We must travel in the direction of our fear. John Berryman

Issue: January, 2004

Publisher & Editor: Diane Peters Mayer

A. PeakSpeak

Happy New Year to our readers and new subscribers.

PeakNews offers a range of information about ring nerves, the ways to conquer it and how to really enjoy competition, plus your stories, interviews, book reviews and more.

Here in the northeast we've been hit with frigid temperatures and snow--I'm praying that spring comes early this year!

New for 2004:

1. Join our ring nerve community by signing on to the Yahoo Ring Nerve Group. Click here for more information.

2. Enter the Ring Nerve Contest. Send in your ring nerve story and you could win a copy of Conquering Ring Nerves: A Step-By-Step Program for all Dog Sports. It should be in bookstores about 6 weeks from now.

Accepting and not fighting against your fears and anxiety is this month's Training Tip — a sure fire way to calm ring nerves.

Second Chances highlights The Senior Dogs Project.

BookPicks features a guide to accepting and opening fully to life circumstances and our feelings about them.

We’d like to remind you that we now accept pictures of you and your fantastic canine companions along with your submissions. You can email or scan them and send to sheri@virtualhelpinghand.com or mail your photos to: Sheri Huffman, 2701 Creek Valley Dr., Garland, TX

PeakNews offers a unique format in which to engage and connect with handlers from the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway and South Africa who, in some form, all experience "ring nerves."

Your questions, comments, and stories enrich PeakNews immeasurably. Send us your submissions for the next issue by February 20th.

Please join us to become the handler of your dreams. Your dog will thank you!

Enjoy.

Diane

B. Yahoo Ring Nerve Group

Join our new Yahoo Ring Nerve Group. This list will discuss all aspects of performance anxiety including: the Ring Nerve Audio Program, ring nerve seminars, PeakNews Training Tips, and Conquering Ring Nerves: A Step-By-Step Program for All Dog Sports. We’ll have Q&As and also share ring nerve experiences and successes. We’ll also feature chats with dog writers, competitors and more. This is a wonderful forum for talking about ring nerves.

Click to become a member now!

C. !! Ring Nerve Contest !!

We’re looking for the funniest, most outrageous, out of this world, ring nerve stories.

1st place winner receives a signed copy of Conquering Ring Nerves: A Step-By-Step Program for all Dog Sports, Wiley/Howell Book House, March, 2004.

2nd place winner receives the Audio Ring Nerve Program & Manual.

Rules and Guidelines:

1. All entrants must be PeakNews subscribers.

2. Electronic entries only. No attachments please.

3. Type "Contest" in the subject line.

4. Deadline: Wednesday, March 31, 2004.

5. Submit your story to CAYPNews@aol.com

D. Training Tip Of The Month

Have Ring Nerves? Don't White Knuckle It!

Scenario: You're waiting for your turn at an Obedience trial--only 5 people in front of you, then into the ring you go. Your ring nerves are in full swing: heart pounding out of your chest, cotton mouth, legs shaking, body rigid. Before you know it you're in the on deck position. You feel overwhelmed by intense emotions. Thoughts of the last time you competed, when you felt like you were going to faint during a heeling pattern, are freaking you out. You can't focus on your dog, and feel like you're on the verge of a full-blown panic attack. In fact, as soon as you entered the building you felt that familiar sense of dread--like something really bad was going to happen. You tell yourself "It's only a dog show, no big deal," but your mind and body say otherwise. Instinctively you try to cope by shutting off your feelings, but that only creates more tension and intensifies your symptoms. What can you do?

Accept • Plan • Breathe • Loosen • Let Time Pass • Practice • Practice

1. Accept the fact that you have ring nerves. Fighting against the reality of your situation will only increase anxiety and may create feelings of hopelessness and shame. Write down a number of things you can say to yourself when ring nerves strike. For example, "Yes, I'm a basket-case when we compete, but I'm learning to conquer it by breathing and loosening my body."

2. Plan how you are going to change your situation. For example, "I'll go to a ring nerve seminar, listen to relaxation tapes, take up yoga, etc." Taking charge of your ring nerves will put you back in control and lift your confidence.

3. Breathe, breathe, breathe. Learn Yoga Breath (January, 2002) so well that you can decrease anxiety in seconds, even in very pressured circumstances.

4. Loosen your body as soon as you feel the first twinges of anxiety. Learn how to let yourself go as limp as a rag doll--when you can do so, your anxiety will diminish very quickly. But don't wait until you're ready to step into the ring. Keep yourself as loose as possible throughout the day of the competition. This will also help keep stress hormones at low levels, and stop the "fight or flight" response from occurring.

5. Practice these techniques daily. They must become second nature if they're to work as effectively and quickly when you need them in competition.

6. Time has to pass before you can conquer ring nerves and feel more comfortable and confident during competition. It's hard to do, but learn how to be patient with yourself. Believe that you can get there.

Loosen Up Exercise

1. Set a timer for 5 minutes.

2. Sit in a chair feet flat on the floor, hands rest in your lap.

3. Close your eyes.

4. Begin Yoga Breath.

5. Visualize what it feels like to be a rag doll.

6. Now, let your body go as limp as possible: hang your head down to your chest, arms hang at your sides. Your jaw is slack. Let all the tension flow out of your body.

