Karen Morrison Agility Tip #1 - Agility Brilliance & Your Learning History

Learning doesn't always come easy

It's so important to understand and work the dog in front of you when you begin your learning journey together. Sometimes, you have to throw your plan out the window and get creative! Sometimes, it just couldn't be easier. It can be a dream. But where's the fun in that!

Just because it worked with the first dog doesn't mean it will work with the next. I learnt that the hard way!

Learning doesn't always come easy. There may be a number of challenges to be worked through and overcome to help your dog learn new concepts and skills.

Take my young dog Brave, for example. My dream dog, everything I wanted. I was so excited about our journey together. He has given me the gift of learning and he's the gift that keeps on giving.

Someone recently said my youngest dog, Seeker, doesn't have a history of mistakes and behavior like my older boy Brave does. That really made me sit back and reflect. Seeker hasn't been allowed to fail in the same way as Brave has, as I have managed his training quite differently - actually forcing myself to step back and focus on the basics while he matured both physically and mentally. Protecting his confidence and mine.

Trying my best not to let him rehearse behaviors I didn't like - but also giving him the opportunity to learn whilst protecting his confidence. It's a balance - one that is stressful and doesn't always go to plan! It doesn't mean he's perfect - far from it, he's still got a few challenges to overcome.

But it did make me think why that was. They are very different dogs, but also very similar, in that they are not super confident.

Learning the hard way

Brave struggled with distractions big time. In particular, he didn't cope with traffic or anything that moved, displaced under pressure, and what I didn't realise at the time through our training, was that he wasn't a super confident dog. He didn't like failure, and he stressed about it. He was obsessed with his toy, and he circled and herded me when he was not coping. He wouldn't engage with me with his toy or bring it back. I got frustrated, disappointed, and my reaction to him in these situations was one that I believe lead to him not believing in himself. I hadn't done my job. My job was to protect Brave's confidence.

Confidence and self-belief in his own ability to weave first time, focus in the ring, toy retrieve and engagement, and the habit of circling or herding me - all areas that potentially could have been avoided, mitigated or minimized, if I had let go of my expectations and simply worked with the dog in front of me. Meeting him where he was at and letting agility go for a bit while we work on our relationship and growing our confidence together.

But what had happened was that as things deteriorated, so did my confidence in my ability to work with Brave and bring out the best in him.

"Number one rule of training, to bring out the best in your dog, you need to walk in confidence. Strive to do nothing more than bring that forward. Protect YOUR confidence, follow a dog training program that fuels your fire at the same time it is fueling your dogs!" Susan Garrett

Embrace the learning challenge! Challenges are just learning and growth opportunities.

Have fun and remember it's your journey. Value progress over perfection.

From Susan Garrett ... Agility brilliance comes from two places:

1. The understanding of dog training and…

2. The understanding of handling.

If you are an amazing handler, you can get by with knowing less about dog training… most of the time.

If you are teaching agility to people, you can get by with just an average understanding of dog training… most of the time.

I say most of the time because not all dogs are the same. Some dogs are just naturally brilliant. They make us all look better than we really are. For those dogs, having a weaker understanding of dog training is not a big deal. They learn and perform at the top in spite of their handlers. I’m sure you have met dogs like this.

However, for every naturally brilliant agility dog there are 10 more who bring great challenges to the table. For those dogs having a great understanding of dog training is not only helpful… it is imperative in order to bring change to that dog.

You can read more from Susan Garrett's Dog Training Blog post here ...Dog Training in Agility: What We Do For Love | Susan Garrett's Dog Training Blog (susangarrettdogagility.com)