When real life interrupts your plan (or, Mox we've gotta RUN!) goals mental skills May 04, 2021

The other weekend I was running agility with Moxie. As the cruelty of the schedule gods would have it, we were in the first and last classes of the day.

Or so I thought.

So there I was hanging out in the parking lot, spread out in my end spot with Indie lounging in the sun, and I just happened to...

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Is comparison stealing your joy? goals mental skills Apr 20, 2021

Theodore Roosevelt famously said, “Comparison is the thief of joy.”

Social media has almost set us up to compare our real lives with those carefully curated and shared on platforms designed to judge. (Don’t believe me? Think about the origins of Facebook!). And social platforms...

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Mistakes are "sticky!" mental skills Apr 06, 2021

Get over it.
You’ve just got to let go.
It’s time to move on.

I’ve got platitudes for days when it comes to helping all of us to let go of a “mistake” or NQ that still haunts us. But they are all useless if we’re not ready to hear them. Sometimes we just aren’t done beating ourselves up.

Letting go,...

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Where oh where did the stamina go? dog training mental skills Feb 04, 2021

I get hung up on words or concepts periodically. “Curiosity” was my word pre-2020. I was trying to get myself and others to look at training challenges with openness and wonder instead of judgment and failure. I still love curiosity and it has shifted my training and feedback habit,...

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Buck-Up Buttercup (Or Not) anxiety & fear mental skills Nov 20, 2020

It’s not okay to be afraid.

At least, that’s what we’re taught. By parents, and teachers, and coaches … all working to make us better, tougher, more resilient.

Yet adulthood can be even scarier than those monsters under the bed or taking that first “leap” in...

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Confessions of a Supplement Junkie best of the blog dog care Mar 03, 2020

There are several possible reasons for my supplement addiction: 

  • As a marketer, I am open to being sold.
  • I'm obsessed with keeping my dogs as healthy as possible for as long as possible.
  • I believe every diet needs a little extra.
  • I kinda just love playing "chemist" with my dogs.

Like all...

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How are you investing in your dog? goals Nov 14, 2019

If you’ve been following me, you may have noticed that my inspiration for these blogs mostly comes from three sources: the struggles clients share with me; the new things I learn and can’t wait to pass on; and the sh*t I am personally going through. Today’s blog is brought to...

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Get your head back in the game. dog training Nov 06, 2019
Photo by Marie Acosta

In our day-to-day life with dogs – living with them, training, and competing – it’s easy to forget about the bigger picture. We focus on the goal or activity that’s right in front of us instead of taking the longer view. We easily misplace our reason...

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Your beliefs are getting in your way. mental skills Oct 09, 2019

In talking to a client the other day, I compared limiting beliefs to a giant suitcase we insist on dragging around. It’s heavy, the wheels face different directions and we don’t even know how it got this way. All we know is, we can’t put it down and it impacts where we can go.

...

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What my 10 days on the road teaches us about protecting our rituals. mental skills Oct 03, 2019
Photo by Kim Perry

I recently took about 10 days and drove back to Virginia from Colorado to judge. While it was a quick trip, I was floored with how much I was thrown off my routine. From what I ate to how I spent my days to working the dogs … it all seemed to go to hell!

It got me...

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Hold on loosely. goals Sep 11, 2019
Photo by Kim Perry

Sometimes it’s hard to have goals in the dog world. We put these plans together and set milestones for each dog only to have fate intervene. Injuries – ours or the dog’s – sideline us, a financial hiccup keeps us from entering, we lose our dog...

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The lonely world of dog sports. anxiety & fear Sep 04, 2019
Photo by Kim Perry

I was coaching a client the other day and what surfaced for her was that she felt her success in the dog world was dependent on her results in the ring and in her accumulated titles. This started from an exercise I had given the Q-Confidence Masterclass to really...

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