Episode 23: Competing in Prestigious Events

Petra (00:10)
Hi everybody, welcome to the Canine Connection podcast. Today, Lori and I are going to be talking about bigger events. So we're just coming back from the Classic, which is a big tournament. But I think all these things that we want to talk about, all these lessons, hold true across any event that is bigger. So for example, your national specialty, right?

regionals, qualifiers, tournaments, national championship events, all these events that are different from routine trials. And they are very, very different in some way, or form. And I think the first obvious difference is just that feeling, right, that we're going to feel.

Like it's going to change how we feel about the event. It's exciting. It can be a little intimidating. It can be overwhelming. It can add a lot of pressure because you're going to have some sort of a goal, right? The goal may be to win. The goal may be to achieve some sort of a milestone for yourself at that event. But that's going to add pressure. And I think

that's important for us to be aware of that, to be aware that this is going to feed in to how we feel and how we act if we're not careful when we go to this bigger event. Even as we're, I should actually backtrack, as we're preparing for it, because I think in some cases, people don't change their preparation at all.

They just train like they normally train and then they go to the event, which is not particularly helpful because each event has some unique challenges. I think in other cases, people end up putting way too much pressure on their dogs because they have that like weird phenomenon that happens when we know a trial is coming up and we start panicking. Right? And then we start testing.

And then our dog makes a little mistake and we start freaking out because it's like, my God, if you do this at the trial, it's gonna be terrible. And we start doing all kinds of crazy, weird, unhelpful things when we're training.

Laurie (02:35)
It's true. And you know, I think it's, hard because we're trying to find, you're trying to find that balance. Any big event like that, there's going to be hype, right? Like that's the best word I can describe it. There's hype for it. There's that preparation. It's on our calendars. We've booked the hotels, we've put in the expensive entry fee. It may be televised. So there's like, you know, that,

Petra (02:46)
and then

Laurie (03:01)
and seemingly big hype that comes along with it in preparation for all of those expectations. We are mapping out our traveling, our hotels, how we're getting there. What, you know, with the classic, you know, we had potty issues, we had to deal with potting the dog. So there's all this stuff that's swirling in our heads, that preparation part of just going to this big event.

aside from making sure that we're also prepping our dogs correctly for that event, making sure that they are prepared training wise for it. But without putting that intense pressure on the dogs too, there's just that balance you got to find it. It's difficult. It's really difficult.

Petra (03:46)
Well, I think you have to be like aware of it, right? And as much and plan as much as you can ahead of time, because the more things that are in place and look, nothing's ever gonna be perfect and things are gonna go awry and we need to be able to deal with that. But the more we plan ahead of time, the less anxiety we are going to have, right? So especially when

This is a newer experience for you, right? So I remember the very first time I was going to a national, go big or go home, I wasn't just going to national, was going to one on the other end of the country. And I'd never even been to one, you know, this was like pre-internet. So like we didn't have all this information. So long story short, I planned every possible detail that I could way ahead of time.

Laurie (04:24)
Mmm.

Petra (04:38)
just for my peace of mind, right? So that I wouldn't be like, God, God, because I knew there were going to be things that I didn't account for. Everything was gonna be new and different. And that was more than enough for my brain to process. I also had planned out like my training in terms of more to control myself than anything else, right? So I said, okay, like two weeks leading up to the event,

My dog is only going to be right. I'm not going to do anything hard. ⁓ so it was all planned out. So when I would get up in the morning and be really nervous and be like, God, I better make sure I'd be like, Nope. My plan says do this. When I got there, I had a plan like on what, how much or how little I was going to change, like literally exactly what I was going to do with my dog on each day. Again,

Laurie (05:17)
Hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Petra (05:32)
So I wouldn't get carried away. And boy, let me tell you, I glad I did that because people were freaking out. They were putting pressure on their dogs, know, training, training, making things hard. And I would feel this like, God, I better do that. God, I better make sure my dog will do the broad jump. God. And then I would like pull out my notebook and go do what the notebook says.

Laurie (05:40)
Mm-hmm.

Petra (05:59)
do what the fuck this is like, don't.

Laurie (06:01)
Yeah, because it

you know, we plan and we write it out But when you there's something about when you like land at the freaking venue you're in the venue The bright lights are shining Everybody's there you see people doing that's a big one too Like you're seeing people do like their different warm-up strategies. You're like, shit you start There's like a little bit of doubt that creeps in like where you're like, no. Well, maybe maybe I should be doing that

Petra (06:19)
Mm-hmm.

Laurie (06:30)
then I think that's a big thing. Once you're there, there definitely all of a sudden there's doubt creeping into your own plan that you constructed. And that's something that happened to me and we talked about, I had my plan. It was in my head. I did have some notes written down, but I really, after talking to you and after kind of experiencing what happened,

You're right, like writing down, like for me, that's gonna be super helpful. That's my next strategy for my next big event is I'm gonna write down every little thing because it is really easy to be swept up in the moment at these events. And then all of a sudden you do change your plan and that can be a little catastrophic sometimes.

Petra (07:14)
Well,

doubt is huge, because we all have it, right? And then, especially when we're at an event and we see these accomplished people, right? Like, I saw people at my first national that I had only ever read about in a magazine, because that's all we had at the time, right? And I was like in awe of these people. And so when I see them do certain things, you...

Laurie (07:17)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Petra (07:39)
doubt yourself, well, should I be doing that? Because if they're doing that, shouldn't I be doing like, wait, maybe they know better than me, but you know what? Different people, different dogs, different training strategies, like everything is different, right? And the only reason I stuck to my plan was because I had been working on my mental management literally for a year. And my whole goal was follow your mental management plan. And part of that plan was

Laurie (07:43)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Petra (08:06)
that it doesn't matter if I doubt myself, doesn't matter what I need, like this is my plan, stick to my plan, right?

