Blind Faith

It is a miracle that we ever dig ourselves out of the holes we make.

Let's use the contact issues I have been having with Wyatt as an example. I lose confidence on course and cue him differently. He gets confused and does not perform well. Perhaps he senses my stress and that stresses him. Confidence further erodes and cuing is further changed. I wonder if we will ever be able to perform contacts as a team.

I had a similar problem with him going down on his group sits in obedience. Luckily, I have to go across the ring so I can't mess him up as directly as I do in agility.

I am thankful I was able to make progress in contacts and somehow get out of the negative spiral and start gaining confidence, which then increases my awareness on course and helps cue him better.

Just like you can have a negative spiral, you can also have a positive spiral.

The hard thing for new handlers with their first dog is that you don't have the experience to really know inside that any problem can be fixed. Blind Faith.