[Miabella]

These are great articles! I know I was very nervous and jittery when I first started competing with my dog, even show 'n' gos and correction matches would leave me in a state of anxiety. I think what got me over it was watching some more experienced competitors actually laugh and have fun in the ring when they screwed up.

Once I realized that is was OK to have fun and laugh at your dog and yourself, it really took the pressure off. Make sure that your dog is well-trained and ring ready before you go in the ring, but then just take what happens in stride. I see tons of people NQ in Open A because they get so uptight during the heeling if their dog is lagging or distracted. They are still qualifying at that point, but instead of laughing it off and giving their dog some little destressor cue before the next exercise, they turn stiff and it starts to snowball.