Laurie (08:13)
Yeah. Yeah. And

that's the big thing, sticking to your plan for sure. And it's, like I said, like I can't say it enough. Like it is really, once you're there, you, seriously, like we can talk about it and show videos, like we talked about, but like when you're there, it's a whole different ball of wax. Like you're in that moment. You're feeling the intensity of the event creeping in. Like even when we got there,

Petra (08:19)
Yeah.

Laurie (08:39)
and went in the day before, like, you know, to set up and all that stuff. Like all of a sudden, it is so easy to just be like completely taken off track of your plan for sure. And I think that's where, you know, like where that's where it can start to interfere with your goals. Like.

You know, you have your processing goals. That's where, you know, those are the goals that I'm setting, like with my mental management, handling in the moment. These are the things I want to make sure I really stay on track for, for my dog. And then the end goals, like we all want to win. It would be lovely to place, but it's really quickly to get swept up into those end goals very quickly, which happens to me all the time. As we know.

Petra (09:24)
Well, but it happens to everybody, right? Like

it does happen to everybody. And it literally is like a massive mental management project, right? Like everything I do that I like now are things I've developed over time, right? To minimize that. So for example, and we talked about this on the drive home,

Laurie (09:34)
Yeah, it is.

Petra (09:50)
Like I purposefully, there's a reason I don't post like, hey, I'm going packing my stuff, blah, because that will put pressure on me that I don't need. Right? I know I'm going, like, I'm not saying it's wrong to do that. I'm just saying I do things a certain way on purpose. I keep it very low key. Right? I have my travel situation worked out. I have my plan.

And then when I get there, I've done this from day one, from the first national ever went to like, I minimize my time at the event because it's very draining to me because there's a lot going on and you see the ribbons, you see the rings, you see everything looks different and then you get excited and then you get nervous and then, you know, the whole can of worms gets opened up. So I'm like,

Laurie (10:39)
Yeah, it gets in your head. It gets in your head.

Petra (10:41)
you like you made fun of me because I'm like, I am like, I was locked. am locked in the hotel room watching like binge watching the Gilded Age on Netflix because I want a clear head like and that's on purpose. Like, well, first of all, I'm mentally tired from the travel, right? So I want to give my brain just I just want my brain to relax and I have a very busy brain.

Laurie (10:46)
I'm like, where are you?

Petra (11:09)
So I have to do things like watch stuff. But at the same time, I don't wanna be thinking about tomorrow and any of it, right? I just wanna be well rested and have a clear head so that I can get up the next day early, be clear headed, be fresh, do what I need to do. And all I'm gonna do if I'm there is...

I'm just going to be draining my battery, right? And I'm going to be fighting my brain. And so like a lot of the things I do, like as a tournament goes on, I never check the standing. So I don't go home at night or look at the board or whatever system they have. Like I don't calculate, I do nothing. I just go, I think about what do I need to do the next day? Like it's that, I'm like, it's that simple for me, right?

⁓ because I've gone through all of it, right? I've looked at the standings, put too much pressure on myself or well, really on my dog. Like I've done all of that. I think that everybody has to figure out what works best for them. I think the first step is, you know, if you're going to go to an event,

Laurie (12:08)
Yeah, yeah.

Petra (12:19)
is to do as much research as possible. Will you find out everything? No, because I'll tell you, I have told countless people about the classic, how hard that environment is. I can tell you in words, I can show you video. It is nothing like when you walk in those doors, because it is an absolute zoo.

Laurie (12:34)
Yeah.

It is, it is, it is.

And it's so true. Like the videos do not do it justice. Like the noise level and just like the visual, like there's just motion everywhere. And I can't even, like we had to potty our dogs. I mean, we had two ways to go. Both were not ideal. I just chose to go out the main entrance. I think you did too, Petra.

But it was literally like how I described it was like trying to move myself and my dog through like a New York City subway station. Like it was mobbed and everybody like it's not casual. Like the just the energy in the place is fucking over the top. Like everybody's on a mission. Right. There's vendors. There's people trying to potty dogs. There's the public can come in. There's families. There's strollers.

Like it is insane. then,

Petra (13:36)
And it's read that there's confirmation, agility,

rally obedience. Did they have dock diving this year? I don't even know. It doesn't even matter. It's just so for all sports, regardless of which venue you're showing in, you're all dealing with the same mouth chaos and the overhead announcer that is so loud that when it's going off,

Laurie (13:44)
I don't know.

Yeah.

Petra (14:03)
You can't hear a thing.

Laurie (14:04)
No, you can't hear a thing. those are things like that stuff. Like there, I think twice in my ring, twice in my ring, that loud announcer went off. And like my judge put a put a pause on the class. Like those are those unexpected things. And it was so it was so loud. It was in crazy. It was crazy.

Petra (14:24)
Yeah. So, so find out as much as you can so that you can prepare, right? But be aware that there is a learning curve. Like you can expect to go take a dog to its first big event tournament and yourself, right? And that everything's going to go well and you're going to come out on top. Maybe, you know, but

Laurie (14:30)
sorry.

Petra (14:50)
I think what happens a lot, and I think this was one of the primary reasons I wanted to do this like emergency episode, was that people get really disappointed, you know, and in their performance, in the dog, you know, and I remember, I think it was last year year before, because I know obedience runs are

Laurie (15:00)
Yeah.

Mm.

Petra (15:18)
you know, some of them are televised and that people were going on social media saying like, aren't these dogs even trained? Like they're terrible, whatever. So first and foremost, if you're not there, you have no right to say anything, right? So we're not even gonna listen to you. But my dogs are prepared and have gone there and done horrible, if you go according to, you know, results, right? Because it is,

Laurie (15:23)
yeah.

