002
===
[00:00:00] Hey, everyone. Welcome to fostering excellence and ability the podcast. I'm your host competitor, coach and mentor Megan Foster. I help agility enthusiast focus on the small details of training and behavior while still having a clear understanding of their big picture goals. Join me as I take you through key elements of dog agility, training, competing, and teaching, and how you can take action today to start improving your skills within the sport.
Let's get to. All right. Episode two today, we're talking about the big picture and why having a very clear understanding of what your big picture and long-term goals look like is important. And a big part of it is avoiding comparison. We need to stop comparing ourselves to our classmates, to our friends, to the owners of our litter [00:01:00] mates, to.
Our teachers and our mentors, and really having a clear understanding of what your path looks like helps combat that comparison. Let's dive in when I'm thinking about big picture training or big picture goals, I always have to consider what am I after and achieving in dog agility. You know, if I have one more dog or if I have 10 more dogs in my career as a trainer, as a competitor, even as a mentor, what goal am I after in this sport?
And I need to separate that from the current dog that I have any dog that I've had in my past and any dog that I will have in the future. By separating your goals and your aspirations from the current [00:02:00] dog, you immediately relieve any sort of time-sensitive pressure that you may have in your mind. It also makes you more flexible when you move forward, because then if an injury happens or.
The health of your dog declines or just something unexpected happens. You have to take a break because you don't have the resources that you need at the moment. It's okay, because your aspirations are still your aspirations. What you want to achieve is still what you want to achieve, and we can adjust the stepping stones, the tiny action steps to suit your current situation in your current resources.
So once you decide what it is that you want to achieve in dog agility or any sport, And you've separated it from your current animal. Now we need to get [00:03:00] realistic about what resources do you have to put towards this goal. Your resources include your time. This is your most valuable resource. This is the time that you have to dedicate to training, including driving to class, driving home from class, sitting in class.
Um, watching videos, reading about the sport, reading about training, planning, your training plans, training your dog outside of class,
everything, every ounce of time that you put in to your sport is valuable and your time is such a valuable resource. So it's important for you to understand what you want to achieve so that you can. Apply that time in a way that serves you. If you are spending your time doing things that don't [00:04:00] serve your ultimate goal, you're going to experience some roadblocks.
You're going to experience maybe some frustration that you're not progressing on your goals as quickly and as fluidly as you'd like. You also have to consider your time outside of dog sports. Maybe you have a job, maybe a family, maybe you are the caretaker of other family members, kids, parents, something, maybe you don't have just your entire day to put into the sport.
And I'm pretty sure that is most of us. You also have to consider financial resources, right? We are not generally independently wealthy. I [00:05:00] am not. So I have to make sure that the budget that I set for, the things that I do in the sport, the things that I spend money on are serving. And so there may be some sacrifices from time to time in that category.
And it all matters. The PR training, getting to training, trialing seminars, online classes of equipment. Those are all resources that unfortunately tie back to money. Obviously the classes and instruction. And competitions that you have access to is going to affect your big picture goal, because if your big picture goal really, um, is centered on, let's say UK, I agility, but you don't have any local UK agility trials.[00:06:00]
That resource is. Hard to come by, which means now you need to be able to give more time and probably more money to be able to travel to those events. Or you have to invest in enough equipment that trialing at home is going to keep you on the path to earning your goals. So everything is fluid and open to change at any given time and all.
While our dogs are not tools that we use to earn a goal. They are a part of this resource list, right? Some of us may feel envy when our friends get another puppy. And it's just not in the cards for you. Some people have a different set of resources and a different situation that allows them to have multiple young, young dogs at the same time or multiple dogs competing at the same time.
Whereas [00:07:00] myself, I really prefer to have one young dog and not have multiple dogs competing. That used to be different. I used to really enjoy competing with multiple dogs and now the trainer and competitor I am today really kind of likes the slow going day of one dog to compete with. And so the dog that you do have right now is a very valuable resource because you have to be able to.
Use who they are as a means to accessing the parts of the goals that you can work towards today. And a good example of that is my terrier Shrek. He is not going to fulfill the stepping stone goals of attending world team tryouts, and possibly making the team and getting the experience at big events.
But his role to me, The valuable resource that he gives me is [00:08:00] upping my game as a trainer. Every single time I go to train him. And he also kind of dragged me into the obedience side of training, which has opened my mind to a whole new level of cross training that I now do, and probably will always do with my dogs from now on giving myself.
A different avenue for training that isn't so pressurized. So training obedience is actually more relaxing for me than say draining agility, because I don't have as much tied up in the obedience training. And I still get to practice really precise, very nerdy training, but with, with not high stakes on the line for.
And so I also get to do a lot of experimenting with Shrek because I'm not concerned about breaking down his competition behaviors since he doesn't have any high level competitive goals [00:09:00] for him, it means I can experiment more as a trainer. And that helps me for future dogs. It helps me to be a better competitor for future dogs, and it also helps me be a better mentor for my clients.
So. That's why it's really important to understand who the dog is as an individual and how they can help you on your path to your big picture long-term goals and aspirations, the dog that you currently have, and that you're working with. You have to choose the stepping stone goals that fit them as an individual as well.
Comes into play most of the time as a trainer, when we are thinking about what does this dog need from me in this training session and longterm. So when we have a very clear understanding of where we are going [00:10:00] in this sport, what we want to do, what we want to achieve, we have. A better idea of how to get there, because we can look around us and go, well, so-and-so has also done this goal and this appears to be their process.
