[00:00:00] Hey there. If you're an agility nerd, you are in the right place. You are listening to fostering Excellence in Agility. I'm Megan, your resident agility competitor, coach and mentor, and this podcast is where I break down all things agility and guide you on your path to excellence. Are you ready? Let's go.
Hi there everyone. I first want to thank all of my listeners for their patience while I have taken some time off from producing the podcast to focus on other things going on in my life and my business. It's really. Important to me to put out content of quality. And so when I can't give you my [00:01:00] all, I tend to kind of take a break.
And now I am back and ready to continue this podcast where we are now with episode 30. And in this episode, if you are listening to it on the day that it is coming out, it. Is mostly because I'm also presenting a webinar tonight for the Fenzi Dog Sports Academy, tonight being June 1st. And so this episode is going to be kind of summarizing what my webinar is about, which is course analysis and using your walkthrough effectively.
So I want to take you through some of my. Process and the tips that I have and talk to you a little bit about that, and hopefully you will also join me later on for this webinar. [00:02:00] But first, let's talk about the agility course from your dog's perspective. We have to. Be able to put ourselves kind of in their role and view the course, how they're going to view the course and collect data about how they view the course.
And we do this in training and in competition. So that the more we understand how they view the course, the easier we can strategize for them. And we do have to collect a certain amount of evidence about our own dogs because so many things can impact the way we choose to handle something. Um, a really common one is how your dog naturally exits tunnels.
Um, my previous. Most competitive dog smack. He [00:03:00] didn't curl into me a lot, but he did always come out of the tunnels looking for me, checking for me. So, Sometimes if there was a really tight turn on the tunnel, I didn't have to be as intense with the turning cues, whereas now I'm learning with Sprint. She goes really far, really straight and just kind of makes sure that I'm still in the picture at all. She doesn't curl towards me. She doesn't turn all that turn towards me all that much. She continues straight for quite a while, so any sort of turn out of the tunnel, she needs a much more intense cue than he did. And so while all of that evidence that I had while running smack definitely helps me, it's not just a copy and paste.
The things that I did with him that were really successful don't necessarily work the same way for her. So, All of your education across all of your dogs is important, but it's really important [00:04:00] to collect data and evidence about your current dog or dogs and understand that they are different and will need different things.
So all the pieces of that are understanding your dog's path. Where are they going to take off for a jump? Where are they going to land for a jump? How are they going to exit the tunnel? Do they have stopped contacts or do they have running contacts and what is going to be their most natural exit line of the contacts?
Understanding how they exit weave poles, so truly understanding the dog's path that they will most naturally take so that you understand how much you need to impact your dog's path with your handling. Second thing is when you are observing your dog's path, what do they see first? Do they see the correct obstacle or do they see an incorrect obstacle?
And if they see an incorrect one, how [00:05:00] many incorrect obstacles or paths do they see before they're able to see the correct one? Because the amount of paths that they need to ignore in order to get to the correct one should indicate to you how intense your turning cue needs to be. And we also have to understand their preferences.
So my dog Smack he. Didn't really have a huge preference for taking tunnels. So while I would note that yes, he can see that tunnel, it wouldn't bother me so much because I didn't have this expectation of him taking it. But he did have this, uh, pull to the weave poles. If weave poles were kind of on his line and he could see them, he would gravitate towards them a bit.
Whereas with Sprint, I'm not [00:06:00] sure she has any preference. I think all obstacles are equal opportunity for her and it is a stronger obstacle focus than I've had with my previous dogs. So it is something that I have to continue to update in my understanding of how to handle her. And lastly, the the third thing that we want to think about when we are.
Understanding the course from the dog's perspective is how dogs are choosing which way to turn, and primarily this is based on where we are in relation to the dog. Dogs are naturally wanting to turn towards us. We have to teach them when they're puppies and in their foundation training. How to turn away from us because they have to change their leading leg and make a manual adjustment to turn away from us.
So first, they're using our position. Second, [00:07:00] they are going to be using the obstacle. So for example, a, a curved tunnel is going to force them to turn one direction or the other regardless of where your position is. And thirdly, it would be what is the handling telling them to do? So are you asking them to turn away?
Are you asking them to turn towards you? And as dogs mature, they kind of start to read some lines sometimes, so they can also be impacted by the angle of a jump or trying to anticipate what your handling is. But all of that is information that we need. And data that we can collect from our training runs and our competition runs so that we can understand how each individual dog is viewing the course and how our handling may or may not impact that.
The next thing I want to talk about or mention is the [00:08:00] importance of sticking to the plan. I often hear people talk about, Plan A or plan B or plan C, or if this happens, I'll do this handling strategy, but if this happens, I'll try this. And if we're qualifying, I'm gonna do this. And if we're not qualifying, I'm gonna do that.
