As you may know from my post about nose work last week, I sent my mom to a mental management seminar with Teah and Chuck Anders, certified trainers. Trust me, it was necessary! Mom learned a lot about mental management in our sports, but also how it really can be applied in everyday life. Saturday was a full day of classroom, and Sunday was a half day of hands on training.
One thing about my mom, she has a very strong mind, and she is excellent at mental management, BUT she is not a team person. She has always participated in sports like running, golf, singles tennis, etc., because she doesn’t want to rely on others for success, or be disappointed by others for ruining her success. Now that she has taken up dog sports with Bailie and me, the team aspect has been hard for her to deal with. The mental management seminar was just what she needed to understand how to manage her mind in a team with a dog.
Our sports of nose work and tracking make mental management even more difficult. We are a team in sports where the human is really at the mercy of the dog. Sure the human can provide some support and guidance but ultimately, finding the hide or the articles on a track is something only the dog can do. Dealing with this part has been the tough thing for Mom to handle in our competitions.
What is mental management all about? What did Mom learn? Will it help us as a team in the future?
Teah and Chuck did a great job of covering the process of mental management. The seminar was really aimed at dog sports, but can be applied life in general. I won’t go into specifics as I’m not qualified to teach the subject but I want to share some of the things that really clicked for my mom. Mental management in a nutshell is really a three step process. There is before the actual action starts, during the action, and after the action is completed. My mom had many of the steps in these areas down already, but she didn’t know how to use them in the team environment.
What were the biggest “ah ha” moments Mom took away from the weekend?
The top concept was the conscious and subconscious mindsets. This is easiest understood by thinking of riding a bike. When you learn, you have to consciously think about every move you make to keep from falling over (conscious mind). In time, riding a bike is second nature, you simply do it without thinking (subconscious mind). Once you ride in a subconscious state, what happens when conscious tries to chime in? Most likely the bike crashes because it interferes with a smooth running process. The same can be transferred to our nose work. For example, in my first NW3 search, Mom was confident, let me do the work, helped me check the last two cars, and we were successful, because Mom was mainly in her subconscious mind for the search. I did the work, she followed and trusted me as we do all the time in practice. Why did we fail the rest of the day? After realizing she had forgotten to reward me after my finds, her mindset went out the window, and she spent most of the next searches in a conscious mind which caused many mistakes.
The mental reset is the second important thing Mom learned about. After realizing her error in not rewarding me for my finds in the first search, Mom lost her confidence, and her ability to regain a positive mindset. The seminar explained clearly the importance of a mind reset, how to play positive “movies” in your mind after something goes wrong, so you can get right back to success. No matter what you do, whether you are successful or not, always try to have a positive mindset. We dogs are excellent at reading our handlers, and we know when they are calm vs. when they are a basket case, so it is important to have the mental management correctly in place. My mom’s weird behavior caused my behavior to also change resulting in a poor performance, but we did learn a lot from it nevertheless.
Mom took Bailie to the hands on training because she has had a tough time understanding and trusting Bailie. Mom and I work very well together, and have a similar working style, but Bailie is different. The video is of an interior search where Mom had all three components of mental management in place. There where three hides to find in two minutes, it was a blind search (handler does not know the hide location), and off leash. Note how Mom is in the search, but she is letting Bailie work, and she is trusting her. See how well Bailie did! She found the first hide in just eleven seconds, and then found the next two hides. Bailie did get off track to sniff a person, and later the floor because she thought she lost a treat, but with a bit of help from Mom, she was back on track. Both Mom and Bailie left the search feeling good. The subconscious mind allowed Mom to let Bailie do her job without pressure or stress, and after the search she had the positive “film” in her mind.
If you are in dog sports of any kind, you really should attend a mental management seminar as it will definitely help you become more in tune to your dog, be relaxed in your sport, have more fun, and be more successful overall. A positive mindset is good for all areas of your life. You can see, Bailie is very appreciative of the help the seminar has given Mom! Now we are looking forward to my two elements trials on June 4th and 5th, to see if Mom’s new strategy helps Team Emma!
On a side note, don’t forget to enter to win one case of Bravo Canine Cafe Dinners. The giveaway ends Monday night!
This sounds really interesting and I can see how it can be applied to many things. I like the idea of playing positive movies in your mind after things go off course. That’s an important thing to remember, but not always easy in the moment.
Not easy is right, but you have to train yourself to just do it.
Good job Mom and Bailie!
They are on a real role these days.
The mama said that would be great for my dad and me… we are no team just frenemies… and we both would need some help on that front… we both… not only me…
The mental game of the human is really important when teaming up with a dog.
Those are excellent useful tips, and could be applied to so many parts of life. Being a competitive person is hard. We feel so crushed when things don’t go well. This looks like an excellent course to take and learn from.
