Use dog hypnotherapy, a type of self hypnosis or hypnotism, by Laura King.
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Laura King has been around dogs and interested in showing for most of her life. In the past couple of years Laura King dedicated herself to helping handlers improve their performance, using her professional dog hypnotherapy skills as a sports hypnotist.
What Laura King emphasizes to people, whether they are listening to her self hypnosis CD's, or visiting for hypnotism services at the Laura King office, is always the same: The single most important and effective thing that any athlete or show person can do to improve their performance is to change negative self-talk into positive, empowering self-talk.
Self-talk is exactly what it sounds like. It’s our internal dialog – the words we use when we speak to ourselves either in our own minds or out loud.
It’s been established by neuroscientists and psychologists that most people carry on an ongoing dialog, or self-talk, of between 150 and 300 words per minute. They have been able to demonstrate that this works out to somewhere around 50,000 thoughts per day. Most of this self-talk consists of the mundane, routine, and harmless thoughts we all have such as “I’m hungry,” or “I need to get my hair cut soon.”
The danger for dog exhibitors and other performers is when this internal dialog takes on a negative connotation such as, “I’ll never be as good as she is,” or “I don’t even belong showing at this level.” When this kind of self-talk becomes ongoing, we create limiting beliefs about ourselves and about our abilities that may, if left unchecked, go on to become self-fulfilling prophecies. Dog hypnotherapy and Laura King's Self hypnosis adress this!
For those of you who are academic-minded, consider the Expectancy Theory, which states that you don’t always get what you want, or what you work for, but you will more often than not get what you expect. If you expect to get flustered in front of the judges, you will. If you don’t expect your dog to win, it will manifest, and he won’t.
If you prefer examples from sports legends, you might be interested in the opinion of famous ice skater Scott Hamilton, who says that when an athlete is under pressure, they perform 30% better or worse depending upon their self-talk. The parallels to dog handling are obvious: As in many sports, dog handling is an endeavor which puts your ability to focus to the test, and for many people being the center of attention can be extremely intimidating.
Laura King has noticed that poor self-talk is a huge problem in the dog showing world. After reading this self hypnosis column, go and check in on any number of dog showing discussion forums on the web. You won’t need to read long before coming across a fellow exhibitor asking for help with some technique or another while at the same time berating his or herself constantly and saying things like, “I just can’t do it!” or “I must be stupid.”
Leading up to and during a exhibition, you give yourself hundreds, maybe even thousands, of suggestions. What Laura King has been able to do with her self hypnosis series of CD's for dog handlers is to help you “program your mind” to make sure that your self-talk at these times is always positive and reflects your true talents and abilities as opposed to your fears and insecurities.
There are many “self-talk mistakes” that dog handlers commonly make when preparing for a show. Read through each of these and see if any of them apply to you or someone you know.
Focusing on the past or future: “I’ve brought my dog to this exhibit three years running, and still haven’t won.” “I can’t believe how badly I messed that run up.” These are classic examples of not letting go of past mistakes. It’s just as counterproductive to worry about what may happen. As a handler, you can always have complete control over the present moment, and that’s where your thoughts need to be.
Order your dog hypnotherapy series and dog hypnotism CD's today!
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Finally, a hypnosis CD set that addresses dog hypnotherapy and how it can help you, the dog trainer, to show better or just strengthen control of your dog. These dog hypnotism CD's by Laura King use self hypnosis to improve your confidence and utilize hypnosis to decrease negative thoughts.
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