Q-Masterclasses

Are you confident enough to Q?

Here's a secret: You can learn to be confident!

Yes, confidence is merely a grouping of skills that together empower you to feel prepared and ready to tackle any challenge. Skills you can learn and hone with practice!

Whether you struggle with ring nerves or want to become a more confident handler in and out of the ring, I will help you develop mindset skills to help you feel more prepared, set appropriate goals, and see NQs as fuel.

This Masterclass will walk you through the foundational skills needed to become a confident leader for your team. And we all know that our dogs like us to be confident leaders!

BEST FOR: transforming into a more competitive handler.

Does pressure get the better of you?

Pressure is an ever-present force when we compete—pressure to qualify and perform at a certain level. Sometimes the pressure is external, from friends or family. But most of the time, it's internal, bubbling up from our own expectations and desires.

Often, we don't recognize the effects of pressure until we are standing at the gate with sweaty palms or butterflies battling in our stomachs. While some of us embrace a little pressure, most people try really hard to avoid feeling those performance jitters!

We can't eliminate pressure. But the good news is that no matter how pressure affects us and our performance, we can learn skills to adapt and become tolerant to pressure to achieve the goals we've set for ourselves.

This is a six-lesson, self-paced course.

How well do you recover?

Stuff happens. We make a mistake that costs us the Q. We choke just one obstacle away from the finals. We lose a dog to injury or worse.

Dog sports are a roller coaster! One minute you are flying high from a recent accomplishment and then next you are battling a "slump" and can't remember the last time you Q'd.

But that's what makes it a sport. That's why competing with our dogs is HARD and why not just anyone can do it.

If you compete, you will fail. That's just facts (and statistics!). But it's how you respond that matters.

Having the mental tools in your proverbial toolkit to recover, rebuild, and refocus will help you both in the near term and for many dogs to come!

Do your ring nerves affect your Q rate?

You and your dogs likely have all of the skills needed to perform well in your chosen venue. You've practiced, you've proofed, you're ready!

Yet, when you step to the line, nerves intervene and suddenly you're making mistakes, forgetting the course, or just sending major stress down the leash.

Some pressure can be good - it heightens our focus and helps us perform better. But how do you know what's "just right?"

Knowing how ring nerves are rooted in fear helps us get in control of what's holding us back. In this self-paced course you'll learn how fear works in our body, how we can perform alongside fear, and how tweaks to our rituals and habits can keep fear in a healthy range.

Ready to create a confident draft dog?

Developing a dog who loves to pull a cart is more than just genetics and yummy treats. Successful dogs are confident between the shafts, which starts at an early age.

Handlers are anxious to introduce their dogs to the cart but rushing it can result in a worried dog or worse. So handlers are left wondering, "What is the right age to start drafting?"

To me, it's not about age, it's about going slowly and setting a strong foundation. Luckily that can start with puppies because we are not in a hurry to hitch them up.

I've trained multiple dogs (including non-Berners) using this method resulting in dogs who love to cart along with 4 Grand Master Draft Dogs.

Go slow now to go fast later!