Petra (15:43)
so challenging there. And some people prepare to the best of their ability, but they're still new. So when they go there, they don't even know that, oh, I should have prepared my dog for this. So I was watching a dog, it was working beautifully and novice. And just as she was halting, someone in another ring yelled something down or something, whatever. And that dog was like, wait, what?

It thought, you know, was I supposed to be listening to that? And then it went like, oh wait, that wasn't my mother. And then it sat. So it sat late, right? And someone's like, oh, the dog like, you know, stopped paying attention. No, no, no, no, no, no. That dog was trying really hard, right? That dog was distracted. And I guarantee that that handler didn't even know.

because of lack of experience, right? That in training, which is something we do because we know, right? Is we'll be healing along and someone will yell down, no, sit. So how do you even know to prove for that? So no, that's not the dog's fault, right? And that shouldn't take away from that dog's overall performance. Like, sure, maybe that error costs them, let's say a placement.

Laurie (16:42)
Right.

Right.

Petra (17:04)
but it was still overall a really beautiful performance in an extremely difficult environment. So I think people have to, A, respect how unbelievably difficult it is for the dogs to perform in these venues, regardless of what the discipline is.

Laurie (17:11)
Right.

Petra (17:26)
And then understand that a lot of the mistakes the dogs are making are the result of this venue being challenging, extra challenging, and perhaps you not being the same because this is a you know, a bigger event, right? Because we change.

Laurie (17:48)
Right, right.

Petra (17:51)
We act different, we get nervous, we're slightly distracted by the environment. We're looking, we're listening, we're like, this ring's being filmed, whatever the case, we're thinking about other things and our dogs can read that. And then they're going to go, what is happening, right? And they're gonna struggle. So I think...

Laurie (18:07)
for sure.

Right.

Petra (18:14)
It's really important. We should, A, first of all, always remember that we're extremely fortunate to be there. So, A, your dog qualified, right? Your dog met the criteria to go. That's an accomplishment. B, there are people that can't go because they can't afford it, because they can't get time off from work, because they have other responsibilities, maybe because they have health issues, maybe their dog has a health issue.

So just the fact that you're there, you should be really feel good about and be grateful about. And then when you're not in the ring, you should be learning, right? You should be sitting down and saying, okay, like, what are the challenges here? What do I need to work on when I get home? Write them down, cause you're gonna forget, right? ⁓

Laurie (18:45)
Mm-hmm.

Right. Right.

Petra (19:07)
Maybe watch some teams that are experienced. How are they handling it? Are they doing anything different? Maybe I can learn something from their handling outside the ring, in the ring. I'm not saying change your plan, but I'm saying use it as an opportunity to learn. I see too many people walking around between their run, complaining about this, complaining about that, disappointed in their dog, unhappy about this, unhappy about that.

It is what it is in that moment in time, right? Get something out of it. Learn from it. I wrote things down that I was like, ⁓ gosh, you know, like, I'm not sure I remembered to, you know, I think at one point I was sitting down to watch a ring and they put the spectator chairs were like two feet from the ring.

Laurie (19:37)
Totally. Yeah.

Take care.

Petra (19:59)
And I was like, ⁓ this is really close. Like, I don't know about this. So then I'm careful when I'm looking in the ring, never to be making direct eye contact with the dog, right? Cause I'm like, God, I don't want to mess the dog up. But then the dogs were doing, the article pile was only a few feet in from the ring gate and dogs were running towards the article pile, straight, like basically looking at us at the spectators facing.

Laurie (20:24)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Petra (20:25)
And

I'm going, oh God, this is really hard. So that's the kind of stuff I'm thinking about. And in my mind, I'm already planning how I'm going to set that up in training to better prepare my dog for the future. And that's what people should be doing is instead of going, oh God, just...

Laurie (20:28)
Mm-hmm.

Right.

Petra (20:50)
complaining or being down about things is use it as a learning opportunity. Learn as much as you can.

Laurie (20:58)
Yeah, and you know, I think there's something to be said too when you talked about, you know, the complaining that can go on, you know, that I try to avoid talking to a lot of people because I find that people, we all get nervous and people like to start sharing their like,

worries and their doubts of their performance or things that went wrong in the performance, like they want to talk to people about it. Like that's what I find. Like it's never, it's rarely like, like constructive conversation at trials, you know, about like, you know, collaborative training, you know, methods. It's usually when someone's approaching me,

It's like a quick hello. And then it's, I'm telling you, it's always ends up being like, I don't know. I, my dog's going to probably bail. I don't know. My dog's never going to go do that. Go out. Like, and instead, like that's, I think a big thing is like, yeah, we're gonna, we're going to get there. That's where we talked, you know, when I, when I first said like, there's doubts that creep into your mind. it's part of that mental game is.

Like, what are you going, why are you there in the first place? Like, I was telling Petra, like, and she said the same thing. Like, even when they do the national anthem, I keep it, I try to keep the whole freaking thing in perspective. Like, I get really choked up. Like, I get like emotional because I'm like freaking lucky standing there, knowing I've got people in my life who are struggling with either like,

intense medical issues, cancer, their dog just got diagnosed with cancer, they lost their job, they can't make the trip, like whatever the reason is, like we are freaking lucky to be able to be there like with our dogs. Like I really try to keep that in perspective. And then yeah, there's disappointments if things go wrong, there's a pretty good chance things could go wrong. It is so hard, but what are your takeaways gonna be? Like, you know, what is your...

⁓ you know, you, what are you going to take away from this event regardless of your outcome? Even if you win it, what are you taking away? Because there's lessons to be learned. Right. I think that's just really part, you know, a, a really important part of making sure you keep things in perspective when you're actually able to go to these events.

Petra (23:20)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, and then, you know, we have to remember that when we get to the bigger events, the competition is going to be stiffer, right? Which basically means any given dog on any given day. And if your dog makes a mistake, like so so think about this, right? Like. There were so if we just take there were, I think we went, I went.

Laurie (23:40)
totally.

