I feel any number of these
things, I immediately tell myself, stop. I take
a bunch of really deep breaths because I'm like,
you're just going down a rabbit hole. Let's get
it back together. Let's regroup, right? So I
take a bunch of deep breaths and I'm like, OK,
what what just made you go off the rails? Right.
Was it a thought like, oh, God, I hope my dog
doesn't fail. Yeah. OK, well, then I can talk
myself through that. Like, you know what? It
is what it is. Maybe they'll fail. Maybe they
won't. Stop thinking about that. Let it go or.
Whatever the case or, oh, people are watching
me. Then I can go, you know what? It doesn't
matter. No one's really watching. They don't
really care. At the end of the day, all they
care about is their own dog or, you know, so
whatever the case, I can apply logic. But first
I have to stop myself from spiraling. So for
me, it's the breathing. It's making myself slow
down. And then I always return kind of back to
my habits and my routines. Like I'm like, stop
flitting around and doing nothing like aimless.
Yeah, we tend to do that. Right. Like sit down
or follow. You know, I have a very relatively
strict routine. For the purposes of grounding
myself, right? Like I do this, then I do that.
Then I do the next thing. Then if I get like,
then I go just, nope, come back. Do the next
thing in the sequence, right? If those things
are all done, sit down in a chair. And then in
the chair, I can choose. I can close my eyes.
I can visualize. I could play some suggestions
that were made to me. My mental management coach
was like, Go on your phone, play some like a
comedian, something to make you laugh. Laughter
is amazing. Sometimes I'll just make up stupid
stuff or I'll say something stupid to my dog
or I'll tell my like some silly joke or mantra
to make myself laugh. Because if you laugh, it
counteracts all those stress chemicals like immediately.
Right. So humor, if you can find humor in what
you're doing. So I think it helps to have a routine
and a plan. Yeah. Which you can right now, plans
might go slightly awry, but it shouldn't go so
awry that you can't get yourself back and go
back to it. Yeah, I think. I think it's really
important. Like what you said is, you know, I'm
going to like what we both said was I'm going
to ask myself what's making me so nervous. And
then talking yourself off the cliff, you know,
and have it. I just kind of like call them little
reality checks for myself, keeping things in
perspective, because like in my life, my passion
is just. Being with my dogs, hiking my dogs,
and I know you feel the same way, training my
dogs. I just love training. And yes, we like
to compete. And I feel like when we get to a
trial, let alone a national event or a big goal
-reaching moment, I think that we lose all perspective
of life. like outside of that trial like and
I do like a thing that helps me the most is I
I do a visualization of what I like I look at
my dog even and I just remember like what I love
about her and what I love doing with my dogs
I can picture hiking I can picture it crystal
clear in my head I picture like Awesome training
sessions where we've had just great, great feelings
of training. Those things bring me all back to
what's really important about, you know, why
I'm even doing this whole thing. Those help me
a lot. Just remembering. Life goes on after the
whatever event or goal reaching moment, whether
you do well or not, life does go on. I'm still
going to love my dogs. And there's always another
chance at a trial or an event. You know, that
stuff helps me a ton now because I used to be
a fucking wrecking ball. I was bad. Well, and,
you know, not to be morbid, but like when we
lose a dog, we would give. anything to have more
time with that animal right and if you have enough
dogs over enough years you lose them young old
and everywhere in between and it is never enough
time like you always wish you had more time and
then like for a short amount of time after that
you become like hyper focused on your other dogs
and like and then all of a sudden time goes on
and then oh we forget Right. Or a dog gets sick
and we're like or gets injured and we're like,
oh, God, I really wanted to do that. You know,
but when they're healthy and everything's fine,
we completely lose perspective. We do. It's so
true. You know, completely. So gaining like pulling
that perspective in. I mean, it's a very Buddhist
thing to reflect on death. Right. Like we're
all going to die. Sorry. That's just the way
it is. And they reflect on death, not in a morbid
way, but as a constant reminder of like, your
time is finite. What are you doing? Is this even
really important? Because like, if you knew you
were going to be dead next week, would you even
care about that? Exactly. You know. But we're
really bad at that. Like we have this perspective
when something terrible happens for a brief amount
of time. And I guess it's like a survival mechanism,
you know. But I reflect on that a lot, you know,
because I've had dogs that have gotten injured.
