Lorrie [00:00:07]:
Are you feeling bad about your agility journey because you don't have the same goals as the people you see on social media? In this episode, we'll talk about your dog agility goals, your personal journey, and how to deal with other people's expectations that may not meet your own. Welcome to the Maximum Fun Agility podcast. I'm Lorrie Reynolds, owner of Maximum Fun Dog Sports. We meet your agility team where you are and help you reach new heights of success. Agility has always been on a pendulum. It moves towards safer, more flowing, straightforward courses, and then swings towards highly technical courses with lots of turns and collection. As I'm recording this podcast, it has drifted toward international style courses with rings that are 130 by 100 feet and contain technical elements like backside jumps, 360 degree wing wraps, and difficult weave entries. These elements are often on opposite ends of the ring, so handlers have to do the 40 yard dash multiple times across the ring to get to the spots they need to handle from.
Lorrie [00:01:16]:
There have been similar drifts and shifts in the past from the highly technical courses of USDAA to the cramped spacing of AKC that favored small dogs who ran collected. Nothing in agility is permanent. But the huge courses with tons of running are what most people are seeing on social media right now, and many of the handlers on those courses have high aspirations for world team or invitationals. Seeing so much emphasis on these types of courses can really make people think they aren't good enough or they shouldn't be doing agility. It can make people who aren't fit and in their twenties feel like they don't have any chance of being successful. If that's you, I want you to stop right there and consider a different perspective. First, people who can't run like the wind can succeed on those types of courses. It just requires a different approach to training.
Lorrie [00:02:12]:
Teams have to learn to work at a distance. Dogs need to be confident and independent, and handling has to be very clear and consistent. It's a lot of work to train for those types of courses, but it can be done even if you can't run. But second, nobody says that you have to run on international style courses to be a successful agility team. My mom is a golfer. Even now in her eighties, she plays on a golf league. She has never been a world class golfer, but she's won a tournament or two in the local league. I have a friend who's a tennis player and has won a few tournaments at the state level.
Lorrie [00:02:52]:
She has no interest in going past the state level, even though she plays tennis almost every week. Should either of those people give up playing, quit the sport, or be made to feel like they are less than just because they decided not to try to play in a bigger arena? I can think of many examples of sports or even hobbies where people get together to play, paint, write, and spend time with a like minded group of friends, but they have no desire to go pro. Look at all of the bowling leagues, softball teams, paint and sip parties, or other activities where people are participating in an activity at a level that they choose and are not looked down upon because they don't wanna play on a bigger stage. You don't need to go to the Pro Am, pick up minor league baseball, or have a gallery showing to be respected and enjoy their hobby or sport. The drift towards international style giant courses can feel exclusionary. If you aren't young and fit with a fast dog who jumps full height with ease, you can feel like you don't belong. Or even worse, you shouldn't do agility. But this has been the case for years.
Lorrie [00:04:06]:
People with mixed breeds were not allowed to play an AKC when I started. People who didn't have fast dogs and a lot of distance felt excluded from NADAC. USDAA was once the peak of competitive agility, and if you didn't jump your dog full height, a ton of negative comments were made. Feeling FOMO or left out isn't restricted to just one type of handler or team. People can inadvertently make you feel bad about your agility journey even if they don't intend to. Here's a great example. At the place where I go for agility classes, the instructor asked me, Are you ever going to jump him at 20 inches? You know he measures into that height. A lot of things went through my mind as she made that comment.
Lorrie [00:04:51]:
You know, he's only 15 months old and I'm not ready to move him up. Maybe I'll decide to never move him up because I wanna be able to play longer. The venues I play in don't place a lot of significance on which height you jump. What I actually said was, I don't think I'll move him up right now. My plan is to jump him in skilled or preferred or whatever so that he can play for longer. She responded that just because they jump higher doesn't mean that their careers will be shorter. However, the best height to jump a dog at is very dependent on that individual dog. The lessened impact from jumping lower can allow many dogs to have fewer problems with arthritis as they age.
