Random Reflections: Trial Routines

Petra (00:10)
Hi everybody, welcome to the K9 Connection podcast. Today, Lori and I are going to talk about trial day routines and superstitions.

All right, I'm cracking up because I'm just gonna blurt the story out. So I used to be really insecure, so when I cycled, I had all these superstitions, whatever. But anyway, my first big dog sport I did was field training. So I had to have my lucky duck socks and all these...

Laurie (00:24)
Go, go.

Petra (00:43)
clothes and it had to be and I had my and then I found underwear with ducks on them. So I

They were my lucky duck underwear and I always had to wear my lucky duck underwear to the trial. Yeah.

Laurie (00:55)
to wear that!

Petra (01:00)
Yeah, but the thing is, yeah, it was crazy. But, you know, we all... ⁓

Laurie (01:06)
Well, we get caught up in that. It's like, I used to be like, would have, well, if anybody, anybody who knew me in the beginning, I like had a super crazy collar addiction. Like I was one of those, you know, the dog had 50 collars to choose from.

Petra (01:08)
We get caught up in that.

I still have that. There's a cure.

Is there a cure for that? Cause I need it. I need it.

Laurie (01:28)
Yeah, lack of money.

And I would, like if I would have the dog wear a certain collar and if like we flunked enough in it, I was like, that collar's no good. And I'd get rid of it. Cause it was like, I had bad juju on it. That was a big one for me, the collar thing.

Petra (01:48)
Well,

my friend Lee made me this beautiful collar. Don't ask her to make you one, she won't. It was just a hobby. But anyway, so I always wear it for Zaina and put it on Zaina. At one point, I kind of forget, I don't know in what context it came up, but she said something about that being Zaina's lucky collar. And I'm like, God damn it, because ever since then, even though I really don't believe in that stuff anymore at all.

Laurie (01:54)
Bye.

Petra (02:15)
It's like this little thing in the back of my head to this day that like I'm weird about putting another collar on her when I show her, not that it's a hardship because it is a gorgeous collar and I love it. But when I have another nice collar, I go to put it on and then like, I'm like, yeah, I can't do it. I switch it back out.

Laurie (02:20)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah,

because you think, you know?

Petra (02:40)
No,

because it's in the back of my mind that she said that, like, so it's her fault, but no. So why do people even do that, right? Because it's just insecurity, right? It's nerves, it's insecurity. It's like wanting things to make us feel better, wanting some external magical force to help us.

Laurie (02:46)
⁓ okay.

Yeah. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Petra (03:06)
so that

we can succeed, right? Because showing is scary because we never know, and it's stressful because we never know what's gonna happen.

Laurie (03:11)
Yeah.

It's super stressful.

And I think that we're always constantly looking for any advantage, right? Anything that's gonna sort of give us that edge or leeway to being able to succeed, right? So we fall on those little, we fall prey to those little things. I used to, I don't do this anymore, but I used to have to.

Petra (03:22)
Okay.

Laurie (03:37)
I used to have to have my nails painted. I'd have to have my nails done and I would do it myself. Like I wouldn't even go to the salon and I would have to, no matter what, the night before trial, I would have to paint my nails. And then like when I started going to like, like, you know, three, four day, you know, I'd have to go away where I'd be gone for the weekend. I would be carting all my nail supplies in the hotel.

at 10 o'clock at night, doing my nails, which always fucking looked like a four year old did them, but I had to do them because I felt like if I don't do my nails, I'm probably gonna, I'm gonna flunk. It's like stupid. I don't know why we do that.

Petra (04:15)
Well,

we do it because it's oddly comforting, but it really, there's this weird part of our brain that thinks it's helpful, but it's really not because if you think about it, what happens if your washing machine eats your lucky duck underwear or God forbid you forget to pack your nail stuff? Like then you get all completely freaked out, right? Or your, you know,

Laurie (04:37)
Right.

Mm-hmm.

Petra (04:44)
Zayna's collar something happens. I can't put that collar on now. I'm gonna be in a complete and utter state and That's gonna negatively impact My performance right because really it has nothing to do with that. It has to do with preparation and training and you know our mental management and it does

Laurie (04:55)
That's right.

Right.

You

Petra (05:07)
not have to do because believe me if there were magical things that worked I guarantee you we would have them and it or if I knew of one I would you know I would market it and sell it and I would be rich but there is no you know those superstitious things do not work I do however have somewhat of a routine

Laurie (05:12)
Right. We'd be doing them. Yeah, for sure.

