Overcoming Nerves

[Dawnrazor]

You'll be fine, just imagine all the other competitors are Naked!!!

[Stacia]

Take a quick slug when you get there and you will relax. By the time you drive home the alcohol will have disappeared.

[James]

Get on better training days with better handlers as often as you can, get into the mindset that you're all there for the same reason and also get to see their dogs go wrong. It helps to lift your level while also giving you a grounding in that if theirs can go wrong then we are all in the same boat. I think for a few it really helps to learn to feel comfortable in that environment then go into trials

[Dawnrazor]

Get on better training days with better handlers as often as you can, get into the mindset that you're all there for the same reason and also get to see their dogs go wrong. It helps to lift your level while also giving you a grounding in that if theirs can go wrong then we are all in the same boat. I think for a few it really helps to learn to feel comfortable in that environment then go into trials

Yep, good advice that, we have training days on the estate I keeper, there are three handler that have one the championship that come on them, it's a great leveller to the the celebrities chase around ftch's swearing like a trooper!!

[AlandJake]

For my two penny worth AP, any examination or test (such as a WT or field trial), is rather like having a flu jab. The thinking about it beforehand is so much worse than the reality of it, and it might actually do you a spot of good once the sting is over.

I was spectating at a trial earlier in the week and watched a chap who was backing up for about ten minutes, then the judges had a bit of a conflab before calling him into line. Lord knows how he must have been feeling.

I guess it all comes down to how you feel as soon as you cast dog off. If you get into the flow and enjoy working your dog then an award at the end of the day is a bonus, and if not you may find a part of your training which might need a spot more work.

Like you, I am wanting to bring my little dog up to trialling standard, and honestly believe she has the potential to be a good Open dog. But I'm not going to die in a ditch trying to get that Novice win.

I'm afraid that isn't much in the way of practical advice, other than take two deep breaths before slipping your dog's lead, and treating it like any other training session.

[t jack]

I get incredibly nervous also personally the more I entered the less nervous I got, then when I won a novice trial I entered my first open and was right back to square one again in terms of nervousness.

[JET1955]

Can anyone give me some top tips to try and stop being so incredibly nervous about events? I've only run in tests so far, but it's still like I'm going to the gallows every time, I really wonder why I put myself through it when I feel as terrified as I do at the moment!

I know in my rational brain that there's no reason for it, it certainly won't help the dog go any better, and that the judges aren't there to ridicule you if it all goes wrong, all that sensible stuff...but the physical terror is still there!!

In years to come,when your knees, ankles,etc.,have given in,and your unable to get about with your dogs,you ll wish you could still be standing at a trial/test getting nervous.
Make the best of the time you have with your dogs,being nervous is part of it.I know believe me,as i suffer from the same.Enjoy your dogs.

[AlandJake]

Sounds like you need a need a sports psychologist. Ed Ling is back from Brazil now, so you could always pop your head over the farm gate and ask him for a few tips.

[WGD]

I get incredibly nervous also personally the more I entered the less nervous I got, then when I won a novice trial I entered my first open and was right back to square one again in terms of nervousness.

I'd be nervous too if I was running your dog

It's all part of the competition, if you don't get the nerves you don't get the buzz. Confidence in your dog helps, as does experience as tjack says.

[t jack]

I get incredibly nervous also personally the more I entered the less nervous I got, then when I won a novice trial I entered my first open and was right back to square one again in terms of nervousness.

I'd be nervous too if I was running your dog

It's all part of the competition, if you don't get the nerves you don't get the buzz. Confidence in your dog helps, as does experience as tjack says.

Yup you'd never be able to handle a Ferrari like mine