The short answer is "yes" I am affected somewhat by ring nerves.  But I would way rather take a five fault run where I felt like a real team with my dog and I ran "balls to the walls" then one where I micromanaged everything to get a "Q".  What I refer to as an "ugly Q". Of course, if we can do both, that's even better.  Having said that,I do get frustrated when I keep getting 5 fault runs so at some level I guess I need a Q to feel successful.  I think I do well under stress though as I concentrate much harder at Regionals and Nationals than at a regular trial or in a class.  As long as there are no challenges in a course that I feel unprepared for, the stress doesn't get to me BUT, if I walk a course and feel that I don't have the skills to deal with a particular challenge, it can really effect my mental game.  I would say in general though I need to learn to not be so hard on myself.  At this stage of my "agility career" I am smart enough to not blame the dog - I either didn't train a skill well enough or my handling was off.  I am hard on myself after not succeeding but I try really hard to not show it until the dog is rewarded, played with and back in their crate.  I do agility because I love dogs, it's never the same as every course is different and I love competition! 

Wendy

I mainly get nervous about keeping up with my dog when he is hyped especially where there is long stretches that I have to run with him.  When he gets to far ahead I loose control.   I, also worry about remembering the course if there is a lot of twist and turns over the same jumps.  However, I have learned from experience that I had better not worry about what my dog has done wrong, etc. and concentrate on the course "or" I will forget the course for sure and feel very embarrassed.  If I start to get to nervous before hand, I keep telling myself to just think of it as just another run in an agility class.

If by 'ring nerves' you mean an excited anticipation of an event, then yes! If by ring nerves you mean excessive worry about ability to perform which ends up interfereing with the performance then no I do not get those kind of ring nerves any more. Competitive figure skating at 10 years of age taught me that life goes on regardless of how many times you fall on your ass. I had good coaches who helped me go out and do my best. I also had realistic expectations. If I had trouble with landing an axle in practice then the success in the program was landing the axle. I think this really carries over to agility quite well.

Recently a good friend and instructor told me something that a very famous agility competator said while walking a course with someone trying for her MACH. It was " What *is it* out here that you have not trained or successfully performed? on being told "nothing' she said "then what are you worried about, just go out an do it"! (or words to that effect)

I have pre ring rituals that I like to do which settle and help me focus. (I also have to fogo them on occasion which I still have to get used to!). these rituals help me connect with my dog and warm up our relationship. I also have post run rituals which I perform with my dog as a cool down and a continuation of the play. I rarely have a post mortum ring side because I find it intrusive to my relationship with the dog. The only exceptions I might make are when I am running 2 dogs close together and someone has been holding one of the dogs - then I have to change a little and the first dog has to wait a little longer for their post run drink! (soup or yogurt as for some reason my dogs dehydrate at trials if Ido not encourage more water consumptions (thank you Wendy Pape).

I do not measure success by the 'Q'. "q' orientented strategy has never been my strong point. I try to go out on the course and do it faster and better than anyone else! Take no prisoners!!! this actually has become one of the reasons I do not  compete as much in certain venues. It has become all about the Q and no one sees success that is not also reflected in a Q!

If I failed to do something I set out to do ie say I said I need to do a front here and I could of but chickened out ... then I beat myself up a litttle.

As far as why I am doing agility - I started doing agility with Soft coated wheaten terriers who I could not take to trials because of their health problems. Agility was a game we played in the backyard. when they were well we played. When they didn't feel up to it they watched. Doing agility with these guys created a special bond that I have never had with any other animal (horse or dog). My first Lakeland 'Shadow ' is very special in a number of ways but mainly she makes me laugh and she makes me laugh most often when we do agility. The bonds we have developed playing agility I think have made us a special team. I am hoping to continue to devope similar relationships with the other terriers and now with the Wisp. We do agility because it is fun adn we have become pretty good at it. The better we have become, the better we want to be!

How about you Olga?? why do you do agility??

Hi Olga,

Wow...loaded subject for me, as you know! I'm going to answer your questions a little bit out of order, if that's okay.

Why am I doing agility? Simple. I love it. I love my dogs, and the time I get to spend with them. I have met the most incredible people, and made friends that will last far beyond our ability to participate in the sport. I love the technical aspect of agility and analyzing and strategizing. I love that the learning is never over. I love the feeling of accomplishment when something goes well.

Do I set goals? Yes. My goals with Gus have changed over the years, and might be different than what others have set for themselves. They ranged from finding an outlet for his endless energy, then to being able to compete and earn titles, then to staying in the ring and finishing a course, then full circle to having fun with Gus in the sport again. This last one, I couldn't be more thrilled to say, I've achieved, although it has been a real roller coaster.

What happens if I fail to reach my goals, and am I affected if our run did not go well? These two are closely related for me. I've been known, on occasion, to take a walk and have a cry at the end of a really disappointing run (which in itself is very frustrating, but I have to accept that this is just part of who I am). How come we can't do at a trial, what we can do in class? But then we go back at it, and try again. On the other hand, we've come out of a run with no Q, but some really cool thing has happened that is totally invisible to anyone watching (except Olga), and we have a huge celebration.

Do I measure success by the mighty Q? Nope, I can honestly say that has not been the case with Gus. (Not to say that I wouldn't have LOVED to get the last four standard legs which would have meant Gus had earned his MAD!) But I'm over it...and Gus doesn't count ribbons....

Finally...do I have ring nerves? How do I deal with pre-run stress? These are the questions I'm not sure I can answer with certainty. With Gus, I definitely had terrible ring nerves. But is that because I never knew which Gus was walking in the ring with me...the super talented guy from class, or the "super shopper" looking for a blue-light special, or the one that decided he just had to run the grand prix course with the aussie in the next ring? I want to think so, because on the occasions I've run other people's dogs, I have not had those nerves. I've gone out there and run the courses, good or not so good, without that knot-in-the-gut feeling. With Freddie, I'm hoping that my "ring nerves" will come from excitement and anticipation, and even wondering if we can do it. I do know that I'm excited to try it, and looking forward to a different kind of trial experience.

Sorry to be so long winded...but it was good to think it through, and will help me as I figure out my strategy with Freddie.  

Becky

In my previous post I left off the part about why I am doing agility and my goals. 

I am an old competitve obedience person.  When agility first came out, I watched and thought it was mostly running around a circle with your dog over obstacles and since I got out of breath making my bed, I decided that it wasn't for me.  Then it got more complicated and I figured since I could not even remember names or telephone numbers that I would never be able to remember a course.

By the time I retired from work I was burned out on competitive obedience and needed something to do so I decided to give it a try.  I absolutely fell in love with the sport at that time.  I entered my first show about year and half ago.  I have had many injuries and layoffs, but I have finally made it to Excellant B.  My current goal is to get my puli, Chip, to be more consistant and faster on the couse as I would very much like a MACH on him.

Barbara