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The Power of PAWsitive Thinking A friend recently asked me how much of my success did I attribute to attitude. My reply was “most of it”. I learned early on that the more negative I was the fewer clean runs I had. I often over hear people say “I won’t be able to get there” or my dog will take the tunnel instead of …..” but when I’m walking the course I’m confident that we’ll have a successful run. Sure I see challenges but I still think positively about how we’ll handle it which will hopefully carry over to when I run the course. A good friend, and golden owner, quite often points out all the trouble areas of the course and stresses over what’s going to happen when they actually get in the ring. After an NQ she is often heard beating herself up over what she and/or her dog did wrong and often says she’s going to give up the sport because she’s just not good at it. Not long ago she sought the advice of a close friend who told her that her negative attitude was partly to blame for her NQ’s. Agreeing to make a change she started to think more positively and would often catch herself starting to sound negative and immediately switch to a more positive attitude. She asked friends and fellow handlers to help her out when she started to get down. At a recent trial I watched and listened carefully to see if it was making a difference. Well, it did. It wasn’t a perfect weekend in terms of a clean run every time but she had 5 clean runs out of 8 and she and her wonderful golden earned 2 double Q’s. She was beaming from ear to ear and telling everyone what a great dog she had. Give up agility, not on your life, she’s once again hooked. On that same weekend I tried a little experiment, one that I regretted but it was for a good cause. On a course that ended with a double I walked the course as I normally would but kept thinking to myself that the double would be a problem because I wasn’t going to be anywhere near my dog at the end. Sure enough, after a beautiful clean run we knocked the last bar. I left the course laughing out loud and but kicking myself at the thought of letting my attitude get in my way of a clean run. So folks, after hours of training, seminars, videos and
practice always remember that it costs nothing to have a positive attitude.
And what better way to reap the rewards of all that training and practice
and having fun with your canine companion. |
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