Petra (23:56)
We went in the ring six times, right? Six full classes in two days. So out of those six classes, right? Zesty had one class where he was kind of sloppy. That one class easily took him out of first place and second, like easily, right?

Laurie (24:15)
Yeah.

Petra (24:16)
But you think about how many things he did extremely well. Right? But it's that one, if you let it, all you're gonna think about is that one thing. And then that can completely trip you up. So I did not have a good first class. Zaina went in first, first class, first exercise, she flunked. Now I knew exactly what happened in the moment.

Laurie (24:21)
Mm-hmm. Yeah!

you

Petra (24:42)
Like it was signals, I was healing. She was, I could tell right out of the gate in the ring, as as I went in, and this is her sometimes, she just wasn't giving me her all, right? So, but I've gotten her through in that scenario before, by the skin of my teeth. But so I was healing and there was a section that made her nervous.

it happened right before the stand. And as soon as that happened, I went, God, this could be dicey because in training we'd been having some problems. And I can tell you that if your dog is having the slightest bit of an issue in training with something, it is going to emerge at a big event, right?

⁓ and anyway, long story short, she flunked her signal. I just immediately gave her another signal because I could see she was worried. She was trying, but she was unsure and she was worried. And at that moment, I'm not going, I'm just not going to be mad at her. I'm just not anymore. Like it just isn't that important. Like she's doing the best she can in that moment, in that environment. Do I wish she qualified? Of course. Did she know.

I'm wordin' upward. Like you can't even tell if you watch the rest of my class on video. Can't even tell she flunked. I act just the same as always, right? Then I go in, five dogs later, with Zesty. And he's just, I'm still not 100 % sure. And while I have a suspicion it might've been me. But anyway, he was just slightly off. So he didn't get a great score.

which I knew in that competition was gonna pretty much knock him out. But he didn't flunk. So I was just like, you know what? I'm gonna double down. How can I tighten up the things he struggled with? So I immediately came up with a plan. Like as soon as I left the ring, I was like, all right, how am gonna fix these things short term?

And what am I going to do with him moving forward? And I was just like, I'm going to double down on my handling. Like I'm going to be 300 % sure that my handling is impeccable, right? Cause I wasn't like I said, I'm still not a hundred percent clear on why he was off on that ring. And then all his other rings were really nice. Like I was thrilled with.

Laurie (26:55)
Bye.

Petra (26:57)
But in hindsight, I think it might have been me because after that class, I told myself I really needed to double down. And I am very clear in all my other rings that I handled him really well. So my guess is my handling wasn't quite as tight. by handling, meaning we had talked about this where

Laurie (27:13)
Mm-hmm.

Petra (27:20)
If I'm, I do eye contact is, you know, that's just my thing. So if I'm looking in my dog's eyes, my dog's looking at me and Zayna is famous for this. My dog's looking right in my eyes, but it's thinking about something over there. I can see it in your eyes, dude. Like I can see Zayna that you're thinking about something else. that out. Well, if I can see that, my dog can see that.

Laurie (27:35)
Yeah.

You

Petra (27:47)
So if I'm in the ring and I'm thinking about anything at all, right? Like what's the judge doing or the people watching or anything, my dog's gonna be able to tell and that's gonna affect my dog. So the rest of the rings, I held that in my mind and was so focused and present on him and so positive in my mind. Like I just kept saying, good dog.

Laurie (27:59)
Yeah.

Petra (28:15)
Good, that's it. No matter what he did. So if he acted a little nervous, I just look at him and go, good, you're awesome, perfect. And he would like immediately perk up. And it was the most connected I've ever been with him, the most confident he's looked. And he surprised the heck out of me, because I was not expecting that. I was expecting him quite frankly to struggle, because I knew how hard this venue was and it was his time there.

Laurie (28:24)
Mm-hmm.

Right. Right.

Petra (28:41)
Zaina, I double down on her to no avail. She was just a mess.

Laurie (28:45)
Zaina!

Petra (28:46)
But again, like I just kept thinking to myself like how much I love her. Now it's corny. I don't care.

Laurie (28:51)
Yeah, right.

That's where it's hard. Like that's the hard part. That's like, can't even say it enough. Like that is the biggest struggle I think a lot of people have. I definitely have. Like, because I went into it doubled down on, like that was my whole goal. Like my processing goal was to handle ever correctly.

Petra (29:21)
RUN!

Laurie (29:22)
I wanted to show up for my dog in that particularly intense, crazy, hard ass environment. Like that was my goal. And that's like you like it's phenomenal to hear you be like, it got it got hard in my first ring. I didn't understand why. And then you despite even when you felt he looked worried and stressed or whatever, you were like, you just like

Petra (29:23)
What? ⁓

you

Laurie (29:49)
I don't know, button down and you did what you needed to do. that's where, like, I can't even get the words out right. Like that's where it's hard because when you look at them in that moment and like, this is where I struggle and this is hard for me on day two, when we did well on day one, I inadvertently, the pressure's on and we talked about all this and the do's and don'ts for next time, but that I...

Petra (29:53)
WHAAAAT

Laurie (30:16)
when I see that instead of staying on my plan, I went off my plan and I put pressure on my dog because I switched from processing goal to end goal. Like this is where it's hard. This is the getting into the weeds about it. Like this is the hard part, especially for me.

Petra (30:37)
Well, it's hard because, well, it's hard for many reasons, it's hard to do things in the moment when there's so much going on, right? Like, it's easy to say it, but to actually do it, because yeah, like as soon as you walk in, like, you you feel it, you see it.

Laurie (30:49)
It's really hard.

Mm-hmm.

Petra (31:00)
There's

just there are so many things that are wearing on you and then you go you train and you train and you train and then you go in the ring and you start your class and all of a sudden your dog looks like They're gonna die or they look worried or they're all of a sudden. They're not

Laurie (31:13)
that die. And, and the thing with

it was like, like ever ever actually did really well the first day, like she was she was pretty confident, like my handling played a huge part in it. Huge part in it. And then I was. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that was like what I was working so that was all that I cared about doing.

