04/27/2026
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Does Your Dog Fall Apart in Competition? Good — Because It’s Perfectly Normal…
Picture this.
You’re chatting to your neighbour about their dog and you say, “Do you fancy taking your dog to a massive field, a couple of square miles, and just letting them off lead?”
They’d probably go, yeah, sounds nice.
Then you add, “There’ll be a few hundred dogs there. A few hundred people. A burger van. Dogs running at speed. People throwing toys. Entire males, entire females… and plenty of smells from all the dogs that have already been there.”
They might hesitate slightly.
And then you finish with, “Oh—and while all of that is happening, I’d like your dog to give you undivided attention.”
Now it sounds ridiculous.
And yet… that’s exactly what we do every time we go to a competition.
The funny thing is, when you’re in the dog sports world, you stop seeing it like that. It just becomes “normal.” Just another show, another ring, another run. But if you actually step back and look at it properly, you realise we’re asking for a seriously high level of focus in one of the most distracting environments imaginable. And then we’re surprised when things fall apart.
We’ve all either said it or heard it… “but he does it perfectly at home.” Of course he does. The garden is quiet, predictable, safe. It’s the easiest version of the exercise you’ll ever see. Competition is the complete opposite. So when your dog suddenly looks like they’ve forgotten everything they know, it’s not because they’re being difficult, it’s because the entire picture has changed and they’re trying to process it.
And this is where people get stuck, because they assume something has gone wrong. In reality, what you’re seeing is actually very normal. What we’re asking dogs to do in that environment is huge. We’re asking them to ignore dogs, people, movement, smells, their own instincts… and still choose us. That’s not basic training. That’s advanced. So if your dog struggles with that, that’s normal.
You’ll also often see a drop in performance when you first step into competition. The dog that looks sharp, fast, and engaged at home suddenly feels a bit flat, a bit slower, a bit less precise. Sometimes that drop is 20%, sometimes 30%, sometimes more. That’s not your training falling apart, that’s your dog learning how to work in a much harder environment. Again, that’s normal.
And then there’s the environment itself. For a lot of dogs, it’s genuinely overwhelming at first. They’re sniffing, looking around, taking everything in, maybe struggling to settle. That’s not them being naughty or blowing you off, that’s them trying to understand where they are. In those moments, the best thing you can do is actually take the pressure off. Walk them around, let them sniff, let them absorb it without immediately asking them to perform. Give them time to acclimatise. That’s normal too.
What people don’t talk about enough is how much this affects us as handlers as well. You feel it. You get nervous, your timing changes, you rush, you move differently. You might even smell different to your dog. And they notice all of that. So when things feel a bit off, it’s not just in your head, and it’s not just your dog. That’s normal.
And then there’s that frustrating gap between “knows it” and “can do it here.” Just because your dog can perform something beautifully at home doesn’t mean they can do it in a completely different environment with completely different levels of distraction. Skills don’t automatically transfer. They need to be built, layered, and practised in context. So when it doesn’t hold up outside your training bubble, that’s normal as well.
When you look at it like this, the goal shifts. It’s not about getting your dog to “listen better.” It’s about building the kind of engagement where your dog chooses you, even when everything else is competing for their attention. Because that’s what competition really tests.
So if your dog falls apart in competition… good. It means you’re finally seeing the real picture. And once you can see it clearly, you can start training for it properly.
That’s normal. That’s expected. And most importantly, it’s fixable.
Over the next couple of weeks, I’m going to be diving into this a lot more. I’ll be running a live series breaking down how to build real focus, how to create durable engagement, and how to actually prepare your dog for these environments. And I’ve got something coming that will be a bit of a game changer for anyone who struggles with focus and engagement.
So keep your eyes—and ears—peeled 👀