And so I just want to briefly talk about from a mental standpoint, that if you are preparing for things that may or may not happen, I'm sorry to say that your brain will probably. Not let you take any risk and will always. Kinda hold you back and keep you to your safe plan, which is not a bad thing. We definitely need that safety plan, that that inevitable clean round strategy for certain times in our competitive careers.
We need to be able. To spit out some clean runs when we need them. So [00:09:00] having that information of this is what feels safe, and this is what feels doable, and this is what I feel confident in, is really important. However, if you aren't. Allowing yourself to be confident and commit to a plan, you are probably always kind of falling back on that backup plan.
And so that backup plan is actually your safe and comfortable plan, and I just want to throw it out there for everyone to consider that the more you are able to predict and plan for about your dog, then the strategy that you choose. Is going to be the best way forward in committing to a plan and rehearsing that plan and sticking to that plan is actually more important for progressing your team than if you got that paper result that you were after or not.
[00:10:00] This is a big shift in the way that I look at agility now. Um, that happened when I was struggling with my. Mindset in agility because I was so focused on the paper result, I was having all these feelings of needing to react in the moment and make decisions in the moment and change my handling on the fly in order to accommodate.
The hope of a clear round or a specific paper result, but when I changed my shift to focusing on how well I can predict my dog's path and if the way that I handled got me what I predicted, and so I started looking at my results as how well I stuck to the plan and how well I executed the plan. My clear round rate actually went up, so now my focus is always how [00:11:00] well was I able to predict my dog's path and make an adequate handling strategy for that predicted path, because if I didn't predict it correctly, that's fantastic information.
Or if I predicted it correctly, but I didn't execute it correctly, that's fantastic information. But all the while I get the mental wins of making the plan, making a decision, being confident, allowing my previous evidence and data that I've taken from training and trialing to coach me at the event this.
Kind of allowed myself to focus more and be more in the present. And also because I wasn't so caught up in trying to make the plan during the run, I was actually [00:12:00] more available to save things. If things did get a little sketchy or did get off the tracks a little bit, it became. More aware because my brain wasn't so focused on making a plan.
My brain was just kind of set to autopilot, and when I released the dog, I just ran the plan as I had rehearsed so that if things did get a little bit sketchy, I was more available to react to that and get back on track. It was a really, Cool discovery and kind of a unique shift in my understanding of the game, and I hope that that's helpful for you all as well.
I could probably talk for a while on this topic alone, and maybe I will, especially if I get encouragement from my listeners about the [00:13:00] importance of sticking to the plan and how we go from. Oh my gosh, this dog and I are brand new together. I don't know anything about how they react to being able to predict very, very accurately and plan for that very consistently.
But because this is a podcast, and I don't wanna leave you here all day, I am going to move to the next part, which is mostly what the webinar will be about this evening if you are listening, uh, on the day of publication June 1st. But in my mind, when I'm looking at a course map, or I am getting ready to walk a course, I feel like there are five phases of course analysis.
And the first one is learning the course. This is a tiny bit of a pet [00:14:00] peeve of mine, so I apologize if I am about to call you out, but you're here and you're listening, so maybe you need it. But I see a lot of competitors during walkthroughs begin to handle the course and rehearse how they'll handle the course.
Before they even know what the course is. So this means that they are making handling decisions for the numbers that they know, but they don't know where number eight is or nine. So they're making decisions about handling six and seven, but they don't know where 8, 9, 10 goes. And this is a problem when the game is about predicting and planning.
So my first objective is to understand what the path is first. And so if you have a [00:15:00] paper map and you can learn it from the map, this is a great way to just understand that, that the flow of the course, you already know it, so that you're not using your walkthrough time to find the numbers and then you won't be tempted to be handling before, you know.
The path of the course, if you don't have access to a map or if reading maps are not your thing, I encourage students to watch the course build happening because the judge is going to walk the path. They're maybe going to wheel the path. You maybe get to see the course builders set out the numbers, so you'll get an idea of what.
The course is before you're out there trying to plan it. Uh, another way. And I would have students practice this in class because they maybe didn't see the map or they didn't get there, uh, early enough, but that you [00:16:00] can go and you can look for all the numbers and. Not handle. So I kind of call it the Easter egg hunt.
I cross my arms and I'm just looking for the numbers. I try to not walk in the typical handler path, so I'm ignoring everyone else that's walking the course. I'm just looking for the numbers so that I can get an overall picture and then start to make sure that I understand what the course is. So my goal is that I can.
Stand outside the ring or to the side of the ring and trace the intended dog path with my finger. And I, or I can point to every obstacle, or I can say every obstacle in the correct order so that when I do start making my handling plan, I'm not looking for the numbers and I already know where I'm going before I start trying to figure out how to get there.[00:17:00]
Okay, so. Phase two in my course analysis system is looking at the course from the dog's perspective. I started this episode talking about how important it is to know how your dog is going to take off land, turn, what they're going to see, how are they gonna choose, which way to turn, all of those things.