So I'm going to start making plans to also kind of follow that path. And then we get more individualized based on our. Individual resources. Okay. Because you can't take the exact same path as someone who has a full turf building an arena full of equipment in their backyard, their path is going to look slightly different than someone who has a postage stamp of a backyard and has to rent a facility to access all of the equipment on a regular basis.
The path might get to the [00:11:00] same result, but the stepping stone and the individual actions that those two individuals take is going to look different. And that's just talking about the resources available to them. It doesn't even account for how individual of a person that they are, and also the dog that they're working with.
So remember, we're focusing on our own big picture to avoid comparison, but we can look to others. For inspiration and support and ideas on how to get where we're going.
So where that comes up in training is do I need to use resources on this? And this can be maybe it's a independent ThreadPool queue or running dog walk or. Uh, mastering a start line stay depending on the individual team. Any one of those things may not be [00:12:00] worth putting any amount of resources into if the types of courses and competitions that you want to attend.
Don't require you to have a start line and your dog is really struggling with that. Is it wrong to just, can it. I don't think so. If you don't need to start lying, if you are fastened enough or creative enough and have the skills to accommodate for the lack of a start line, you go for it. That's okay to own it like that.
It's not okay. My opinion to want it to need it. And. Maybe even use it as an excuse. Well, I could have gotten that today if I had to start lying, but then not put resources into it. Right. So you get to decide where those resources go. I am [00:13:00] not here to tell you. You absolutely need to star line. I am not here to tell you.
You absolutely need a running dog lot, and I'm not here to tell you, you absolutely need any specific verbal cues that is all tied to who you are as an individual, as a trainer, as a competitor, and also who your dog is. And that's just that. So always, always, always, when you are thinking of this, like I only have so many training sessions in a week that I can give my dog.
So that means you have to really hone in on the things that are going to serve that goal that you are trying to achieve. So always ask yourself, do I need to use resources? As a competitor where your big picture comes into mind. And this is so important for competing with excellence. Is, are you going to sacrifice insert criteria [00:14:00] here for the queue today?
This is the most common that I see. Is it, are we going to sacrifice some item that we, that we are going to need later on for the win? And I'm going to put the win in quotation marks because it could just be the cue or the actual, when are we going to sacrifice the longterm goal for the short term outcome?
And that piece, you have to be very clear. When you are competing and you have to make that mindset shift in saying no. How my dog feels about competing a year from now is a lot more important than that cue today. So we're not going back and fixing mistakes. That's one example could also be. No, I'm not going to [00:15:00] ask my dog to run when they are clearly telling me that they can't or that they shouldn't, even though I think we could still get around this course clean today.
It's about making the choices that serve your big picture. Even if it feels a little bit yucky in the immediate aftermath. It will always pay off for you later, and you will be very happy that you did. And as a coach or instructor, as a mentor, understanding your big picture, where you want to go and also the resources and the time that you have available.
To do what you need to do as a trainer. And as a competitor makes you more compassionate with your clients, because then you're recognizing that their big picture that their resources, their time, their financial [00:16:00] situation is none of your business, but what is your business is listening to what their goals are and helping them find a way for.
Helping them find the path that does fit within their situation and helping them pivot and see a new path when things get off track that to me, feels like is more my job than telling them what they need to be training every week. I want to focus on what do you need in order to reach the current. Goal, you know, what's the next stepping stone?
Where are we headed? Where's the long-term. Okay. So it really helps you focus on what your job is as a coach.
And while we're talking about big picture [00:17:00] things, I want everyone to take a moment at the end of this episode, to think about what their values are. As a trainer, as a competitor, what's really important to you. Sometimes I ask students like when you stop and watch someone train and you stop and watch someone run their dog in a competition, what draws you to them?
What sparks your interest in watching them work with their dogs in any capacity? Those are usually really connected to your values as a trainer. Those are the things that we tend to seek out and that we try and replicate because it's being modeled. And we like that. So think about, what's really important to you in training and in competition and in coaching, if that's something that you do, because having a very clear boundary around what your values.[00:18:00]
And these areas also keeps things in perspective for you so that when things get hard or things get off track, you run into a barrier. You can always go back to your values. Is this not working for me? Because it's disconnected with my values. If you're trying to. Model after someone else's training plan, but you have different fundamental values.
You are going to run into barriers that you're going to have to modify that plan. Not only because the big picture of resources are different, the situation in the context is different between the individuals, but sometimes there's just a clash of values and that could ultimately be why something's not working for you.
So then you have to either modify something. So that it fits within what you find important as a trainer, isn't it as a competitor or you have to go [00:19:00] find a resource that better aligns with your own values. Okay. So remember that we are trying to combat comparison here and also gain some perspective on what is important to you and where is it that you want to go in your.
Agility lifetime your agility career. And we're going to separate that from our current dogs and our future dogs. And we're going to use them as the resource that they are for the things that fit into their self. Into how they are as individuals.
Thanks for listening, please subscribe and leave me a review. If you'd like to support this podcast, head over to synergy Dodge, sports.com/community to access bonus content and to get your questions answered via podcast episodes and [00:20:00] other social media. If you'd like to know more about what I'm up to and what's coming up, make sure to bookmark my website, www dot synergy, dog sports.com.