Petra (31:25)
Because you were different. I could see it outside the ring. I could see that you were different in a good way. Yeah.

Laurie (31:42)
And then day two in her first ring, I fell in the ring. Like she wasn't giving me her all. She now looked like, I don't know if I can do this. And that's where I let that dictate my moving forward in my plan. Like, and I diverted off my plan and then I handled her differently. I went back to my crate. I did some.

extra warmup that was counterproductive going into my next ring, which then ended up me failing commands. And then I went home and I watched all my videos really closely because I just needed to like sit down and really watch them without any distractions. And that day one ring, I'm watching it and I'm like waiting to see her start to look sucky. And I'm like, my God, like she doesn't even

sucky. Like she actually like there were times where like, yeah, maybe she looked a little worried on a second of her transition, but then she bounced into her setup. And I'm like, you're a fucking idiot, Laura. Like this is where I beat myself up. This is the hard part. Like this is where I like this is, this is what I'm personally working on is that being in the moment and handling on the fly. We're gonna harden.

Petra (32:57)
Well, it's hard. mean, that's a problem.

Well, the other thing is I remember a long time ago because, you know, no secret, obsessed with mental management and read like a million books. I can't remember who wrote this book. So don't ask me people. But in the book, it talked about some sport. I don't remember which sport. Let's pretend it's basketball, right? Football, whatever. And they went through all the statistics.

And the people that they consider clutch players, right, that that do extremely well when the games are on the line, like playoffs, finals, whatever. Right. How good are they really? So when they would look at their statistics in those big events, they're actually worse than their statistics during the season. Everyone's are worse.

They're just less bad than everyone else. And I remember listening to that and being like that. And it really helped me tremendously because my dog is not going to perform in these environments the way it will perform in my yard or even at a local trial because they're harder. So I just changed my expectation, right? I stopped going in and going,

Laurie (33:50)
Mm-hmm.

Right. Right.

Petra (34:15)
God, what's wrong? And just expecting that my dog is going to be different because it's harder. So I went in to this going, it's going to be a circus. Zest has never seen it. He is going to struggle. And when he struggles, I'm just going to help him. So having that shift in mindset, I think is really helpful because then

Laurie (34:36)
Yeah.

And that was the mindset I had all weekend until I didn't. That was the hard part. I had that mindset, ring one, ring two, ring three, ring four, boom. That was where it shifted. And yeah. And I do, we talked about it. It's like,

Petra (34:42)
people.

Thanks for watching!

Laurie (35:03)
I mean, for me, I feel like I just need more experience. know, like I haven't been doing it this long. I have never been at this level of competition in my life. This is like really my first dog I've ever really been doing the big events with. And it is a game changer with the mental management for sure.

Petra (35:22)
And it's different, right? It's just, it's not the same. So I think like, again, people sometimes show up there with the same preparation and then they're like, holy Hannah. And then sometimes people just go, yeah, this is not for us, which that's not necessarily the answer either. It's just, it's a learning experience and it's like, okay, I can come back and do this. I'm going to, but I'm going to change my preparation this time. I'm going to change some things. I'm going to try and make some things better.

Laurie (35:25)
now.

Right.

Yep.

Yep.

Petra (35:50)
There's

the travel aspect, like every dog and handler isn't used to traveling. Maybe you could have done something differently in your travels that impacted your performance. Maybe you could have gotten there a day earlier, a day later. You know, there are all these things that are part of the whole picture.

⁓ Your warmups, what are you doing with your dogs the days before? What are you doing with your dog in between runs? ⁓ I know that in tournaments when there's multiple runs, like if I just do a weekend trial, I just show up, try my dog, go home. If it's a tournament like this, there are pieces that I feel like in between I need to reinforce.

Laurie (36:16)
Mm-hmm.

and

Yeah.

Petra (36:38)
Right?

So I'll go in the practice ring and just reward certain things because going in the ring over and over might make them a little bit weak or it may make the dog a little insecure. So I keep an eye on what's happening as I'm going. If I see something's like, oh, like in the first ring, he was unsure about his articles. So I just went in the practice ring, did articles and just fed them, fed them, fed them. Right. And I did that both days. And then that

Laurie (37:03)
Right.

Petra (37:05)
helped, then his articles were fine. So that's something different that I normally would not do at a weekend trial. So these are things though that are all, that's all just part of doing it, like showing up, making your mistakes, having a dog make mistakes, and then learning from it, and then coming back, try again, and then come back, try again, right? And... ⁓

Laurie (37:26)
Right.

Petra (37:28)
Typically, on average, there's always exceptions, but dogs that do well at big events tend to be a little bit older because they've been, they've seen different things, right? They've been to a lot of different trials. They've gone to different tournaments. The dog sort of gets the feel for these things and the handler sort of gets to work all these kinks out ⁓ until it all kind of

Laurie (37:37)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Petra (37:55)
comes together, right? So it's definitely very unique when you can't compare it to an average competition. And that's regardless of what sport you do, right? And there are gonna be things that happen like an agility, someone was telling me like the camera was really close. There are different things are gonna happen that you're

Laurie (38:09)
No.

Yeah.

Petra (38:24)
you or your dog are not used to seeing and it may mess you up and it may not. Right. But it's all just, it's just part of the process. And that's what we always need to come back to, you know, and remember, like you can turn it into something negative or you can turn it into a huge learning opportunity and into something that inspires you and motivates you and makes you go home and go, I can't wait to work on this stuff. Right.

And it should again be a situation where you're counting your blessings and being grateful for the opportunity. And we also, have to, I do want to mention like, you know, all the volunteers, like all those stewards, sorry people, they don't get paid. You know, that's a huge chunk of time and people travel to these things.