Petra (05:34)
Because I find that helps keep me focused and on track, right? It can't I don't think your routine should be so strict that when one thing Like gets thrown off track everything goes to hell because then you're just gonna freak out and then that's not beneficial at all, but

Laurie (05:51)
Totally.

Which

actually happened this past weekend to a friend of ours at the regional qualifier in Syracuse. actually, ⁓ her car wouldn't start, Debbie. Her car wouldn't start, like seriously, so that's a really good example because if you're so like glued and reliant on that schedule or that routine, because stuff's gonna happen all the time. And you don't want it to have to just derail you like that.

Petra (06:06)
Mm, yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Laurie (06:23)
And she stayed so calm and cool through the whole thing. She was just like, just move me to the end. I'm like, do you need any help? And that's how she is. But that's a great example. Like she got in her car to leave to come to the trial, and her freaking car wouldn't start. So great, great example of shit happening, the shitstorms happening.

Petra (06:28)
Yeah, but that's how she is anyway. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Yeah, and then you just

have to have a plan B, right? Which is I'm gonna get there, I'm just gonna ask them to move me to the end, and then I'm going to start my routine, right? So I tell people this all the time. So first of all, I never won or lost a trial based on where I parked my car.

Laurie (06:52)
Right.

Petra (07:05)
because that's where people start freaking out, right? Like, God, they need the perfect parking spot. Like it has to be close enough and you know, here and this and that and they just park your car. You're there, yay, park your car, right? Doesn't matter where your car is parked. And then I do have a routine in terms of like how I, you know, when I'm packed.

Laurie (07:29)
Yep.

Petra (07:30)
You know, like, so I like to bring all my stuff in first and unpack it again. I don't make myself insane about where I create my dog. ⁓ again, I've created in every possible space and it's never impacted my performance. So it's just one more place where people waste, you're wasting nervous energy, right? You're just wasting energy worrying about those things.

Laurie (07:40)
Right.

Yeah.

Right.

Petra (07:57)
So I set up, I bring all my stuff in, I set everything up. Then I get my dogs out of the car, I patty my dogs, I put them in their crate. And then I usually do my acclimation with each dog, make sure they're like good, their heads on straight. And then...

I go to check in and so on. So I get all my equipment ready. So I have a routine. I try to do it the same way every time because that is easier for my brain. I don't have to sit there and go, ⁓ God, did I check my articles? wait, where's my demo? did I do that? I didn't go check in. No, I just do everything in order. And then when I get interrupted, which inevitably I do, because that's just how it works.

then it's no big deal, because I deal with that. And then I just come back and I continue kind of my routine.

Laurie (08:52)
Right. Where you left off.

Petra (08:53)
where I left off, pick up where I left off, and kind of continue through the routine. And then that gives my brain the opportunity to focus on what it needs to focus on. And I'm not just running around like a chicken without a head, you know, thinking and worrying about.

Laurie (08:57)
Yeah.

Right.

Petra (09:16)
random things that either aren't important or that I can't have no control over.

Laurie (09:22)
Right, which is gonna happen. Stuff's gonna happen. Yeah.

Petra (09:25)
Yeah,

stuff always happens.

Laurie (09:26)
Yeah. Yeah, my routine is pretty much the same. I try to just kind of do that. you know, it's kind of like logical order, you know what I mean? Like, I'm not going to bring my dogs in until I have all, you know, it's like setting up camp. You got to set all your stuff up. And then I get it all organized. And then, yeah, same thing. And then bring dogs in, get them acclimated.

Petra (09:41)
Mm-hmm.

Laurie (09:50)
You know, and I do, you know, do start, I do make sure to like the night before, if we want to talk about that too, getting into that, you know, like I make sure like my car is packed. I make sure like whatever I need to bring in a cooler is kind of ready to go. Like I want to have minimal stuff to have to do in the morning so I can kind of take my time and not rush. So,

Petra (10:14)
And you know where you're going because you

mapped it out.

Laurie (10:17)
Yep. I map out how long it's going to get, you know,

take from the hotel. give myself plenty of time. I like to, I like to drive to the trial site. I like to try to find a place to potty my dogs. I try to find a place where I can actually let them off leash and stretch out and go to the bathroom and just kind of, just kind of let them go free a little bit before I get to the trial site.

