06/01/2026
What You Don't See in the Ring
This weekend was a reminder to me that while we're often approaching dog sports from a purely handling/training viewpoint of judging the potential of the handler or dog, there's so much more going on than what you see in those few minutes in the ring.
In the case of the dog, they have their own set of emotions and past experiences. Some are worriers who desperately want to be right. Some are highly aware of their environment, scanning for potential threats. Some are easily distracted (I maintain that dogs, like people, can have ADHD). Some of their minds operate at warp speed and the handler can't get commands out fast enough, while others process input more slowly. Some are riddled with anxiety while others are hardly bothered by anything. Energy levels vary, resilience varies, confidence varies... And since dogs can't speak in human words, most handlers are trying their best to understand and work with the dog they have.
On the other side of the leash, people have even more complicated lives. They may be dealing with the loss a beloved human or pet, struggling with chronic illness, stressed from work, or overwhelmed with daily life. People don't walk around with signs about the battles they're fighting. Sometimes when they step into the ring, all of that is running in the background of their minds. It's embedded in their nervous system. And thus, a command is late and the dog takes the wrong end of the tunnel, their cue comes out as a desperate screech that makes the dog flinch and doubt themselves, or their pitch gets high and tight and the dog, being aware of how different a competition is from class, suddenly wants to escape the pressure. We have no idea what has happened to or is currently going on with most of the folks we participate in dog sports with. There are people who come to trials or classes to get away from the burden of their lives, if only for a few hours a week.
It's so easy to judge the mechanics of what you see in the ring. But if we take a moment to consider that maybe there's more going on under the surface than what we know, we let go of that urge to judge. We stop criticizing and start supporting. We see more of the effort and improvement and not so much the perceived failures, and we leave more space to recognize the joy and pride and bond between human and dog when they're right there in front of us.
Everyone -- dogs and people -- are doing the best they can in any given moment.
(Photo by John Beals)
