Many of us that share our lives with performance dogs, experience start line nerves. Either on the agility field, flyball lanes or standing at the post at a herding trial. For us humans, it manifests in many different ways: butterflies in the stomach, sweaty palms, inability to eat before your run, increased blood pressure and difficulty in focus – what is it that you’re supposed to do?
Our poor pups feed off our energy – good or bad. Their nervousness can show up looking like crossing over the lanes in flyball, “forgetting” to bring the ball back and the every popular, “wow, they are sooooo slow.” In agility, our stressed pups can break the start line stay, run around jumps, bark at the weaves poles and again “wow, they are soooo slow.” My personal issue seems to be “wow, they are soooooo fast.” In herding it can show up with rushing the stock, their inability to “lie down!” and a general disregard to just about anything you are telling them. STREEEESSSS.
Many times, we walk to the line while being two of the most noodley individuals around. Now how are we supposed to succeed when neither of us can think straight?
That’s where flower essence can really help. Many people have tried the popular “Rescue Remedy” with little or no success so they just figure, flower essences just don’t work. There are many different creators of flower essences, all with very different energies and Bach Flower Essences is just one of them. The blends from Green Hope Farm called “Show Cat” spiked with their “Anxiety” blend are two of my personal favorites for performance jitters. Using it is simple, starting several days before the trial, just add a few drops to the water or food and then put a couple of drops before each run (both to human and handler) to the tongue and it can have an amazing effect. For me, I can walk to the line of any venue with a calm energy and my dogs that usually stress (mainly because their mommy is a bundle of nerves) look at me with excited eyes anticipating a great time versus look at me with the wild “yeeee, haaaaw” expression.
Where this blend is really good for performance issues, there are other ones great for general anxiety. Separation anxiety, going to the vet anxiety and thunderstorm or loud noise anxiety.
I custom blend all my flower essences using stock from Green Hope Farm and energize them with the power of Reiki. To order a custom blend, contact me at tresa@tresalaferty.com