It is even more tough when your team is a dog because most of the time it is not the dog’s fault, so the human blames themselves.
Great advice! Good luck June 4th and 5th. You and your mom can do it, Emma! XOXO Sparkle
Thank you. Wee will have a good time no matter what!
I’m so glad this class helped mom (and that you thought to send her.) People like mom (and me) tend to really get off focus when something doesn’t go the way we intended it to. What I’m learning to do is replay the event in my mind and change the outcome to what I wanted it to be, that way I don’t get fixated on it.
I’m also very jealous that you are sending mom to WordPress camp this weekend. I’ve been waiting for one to be scheduled near me.
Have a great weekend….what will you do with yourselves with mom out of the picture? 🙂
We always enjoy the time when she is away so we can just relax and nap. When she is home, she keeps us so busy! I hope by sending Mom to all these events she will learn a lot and it will tire her out, LOL!
Mom with be rockin’ it with you now!
That is the master plan. We shall see.
It sounds like an awesome class to attend. Mom does the same thing when she is writing and if someone brings here back to her conscious mind, all of the writing stops. LOL!
You are kind of right there too. Never thought about the writing part!
How fascinating! That was well worth the day spent learning all that!
It was a day and a half, and well worth it!
It’s hard when your styles don’t sync. Mr. N and I are pretty similar but some dogs I’ve struggled with more. Glad the seminar was insightful!
Mom has learned what makes Bailie tick and it seems to be working, so hopefully if she can stay calm they will have a lot of success! She says it is easier with me as we think a lot alike.
Our Mama sounds a bunch like yours when it comes to individual mind management instead of being part of a team…we bet she would benefit from a class like this too!
Smileys!
Dory, Jakey, Arty & Bilbo
I think most humans could use such a class. If nothing else, it helps take the negative out of daily life.
I’m so glad for your Mom that she took this class. It all makes perfect sense. I know what it’s like to make one little mistake and then have things just spiral out of control because you’ve lost your concentration, and then start doubting and “overthinking” everything. I’ve never figured out how to snap out of that mode, and I can also see where it would come in handy at work and with other things too. I do that some when training with Luke too – I screw up and then I just can’t get myself straightened out. We usually just have to take a break at that point, because I do see where it affects Luke too.
Can’t wait to see if this helps your Mom in the next trials, I have a feeling it will.
Over trying is also a huge no no, as it always causes failure. It is a fine balance but if you can relax, get the mind in a positive state, and let the subconscious mind work, success will come. I hope it comes in two weeks at my two elements trials!
I want to start Jaxson in agility training this fall (the summer months here are just too hot) and I could see how beneficial this course would be for the two of us.
It really would help you guys out. He will be so focused on you and what you are doing, you need to keep a calm state.
Practice makes perfect Emma so I’m sure your mom will be pawsome at the team concept soon. Happy tracking!
We will see if she can get her mindset down. I think she can do it.
I loved reading this post: The one thing that threw me in her training was the sub-conscious mind. I think in training, I’m there with Walter – just supporting him and knowing when he’s in odor and when I’m in trials I think I’m in my conscious mind… only one or two searches during an Element trial did I feel differently, totally in control. I also don’t do well being at the mercy of our hounds! I screw them up I know it! Great post — and let me know about your NW3 trial… June 4!
Having just had the two days of trials the week before, Mom could really analyze things and she could tell exactly when her mind slipped out of the subconscious and the “damage” that did. With time and practice, you will find you can trust Walter. Off leash searches are a great way to learn to trust your dog as they do what they need to do. Our trials this month were the first time Mom let us choose which vehicles to start with and it worked like a charm. Sadly, I don’t have another NW3 coming up, I’m on the waitlist, but June 4 & 5 I have L1I and L2C elements trials so we can test this mind thing out with that. Trials around here are filling up so fast and have long wait lists so we are looking at traveling again.
We have always approached our testing and training as fun. I know many people who approach them more as a competition, “my dog is better than your dog”, as if the title is the goal rather than the training. I think that defeats the whole purpose of having fun with your dog. Did the seminar address this at all?
In our sport, the dominant theme is always first and foremost to have fun with your dog, and then if you title, all the better. My mom has a hard time just having fun and not getting a title because she is competitive, but she is getting better at it. You need to relax, and let it happen, and it will happen, that was the basic premise of mental management.
Sounds like a really resourceful seminar.
It was great for all phases of life.
That sounds really helpful for all dog owners, even those of us not in competitive sports. It really helps explain how our own mindset has a big impact on our dogs behavior, whether we’re realizing it or not. I’ve noticed on days when I’m much more relaxed or “in the zone” during our walks Laika seems to be more happy & calm, rather than the days where I’m crabby or anxious.
It was geared towards sports, but they talked about using it in business and every day life. It really was an awesome class.