Laurie (39:13)
Correct.

Petra (39:17)
where they're volunteering their time, the judges, trust me, they are not earning a plush living by judging these events for us and flying in and volunteering. It's basically, trust me, it's basically a volunteer thing on your part. And they were amazing. Like, first of all, we talked about like how loud it was. Every single judge, and I showed under six of them out of the eight, made a real effort.

Laurie (39:40)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Petra (39:43)
to be loud so that we could hear them. Like I remember being in one ring and it was kind of, and the judge was like, right turn. And I'm like, she's really making sure. And I really appreciate that. Like they were really, you know, understanding. They, when, like you said with the one judge, said she held up. I was, had given my article to the judge.

Laurie (39:55)
Hahaha.

Petra (40:09)
and the overhead thing goes off. And I'm like, my God, am I gonna be able to hear her? So I'm just listening intently for any sound from her at all. And there was a bit of a delay because she was waiting, hoping they would stop. And then when they didn't, she just yelled and I could hear her. So they were trying super hard. So I really, really appreciate them.

Laurie (40:12)
Yep.

Right.

Petra (40:36)
There were conflicts because a bunch of us were showing multiple dogs and the way the rings ran and were set up, we had to go, I was in ring one. So you have to picture there were eight rings. So from ring one to ring eight, it was like more than a football field distance.

Laurie (40:44)
yeah.

It went crazy.

Petra (40:57)
So when I was in the ring with my second dog was Zesty in ring one, it was pretty close to where I was supposed to be in ring eight with Saina. And so, and other people had it. They were so easy, the stewards and judges and so accommodating, so very chill about it. So, and.

Laurie (41:06)
Right.

They were.

Petra (41:18)
We really appreciate that because, you know, everybody's nervous, everybody's tense. I always make, I'm always very careful about managing myself so that I'm not going up to the steward and going, I'm supposed to be in the other ring. that because then it's going to come across as being shitty. Right. and they, they were very like, don't worry. They were very calm. It's fine.

Laurie (41:36)
Yeah, totally.

Petra (41:45)
get here when you get here, which is amazing, because that really helps the exhibitors stay calm. ⁓

Laurie (41:50)
It does, it does. And

people have to remember too, like, don't know if, you know, I have stewarded before, I have been table steward, I've been a ring steward. It takes a lot, and people get annoyed by them because sometimes they forget or they're, you know, they're a little late doing something. You need to really, it takes a lot of focus and concentration to stay on task because,

You have all these people trying to talk to you at once all the time and you're managing keeping things straight. Whatever task you're doing as a steward, it it actually like this is why I tell people that you need to steward because it's not an easy job. So really you do need to appreciate and be very kind and be patient like we you know, like going up to ring side, even though there might be one person standing in front of you and they're taking care of that person.

They have to then make sure that they do everything right for that person. They have to check them off in the book. They have to make sure they cross them off on the board, make sure they get their number. And all of a sudden, like, you'll see there's like 10 people waiting in line. Like that's a lot of pressure on these stewards. so yeah, that was my rant. So be kind. It is. And there.

Petra (43:04)
No, I mean, it's so no, it's so true or like the or like

Laurie (43:10)
a national event. Like they know the responsibility. Yes.

Petra (43:12)
They feel the pressure.

yes, they do. The judges feel the pressure. They don't want to make mistakes. They don't want to mess anybody up. You know, they know what everybody put in to get there. They know what matters. So they feel pressure. They feel pressure to do a really good job, to be fair.

Laurie (43:22)
Yeah.

They do, they do. And in fact,

you know, one of my rings, my judge forgot to call a halt on the figure eight. And, you know, I was just like, I'm just going to keep healing. You know, I figured she would, she would see it and she did. She, heard her say, God, I'm so sorry, exercise finished. Let's start again. But like everybody, when I got home, they were like, what was the deal with the judge? my God. Like,

They should have let you like, I'm like, no, no, no. Like they're human beings. Like, yeah.

Petra (44:01)
and they're judging

like a hundred freaking dogs like they were like 90 some odd novice dogs like these judge can you imagine holy hannah i can't even

Laurie (44:06)
They were! Right?

Yes. No, no.

No. And she like,

she truly like she made a mistake. she felt bad. And I, again, like, you know, I was just like, it didn't faze me one bit. Like I just I just handled it like, you know, any any time like that can happen in training, you know, like your helper doesn't call the sit, like whatever I just kept going acted like everything was fine, didn't stress out about it didn't get mad. know, shit is gonna happen for sure you get

Petra (44:44)
Yeah.

Laurie (44:45)
And that's the thing, like, you're, there's things you're not going to be able to control. You're not going to be, you're not, you can't control the judges. You can't control the judging. You can't control the other exhibitors. You can't control the environment, right? So what can you control ourselves, right? Which is, you know, it's hard, but that's the one, that's the variable that we can control. So be nice.

Petra (45:04)
Yeah.

Yeah, we

have to just be, learn to just chill a little bit and be a little more forgiving. Cause like stuff's going to happen. And sometimes, you know, there in life with everything, with every sport, there is an element of luck, right? Like sometimes something's just going to happen and it was just bad luck. Like maybe

Laurie (45:13)
Yeah, totally.

Yeah.

Petra (45:33)
that exact moment when you're telling your dog to do something, something happens and it didn't happen to everybody else. That's just part of life, right? Like, that's just going to happen and we need to just learn to accept that, you know, sometimes things just happen. And yeah, sometimes stewards make mistakes. Sometimes judges make mistakes. Guess what? A whole hell of a lot of the time we make mistakes. So it's, it's just,

Laurie (45:42)
Mm-hmm.

