The
Online Monthly Newsletter from
Conquering Ring Nerves
The
Unique Dog Handlers' Training Program to Combat Ring
Nerves!
It is never too late to become what
you might have been. Anonymous
Issue: December, 2003
Publisher & Editor: Diane Peters Mayer
A.
PeakSpeak
Hello and welcome dear 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.
Hard to believe, but another year has passed. And
so quickly too. It’s a time when many of us look
back, sometimes with great happiness and pride at the
wonderful people we’ve connected with, and the
marvelous things we were involved in. Great disappointment
and sadness too may have made up the year and that
also must be accepted as the balance of life.
This past year I’ve met and worked with many
handlers and that is the very best part of this business--working
with them and their dogs and helping them become successful
in the ring. Of course, having Conquering Ring Nerves
picked up by Wiley/Howell Book House was a thrill.
And when I look ahead to its publication date I can
hardly sit still! But I lost my dad right before the
book sold, so I couldn’t share my achievement
with him.
This month’s Training Tip,
is about taking a look back over the year of competing,
celebrating what you’ve achieved and letting
go of the disappointments. But also looking ahead to
the exciting possibilities of the new year and planning
what you want to accomplish.
We have a very special Handlers Tale guest.
It’s with great pleasure that we present Margaret
H. Bonham, popular dog writer and dog sports competitor.
Her article Preparing For a Race, gives you a peek
at the competitive world of Mushing. Be sure to check
out her fabulous
website. She even offers visitors recipes
for tea.
Second Chances highlights
ARF-Animal Rescue Foundation in Colorado.
BookPicks features all of
Margaret H. Bonham’s dog books--with something
for everyone.
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, 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 January
20th.
Please join us to become the handler of your dreams.
Your dog will thank you!
I wish you all peace and joy this holiday season and
a Happy New Year!
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. To join use the
link below:
Announcement: Margaret H. Bonham, also a popular speaker
and lecturer, will be our first "chat guest",
coming in January, 2004. She’ll talk about "surrendering
to the moment" in competition Mushing. Don’t
miss this exciting talk! Date and time to be announced
on the Ring Nerves Group calendar.
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:
-
All entrants must be PeakNews subscribers.
-
Electronic entries only. No attachments please.
-
Type "Contest" in the subject line.
-
Deadline: Wednesday, March 31, 2004.
-
Submit your story to CAYPNews@aol.com
D.
Training Tip Of The Month
Looking Back at 2003 - Planning for 2004
Now is the time to assess what you have accomplished
for yourself and your dog. And to draw up new goals
for the exciting year of competition ahead of you.
Following are guidelines to help you do this:
-
Find a quiet spot and make sure you have undistracted
time-at least 30 minutes.
-
If you had written goals for 2003 look at them.
If not, write down what you wanted to accomplish
in 2003.
-
If you begin feeling anxious because you did not
achieve what you thought you "should," and
begin playing your negative mental tapes, for example, "I
didn’t accomplish anything!" Then stop
writing and begin Yoga
Breath.
-
When you feel calm, go back to writing. If you
become anxious at any time during this exercise,
stop and relax with the breath, then continue what
you are doing. As you breathe, think about letting
any disappointments you feel go. Breathe and let
go for a few minutes, then continue with this exercise.
-
On another page write why you think you did not
attain your goals. What were the barriers? For
example, "My nerves stood in my way." or "I
set my goals too high for our level of training."
-
Next, write down all of the things that you did
accomplish. Be sure to look for the small successes
as well as the big ones. For example: "In
the past year I worked on staying connected to
my dog during competition, and by the summer I
began to see the difference in our scores," "I
concentrated on not holding my breath during our
run," "Sometimes I actually enjoyed myself
even though we didn’t always qualify."
-
When you have finished your lists, read what you’ve
written and see how you feel.
-
Use these lists as a template to create new goals
for 2004.
-
Write down your goals for 2004
-
Rate them in order of difficulty.
-
Next to each goal write down a time frame. What
can you reasonably accomplish: in one month, three
months, six months, one year? Remember these time
frames are flexible.
-
Break big goals down into small steps.
-
Write down how you’re going to go about
achieving each goal.
-
How might you block your success?
-
When you’ve finished, read over what you’ve
written and see how you feel.
-
Read your goals weekly.