I've had dogs that I've lost young. Like I've
had all the whole gamut. And because of the whole
Buddhist practice, like I think about that a
lot. Like, I don't know when the last time is
that I'm going to be showing my dog. Like it
could be any, any day that I go there could be
the last day. And there are plenty of stories
of people who showed their dogs and a week later
the dog was dead. Yeah, for sure. So. It's, it's
a matter of maintaining perspective. Now I get
it. We work really hard for a really long time.
We put in an enormous amount of work and preparation.
We put in an enormous, we spend enormous amount
of money. Yeah. But again, like, are you doing
your mental management? Because, you know, people
show up at these events and then they're like,
Oh my God. Oh, my God. And they're overwhelmed
and they're or they're overwhelmed in terms of
just they're unprepared, maybe for the scope
or they're unprepared for the site. Like it's
very common. We've talked about this. People
get to rally nationals or even obedience nationals
or the classic. And they're like, oh, I had no
idea it was going to be this busy. People go
to their. dog nationals and you know there's
a dirt floor or different things that they're
not prepared for and then they just fall apart
yeah you know and that's where you need to at
that you really need to dig deep because yeah
you're falling apart pulling hannah what's your
poor dog gonna do like exactly exactly yeah and
that's that you know i like i'm always like My
motto these days in life as I'm, you know, past
my halfway mark in my life. I think about that,
though, like I know you do, too. Like, all right.
I know I'm probably more than half done. Like
everything is really I'm I'm paying attention.
We've talked about this. What really matters?
And. let shit get like, I'm just going to roll
with it. And I'm just going to have a fucking
good time. Like I'm, you know, I'm just going
to roll with it. Yes. I I'm training hard and
it's important to me, but at the end of the day,
I have to show up with a things, things could
totally go unexpectedly. That's life people.
It doesn't matter whether it's a trial ring or
not. And I'm just going to go with it. And I'm
just going to back my dog up because. That's
number one in my rule book now is I need to show
up for my dog. I need to back up my dog. And
yeah, you know, I just feel like I need to just
be on my best game and not let things unravel
me. And I have to believe in my training when
I step into the building at that event. I did
my best. I feel like I did my best. I prepared
myself. I prepared my dog to my best ability.
And I just have to trust my training at that
point. And again, I can't control what the judges
think. I can't control what happens in the environment.
And at the end of the day, I'm just going to
do my very, very best. And that's all that I
try to like go by those words in my head a lot.
Yeah. And I mean, the years that I mean, literally
the years, I think maybe except for possibly
Tyler's. I don't even remember the second year
Tyler went, but it was so long ago. But I do
remember that year, the years he won, the years
Esther won. The years that my dogs did the best
or they had high placements were the years that
I was not going there to win. Yeah. I went there
and I had. process goals or i had said you know
what it doesn't matter or i don't care or i'm
just gonna try and um stay connected to my dog
or i'm just gonna like when i went with zeal
i had decided it was just too hard he couldn't
do it and i was okay with that he was already
working beyond his abilities Um, I was just gonna
work really hard to, um, stay connected with
him, be upbeat, be that, do my handling, do the
handling that I wanted to do with him. See if
some of the, you know, that was it. That was
all I was doing bottom line. Right. And that
was my entire focus the whole time. Um, and So
those process goals are so important. Like I
want to do my handling. I want to stay connected
to my dog or whatever your process goal is for
that dog, which has nothing to do with the result.
It's something that's in your control, right?
Like, did I do my job? That's all that I really
focus on nowadays is did I do my job? And then.
And then whatever happens with the dog happens
with the dog. And then I just go work on it.
You know? That's all we can do. But I think people
go there, like, and they get too swept up by,
like, everything that happens moment by moment.
Like, we talked about, you know, this email came
for the NOC about crating. Right? And then everybody
goes, oh, they're creating. Look, I can tell
you, I have created everywhere under the sun
and it never impacted the outcome where I create
it. Like I am not wasting mental energy on where
I'm creating. Okay. I just want to create somewhere
by myself off to the side. done. I'm good. We
got it. And there's, you know, like, or people
come in and they're like, did you see the light
is shining this way? I want to hear it. I don't
care. It doesn't matter. Or do you hear the wind
blowing? Or do you see this? Or did you hear
Mary Jane said that? Or do you hear this happen?
