Michele and I dive anecdotally deep into trial stress. It's been one of our biggest challenges and we are quasi-experts in the field at this point.

From stressing up to stressing down, our dogs have displayed it all but certainly not in all the ways it can be displayed. We encourage you to step back and look at your runs objectively. Is your dog happy? Are you finding yourself having to cheerlead and by the end of the run exhausted that you had to coax your dog along with promises of sweet nothings if they did one more obstacle?

Stress is real and sometimes it can be really fun. It also can be really depressing. Learn about what we went through, ask yourself is your dog performing under stress? Chances are the answer is yes, which may in fact be fine. It may also mean you have some work to do either on your own mental game or theirs.