A quest for perfection

I've competed a lot. I've trained and trailed and in many dog sport venues: Agility, Herding, Obedience, Tracking, Rally, Schutzhund, K9 Nose Work, French Ring, Dock Diving. We've had quite a bit of success, of differing degrees, and when it all comes together it is an exhilarating thing! When it doesn't go as well as hoped, it's a time for assessment of our teamwork, our training and just plain working through those trial nerves. People always say I look so calm when I step to the line of an agility course. Inside, my nerves are screaming and I'm just trying to…
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One Potato, Two Potato….

So we've just come off a weekend of K9NW trials with success. This usually makes a weekend feel a lot better than when one experiences perceived failure. :-) However, keeping things in perspective, who really defines success or failure; you, your peers, your instructor, your dog? In K9NW we always stress the "having fun" part and yet there are times when WE don't really have as much fun as we hoped. There can be a lot of pressure to succeed and we don't always feel like we've done our best. And there are times when our dogs don't have a…
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