Petra (45:59)
the way it goes, right? But again, you have to look at the big picture. Like if that judge made one mistake or even two that day, when there are a bazillion dogs that you're showing, and guess what? You think it's hard for us or our dogs to concentrate? How about them? They have to concentrate with mass chaos going on around them constantly all day. Like it's so overstimulating in there.

Laurie (46:08)
hundreds.

Mm-hmm.

⁓ my god, it is.

Petra (46:26)
building. You know,

like I can't even imagine I can't even imagine being an agility judge where everything's going so fast. Agility in general is loud. Now you're in this crazy environment. And you have to make these split seconds. It's just it's just insanity. So everybody needs to like really remember to just have a broader perspective in that

Laurie (46:35)
Yes!

Second.

Hmm

Petra (46:53)
every single person that's involved is human, right? And just like the AKC, like, look, like, I'll be the first to say, like, I don't complain about walking things and carrying things and whatever, but this, I must have walked 8,000 between like the party area not being where it usually is and so on. But you know what? Try finding a venue. You know, we can all criticize the AKC. Try finding

venue enough that will take animals and that's affordable. Good luck with that, you know, and that's at a location where there's enough parking, enough people can access it. Like it's hard. So for the, so I brought a wagon cause I knew it was going to be really far to, I usually carry my stuff in just cause I'm like, it's good exercise. But I was like, God.

Laurie (47:20)
Yeah, right. Yep. Yep.

Right?

Petra (47:45)
You know, your dogs need to be conditioned. Like my dogs are on a conditioning program so that they're fit enough so that when they're at this venue and they have to perform over and over and they have to walk really far to get in, to get out, to go potty, that they're not gonna be completely exhausted, right? Like, and I reminded myself of that this weekend when I was like, God, this is so far. I'm like, you know what? They're super fit. Like they couldn't be more fit. So they'll be

Laurie (47:51)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

wiped out.

Right. Right.

Petra (48:13)
and I rested them leading up to it. So, you know, there's so many factors involved. We have to, you know, and if we just keep complaining, you know, then guess what? They're gonna stop having the events like was what happened at Westminster for obedience, because everybody complains and then they don't have it.

Laurie (48:30)
Well, that's the thing, right? And like, like

I heard a lot of that, you're like, I'm not coming back. This is crazy, blah, blah, blah. And I like, you know, I'm just a little different in that way. I'm like, well, I'm definitely coming back because I like, I like a challenge, you know, like I rise to the challenge. Like I thought it was freaking fantastic. I thought, you know, yeah, you know, let's I mean,

Petra (48:46)
Yeah.

Laurie (48:56)
And I had a lot of takeaways from it, you know, like what I immediately was like, and we talked about it, like, what can we do differently next year? That would be easier or better. You know, that would be more helpful, like. Which is, you know, what we wanted to what we want to do, like we just I get inspired and motivated, like you said, like I, I think it's a I think it's a prestigious, honorable event to be able to be invited to go to.

Petra (49:08)
Yeah.

Laurie (49:20)
And if I can do it, like if I can afford to do it, if I can get the time to do it, I'm going, like for sure. I thought it was freaking awesome. I loved it.

Petra (49:30)
Yeah,

and ⁓ I also love, so I want to say a couple other things. One is, so what I thought was super fun watching is I saw a lot of non-traditional breeds and that was super fun. Like, N.A. Great Dane, I should have looked it up, a place like fourth or fifth, and I think it was utility, doesn't even matter. First of all, you go girl, that's all I have to say.

Laurie (49:42)
yes. Yes. A lot.

Yes!

I think it was open. I

know!

Petra (50:00)
All these, know, kudos to everybody for going, first of all, novice, like 90 some odd people. What? Good for every single person that came. ⁓ So many non-traditional breeds. I love seeing that. ⁓ I saw a figure.

Laurie (50:08)
my god. It was crazy.

Yep.

Yep. And it was fun. talked

and we talked to a lot of novice people. That was fun sitting ringside and watching them. Yeah.

Petra (50:22)
Yeah, a fair amount of younger people, which

I found super exciting. And you know what, for some of us older people, keep this in mind too, with the being positive, you're setting an example for these people, you know, and you want to be setting a good example, a positive and a welcoming example. You know, you don't want them to be like, God, why am I doing this sport? All these people are crazy.

Laurie (50:37)
sure.

Yeah, intimidated. Yeah.

Petra (50:49)
So that was I thought like that what made me really happy and I thought that was really encouraging to have Young people all these different breeds there So many people came up to Laurie and I and mentioned the podcast so we just want to say thank you we appreciate all of you that really Meant a lot to us and is really motivating because we're kind of just do this in a vacuum It's just me and Laurie ⁓

Laurie (51:10)
Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. It was really cool.

Like that makes us feel good. It makes us feel good. So that was.

Petra (51:20)
And yeah, so super thanks for all you guys that stopped by and just did a quick, you know, check-in. We appreciated that. That was really good. I don't know. I think we might've touched on everything, right?

Laurie (51:28)
Yeah. Hey.

I think

we did. Yeah, I think we did.

Petra (51:39)
Yeah,

so if there's big events, like you should, you should go even if it's, I know what I want to mention. So even if it's your breed national, again, it's like, so my training partner went to his and drove all the way down to Florida from New Jersey, his breed national, and they didn't even have rain gates. So that's going to happen. Sometimes it's like in a dirt arena.

Laurie (51:54)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Petra (52:05)
different smells and you know for a lot of dogs like non-traditional competition breeds like those environments are hard right your dogs aren't used to that seeing that picture or having that but again it doesn't mean you shouldn't go it doesn't mean it's a big bad negative thing it's just information if you know ahead of time if you can find out what it's going to be like

Laurie (52:14)
Super.

Petra (52:28)
Go train for that. If you don't, and it's a surprise, do the very best you can. So he was really worried and rightly so about the go out because there was no center stanchion. And you know what? His dog went straight. So it doesn't, I think part of it is mental and part of it is like, and if his dog didn't, then it didn't, you know, then it, come back and you know that's something you need to train and prepare for. ⁓ But I think people should go.