Or who cares? Like, and then you get all swept
up in that you're wasting mental energy. Yeah,
exactly. exactly and you're making yourself mentally
tired like we only have a finite amount of mental
resources yes and if we're using them on other
things especially on negativity on what can go
wrong etc etc like you're gonna go down a rabbit
hole and then you're gonna end up either messing
up or you're going to change your handling your
dog's going to be confused you're going to do
weird things in your warm -up you're and you're
going to mess your dog up yeah because you're
going down these random rabbit holes like you
know yeah that's a big one what you said like
being getting swept up in it all and it's hard
because when you go especially talking especially
about the big events you know you it there's
the that energy's in the air everyone's prepped
everyone's packing everybody's posting on facebook
which is something like i used to do too and
then like i'm definitely laying low And it's
true. Like you go in and there's like, you know,
the banners and the streamers in the ceiling
and tables lined up with like, it is, it is,
you feel it, you can feel it. And that's where
it gets difficult. And the, and people are, you
know, their mother henning all over the place,
clucking like hens because they're nervous and
they're complaining. And that's where it's very
difficult. And that's where you really need to
hone in on. why you're here what your process
goals are where you need to stay in your head
what you need to do for your dog and you need
to stick with it stick with it big one yeah and
your poor dog has no idea like is actually I
was just watching um re -watching Ted Lasso and
you know um but this was such a good example
so he's with the team It's just this TV show.
Anyway, about this coach and the soccer team.
He's coaching the soccer team in England. Anyway,
long story short, they're going to be playing
for the first time ever at some big event in
this like huge tournament at this like renowned
stadium. Right. So basically, same thing we're
talking about. A big event. Right. So he takes
him out to this field and there's nobody in there.
It's really quiet. And he says. And they're like
looking around like, whoa. Right. And he's like,
look at the ground. It's still grass. It's still
a football. It's still a soccer field. Yeah.
You're still playing the same size field for
the same amount of time. Like the fundamentals
are the same. Right. And like as far as your
dog knows, you come out of the crate, you're
warming up, you're entering a ring. Like unless
you act different. Yeah. They're going to think
they're at a dog show, but they don't act the
same because we don't act the same. Right. So
we get overwhelmed. Then we get weird. Then they
get weird. Then we get more weird because the
dog's getting weird. Oh, my God. What's wrong
with my dog? My dog's getting weird. No, you're
getting weird. Yeah. Don't be a weirdo. Weirdo.
So. that's super important. Like I have, I have
gone and people thought, think like I make this
stuff up and then somebody helped me one day
and was like, Oh my God, you didn't, you weren't
kidding. I had like sheet in the paper. I had
every exercise printed out what I, what warmup
I wanted to do for every exercise, what cues,
like anything I needed to know about that exercise
that I didn't want to forget. Right. And I had
a plan like day one, warmup ring. I need to throw
the toy over the broad jump because it tends
to be slippery. I want them to get their footing.
Like, I'm not going to test them. I'm not going
to do anything crazy, but so that, because what
happens is you go there, you wait in line at
the warmup ring. People are doing the entire
class and they're doing this and they're doing
that. And then you start to panic. Oh God, maybe
I should do that. Maybe I should do that. no
stick to your plan so I have it written down
this is my plan then I you know I'm like if this
happens do that if that so it's all it's all
there it's all planned out all I have to do is
look at it oh in this ring I have these three
exercises I look at those three exercises that's
what I have to do got it now and that's all I'm
doing and when I feel the pull like maybe I should
I'm like no oh Yeah. Do you need the papers?
That's something concrete. Like for me, it helps.
It anchors me. Right. It doesn't let me go charging
off on some crazy avenue. Right. And you'll hear
people around you like talking about, oh, well,
that's not your plan, you know. And then I just
follow along. And then if something happens,
if something unexpected comes up, I just deal
with it. I'm not going to get all like, Oh my
God, because that puts you into an, more of an
anxious state. And when we're in that state,
we don't make good decisions, right? We make
good objective decisions. Like we have to be
able to make adaptations because things are going
to happen. Right. You have to be able to just
stay cool, calm and collected. And you're not
going to be if you're already in a tizzy, in
a state. Right. So and like I've gone in to these
events with even a mental management plan. Like
if I get nervous, I'm going to do this. When
I look at another thing that I like to do is,
you know. we usually have to watch how things
are set up. So whether you watch another dog
in the ring or whether the judge shows you where
things are going to be or whether there's a demo
dog, whatever the case, we watch, right? And
that's when don't stand near anybody because
that's when they start saying, oh, that's hard.
Oh, that's going to be bad. Oh, this, oh, that.
So A, I don't want to be near anybody because
I don't want to hear it. B. When you watch it,
it's a natural human tendency to go, oh, God,
that's going to be so hard for my dog. He's going
to be so nervous. Right. No, it's just data.