So now I'm going to use. A small portion of my walkthrough time to check the course from the dog's perspective, sometimes this looks like walking the entire course in my dog's natural path. So going through the uprights making a note of this is where they're gonna take off. Making a note of this is where they're gonna land, this is where they're gonna turn.
These are the things that they're going to see. So really taking some time to. Take in the course from their perspective. I've also [00:18:00] learned that by doing this, my brain is just subconsciously taking a million or several million snapshots of the course, and I feel more comfortable in the space when I have given myself this opportunity.
My brain, and therefore my body feels like it understands the course better. It knows where the obstacles are. It knows where all the visual landmarks are. So that when I do swap into rehearsing my handling, I'm not looking for where to go. I've already done that just from the dog's perspective, and I understand the course a lot better in my body, and hopefully that's not too theoretical or woo, but I think it matters here.
Phase three. Of course, analysis is choosing where I need to be in order to [00:19:00] give the most timely information that my dog needs. And I choose my positions first. So I choose where I need to be before I choose what I'm doing. And. This has been the biggest game changer in how I look at courses, especially courses in bigger rings, courses with more complexity.
This has been the biggest game changer in the majority of the students that I work with, and this is my favorite thing to teach to students, is focusing on where you need to be first and letting that help you narrow down. What you're going to do. And so I hope you'll join me for the webinar just for that because it is so cool to see the overwhelm just completely go away from students [00:20:00] when they choose their positions first.
And I do this working backwards, so I'll start at the end of the course and I'll work my way back and. This just makes it so that you, the the first thing you choose is probably the thing you're going to stick with, rather than choosing where you wanna be and then deciding you actually wanna change because of where you need to go next.
Again, it makes a lot more sense with a presentation in front of you, but choosing where you need to be on course first, hands down, best thing you can do for yourself and choosing. Your handling strategies, because once you've chosen where you need to be based on where your dog is, then how you handle the next sequence usually comes very easily because your position gives you all the [00:21:00] clues that you need.
Your position tells you, oh, the front cross is gonna be best here, or the blind cross, or the reverse spin. Your position tells you everything that you need to know. Because it, it eliminates the guesswork of, well, where am I going to be? So it's a huge thing and the number one thing that I encourage students to change about how they make their handling plans.
But once you've chosen where you need to be, And what to do. The timing is also clear when you'll do it, and also why you are doing it. This, why you're doing it is maybe not as important to everyone, but if you're at a certain point in your agility education, you do need to be able to understand why you're doing something.
Because if you are choosing reverse spin or you're choosing [00:22:00] this position so that you can turn the dog away from you, it's because there's some evidence in your head that tells you this is the best thing for your dog. And being able to tell yourself why you've chosen this helps you , uh, have the blinders onto the other people walking the course.
Okay. It's sometimes really useful to watch other people walk a course or run a course, but we have to ultimately remember that they aren't you and they are not running your dog. So if you are choosing your positions and then you're handling strategy, you are probably making the right choices for you and your dog, and it is crucial that you gather this evidence anyways.
So, It's really important that at some point in your education that you stop mimicking others and you start [00:23:00] taking your evidence and making your own decisions and being okay with it if it was the wrong decision. Because like I said earlier, it's information. That's the importance of sticking to the plan is so that you can continue to gather that.
Information so that next time you can make a more educated prediction. Okay, so once you've made all those decisions, phase four of course analysis is using the remainder of your walkthrough time to rehearse it and to visualize it. So if I've taken a long time during my walkthrough to check a lot of the dog's perspective, Or check my positioning and I only got maybe one or two full rehearsals in the walkthrough.
Then I need to be able to step outside of the ring and continue the walkthrough via visualization. I'm not gonna have [00:24:00] the obstacles. I'm not gonna have a huge space, but I still move my body. I still make all of the same handling. Movements. I still have my eyes connected to a line a little bit to the side of me, and I visualize it in my head, or I can try to use the course.
I can stand outside the course and watch myself, and visualize myself and my dog on the course, and I can continue to rehearse it like that. But the most ideal walkthrough, if we're stuck with like our typical eight minute walkthrough here in the us, I tend to get three or four full passes of the course, rehearsing it with as much detail as possible.
So, like I said, I am. Visualizing the dog with [00:25:00] me, I'm making sure that that dog is going to the positions that I expect it to, and that I'm making it to the positions that I expect it to. I'm making all those movements. I'm connected to the line. I am rehearsing that run in slow motion, but as closely to exactly how it's gonna go as I possibly can.
