New Title and Life Lessons

Moto got his CD this weekend, but it's hardly a cause for celebration: we received the three lowest consecutive scores I have ever had in my entire obedience career. The first two legs I could've lived with - significant deductions because of a lag on both fasts - but it was his third leg that was the absolute worst. Moto just didn't care to try.
No matter what I do with my dogs, no matter the outcome, I always want them to just TRY.
Our Novice run on Sunday was so bad I was actually hoping we'd NQ somewhere along the way as I didn't want to receive the score.
But qualify we did, and here we are with his CD and I'm left with a lot to think about.
It's rarely fair to blame the dog, and such is the case here. It's always been my opinion that the way the dogs ARE in the ring is a reflection of your relationship at home. Please understand: this does NOT mean the perfect-scoring dogs have a perfect relationship, that is a skilled trainer. What I mean is the dog's demeanor and attitude inside the ring. If there are any holes in your relationship, it will present itself in the ring.
Since Moto lazily followed me around the ring during heeling and didn't bother to sit or finish on the recall, his message to me was loud and clear: I'm Not With You.
OUCH.
I need to re-evaluate my training program with him. Moto is a well-trained dog and when he wants to, can display a high level of accuracy. While it won't be fair to ask him to attain an OTCH or a 200, it IS fair to ask for effort and a decent score.
So where did it all go so terribly wrong?
At this point in my ruminations, I think the broken link is where I fade food and toys in my training to where I become the "cookie" for the dog. With Dusty, Shiloh and Blitz this was no problem whatsoever, but with Moto - who is a much lower drive dog - I am once again guilty of going to far, too fast. I am not a very good "cookie" for Moto, and he doesn't care to please me. And it hurts. A LOT.
Another Life Lesson presented itself: after our awful performance I wanted to crawl into a hole somewhere and be miserable.
This is where being a Good Sport came into play: keeping emotions in check and cheering on your classmates. I neede to put our bad moment away for awhile. There was one of my training classmates that attained a CDX after many struggles, a fellow Novice competitor that did very well and got High In Trial to name a few. It was nice to forget my troubles for awhile and I was genuinely happy for others who attained their goals.
It's easy to be a Good Sport when you've won your class. It's more challenging when you're at your lowest, but it's a good lesson to learn.
As with all competitive venues, it's always what you learn and apply to real life that are most valuable. And I did grow this weekend, but they were Growing Pains.