Leaving..on a jet plane

Well tomorrow we leave....we fly out from Perth midnight tomorrow and get into Sydney early hours Saturday morning. I'm starting to get all my stuff together to get packed - there's still heaps of things to do tomorrow before we leave. I have three trials and two shows lined up so both me and the dogs are going to be very busy. It will be great to witness over 300 Border Collies congregate at the one place. Seventh heaven for all the ardent admirers of the breed. I am planning on having a great time no matter what - maybe even scoping out potential producers of my next puppy, catching up with those I met at the Nationals last year, meeting new dogs and having a blast on the agility field.
Last time I went to Sydney with Raven was in 2004 and we didn't do so great - I tore a muscle in my calf, Raven had bar issues and all round we were not so hot as a team. This time I must admit I have alot more confidence in us as a team. I need to get a handle on my nerves though - they can wreak havoc at times (in fact last night I awoke no less than three times with heart pounding and the image of me, my dog and agility course and several disasters happening...and this was what I dreamt, how does one tell one's subconscious to quit it?!) I am fine once we have started on the course but up until we line up on that start line my heart is pushing overdrive and my deep breathing exercises, which in every normal situation slow my heart rate, do not have any impact at all! I do have more confidence in us - Raven has shown me on multiple occasions that she has the goods when it comes to working as a team. I know that we can handle whatever challenges the course presents us. We have come along way since lingering in that Open class for three years. I guess the only thing I worry about is my level of nervousness...and I think listening to CDs like Freedom Flight by Lanny Bassham does help me get my head into the space I need to be to cope with all the extraneous details that come flashing through my thought processes. So I will be taking my discman on the plane and listening to that story, and reading simple down to earth advice about dealing with the adrenaline that gets pumped through our body at times like the "Start Line". Cypher - well he's just a young kid still, barely 18 months old and very much a novice still - the only expectations I have for him is that he copes well with the travelling, he has fun in the ring, gets to meet his breeder again and meets as many new people as possible, making a bunch of new friends along the way. When I think of how long it took me to find Raven's style and to work with her on a level that she deserved I know it won't take that long with Cypher but I always keep in mind that no matter how long it takes as long as we enjoy the whole "getting to know each other on the course" process I think we shall both experience success eventually. You can train a dog, many times a week if you want, yet you can never replicate those experiences you get out there competing in a trial ring. It takes many, many trial runs before you can get a handle on each other. Dogs change too - from week to week or month to month - you may find your handling spot on at one trial and then the next trial find your timing is completely off (could be dog moving faster as it gets more confidence) or your dog is just not reading your cues (ie you've changed the way you're giving them). That's why most of the top handlers in the world say it can take up to the age of 4 years to really start to gel as the best team you can be. I've been watching the World Champs from 2005 in Spain....it is good to see the runs that go bad as well as the runs that look as smooth as silk. Makes us humble folk who will likely never get to compete at that level realise that yes even at top levels of the sport things can go wrong for even the most seasoned, well trained and highly prepared competitors. Letting go of mistakes is one of the hardest things competitors can learn to do....some time ago when Raven first started out competing I used to let mistakes from previous runs play over and over in my head with the sentence starter "If only I..." I stopped doing that a few years back now. It certainly has improved us as a team. If I make a mistake on course I no longer give a stuff, if I get lost put her over the wrong jump or whatever I just carry on and work on making the rest of our run fantastic. If Raven drops a bar - we stop as is our rule, she gets "cold shoulder" for a while, and then when our next run is up I get her out and we do a few warm up jumps and have the biggest party when she clears the jump. She and I go to the line like it is indeed our first run of the day. This has helped us alot - who am I kidding? it's helped *me* alot....I remember this every trial I go to now and this weekend will be a good test of this affirmation of my attitude towards this game. Getting excited now!