Lorrie [00:05:32]:
But if a dog jumps flat and lands hard when at a lower height, jumping them lower can have the opposite effect and cause more physical damage. Back to the original comment about jump heights, I'm sure she didn't intend to imply that keeping a dog at a lower height was less than. But that is definitely the way it came across. And if I'm feeling that defensiveness when I've had years to determine what I want when it comes to agility and the experience to judge what is best for my dog? What do those kinds of questions do to newer people? I'd imagine they make them question everything about their decisions if they aren't trying for a giant lofty goal. So what is your goal for agility and why? Your ultimate goal is something you really need to spend some time thinking about. It should reflect you and your wants and needs and should not be a reflection of someone else's goals for your team. So many times, people get wrapped up in whatever path their instructor is on, and that may or may not be the right path for them. It causes a mismatch in expectations and can be frustrating for both parties.
Lorrie [00:06:46]:
If the instructor is on an international competition path, they may be wondering why their student isn't practicing more, refining skills used on international courses, and doing mindset work to get ready for big competitions. The student with a goal of playing agility at local trials in a laid back venue like NADAC or ASCA will often feel inadequate under those expectations and might feel pressured to push herself and her dog harder than they should. Your goal needs to match your expectations, and your instructor should have a clear understanding of your goals and be respectful of your path while doing everything she can to help you get there, whether it's the same path she's on or not. If your instructor only focuses on a path that doesn't meet your goals, you should think about supplemental or alternate instruction that can help you get there. For example, my young dog needs exposure to working around others, and we need a place to play when the weather is bad. The classes I go to every week are very much focused on international style skills since that's what the instructor prefers. She's young and healthy and can run with her dog. Her goal isn't necessarily international competition, but it is is national competition on that style of course.
Lorrie [00:08:06]:
My eventual goal, on the other hand, is to place at NADAC championships on courses that are very much more about distance and speed than they are about collection for wraps and getting to a handling point for tricky weave entries or backside jumps. I go to the classes and sometimes practice that style of handling because I think it's fun and I like to have a lot of tools in my toolbox when it comes to handling. Sometimes I practice different handling than she has her other students working on because my emphasis is on distance since I can't run. However, I balance the international style classes with practices on my own that emphasize the skills that I will be more likely to use in my preferred venues. There's a lot of difference between wanting to play in the backyard for fun, wanting to compete and do well at local trials, wanting to trial at the national level, and wanting to succeed in an international arena. So how do you choose which one's right for you? First, consider your future capabilities and your dog's ability. It is a much longer path for a handler with decreased mobility and a dog who only likes the game to get to a high level on international style courses. I'm definitely not saying it can't be done, but it will take a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to get there.
Lorrie [00:09:26]:
On the other hand, if you're young and fit with a fast dog who loves the game, but you don't have a competitive bone in your body, your goal probably should not be international competition, even if it's technically within your capabilities. So ability, future potential capability of the team, and desire are the first things to look at. The second thing is how much time and effort you're willing to commit. If your goal is to play in your yard for fun, then you will need to go to classes to get the foundations to play safely. But after that you can decide if you want to attend a weekly class or not, or if you want to join an online membership or course to help you plan what you're going to work on. And you can spend as much or little time as you want practicing at home if that is your goal. If you're aiming for international competition, your life will be dedicated to agility. You can expect to practice daily or almost daily, work on mindset for competition, incorporate physical fitness for both you and your dogs, and study various aspects of course design, dog health, food supplements and treatments, and training plan design so you can be at peak performance for tryouts and competition.
