Five Ways to Crush It at Your Next Dog Agility Seminar

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Five Ways to Crush It at Your Next Dog Agility Seminar

Written by Lorrie Reynolds

Lorrie has been an agility enthusiast since 2002 and has taught tricks, family obedience, agility, and canine conditioning since 2005. When she's not writing articles, developing courses, or training dogs, you can find her curled up with a book in her hands and a dog warming her feet.

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MAKING THE MOST OF UNEXPECTED OPPORTUNITIES FOR DOG TRAINING

Many (many) years ago, I ended up at a seminar presented by a well-known European competitor. The opportunity fell into my lap – someone had to cancel and was selling her spot for 1/2 price. Since one of my close friends was going, I decided to join her.

The instructor wasn’t someone who played “my” kind of agility. Back then, international-style courses were just starting to trickle into the US. Pixie was young, hadn’t been training that long, and I didn’t think we would do very well, but any chance to play is a chance to play!

WORKING THROUGH TRAINING PROBLEMS WITH YOUR AGILITY DOG

I won’t lie – we struggled at first. Pixie was not used to tight courses, backside jumps, or odd angles. After she went off course for the umpteenth time due to her distance training, I heard someone making comments about “NADAC dogs”.

I’m a little stubborn though. That comment just made me work harder and take advantage of a learning opportunity. I soaked it up, watched everyone else, and figured out how my handling had to change, determined to show that “NADAC dogs” could do it just as well.

The last sequence (yes, I remember it) was the near end of a curved tunnel, jump, 90 degree turn to a jump, backside of a jump that was obviously right in line, jump, and then over the A-Frame on the other side of the dogwalk, into a tunnel under the dogwalk, and a complicated little 3-jump sequence at the end.

I used my distance to get into position for the backside, sent her to the A-Frame while I layered the dogwalk, and called her through the tunnel where I was waiting in a good position to finish the 3-jump series. When we finished, the instructor said one word. “Wow.” There were no more comments about NADAC dogs.

Dog agility instructor helping a student

TAKEAWAYS FOR YOUR NEXT DOG AGILITY SEMINAR

That seminar taught me a lot of lessons. I’m sharing them with you:

Never pass up a learning opportunity, even if it’s out of your comfort zone
Keep an open mind – training is for experimentation
You learn just as much from watching other students as you do participating
You can treat failure as a reason to give up, or motivation to try harder
There is always something new to learn, even if it’s not your “style”

Part of the inspiration for my “Multi-Dimensional Dog” seminar was that experience. It taught me that I could use my distance to get into position to handle the technical parts of a course, allowing us to be a versatile team, even if I couldn’t run.

Are you attending a seminar in the near future? I hope you can put these lessons to good use!

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