Think about the dreams you have for yourself and your
dog. Turn those dreams into written goals. Then turn
those goals into reality. You can do it! Start today.
2004 is going to be a successful and enjoyable year!
E.
Handlers Tales
Preparing for a Race by Margaret H. Bonham
Five...Four...Three...Two...One...GO!!
Every sled dog racer prepares for just those words. It’s a crazy,
frantic time that’s filled with yapping, leaping dogs and people
bustling around, trying to get to their position in time for the race
start. Mushing is a very competitive sport too. Mushers are constantly
trying to outdo their competition. Head games abound, if you’re
willing to play them.
I’ve been mushing for over 14 years and do
it mostly for myself and my dogs. I work towards a
particular goal each season. Depending on how training
goes and how the team performs, I may adjust my goals
accordingly. Usually that training culminates in a
few races a year.
I enjoy races because it gives me and the dogs a different
venue to train. I approach each race as a training
run. If I haven’t done something like it in a
training run, it’s my fault, isn’t it?
Unfortunately, I can’t always train to the conditions
of the race, but I can at least understand what can
happen and what can go wrong.
The type of races I run are in two or three heats
(one per day) and are twenty miles or longer. I start
training the dogs in early to mid September, running
them just a mile or two. I then build up until they’re
comfortably running 20 to 30 miles by race day.
On race day, I usually get some breakfast – it
varies depending on where I’m staying and how
much time I have before the start. Usually oatmeal,
a muffin, or something like that. And tea. It’s
lightly caffeinated and I just like the taste. Sometime
before breakfast, I take the dogs out of the dog truck
(they are in a big box with separate compartments that
allow one or two dogs) and put them on stakeouts alongside
the truck. The stakeouts are just tie-outs that allow
the dog to eat and drink and relieve himself without
getting loose or getting into trouble with the dog
beside him. I clean up after the dogs and give them
a slurry mixture of water (mostly) and something that
tastes good. I’ll use table scraps from the night
before, canned cat food, dog food, or even some high
protein powder. Some people use chicken skins. The
dogs slurp it up and I’m guaranteed that they’re
hydrated before the race.
So, we (my husband and I) box the dogs up and drive
to the race site. Usually we find a place far enough
away from other teams so they aren’t much of
a distraction or nuisance. Most mushers are pretty
quick to keep their dogs away from other teams because
even though race rules require vaccinated dogs, most
people have 20 or more on their truck and if you have
60+ teams, that’s somewhere around 1200 dogs
all in a very small area. At some point, your dogs
catch the crud.
If I’m racing a "big race," the race
marshal usually goes over the trail and the problems
encountered the night before. You receive your assignments
(they stagger the starts) and you try to keep an eye
on the guy or two in front of you.
The day of the race is usually complete chaos. You’re
trying to prepare while dogs yap constantly, schoolchildren
run around (in some places I’ve been to, it’s
darn near a town holiday), and TV cameras stuck in
your face. The trick is to focus not on everything
around you, but on your dogs. Your dogs are the ones
who are important here. You have to make sure that
all the dogs get to stretch their legs, drink more
water (if they’re interested), and get harnessed
and bootied (if they need booties for their feet).
You’ve got the sled you have to take down from
the truck and you’ve got to assemble the lines.
If you’ve been smart, you already have your equipment
in your sled bag and it’s just putting it on
the sled.
After my husband and I harness the dogs and have the
sled ready, we wait until it’s almost my turn.
Then, we hook up the dogs (screaming and pounding the
lines to go) and hopefully get enough helpers to get
my team to the line. Then, we wait until each team
before us goes. Then, it’s our turn at the line.
At some point, I suppose I have some worry: What if
the dogs decide to go after that Pomeranian again like
last year? What if they see a kid with a hot dog in
her hands? What if I flip the sled? What if there’s
a moose on the trail? What if my lead dog doesn’t
want to pass another team?
Mushing is full of uncertainty. I’ve run into
some very odd people and had some very strange things
happen. I’ve had to break up a four-dog fight
in a team. I’ve been in whiteouts. I’ve
nearly been lost in a swamp. I’ve had crazed
maniacs threaten me. I’ve had antelope run after
my team. I’ve had bullets fly over my head. I’ve
flipped a sled and been dragged along a gravel road.
