Cheryl May's Book Reviews
"Fear No More: Competing with Confidence"
by Barbara Cecil and Gerianne Darnell. T9E
Publishing, c/o Gerianne Darnell, 11092 240th St., Council Bluffs, Iowa
51503 $26 (Includes postage)
In a compact, easily-read book of some 200 plus pages, Barbara Cecil and
Gerianne Darnell have packed an array of information on virtually every aspect
of the mental aspects of dog sports.
The authors compete in obedience, agility, conformation, tracking and herding
and have amassed an impressive number of titles on their individual dogs.
They make it clear that many of their titles and achievements were
accomplished while the authors dealt with fear, show nerves, and all the
negative emotions all of us who compete must confront. The authors say they
worked through the show nerves problems, and share with their readers the
techniques they found successful.
Recognizing that no one solution will work for everyone, Gerianne and Barbara
provide readers of their new book with multiple solutions to conquering fears
and learning to be mentally tough.
The authors recognize that more actual dog training information is
available today than ever before - on the Internet, through books, videos, and
seminars.
They say, "It's the game that is played in your mind, the one that
requires an understanding and application of sports psychology, that is going to
make the difference."
In the early 1990s, Jane Savoie's book on mental training for horse people
with its distinctive yellow cover could often be seen outside obedience rings.
Of course we had to substitute "dog" for "horse" and try to
make it work for us. Or some of us went directly to the source, Maxwell Maltz.
Unfortunately, many of us found Maltz rather difficult to read. Cecil and
Darnell have translated Maltz and expanded on Savoie for dog people.
They ask, "How did we become so fearful and negative about a sport that
we have freely chosen to play?"
Their answer is that we don't need to be anxious, fearful or negative and
we'll have a better chance of success if we can get over these negative
feelings.
The advertisement for their book says, "Fear No More covers every
stress-buster and tension-reliever from Affirmations to Zen, including what you
should eat, drink, smell and hear, potions and pills, relaxation exercises,
proper breathing, a reintroduction to psycho-cybernetics, goal setting, 20 pages
of "Quick Fixes" and much, much more!"
Truth is, there's a lot more to it, because they have evaluated all of the
potential anti-stress techniques from a dog trainer's point of view. This is the
first book I've seen whose authors have "been there, done that" in
both obedience and agility.
They don't pull any punches, though. They freely admit that a mental skills
training program takes work. Just reading their book or any other won't solve a
lifetime build-up of stress-related anxiety in the ring. They say, "These
are skills that take time and practice to attain; they are skills that you
continue to develop and refine all your competitive life."
The advice they provide is concrete and real, with specifics. On
goal-setting, they advise that daily and weekly goals be time-limited.
"Specify when you will complete them. If you do not, you run the risk of
procrastination and of making your goals an ethereal 'Someday ...' like a
wish."
Another good tip involves self-talk. They suggest readers spend a dog-show
day taking inventory of self-talk. Write it down as it occurs and at the end of
the day tally the positive and negative things you have said to yourself. They
note that we may discover that we are doing a lot of negative self-talk. We have
the ability to change this and improve our attitudes and our performances.
One of the most helpful chapters is one on proper breathing The authors say
that 98 percent of the population doesn't know how to breathe properly. They
provide the tools to get their readers into the tiny group of people who DO know
how to breathe - and therefore perform at their best.
The authors' suggestions take effort to put into practice -- just as good dog
training takes effort. But the payoff for those who take advantage of this
information is a calmer handler, and therefore a calmer dog. Probably the end
result will be improved performances. At least we will enjoy the experience more
fully.
Besides the great information, each page ends with a quote - either
inspirational or humorous - from famous people ranging from Eleanor Roosevelt to
Abraham Lincoln.
This is a fun book with an incredible amount of helpful information packed
into its pages.
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