5 Fantastic Tips to Build Our Confidence in Dog Training

​“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.  Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our Light, not our Darkness, which frightens us most.”
Nelson Mandela

 There are lots of people out there who will happily put you down, criticise you, and make you feel inadequate.  Does our own voice have to be one of them?  A quick scan through social media posts will reveal no end of people being unkind to one another.  When we expose ourselves to negative thinking, it is easy to start believing that we are less than the amazing individual souls that we all are. Why do we do this?  What if we stopped this and started believing in ourselves?  What would life be like if we had unwavering confidence in our own abilities? 

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Most people suffer from little or low self-confidence when they begin something new.  When it comes to training our dogs we need to make effort to learn new skills.  As we learn we become more confident and our relationships with our dogs grow. While some people are naturally talented, most of us have to work hard to become good at these things.  This requires dedication and practice.  But the ability that keeps us showing up to train is a belief in ourselves and our dog.  
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Tips to Build Your Confidence

 
Believe in Yourself
Daily affirmation: ‘I believe in myself’ – our thoughts become deeds so practice this every day.  When you believe in yourself and choose to be a kind, loving, compassionate and generous person you will be more positive and successful.
 
Dare to Dream
Have the courage to dream, to pursue your goals.  Do not limit your thinking – if you want to win at Crufts you can, if you want to become part of a Search & Rescue Team you can, if you want to walk in the countryside with your dog off lead you can, if you want your dog not to react to others you can.  There are no limits and every dream is possible if you put the work in.  We all have capabilities and talents that are not yet discovered, who knows what we may become if we dare to try.
 
 
Expect Good Things to Happen
Set your expectation setting to POSITIVE. If you have positive expectations you will expect good things to happen to you and your dog.  You will be positive and focused on the future.  It is easy to let your thoughts turn negative after you have had a distressing encounter with another dog or a person.  This can cause us a negative bias, an expectation that this will always happen.  If we keep ourselves on track and reframe our thinking to understanding that every day is a mystery – it hasn’t happened yet. Who knows what will happen.  Exciting isn’t it!
 
Change Your Attitude
Stay optimistic.  The trick is to learn to be resilient to life.  Accept that there will be disappointments along the way, it is in making mistakes that the learning occurs.  Learn to bounce back from the trials of your life.  Our dogs need us to be positive and forward-thinking so that they may feel safe in our company.  Stop comparing yourself to other people.  You are a unique individual and no one else can be who you are.
 
 
Put It In Action
When we have belief in ourselves, this must be put into action.  What do you believe you can achieve with your dog?  What qualities do you bring to your relationship? How can you help your dog be the best that they can be? Put these thoughts into action. When we create movement, we create energy.  This moves us forward and when we move forward we grow.  It is only when we sit still, that we paralyse ourselves to believe that we cannot do things.  Remember if you can imagine it, it is possible.  Thoughts become deeds by putting plans into action.

Do You Need Help?

​Do you need help building your confidence – if so I can help?
I offer individually tailored 1-2-1 Canine Coaching Sessions.
Each session is 1-2 hours long and includes a follow-up email report and telephone support. Sessions start at £45, packages are available for multiple sessions.

Contact Me