Yeah. Right. And I wrote that down. I wrote down
like when you look at the ring, you are just
looking at data. I am setting up here. Then I
am moving there. This is a judge's signal. This
is the order of the exercise. And that's it.
Like and every time my brain would go, what about?
Nope. just we're just looking at the data right
execute the data yeah yeah because that's another
spot where people start visualizing everything
that can potentially go wrong yeah that's and
now that's in your head and now you're getting
super anxious yeah so don't talk to anybody yeah
and don't talk because because Yes. Oh, and people
love it. Like, oh, gosh, even strangers. All
they need is a lending ear. Oh, my God. It's
the worst. Yeah. And I don't want to hear about
what can go wrong. You know, I want to tell myself,
nope, my dog will be fine. Nope. Or I'll have
a plan. Right. Like there was I was really proud
of myself for this. It was a national event and
there was a ring and there was I just knew. That
the way it was set up for my dog, right, for
this particular one dog, that it was going to
be hard and she was going to be worried. So I
was like, how can I set her up so she's not worried,
right? And I was like, oh, I'm going to joke
around with the judge. And then it's going to
make her feel like, oh, we're just training.
Relaxed. Yeah. Yeah. So I knew the judge, which
was help. But even if I didn't, I didn't care.
I was just like, I get in and I just made a little.
Wasn't this at the classic? Didn't you do this
at the classic? I think it was the NOC. It was
the NOC or the classic. I don't remember. But
I set her up. And as soon as I got to that spot,
I could see it on her face. I know that dog so
well. She was like, I don't like this. I don't
like this at all. Right. And I just set her up
and I looked at the judge and I made a light
little joke. And the judge is like, oh, and as
soon as that happens, Zaina went, oh, yeah. Oh,
we're just training. Yeah. Pressure off. Right.
So. rather than stand outside the ring and go,
Oh God, this is terrible. Oh God. Oh God. Oh,
I came up with a plan. Yeah. Now it's possible.
The plan might not have worked. It's possible.
She might've done okay without the plan. She
might've pushed through. She might not. But the
point of the moral of the story is I didn't just
go down a rabbit hole. I was like, Hmm, what
could I do to help my dog in this situation?
Right. Yep. Right. um because that's what we
can control right yes and if you can't come up
with something then the best you can do is to
be the same as you are in training and just tell
your dog good dog you're good it's fine buddy
good job right versus it's okay buddy you're
all right I knew it was dangerous here. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. You're acting like an insane person.
I knew this was really bad. Right. That's hard
to do that. Like, that's a skill I've had to
really master, you know, because you feel like,
you know, you look down at your dog and you're
like, oh, God, my dog is definitely telling me
that they're like panic stricken over something.
And that's where you like you really have to
be like. I just calm myself. I take a deep breath.
And I actually, if I can say the words, I'll
be like, I know, buddy, this is really hard.
And then my dog's like, oh, everything's good
because you're good. Yeah. So, well, a key thing
here is you have learned and evolved, right?
So you've gone to a few big events, said, oh,
I didn't handle that as well as I would have
liked. I need a better plan. And then you worked
on it and executed it. What happens to too many
people is they go. Things don't go well. They
do nothing. They go to the next one. It happens
again. And they go to the next one and it happens
again. Like, no, like I'm not saying I executed
perfectly every time I went. I've had some epic
disasters. Right. But I learned from it. Right.
And I was like, OK. Never going to do that again.
Plan B or C or D or Z. Right. And keep working.
And because it is a never ending process. A,
because our dogs are different. Our dogs evolve.
And B, because we're human. And if we're not
constantly working on it, we revert. So it doesn't
matter how experienced I am. If I don't. make
this huge mental effort and do the work and have
my strategies and do the plan execute I'm going
to go to trial and I'm going to fall into the
same trap as everybody else right key that is
key for sure yeah so you have to learn from the
mistakes you've made and you know stop saying
oh the dog the dog well what did I do that created
this scenario And what can I do better next time
so that this doesn't happen, right? How can I
constantly improve? Because if you're doing the
same thing over and over, it's kind of a problem,
right? It means you're not being proactive. You're
being a victim. You're being reactive, right?
You're a victim to the circumstance. You're a
victim to the situation, right? Another thing
people do, which, and this is a personal choice,
right? For some people, it's a really fun social
outing, right? They get to see people they don't
normally get to see. They get to hang out with
people they don't normally get to hang out with.
And that's distracting. And that's okay. As long
as you understand that it's distracting and that's
more important to you than the performance, which
is totally fair and valid, then that's okay.