If I can, and then when I get there, you I know that they've hopefully done all their business. And then I start unpacking and all that stuff. That's what I try to do.

Petra (10:54)
And

I also think it's good to have notes. Like back when I first started, I would just write everything out, right? And then that would help keep me on track. And I would just have a list, like, you know, make sure you have this, you have this leash, that leash, you know, everything organized. Like nowadays, I don't have to write it down anymore. I have it. But again, I don't have to write it down because even at home when I'm packing,

Laurie (11:09)
Yeah.

Petra (11:21)
Like even when I'm going away to a trial, like I just have this routine, right? Where I get the extra dog beds I need, or I get all the extra things I need because I'm traveling. ⁓ And I put, like you said, I pack that all up the night before because the day of you don't want to be again, ⁓ God, God, did I pack this? Did I pack that? Where's this? Where's that? Where am I going?

Laurie (11:35)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Right. Yep.

Petra (11:48)
I like to give myself plenty of time to get there. I'd rather be there on the earlier side on on the later side. That's how I am right again. It's to manage that like I don't want to be running late if at all possible and then going like God I'm late. So I don't think it's advantageous to get there for hours before your run. Which happens a lot with.

Laurie (12:05)
Right.

Petra (12:15)
novice people like people that aren't as experienced, right? They're like not sure when they get there super early and a lot of times their dog is not created and if the dog's not created they're just burning an astronomical amount of like just mental energy just dealing constantly processing the environment.

Laurie (12:22)
Right.

Right. Yeah. Yeah, I see that too. And I, I think a lot of that, you know, is the novice, it's hard with novice, because a lot of times they don't have a start time. That's a big thing. So they don't, and if they've never done it before, they don't know what time to get there and they don't want to miss it. So they just err on the side of caution and get there early, which it does, it makes it hard. It does make it hard.

Petra (12:45)
Woo!

It's a big thing.

Which is.

Well, I think it makes it hard on them. I think if the dog is created and used to being created, that would be a tremendous advantage for them, right? Because then the dog's just like, all right, I'm just gonna go to sleep. Because that's what they do, they just go to sleep, you know?

Laurie (13:12)
Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, they do. the

other thing going back to crates is, you know, I do cover my dogs up. I cover them up for a couple reasons because I, you know, people are kind of careless at dog trials sometimes letting other dogs just go up to your dog's crate. So I don't want that. I try to avoid that but it happens. So I cover my dogs up but it also like

Petra (13:25)
Same.

Laurie (13:41)
It just kind of, it's like going into a dark room, you know, like pulling the shades. I want my dogs to totally rest and relax and not have to worry about stuff. So I do cover them. I know you do that too. Just cause I want them to save all of that mental, you know, energy, you know, for the ring and stuff. Cause it is, it's taxing on them, all that stimulation.

Petra (13:45)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, same, yeah.

It is taxing. And I know that they prefer it because if I leave the crate not covered, even for a short amount of time, and then I go and look in, they're in the back, like all the way against the back, curled in a ball. They're not like up at the front, nose pressed against the screen, like, I want to look around. They're like, dude, I'm out.

Laurie (14:17)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Petra (14:29)
I'm just back here chilling out, like close my window. So I think that, yeah, and dogs get used to crates. It's just like a den for them. And if they're used to that, then they can just chill out. And then yes, if you don't know when they get there and you get there and you realize, my goodness, I'm here like way many hours too early, the dog at least will be fresh when you take them out to warm them up.

Laurie (14:34)
Yeah.

Right.

Petra (14:57)
⁓ And then I also have for my dogs, they have an acclimation routine, which is where they walk around on cue. It's still work. It's, you know, it's got rules, but they get to look around and enough so that they can go, ⁓ okay. I, you know, I feel good here. I feel comfortable here. I feel safe here. I can work now, but that's

been taught, trained and rehearsed ad nauseam like throughout their life, right? So it's the same thing I do every time I go to a new training building, every time I go to a show and go or a match, every like today I went somewhere new for my dogs and I didn't just walk, even though they're both experienced, I didn't walk them in and go work now. I walked in with them and we walked around and I let them look around until they looked at me and said,

Laurie (15:28)
Right.