7. Keep breathing and letting your body go as limp as possible.

8. When time is up slowly bring your head up, and rest your hands in your lap.

9. Relax for a few minutes and see how you feel.

10. Practice at least 3 times a week while sitting, standing and walking. Increase practice time to at least 10 minutes.

When ring nerves have you in its grip — accept, breathe, let go and loosen.

E. Second Chances

With great pleasure we feature The Senior Dogs Project in this month's issue. Coordinator Teri Goodman writes:

The Senior Dogs Project was founded in 1997 to "look out" for older dogs. The main objective of the project is to facilitate and promote the adoption of dogs over the age of five years. Most people who go to a shelter to adopt a dog are looking for a puppy or a young dog. And so, many older dogs who wind up at shelters are expeditiously "put down" and never even given the chance to be chosen by a prospective adopter. There are many advantages to adopting an adult dog instead of a puppy, however. Among them: an adult dog has already had some training and knows some commands; is already housetrained; is calmer than a puppy and needs less exercise; and is not likely to chew shoes and furniture, like a teething puppy will.

The Senior Dogs Project puts forth the message that older dogs are a good — often the best — adoption choice and enables people to find older dogs to adopt by advertising them on the Senior Dogs Project Web site at www.srdogs.com. The site posts ads for dogs located throughout the United States. Click here to see the page for each state.

Currently being featured for adoption on the SrDogs.com site are several exceptional dogs. Click the dog's name to read more about them:

	In Manteca, California (near Stockton), there is Granny, an 8-year-old female Keeshond mix.
	In Shaftsbury, Vermont, there is Beau, a beautiful 7-year-old male Plott Hound.
	In Madison, Indiana, there is Bandit, an 8-year-old Jack Russell Terrier who has so far spent his life at a breeding farm.
	In Spokane, Washington, there is Punky, a 10-year-old Collie/Flat-coated Retriever mix, whose family left her behind when they moved. We're hoping she has not been euthanized, as this shelter does not have lots of extra room.
	In Arizona, there is a wonderful 8-year-old Beagle boy named Frasier, who is the victim of a divorce.

The Senior Dogs Project site also has extensive coverage of health information pertaining to older dogs. Click here to read more about it.

Click to read success stories about dogs who have been adopted via the Senior Dogs Project website and biographies of other older dogs who are living their lives happily ever after with their families.

Teri Goodman
Coordinator
The Senior Dogs Project
http://www.srdogs.com

If you can't adopt one of these great dogs, please make a donation and forward this information to family and friends. Let's spread the word about these exceptional dogs.

Have a rescue story? Want us to feature your favorite shelter or rescue group? We all want to read about it. To submit, write to us at CAYPNews@aol.com.

F. BookPicks

The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times by Pema Chodron, Shambhala, 2001 Chodron, an American Tibetan Buddhist nun, offers the reader concepts and exercises in meditation, mindfulness, slogans and more to change negative emotions into energy for positive living.

Be sure to check out our NEW recommended reading list.

Have a book you loved? Write a review, and send it to us at CAYPNews@aol.com

G. Announcements & Coming Events

RING NERVE SEMINAR
Saturday, March 20, 2004,
9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p. m. - Blairstown, NJ

Combating Ring Nerves For All Dog Sports-For Handlers and Dogs. Make plans now to attend our popular six hour seminar. Learn great exercises and techniques to help you relax, concentrate, stay connected to your dog, walk smoothly in the ring, and much more. Don’t miss it!

$135.00 for seminar and materials.

Register now!   Space is limited!

See the difference a day makes!

STOP "RING NERVES" FROM HOME with our Audio Ring Nerve Program for All Dog Sports, with Training Manual.

• Great Exercises & Techniques.
• A Super Quickie Stress-Buster.
• Guided Imagery to mentally rehearse your perfect performance.
• Terrific Training Tips.

This program will help you do it!

The Audio Program & Manual is $29.95 plus $6.00 S&H in US. (PA residents add $1.80 sales tax). International add $10.00 S&H.

To read more about it or purchase by check or secure credit card online, please click here.

or call Diane at 215-348-8836.

Attend Diane’s RING NERVE WORKSHOP at Dana Crevlings’s Competitive Edge Sports Camp in Cornwall-on-the-Hudson

Five Days of Agility from June 27-July 2, 2004
(Diane's workshop date and time to be announced).
Competitive Edge Sports Camp
Dogs of Course

For more information visit www.dogsofcourse.com

Coming March, 2004 !

Conquering Ring Nerves!
A Step-By-Step Program For All Dog Sports

By Diane Peters Mayer, M.S.W.
Wiley/Howell Book House, March 1, 2004

Conquering Ring Nerves is designed for competitive dog handlers, from novices to seasoned veterans who experience mild to severe performance anxiety. Featuring mind-body exercises and techniques from Ring Nerve Seminars, plus chapters on Self-Esteem, Making Mistakes and Creating a Safe Mental Space, and more. Illustrated with real-life handlers stories and packed with training tips, Conquering Ring Nerves will help you to ease your anxiety and compete at your peak under pressure.

Pre-order a copy today!

Read Diane's monthly column Conquering Ring Nerves in AgilityAction.com, the new online Agility Magazine from Laughing Dog Press.

For more information email laurie@laughingdog.press.com

If you enjoyed PeakNews we invite you to share this link with other handlers who you think might benefit from it.

Thank you! See you next month.

**Note: Columns may vary from month to month.

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