But you can't be totally distracted and running
around and socializing, then go not have a good
performance and be disappointed in the dog because
you weren't focused. Well, yeah. You have to
be focused. Definitely. So you have to make some
decisions, right? Like you have to decide what's
more important. And if my performance matters,
and here's where people struggle too, because
unlike me, people are very nice and polite. And
they'll say to me, no, I'm kidding. I mean, well,
whatever. I'm sure some people don't think I'm
nice, but people ask me all the time, like, but
what do you do when like someone or your friend
or whoever comes up? I just say, I'm sorry. Now
I can't talk to you right now. Ask me later.
Like, I'll say it nicely, but I don't feel, I'm
sorry that I am here to compete. Right. I care
about being the best partner for my dog. And
in order to do that, I need to concentrate. In
order to concentrate, I cannot be having a social
hour. Right. So I will politely say, I'm sorry,
I can't talk to you right now. Ask me at the
end of the day. And then it's up to you. If you
want to come ask me at the end of the day, knock
yourself out. I'm happy to help you. Sometimes
people don't come back. Maybe they feel they
just don't want to bother me. Thank you. Maybe
they feel I maybe they feel offended. Sorry,
you're offended. But I paid my entry fee and
I talked to somebody about this recently that
was like, yeah, I feel bad. You know, people
know who I am. They ask me, I say, yeah, but
you're entitled to your time. Totally. Totally.
And I think that's hard. I think it's hard when
people are maybe either instructors or maybe
they're well known or whatever the case, you
know, they might feel like they're supposed,
you know, like, oh, I don't want it or I don't
want to be rude or I don't want to be. But first
of all. First thing you should just think about
is how much money is spent to get there. Just
that alone should be motivation. Exactly. It's
a lot of money. A lot of time and prep goes into
it. A lot of time and prep. And if you feel that
having this conversation or answering this person
or whatever the case is going to detract from
that, then you have every right. To politely
say, I'm really sorry, I can't right now. Yeah.
And if that person takes offense to that, that's
on them. That is not on you. That's their problem.
Because if somebody said that to me, I would
not be even remotely offended. I'd be like, oh,
sorry, my bad. I wasn't paying, you know, whatever.
I would just be like, OK, it's no big deal, you
know. But that's what. That's what we have to
understand. Like we're entitled to that. And
it is OK to say I cannot interact with you right
now if that's something that you want to do.
Now, some people, you know, everybody's brain
works differently. Some people do better when
they're distracted. And then they only need a
few minutes to get their head on straight and
then they can go in and do that. And if that's
you and how your brain works and. optimal function
for you then that's fine um but i find that a
lot of people can't do that right me too and
you know they need to be able to concentrate
on what they're doing and um because there's
a lot to break and think about i mean there's
a lot it's a lot Like, it's hard to stay so focused
in that environment. Yeah, and we're distracted,
too, because it's noisy. It's crowded. It's chaotic.
There's not always a clear path to where you're
going. And we're thinking about a million things.
Do I need to potty my dog? Do I need to go to
the bathroom? Do I have all my stuff? There's
a thousand things already swirling in your head
to keep on track, let alone other people coming
in and you're listening to all the outside garbage
going on. Not that it's garbage people are saying
to you, but you know what I mean? Like, it's
just extra stuff. Like, yet you don't need to
be filtering through if you don't have to in
those moments. Come talk to me at the end of
the day when we're totally done. Yeah. And if
you have someone that's either helping you or
just with you as a friend or whatever, you know,
clue them in. Tell them what you need. Like,
I do that. I am very clear. I'm like, okay. This
is exactly what I need. Nothing else. Like, right.
Don't do this. Don't do that. Do this. Do that.
Not like in a mean way, but I'm just like, because
I know how I operate. Right. And I know what
I need and what I don't need. Like, I don't want
to know my score in the rings. I'm like, you
can write it down. If there's something major
I need to know about, tell me. Otherwise, I don't
want to know. I just want to focus on each thing
I have to do step by step by step. Yeah. But
that that's me, because, again, like, what am
I going to do? Go, oh, why did I lose a point
there? Well, yeah, that that can be really I
got to tell Tom that because he was like doing
that last year for all of us. All right. You
got to stop doing that. Yeah. Yeah. I was like,
write it on the book. Right. In case I want to
look at it later. But I don't want to know if
I lost a chunk of points and you're like, oh,
that's weird that I want to know because maybe
I need to change something. Maybe I did something
weird in my handling. I need to look at the video.