Laurie (52:40)
Yep.

Right.

Thank

Petra (52:56)
They should just understand that it is different. Use it as a learning opportunity. You know, go home, write down all the good things, write down all the things that you should work on moving forward, and then plan to go again, right? And put them in and just have realistic expectations. Like, look, I took Zesty there and my only expectation was like, I wanted to see how he would do in that environment. I didn't go there.

Laurie (53:09)
Yep.

Petra (53:23)
you know, I want to win, I want to place it. No, like I because I understand that this is hard and this venue is harder than any other venue. It's harder than Nationals. There's nothing that compares to it. So I'm like, let me see what I have. Right. And then I'm going to take that back and then I'm going to work on that. So everything in life, it's just part of the process. It's part of the learning opportunity. Don't let something that disappointed you

Laurie (53:31)
Mm-hmm.

Bye.

Petra (53:51)
color the whole experience, right? And then a of light. Just, you know, yeah, be positive, take something positive away.

Laurie (53:54)
Right.

Yeah. Yeah. I think that's it. And congratulations to Zesty's third place placement. He was awesome. He didn't shock me at all. He brought it. He did awesome.

Petra (54:02)
Anything else that we need

Yeah, he shocked me. Yeah, I love him. He did. I underestimate, know,

I'm just like everybody else, right? Like I always underestimate. I'll never, I was at you or somewhere I was like, was like, well, at least I never have to worry that my ego is going to get too big. Never. I'm always like.

Laurie (54:23)
Mm.

Yeah.

Petra (54:33)
I'm always surprised. always like, I didn't think it was going to go that well. But yeah, he's, well, I think my handling was better. ⁓

Laurie (54:41)
Well, I was going to say, that's a combined, that's between the

two of you becoming, you know.

Petra (54:48)
Yeah,

and he's more confident because training like he's had that much more training. We've been working so much on resilience and confidence, which is something that we're going to be talking about in future episodes, because boy is resilience important ⁓ in these big events. And like, how do you teach that? Like,

Laurie (54:52)
Yeah. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Petra (55:12)
You know, some dogs are naturally genetically, yes, he's genetically more resilient, but it still needs to be taught like, you know, and it's something you can teach your dogs and you can build and create and improve in your dog. So that's something we're going to be talking about.

Laurie (55:20)
Yeah, for sure.

Yeah, for sure.

Petra (55:32)
Moving

forward, but yeah, he he is. He's a really good boy. He tries super, super hard and Zaina does too. Zaina is who she is and. And in her and she's she's doing the best she can on that day. Whatever that day brings.

Laurie (55:47)
That's

right, Zaina style.

Petra (55:50)
In her mind,

she's like brilliant every time. And that's cool. Well, that matters,

Laurie (55:55)
Well, ⁓ that's

right. I think all three of them, Ever, Zaina and Zesty, I think, you know, and I think we did a lot of prep. We've been doing tons of prep for these kinds of things. So I was really happy with Ever. It totally pays off.

Petra (55:59)
Yeah.

And it pays off, it does pay off. And

like I said, overall, like your first day, you did meet your goals. You were very, very different. You were way more relaxed. You handled her differently. And even, I didn't see your first two rings on Sunday, but I saw your last ring and on our last ring, she was struggling and you pulled her through that class.

Laurie (56:20)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Petra (56:33)
And

for sure, you pulled her through that class. And I said that to you afterwards. was like, you got her through, and that's not easy, right? When your dog is struggling and relying on us, for us to know they're struggling and hold it together and get them through is extremely hard.

Laurie (56:37)
And all and that, yeah. Yeah.

Right.

Yeah, well, was

my big win because after I had changed my handling and went into ring, whatever it was, the class that we failed, then I was able to be able to switch back and be able to handle her correctly and pull her through, even despite the obvious, you can't help but have disappointment when you have an NQ.

Petra (57:17)
Right.

Laurie (57:18)
but I was able to flip it and stay on my mental game, be able to switch back and be able to, so that was a huge win for me.

Petra (57:26)
Yeah,

and that's hard because a lot of people when things go awry, just kind of go like, and then they throw it all out the window. And I'm kind of like, even with Zaina, you know, like she flunked, she's not she's not going to place. Right. So then it's like, why am I even here? Well, because I'm here and I'm still going to do the very best I can. And I'm still going to, you know, get get it together with her and be like, all right, woman, let's go.

Laurie (57:31)
Fuck. Yeah.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Petra (57:52)
and do the best we can in all the other rings, right? And again, just do takeaway, like, what, you know, what do I need to work on? What do I need to work on when I get home to fix these issues to make it better next time, right? And that's what people need to learn. It's not like all or nothing. It's just like sometimes things happen. You just keep doing your best. Like you just keep...

Laurie (58:07)
Right. Yeah.

Petra (58:17)
doing your best because it's a learning opportunity. Because from when you went in that last string, like you learned from that, it's going to be in your memory bank, right? Look, even when she's struggling, I can get her through. So everything is valuable, you know, so we should give it our best throughout the event, no matter what, be objective, take positives out of it, and then go home and prove what you can and

Laurie (58:27)
Yep.

Petra (58:44)
Come back and try again next time.

Laurie (58:47)
Yep. Perfect.

Petra (58:47)
All right,

so awesome. Thanks everybody as always for listening. We always forget to say this, we're supposed to. It's really helpful if you like or put out just a quick positive comment in Apple, Spotify, YouTube. It helps spread the word about the episodes to other people out there that potentially could maybe benefit.

Laurie (58:52)
Thank you.

Yeah.

Petra (59:13)
And all right, we appreciate all of you. Thank you so much for listening and we'll see you next time. All right.

Laurie (59:19)
Thank you, bye.