Lorrie [00:10:40]:
Those are wildly different paths at the extremes of the range. Most people fall somewhere in between. The more interested in competition at higher levels you are, the more time you should expect to commit to training and preparation. My goal of placement at a national competition is on the higher end of the scale, but is not out of reach for many competitors. Competing without expectation of placing at a national competition is within reach for most competitors if that's the goal. My training schedule is a little more intense right now since I have a young dog who is still learning. We currently go to one group class each week, and we generally practice with a friend for an hour or so on the weekend. At home, I normally have one more structured fifteen minute practice each day with three or four five minute practice sessions to work on a couple of specific skills.
Lorrie [00:11:37]:
I'm not in a big hurry to start competing and would probably add another fifteen minute structured session each day if I wanted to get there faster. By structured sessions, I mean practicing with a specific larger goal in mind. For example, when my dog turned a year old, I started teaching weave poles. Our fifteen minute sessions each day focused on weave pole training first and then whichever secondary skill I chose. Sometimes the structure is all about a specific sequence. I spent fifteen minutes two days in a row working on different handling positions on the outside of a pinwheel. Part of the reason was so I could create a video for my online membership, but my primary goal was testing our directional skills on a specific pattern. Once my dogs are trained, I generally cut back to one group class each week, an occasional practice with a friend, and just one or two fifteen minute sessions each week.
Lorrie [00:12:34]:
We're always teaching something during short five minute sessions, but it is focused less on agility skills and more on things like tricks as my dogs get more experienced with agility. If your goal is to do well at local trials and you don't have a desire to compete at the national level, you could reduce your commitment quite a bit and still succeed. Your time commitment is up to you and should be part of the equation when you're deciding on your goal. The bottom line is that there are opportunities for a wide variety of paths and experiences. Choosing one path over another does not determine your worth as an agility team. It's also okay to decide which venues you like and avoid the ones you don't. People tend to have a mental ranking of venues determined by how hard they think they are. However, a lot of times, that is like comparing apples to oranges.
Lorrie [00:13:30]:
Each venue requires a specific set of skills. More distance and drive is needed for NADAC, ASCA, and UKI. More strategy is necessary to succeed in venues like CPE that have a higher number of handler determined strategy games. Technical skills like backsides are required on UKI and USDAA courses, while discrimination skills and directionals rank high for NADAC. AKC requires the dog to know how to run in collection and is the only venue that still requires the self control of a table in the middle of the course at the lower levels. CPE is great for teams who thrive on variety and have skills and strategy and mental flexibility. When you're researching a venue, you should find one or a few that match your personality, your interests, your dog's strengths, and your personality type, and then find someone who can help you reach your goals within those venues. Ask around for people's opinions on the venues in your area.
Lorrie [00:14:34]:
They will let you know which ones have more relaxed groups and which are more focused on competition. To be honest, the most important criteria when you are deciding on which venues to participate in is whether or not you like the people who attend. Agility is supposed to be a fun activity for you and your dog. If you aren't enjoying spending time with your fellow competitors at a trial, you're in the wrong place. There will always be people who think you aren't doing enough, that your goals are unrealistic, or that you are overtraining. I'm sure that I could find one group of people who think I'm training my puppy too much and an entirely different group that thinks he should be starting to compete at 15 months and I'm going too slowly. I decided on my goal for his first competition before I even got him. It's based on confidence, his ability to work at a distance, and meeting specific goals or benchmarks rather than a certain age.
Lorrie [00:15:34]:
My guess is that he will be at least 20 months old before I'm ready to enter him in a trial. So how do you tune out the naysayers? You have your own goals and you understand the reasons behind them. You give actual thought to what you want to achieve instead of changing based on other people's goals for you. You do enough research and introspection that you can stand firm with what you want even if someone else thinks it's too much or not enough. You think about your responses ahead of time and know how to politely answer negative comments. And then you enjoy your own personal journey with your dog and disregard what everyone else thinks. This week, your challenge is to really think about your goals in agility and the whys behind them. You made it through another episode of the Maximum Fun Agility podcast.
Lorrie [00:16:31]:
Come see how we can help you and join our community at www.maximumfundogs.com. Happy training.