I need to know. Right. But other than that, I
don't want to know. It's just wondering at a
time. Yeah. One step at a time. literally like
moment by moment by moment right like what do
I need for the next ring what do I need for the
next thing and that's it like and I'm not looking
ahead at the ring after that or two rings after
that like it's one thing at a time like because
that's another thing our brains can start racing
and start getting like ahead and looking at this
and looking at that and worrying about this and
worrying about that like I mean There have been
times on the first day when I flunked an exercise
and the only reason I made it to the second day
was because I just kept staying focused on one
step at a time, one step at a time, one step
at a time. And then my dog scores were high enough
to me. And I mean, I was convinced the first
year it happened. I literally I literally was
packing up like, oh, yeah, at the end of the
day, like because I didn't I was like, I didn't
make it to the next day. Right. But because after
my dog flunked, instead of coming out of the
ring and going, oh, my God, he flunked on and
on and on and on and on. I just went, well, that
kind of sucked. OK, what's in my next ring? And
then I focused on that and then I focused on
the next one and the next one and the next one.
Right. And again, if you don't, because really,
at the end of the day, if I go in the next ring
all like, oh, Then that's not fair to my dog.
My dog's going to be like, oh, God, what happened?
I don't know what to do. You know? Yeah. And
you're there. You should give your all the entire
time, no matter what. Yeah. You know, because
you're there. Do the best you can. And just.
Like, I don't know, pace yourself, like pace
yourself physically, mentally, because it is
very tiring. You are going to be so wiped out
at the end of those events. It's very tiring.
Yeah, like eat. Eat or don't. I don't know. I
tend to not eat, but whatever the case, like,
you know. Well, just like, you know. Sit and
rest when you can. Like you said, if you can
take a moment, watch something funny, listen
to some music, just close your eyes for a minute,
you know, because it's a long day. Some of those
tournaments that we do two days in a row, it
is very tiring. Let your dogs rest. Make sure
that they're not out every freaking minute. Yeah.
And the environment stimulating. Right. And that
makes us exhausted, too. And it's exhausting
for the dogs. Like and I am so aware of like
that that energy is pulling out of my dog. Yeah.
So like I my dog is in the crate as much as possible.
My crate is covered because I want my dog to
be able to tune everything out. And my dog's
just. Crawling the ball in the back of their
crate. What does that tell me? It tells me they
want the quiet. Yeah. Right. I get out of there
as quickly as possible. I don't bring my dog
there the day before and let them sit there for
four hours. Like all I'm doing is exhausting
my dog. Like, what am I doing? Or warm them up
18 times or, you know, walk them around town
or walk them through the. vendor or yeah the
vendor area like oh my god that area is overwhelming
like what are you doing like you're i want my
dog to be fresh yeah you know rested and see
like let's go right i don't want my dog to be
like all right we're here again green green yeah
right um Well, I think that's a lot of people
panic and they're like, you know, I need to get
my dog acclimated to the environment. I need
to let them see all the things, right? You can
still do that. Like I do what we do at the day,
like the morning of. Let them have a little acclimation,
walk around, put them back in. They again, you've
got to go back to like I've trained them the
best I can. Like this isn't the time or place
to now like go through all the exercises, make
sure they can handle the environment. You're
already here. Right. You're just going to exhaust
them. Yeah. And the thing is, ideally, you've
worked on. To the best of your ability. training
your dog to work in a challenging environment
if you did not because you were unaware because
maybe you don't have the resources whatever the
case exposing your dog to it more in that finite
amount of time is not going to help like it's
not enough time you're not in one or two days
going to teach your dog how to work in that environment
Right. So if you show up and you're like, oh,
God, my dog's a little overfaced here. OK. Lesson
learned. All right. So, again, don't panic. What
can I do? Can I warm my dog up out in the hallway
where it's a little less crazy? Can I you know,
I'm saying like, what can I do? Let's just do
the best we can. But certainly don't try to like
say, you know, be like, well, I'm going to leave
him out all day or I'm going to warm up 15 times
a day before. And hopefully my dog will figure
it out and they'll get used to it. Well, your
dog will get exhausted. But your dog's not going
to learn how to mentally focus. Right. In that
environment, in that short amount of time. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. All right. So. That's our advice.
Yeah. In a nutshell. Perfect. It's not world
peace, people. Just have fun. Do the best you
can. Learn and then try and improve. That's all
we can do. Yep. Perfect. All right. Happy training.
Bye, everybody. Bye.