And keeping it in this slow motion. Again, you're allowing your brain to take all of these snapshots of the course and your body's able to feel where the course is and feel how the obstacles around you aren't moving. And when you do go to take the dog to the line, it will be really solidly in there. And this does take practice being able to focus and concentrate in slow motion and.
Not get pulled away by the sounds of a dog show the other people at a dog show everything. [00:26:00] But the more you practice it, the easier it gets. And so practice it at home, practice it in training class, practice it at every competition, really getting into a very, very precise rehearsal during your walkthrough.
It's amazing. And finally the fifth phase of course analysis for me is the run and the post run analysis. We're not done with this course after we've walked it. We need to take that very precise visualization. We need to put it to work and run the dog, and then we need to talk about it with ourselves or with a peer or with our instructor.
We need to compare what we predicted to what actually happened. We need to focus on what went well. We need to focus on what we might change if we were [00:27:00] to get to do it again. And in some instances we do get to do it again. How cool is that? We need to focus on what? We need to change for next time, what we need to continue working on.
Maybe something that you need a new solution to, and we need to update the evidence that we currently have. Uh, one major thing that I find is that, As handlers, we sometimes can get stuck planning for and handling the dog that we had six months ago or a year ago. And so taking the data that we collected every single run and making sure that we're using the most up-to-date data is really critical to continuing to progress your skills and increase the amount of clear rounds you are able to do.
So the five [00:28:00] phases of course analysis are, learn the course, look at it from the dog's perspective, then choose your positions and how that impacts your handling. Put it all together and rehearse it down to just the tiniest little details. Run your run and analyze it. Compare and contrast. Update your rule book.
Okay. All of these things take practice. They may take a long time when you first start. This is why we need to do this in training. We need to do this just on paper, even if we don't get to do, um, number four and five for real, right? Uh, I do this a lot just on paper maps, especially of courses. Um, from events that I might want to go to in the future or hope to go to in the future or by judges [00:29:00] that I might be competing under in the future.
I just do kind of the first three on paper and I make my plans on paper, and then I might visualize even without going and setting it up, or if I can, maybe I'll set up the piece. Of course. That I have a question about and that I can, with enough effort set up right. And then if I am lucky and I can set up the entire course, I will do that and I'll spend an entire week training on it if I can.
Um, but you can do a lot of this planning on paper without actually doing the running. And then when you need to kind of plan. In a time crunch, you can, but you do have to practice all of these things. And before I end this episode, I know I've been [00:30:00] talking for a while, but I also wanted to share some tips on memorizing courses because I know it comes up a lot.
And while I don't specifically have a lot of advice other than. Really getting in there and getting a lot of feeling for the course and getting a lot of those mental snapshots of the course from a lot of different angles. From the dog's perspective, from your perspective, from the perspective of the positions you choose rather than from the obstacles themselves.
Um, but I have spoken to students. And in the past and collectively, it really does depend a little bit on how your brain works at memorizing things. , like I was talking about, um, being able to trace the course or kind of [00:31:00] point out the obstacles. So I sometimes will. Learn the course and then I'm gonna turn my back to the course.
So I can't see the obstacles in front of me, but can I turn my back to the course and still draw the path so I can kind of prove to myself that I know the course without seeing the course? So that might be a good method for you to practice memorizing the course and get quicker and quicker at that skill.
But essentially you want to learn the flow. You want to test your ability to remember the flow, and you want to be able to visualize the flow of the course. And however you get that done is going to be about your specific brain. And I would love to hear more about how you memorize courses because.
Brains are fascinating, and the more I know, the more I can help. [00:32:00] Okay, so we covered a lot of ground. We covered. The course from your dog's perspective. We covered sticking to the plan, we covered course analysis and how to use that walkthrough, and we covered memorizing the course. And so one final time, if you are listening today, June 1st in time to.
Grab the webinar that is hosted by the Fenzi Dog Sports Academy. It is happening around 6:00 PM Pacific time. You can join us live. We'll have some q and a at the end. You can purchase it and catch the recording afterwards. The fun thing about this webinar is it is a rerun of the very first webinar I ever produced, so it is a fun thing to look back [00:33:00] at and.
See how far I've come in this whole online learning situation. So at the very least, come look at 2019 Megan's ability to present a webinar. I hope you'll join me, and if you're listening to this after the fact, I'm sorry, it probably isn't going to be available to purchase. So I hope that you are listening on the day and that you're able to join us and grab that if this was useful to you.
And otherwise, next week we'll be talking about using f e O or not for competition and fix and go effectively.
Thanks for listening. I'd love it if you'd leave me a [00:34:00] review or engage with this episode on social media. You can follow me at FX agility on Facebook and Instagram. I hope you'll check out fx agility.com to learn about my online school and my wide variety of offerings so that we can continue on our path to excellence together.