Petra (15:51)
Are we working? I'm like, yeah, we are. They're like, okay, good, I'm ready now. Right? So again, that has to be trained and practiced. And then you want to do the same thing at a trial. And it's the same with my warmup. My warmup with my dog is the same exact warmup, maybe not the same one from between the different dogs, but it's the same warmup I do with that dog.

Laurie (15:54)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Petra (16:17)
every time I train, whether it's in my yard, at a training building, at a store, wherever I am, it's the same. And then when I get to the trial, it's the same, because really it's a cue system.

Laurie (16:30)
Right, the same thing. Yep.

Petra (16:32)
Cause otherwise for all the dog knows, how does it know you're not at Starbucks or you're not there, you know, to get your oil changed or something. Cause they don't, you know, they need that cue system. and then what I see all the time is people start to freak out at a show and then they warm up like every ball they warm up. They do every single exercise.

Laurie (16:40)
Right. Right.

yeah, that's like, it might fall into the superstition category. I must make sure.

Petra (17:04)
Yeah, good point. Maybe.

Yeah, well, I, you know, here's another thing that happens. the catastrophizing, right? So that you start, you watch the first dog in the ring.

Laurie (17:14)
Yeah

Petra (17:15)
And the poor dog has a problem, right? Let's say, I don't know, gets a little distracted in the corner. what's in that corner? There must be something in a corner. I wonder if a dog peed in that corner. I wonder if there's a ghost in the corner. Look at the corner. The dark corner's dark, the corner's bad. The corner, the corner, the corner, right? And so it begins.

Laurie (17:33)
And so it begins and then like two people, three people are talking about it. Then it's like this crowd is talking about the coroner. Right? Yup. Bye.

Petra (17:42)
And then I'm like, I'm out. Right? And then

what do people do is, ⁓ I have to go warm my dog up in the corner, or maybe your dog is super solid, drop on recall and a dog doesn't drop. God, isn't my dog gonna not drop? Maybe I better go warm up the drop. And then you go take out your dog and you start making them crazy. And you're like, do a drop, do another drop, do this drop. And it's like, your dog is fine.

Laurie (17:57)
Yeah.

Ugh.

Petra (18:07)
That's not what you normally do. And then your dog gets completely stressed out because your dog is confused. Because your dog.

Laurie (18:07)
Yeah.

Right.

your dog's confused

and then your dog has a bigger chance of making a mistake. Like what are you going to do then? Minutes before you're close to going in the ring and you're doing all this stuff and your dog totally makes an error or you know what I mean? Like that's my thing. I go to the trial and I

Because we all get pulled in, oh, maybe I should go warm that up. Oh, maybe I should, oh, I don't know. That didn't feel that solid this week. Maybe I should go. And I'm like, no, no, no. Your dog is trained. You're here to test. Like, it is what it is. You know what I mean? Because you will. You're gonna drive yourself crazy. And what are you going to do if you go to do it and your dog makes a mistake? Like, I see that all the time. Oh.

Petra (18:44)
Mm-hmm.

Well,

and then people freak out, then they get like ⁓ mad at the dog, cause they're panicking, right? And maybe they're not even normally like that, but now they're panicking and they don't even know what to, yeah. And then it just goes down a rabbit hole. So again, I think it's important to have, to write it down. Like, sorry. ⁓ I don't know.

Laurie (19:07)
and they get mad at their dogs.

Mm-hmm.

Who's at your house?

Petra (19:29)
people walk by, even though it's pitch dark, so who knows, maybe I'm getting a delivery, I don't know. But like when I went, I'm trying to remember, I think I just had one dog, the one year I went to the NOC, and I had written everything down, like to the point of where I was like, okay, every exercise, this is how I'm gonna warm it up.

Laurie (19:52)
Yep.

Petra (19:52)
This

is what I'm going to do if the dog has a problem with it. This is what I'm going to do if I look at the video after my run and it gets a little weak so that everything was outlined so that there was no panicking. There was no like, God, you know, she looked a little nervous or she looked a little loose or whatever on this exercise. Then it was like, okay, I looked up that exercise and it says, this is what you're going to do.

And I'm like, okay, and it was really good. So there was no moment when I had that panic of like, God, what am I going to do? How am I going to fix this? Or how am going to, you know, make sure it doesn't fall apart and do something weird that will confuse the living daylights out of my dog, which I've been there, done that, learned my lesson, right? ⁓

Laurie (20:30)
Right.

