Take It

A negative mind will never give you a positive result.

Negative results come from internal negativity- from nerves and anger and hastiness. It is simple to see the difference in our dogs, in our results.

While teaching I have the ultimate pleasure of annoying dogs and handlers with distractions until we hit a breaking point. Break it to fix it, an easy way to improve. But often I find that the behaviors are not externally caused, but are entirely an emotional response. A nervous handler produces a dog pushed to edgy, anxious, restless and uneasy. They can hear our emotions in our voice, in the way we move; too nervous, too angry, too excited- before we step to the line we’ve already NQ’d.

We have a rule in my house- if you’re not in the mood to play, don’t play. There is true value in agility to being happy- all it takes is a deep breath and a smile.

Deep breathing has calming effects- your body receives more oxygen, your heartbeat is lowered, and stress is reduced. Smiling has a happy effect- your body releases endorphin and serotonin just from a simple smile.

I am the first to say that when I was younger I was not the best competitor…my first step to fixing this was with a smile. I smiled for agility, for my dog.  Even if I didn’t feel like smiling, I smiled. Even if I felt beyond frustrated and disappointed, I really tried to smile. I taught myself to not get mad- what a horrid feeling mad is during agility... it is negative, it is stagnant and it does not help. Agility requires calm and happy to move forward, to learn. You don’t have to burst into song after every run or party after an NQ- but there is value in a laugh at yourself, a smile and a deep breath.

Here we find the balance between outrageous and doubtful. Being so jazzed up you can barely think straight is just as detrimental as doubting your performance of every obstacle. There is a place for each of us in calm- the mental state where both the positive and negative are in clear focus.

The other day we ran a Sascha Grunder course in preparation for tryouts. A late front cross, a wide turn, an almost off course- I stopped running here…this was not the run I wanted, not the run I walked.  I took a breath and smiled, I clapped for my girl- she got treats and praise and I got a second chance at the sequence I flubbed. Practice makes perfect- not just for agility, but also for mentality. I am still learning, still practicing this aspect of a mental game. In a state of frustration I know I am unable to assess my mistakes, but taking a moment to save the experience makes the difference. Positive results flow from positive thinking- learning needs to be a positive experience. A bigger send and a better collection cue fixed my poor handling- we learned, we were happy, we were successful.

Take a breath. Take a smile. Take the experience for all it is worth. 

Push Back

You are never really playing an opponent. You are playing yourself, your own highest standards and when you reach beyond your limits, that is real joy.

We were pushed outside our comfort zone last weekend by an unfortunate bar and some miscommunication. I'm not going to lie and say I wasn't upset, I very much was. I handled the turn poorly and Whimzy hung her feet over the jump, it sucked. For the most part I was certain we were out, done, over...but we did have a choice: quit or push back. I'll be honest in saying I had little hope, pushing is a recently developed skill of mine. But the little hope I had saw an opportunity to develop a skill we are still mastering as a team. We had no choice but to push on, and push we did.

It is easy to back down from a challenge when you can play it safe, but success is pushing your limits and watching them back down.  It is easy to play inside your comfort zone, but nothing great ever came from comfort zones. Easy is stagnant, it is complacent. Happiness comes from challenges, they are our opportunity to take back the journey forward. That's all I want, forward motion. With every step we will push back the limits, whether we fail or succeed does not matter. Pushing back is an experience, and a thrill, to show you where your limits are so you can push on them again, and again.

Get Pushed. Push Back.