In each circumstance, I knew that there were a lot
of things out of my control. Those things that I couldn’t
control I had to accept. Those things that I could
control, I carried out the best plan I knew. Many mushers
do "what if" plans in their heads. What if
I lose my team? What if I get lost in a snowstorm?
What if I have to cross an avalanche danger area? What
if I meet a moose? We think about this – or we
should – and have a mental plan already there
in case it does happen.
When you’ve faced the possibility of injuring
or killing yourself or a dog, it kind of makes the
fear of the race go away. After all, running dogs is
something that I do on a regular basis, even though
it’s in a somewhat more controlled environment
when I train. The kid with the hotdog just makes you
chuckle and the Pomeranian probably shouldn’t
have been loose – thank your stars your lead
dogs didn’t have a snack.
As a musher, when I step on those runners, I’m
not the one in control – as much as I might like
to think I am. The dogs are. And each dog after eight
adds to the terror factor. All the training, the hundreds
of miles I’ve put on them in a single season
and the thousands of cumulative miles, all means squat
if the dogs decide that today they’re going after
that hotdog. It’s a fact. It’s my reality.
If I didn’t accept that it could happen and plan
what I was going to do about it, I’d never step
on those runners.
So, how could my experiences possibly help someone
who suffers from performance anxiety? First, focus
on what’s important: the dogs or perhaps in your
case, the dog. Everything relies on you and your dog,
but especially your dog. The dog is the reason you’re
in the ring, isn’t it? If you let everything
else distract you, it takes away from the dog.
Next, you must admit that not everything will be in
your control. You must also have a plan should something
arise. If you have performance anxiety, I guarantee
you’ll think about all the things that can go
wrong. The trick is to go one step further and realize
that you’re smart and can figure out how to get
around the situation or at least make lemonade when
you’ve got lemons. When you have a plan, you
begin to realize that you can be in control – at
least of your actions and reactions.
Hopefully, I’ve made some sense. See you on
the trail!
Margaret H. ("Maggie") Bonham is a full-time
freelance author and musher in Colorado. She has competed
in agility, conformation, and mushing. She has written
nine books including Introduction to Dog Agility, The
Complete Idiot’s Guide to Dog Health and Nutrition,
and her forthcoming book, The Complete Guide to Mutts.
She has written for Dog World, Dog Fancy, Mushing Magazine,
and a host of other magazines and is a staff writer
for www.thedogdaily.com. You can email her at margaretbonham@aol.com or
visit her website at www.shadowhelm.net.
©2003 by Margaret H. Bonham. No part may be reprinted
or reproduced without the author’s permission.
Have a handler's tale? We all want to read it. To submit, write to us
at CAYPNews@aol.com.
F. Second Chances
This month’s featured rescue group is ARF-Animal
Rescue Foundation of Colorado.
ARF is a group of individuals intent on improving
the adoption rate of animals in and around our valley....
Read more, adopt a pet or make a donation at www.arf-colorado.com
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.
G.
BookPicks - All books below are by Margaret
H. Bonham —
Have a book you loved? Write a review, and send it to us at CAYPNews@aol.com
H.
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 1,
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 the Competing
At Your Peak 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!
Agility Enthusiasts — read about a forthcoming
ezine published by Laurie Leach, editor of Laughing
Dog Press.
LAUGHING DOG PRESS PRESENTS — AGILITY
ACTION.COM
Coming January 1, 2004
Like an algae bloom in spring, agility fever has
captured the hearts of dog lovers. Recent counts
indicate that well over 300,000 folks in the U.S.
alone are active participants in this sport of teamwork
between dog and handler.
At present, there is plenty of advice available
for advanced competitors but not much for newer handlers.
However, on January 1, 2004 a new electronic magazine,
agilityaction.com, will go on-line with a variety
of articles geared for folks who are starting agility
through the intermediate competitor. Issues will
include articles such as:
- Conquering Ring Nerves
- How to Walk the Course Like a Pro
- Using Toys to Create an Enthusiastic Dog
- How Do I Know When My Dog Is Ready to Trial?
- Using Verbs to Steer Your Dog
- Weaving Without Weeping
- Agility Trial Etiquette
Agility Action.com is
published by Laughingdogpress.com so
readers have a money back guarantee if they don't
have at least one good laugh per issue.
Subscriptions will be available online during December.
If you would like to be notified when they are available,
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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