Sabotage. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah,

totally. What I do do now that I am getting, hopefully better at practicing my mental management is what I do do is I because when we get for me anyway, because I'm still you know, I'm just really still trying to like get my head in the right space when I'm actually at the trial. Like this is a big thing. Like this is this is probably my number one thing I'm working on right now.

Petra (21:06)
Mm-hmm.

Laurie (21:12)
in all of my stuff is that I need to be where I need to be at on trial day for my dog mentally. So what I am doing is like what even when I'm like watching the rings like I go to ringside because I like to see like where they're going to set up how you know where's the judge when you come in the ring what am I doing with my dumbbell all that stuff I then watch

a couple people go and then I sit there and I just, map it all out in my head where I'm going to go and how I need to be acting for my dog. Like that's a big thing. Like rehearsing that in my head on how I'm going to be feeling and you know, knowing I'm going to go in there, knowing it's good. I'm going to be a little nervous.

and trying to remember what I need to be, how I need to be acting, how I need to be holding my posture so I can be who I need to be for my dog. Like that's a big thing that I'm really starting to try to do on trial day.

Petra (22:15)
Yeah. And I think, ⁓ a coach once told me this was such good advice. said, when you watch the ring, right, to see where everything is, it's just data. Like, just think of it as just data. Don't get emotionally wrapped up in it. Don't start panicking. Don't worry about what that team, you know, did or didn't do well. Just gather the data.

Laurie (22:25)
Yep, exactly.

Petra (22:41)
Right, so I have a little note in my notebook, like be a detective. So I'm just going up, I'm just going to collect data. This is how I enter the ring, this is what I do with my leash, this is where I need to go, and so on, right? Don't go down any rabbit holes. If you feel yourself panicking, just go back and say, data, just collecting data.

⁓ and I've always done the same thing. Like I make sure I, I know where everything is, how it's all going to run. Then I sit down, I run it through my head, right? Like, ⁓ this is, you know, how I'm going to enter the ring and I have to do it differently for each dog. how I'm going to handle them, et cetera. And that requires an enormous amount of work. Like my brain for some reason, I don't know why, but this is just the way my brain is like.

on Saturday, my brain was like a stampede of wild mustangs. It was just all over the fricking place. And it was so frustrating because I knew it was doing that and I was like, ugh, come back, come back. And so it takes like this constant mental battle for me.

Laurie (23:41)
same.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Petra (23:56)
Right, because I am very self-aware. So I am aware when things are going off the rails and I'm like, holy Hannah, like get it together. Like I even said it out loud a few times to some people like, my God, like I can't get my brain together. like that's what I'm doing with the bulk of my time there. And probably why I look so incredibly

Laurie (24:02)
Right.

Mm-hmm.

Petra (24:22)
pissed off and intense all the time because I am literally like there should be for all intents and purposes smoke gushing out of my ears. ⁓

Laurie (24:34)
Yeah. that's how it feels. Like the concentration

level is insane. It is really hard. just standing, first of all, just standing there. And the thing is, too, is like we're tuning out all the freaking outside stimulus going on, the people coming up to us to talk. You know, like because you know if you stand ringside, someone all of a sudden, someone's standing next to you, you know, and it's distracting. It's hard.

Petra (24:47)
you

you

Laurie (24:58)
Sitting outside on my like step at my house where nothing's going on at late at night, that's way easier to concentrate than standing there with all that freaking stuff going on, right? People walking dogs, dogs barking, blah, blah. And then we're like trying to remember everything. We're trying to concentrate. We're trying to plan. It's incredibly hard. It's crazy.

Petra (25:10)
I know.

but we

need to do it because everything you just described, guess who else is going through that, our dogs. And we're asking our dogs to do the same thing, right? To have that kind of focus. And then if we're not putting that much effort into it, right?

Laurie (25:26)
Our dogs, yeah.

Right.

Petra (25:41)
Then is that's totally unfair and that happens all the time. It makes me crazy, you know, like people they're talking they're chit chat. ⁓ it's my turn. let me run and get my dog all this stuff. And then it's like, ⁓ the dog it's the dog wasn't paying attention. Well, honey, you weren't paying attention either. You know, so you really need.

Laurie (25:47)
Yeah.

Right. It's true. So true.

