Pre-Trial nerves/preparation

[hcelsa]

Thought these articles were worth sharing in light of some recent comments about nerves, and trial preparation etc
Pre-Trialitis
Managing Trial Nerves

[Brooke&Ryan]

BLESS YOU, BLESS YOU, BLESS YOU!

I'll be printing these out & folding them in my pocket to look over for Saturday & Sunday. Ryan is the one who's running Julius on both days & yet I'M the one who's the nervous wreck. Go figure! Ryan could care less about the crowd watching.

Thanks again!

Brooke

[SonnyRott]

Thank you so much for posting this! It will help me greatly as I move forward with Sonny.

[Rottlva]

Brooke/Ryan, I have found that getting there early, surveying the layout, other dogs, and people has helped me and my dog to relax. Also as the article suggested, proof against every unexpected thing you can think of.

Julius knows his stuff...now let him show it!!

[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.

[Laura]

As soon as I get in the ring I'm pretty good. But the thing that gets me is the waiting and watching other people in the ring before me. When I wait I have more time to think about how nervous I am. I try to distract myself by walking around and talking with people it only helps alittle.

[BostonRott]

Jean Savoie has an EXCELLENT book out on competition nerves. You can find it on Dogwise (http://www.dogwise.com) There is a second, newer book that I don't have yet, but I love her first one. Talks a lot about the power of positive thinking, visualisation, etc. She is a former equestrienne with a significant list of accomplishments.