We should benchmark other (dog) sports

According to Ira, there was way too much course running at one point but, in general, that has decreased, at least in Finland. Instead, skills are really trained a lot. “When we put effort on agility skills, in the long term it leads to very good results”.

Ira has noticed that in coaching, we often still do course training. Not necessarily because coaches themselves want to, but because people still ask for it. “I think, in coaching, there can be a longer course, but it would be more beneficial if it contained sequences that were planned for each individual partnership. And that is possible only in long term coaching.”

“We should really benchmark other dogsports, in which training is split into smaller entities and more logical. And we should also look at sports like football: you can also learn by playing but exercises are not only about that. Even the most experienced players put effort in both sport specific exercises and developing characteristics important for the sport.

3 reasons for emphasising skill-based short exercises

1. Every course builds on good specific skills

Ira wants to make sure her dogs really understand what she asks of them. She doesn't want to compete if she can’t trust their understanding in training. “For me, it’s very important that I can trust my dog and her skills. And for this reason, small details matter. The best way to get to your goals, is to split skill sets and create small exercises around them.”

“When you build specific skills carefully, everything becomes easier on long courses as well. And you need to maintain and challenge the skills during the whole career of the dog. There are endless possibilities to add variation to small exercises.”

2. Getting results from training

Ira thinks it’s important to keep in mind how to get results from training: How does my dog learn the best?

“I believe that short, well thought out exercises are the most efficient way to get a dog to learn, because then you get to affect the things that are essential for your dog. You get to reward the things you planned and communicate to the dog what it is that you want from him.”

“Quite often on courses, I see that dogs are asked to do things they don’t yet master. Like the German turn, for example, and then the handler needs to compensate for the lacking skills of the dog. In the German turn, the dog needs to master “out” and he needs to be able to cope with movement disruption and, quite often, one of these isn’t yet on the needed level. And this kind of training isn’t very efficient.”

3. Straining the dog less

“Short exercises around a specific skill don’t strain the dog as much - IF you plan the training session carefully. For me it’s essential that the number of repetitions is planned beforehand, so that there won’t be unnecessary strain. And, anyway, for me the first repetition counts the most, so if we succeed with the first repetition, there’s no reason to continue with that exercise.”

Ira plans her training so that she has a course map with a few obstacles and on that same course map, there are 3 to 4 different exercises. This way, when the dog succeeds, she can move on to the next exercise.

What is the role of course training in agility?

Ira thinks that even though course training should not be the norm in training, it has its purpose: “If a handler is inexperienced, course training is necessary for learning to remember a course and keeping things together”. “And when the dog is close to starting competing, you need to train so that all the contacts are in the same sequence. However, training long courses is not necessary every week. Instead, it should be seen as a way to test if the current training themes can be done at high speed and as part of a course.”