Petra (26:04)
It requires a lot of concentration, we owe it to our dogs. It's so funny. Like, ⁓ he said it to you, right? My training partner was like after when Zana's runs, because with Zana, my God, if I am not on her, like white on rice, boom, she's going to squirt off and God only knows what's going to happen, right? So my training partner said, yeah.

Laurie (26:15)
yeah.

Petra (26:29)
he told you, right? He told Laurie, he's like, Zaina looked really good and Patria looked really, really mad. So I think it went really well. Because that, yeah. Because like, that's how hard I have to concentrate. And I have to look at her and be like, cut that out. And then poor Zesty, like I'm concentrating so hard. And then I'm like, God, smile. God, smile.

Laurie (26:35)
You

Yeah. And I love kind of like, sounds about right.

Petra (26:56)
Smile, be happy, because that's what he needs. But I'm like, and one of the reasons I developed the whole, I never smiled with Zeal either, because I realized with Tyler that I'm in the ring and I'm trying to smile and it must have looked like rigor mortis, like I was a Halloween monster or something.

Laurie (27:19)
Ha

Petra (27:19)
You know how when you're really nervous and you're trying to smile and you're like, hey, I'm smiling. And your dog's like, what the hell are you doing? And then I'm like, okay, well, why do I even do that? Why don't I just not smile when I'm training, right? Like look serious. And to Zaina, like she is so happy when I look that way.

Laurie (27:24)
Yeah, yeah, it's scary. It's scary looking. Whoa. Yeah, totally.

Yeah.

because that's what you look like!

Petra (27:47)
I'm like, I could tell,

I'm like, I'm sure I look furious and like, you know, like it's life or death. And she's like, yay! Because to her, that's just normal.

Laurie (27:59)
Right?

Petra (27:59)
But then with poor Zesty, I have to like, you know, try and legit smile and what I'm like, this is so hard. But yeah, like for the dogs that are more sensitive, Susana is not at all sensitive. Then in addition to all that, you're concentrating and you have to also manage your face, right? Yeah.

Laurie (28:06)
Or zest? ⁓

Yeah, well that's ever. She's just like,

yeah, reading that all the time.

Petra (28:27)
Yeah, maybe in training you should just sometimes look mad and then reward her. You know what I mean?

Laurie (28:32)
Maybe I should. Maybe I should. Because what happens

is, is like you said, like I start, I'm concentrating so hard.

concentrating so hard that like she's probably that you know she looks up at me like whoa

Petra (28:41)
Yeah.

But see, the thing is that's kind of interesting. I concentrate that relative, pretty much that hard when I train. So I had an interesting, so yesterday I trained with my training partner. So he was also at the regional showing his dog, right? And then, so now I'm in his building and he's healing his dog around and I'm like, do you have food on you? He's like, no. I'm like, huh.

I go, then why is your dog healing like this here? like he healed completely different at the trial, right? So I'm like, what's different? And you know, of course, I don't know. Well, I'm like, yeah, but what you should be doing is while you're here healing your dog, you should be thinking

Laurie (29:16)
Yeah. ⁓

Petra (29:32)
be hyper-focused on every little thing you're doing with your body.

Laurie (29:38)
Right, right.

Petra (29:39)
It in training so that you discipline yourself to have such attention to that so that then you can mimic that exactly in the ring, right? So that's why And now more and more with zest on purpose. I'm trying to smile less because I'm like dude like I can't be like grinning at you in the ring all the time like

Laurie (30:00)
Right.

Well...

Petra (30:05)
And so if he

understands that my serious face does not mean you're wrong, then he's going to be fine with it.

Laurie (30:10)
Right. Right.

It's totally a thing because that's what I catch myself doing. I'm like, my God, like I probably look so different right now. Like I need to, like I'm consciously trying to remember. You need to be looking like you do in training.

Petra (30:30)
Yes, so I think that people don't, well, they don't have good transition, train to trial. And I think we've talked about that. Like they look completely different, right? But that starts with training. Like you have to develop that. So I was healing, right? So I was doing some healing with Zesty. And the reason that...

Laurie (30:38)
Right.

Right, right, right.

Petra (30:53)
came to mind and I said that to him was because I had been concentrating so hard on my healing and my body and I'm like, why is his head bobbing on my left turn? What am I doing? And I'm like micro and I'm all up in my head micro analyzing like every my body and my feet and everything. And I'm like that's and that's when it hit me. I looked at him, I go, are you doing that? He's like, no.

