The Mental Game of Dog Sports

[corbinam]

Really great points, Randi. It's so true. A few years ago Lexi had an injury and I had a vet tell me she'd never be able to do agility again. I was devastated. But I didn't think about the lost Qs or titles, but rather how sad I was because I know how much my girl loves the game, and how much we love to play it together.

It's funny how quickly we forget those things.

 

[Justicemom]

I used to care about what others thought, how I compared to to others in my training circle. But that all changed one terrible day. My dog died. My absolutely brilliant Diva. Suddenly with no warning. She would have been a MACH no problem, she was almost there,. She would have had atleast her UD. She would have been allot of things.

Since that day, I live in the moment. I don't worry about tomorrow , training issues, or other people. I celebrate what we can do and how hard they try. We NQd so what we ran/competed and that's something. When ever I starting getting negative or fretting and worrying. I stopped and think what if they are not here tomorrow, will I be proud of how I was acting.

Now, I look at trials as an opportunity to test out training/bond and ID what we need to work on next. If I am not sure they are up to the test I don't enter regardless of what others say. I am the guardian of our bond and trust. Titles and ribbons are gravy.

 

[Sharon7]

And I can relate on the baby dog front as well. This has actually held true for both Lexi & Enzo, but I've been told so many times what amazing dogs they are and how amazing their potential is. And while I agree that they are amazing, I know that I don't have the time (money, life, etc!) to focus 100% on agility and make them into the nationally competitive dogs that their natural talent predisposes them to be. In my area there are a lot of people whose job is agility. They eat, sleep, breathe agility! I just don't have that option, so my dogs train when I can I know that the dogs are loved, and happy, and that is what matters in the end, but I still struggle knowing that in different hands, they would be incredible!
/QUOTE]

Boy I can relate to this comment, Ashley. Except for Brooke, all of my dogs have loved agility and have had the talent to do well, but I have never had the time/money/will to devote myself to agility enough for them to be competitive. So we do it just for fun. Faith has been the eye-opener though! She is a complete natural and so fast it makes my head spin. She just GETS IT and waits and watches me for signals (huffing and puffing here, and I'm actually in decent shape!!). My club members are speechless when we get on the course after not having done it for 6 weeks and she'll do everything but the weaves. I know they think I'm crazy for not pursuing it seriously. If I didn't work I might consider it. But for now it just has to be for fun.