I'm just healing him around. I'm like, well, you have to pay attention to that in your regular training. So I think that's a super important piece that I think when people train, they're just like, ⁓ I'm training. They're loosey goosey.

Laurie (31:25)
Right?

Well, there's no pressure. There's no

pressure, right? That pressure adds, is gonna cause you to be totally different and act different and feel different. It is, they're not aware.

Petra (31:43)
But it's also awareness. People are not aware in the

moment when they're training. So when I'm training, I am hyper focused on what I am doing like every single second that I'm training my dog. Like I'm tired after I train, not just because of like, I had to problem solve, but because in the moment when I am doing things with my dog,

Laurie (31:59)
Right.

Petra (32:10)
I am like, what is my head doing? What is my shoulder doing? What is my arm doing? What are my hips doing? Like everything. And I'm doing that moment by moment by moment by moment. So I think people need to realize that A, if you don't have that kind of focus in training, you're never gonna have it in the ring. Cause it's just that much harder. If you...

Laurie (32:34)
Exactly.

Petra (32:37)
practice that kind of focus, it'll make your focus in the ring better. But also if you develop that ability to be aware of what you are doing and how you're communicating with your dog, because every nuance of what we do is information to them, then we can give them that same information in the ring.

Laurie (32:57)
Right.

Exactly. Yeah. That's super. Well, that's the thing. Well, I think for a lot of people, they're going to say, that goes all out the window because I'm so nervous. So then you have to practice like part of your routine needs to be like in training. I tell my students this. I go pretend you're at the trial, like pretend everybody's outside the ring watching you.

Petra (33:07)
Focus people, focus.

Hmm.

Laurie (33:29)
Like try to generate those feelings of nervousness, like the judge, the people watching, like, you know, all those things, like try to get yourself there so you can start really trying to practice and.

Petra (33:42)
volunteer to do demos like at your local 4-H or at a school or something, or even a lot of my students when they first go train in like new locations or whatever, they're always like, I was so nervous and self-conscious. I'm like, perfect, perfect practice for you, right? Put yourself out there, be nervous, make yourself nervous, put yourself in a situation.

Laurie (33:45)
⁓ yeah. Yep.

Yep.

Petra (34:10)
where you're uncomfortable. And so you can practice that. But if you don't have those good habits established in training, they're just gonna go out the window when you go in the ring, regardless. a lot of times I can get away with things because even if I'm not like a hundred percent, my body's just gonna autopilot do what it's been practicing for.

Laurie (34:36)
Right,

Petra (34:36)
months and years.

Laurie (34:36)
right, right.

Petra (34:38)
So it's just, you know, the problem is when I autopilot the behavior, like my cues for the wrong dog. Like when I, I've done this with Zesty where I would go on autopilot and all of a sudden I'm like, God, I'm handling him like Zaina instead of Zesty. Because Zaina is no thought. Like it is so ingrained in my body. There's no, you know, I mean.

Laurie (34:38)
Yeah.

Yeah, right. Default.

Right.

You don't have to think about it.

Petra (35:02)
at all. I don't even talk to her. I barely talk to her in the ring. It's so choreographed. It's so ingrained for both of us, right? ⁓ With Zesty, we don't have that yet.

Laurie (35:12)
Right?

Yeah. Yeah.

Petra (35:17)
getting better,

but yeah, so being aware, know, and being disciplined when you're training and not being sloppy is just so important.

Laurie (35:29)
Right. Right.

Petra (35:30)
So important. And your lucky duck underwear. Can't, you know, I mean, let's be real.

Laurie (35:35)
Looky duck underwear and paint your nails, people.

Petra (35:38)
and paint your nails.

All right. Happy training, everybody.

Laurie (35:40)
All right.

Happy training, get a routine.

Petra (35:45)
Get a routine, focus. When I was a human physical therapist, I worked in the school system for a while and this one teacher, it was like kindergarten or something and she used to say, focus, focus, let's all focus. And I swear to God, I'll tell myself that sometimes I'll be like doing something like training my dog or something or at a trial and I'm like.

Laurie (35:57)
Hocus?

Petra (36:09)
Hocus pocus, let's all focus, get your act together. So, hocus pocus people, hocus pocus.

Laurie (36:10)
Focus.

That's right,

that's perfect.

Petra (36:18)
Alright, bye.

Laurie (36:19)
Bye.