Clean Run - August 2017 - 31

Life is not about achieving perfection. Drop your practice makes perfect mantra.
Simply relish all practice, the good and the bad, the good runs and the bad runs;
relish everything. Behavior is a fluid phenomenon. We don't get to check a box
(e.g., weave pole entries, contact behavior, mental game) and be done with the challenge.
It is constant effort, constant performance, constant execution that is key

titudes. My reflex is to tense up and to
give into frustration. From here I have
two main options: (1 ride out the frustration, using the session as practice for
things gone awry at a competition; or (2
cut the session short, to be picked up at
a later time.
Every single person who chooses to
compete in sport will one day participate in an event where things that
are outside competitor control will
come crashing down. In these moments it is how we handle stress and
adversity that will dictate outcomes.
We can complain in situations like
this all we want, but at the end of the
day there will be those who choose
to buckle down and get tougher than
the variables. They will hold on just a
little longer, grit their teeth just a little
more, and prove they have the guts
to show up and perform. Everything
else-anger, frustration, complaining,
sadness-is just wasted energy during
these vital moments of competition.
So if you're gifted with the opportunity
to overcome The Bad Session, sometimes you should take it. Practice doesn't
only include programmed opportunities
for growth; our entire lives are practice.
Performance in the arena is impacted by
more than how many teeter repetitions
you've done in the last three months, or
courses you've completed by a specific
judge. Our ability to respond positively

to environmental factors is just as important to how we perform on a given
day as our formal training.
That being noted, option number two,
ending the training session, is sometimes the better choice. There are some
sessions that, if continued, will bring
little good to training efforts. If you currently don't have the skills to deal with
a specific problem, nor the resources to
learn in that moment, backing off and
evaluating the issue is often a better call.
This goes for any type of training session, but as dog trainers it is even more
important that we understand how far
we can push our dogs and ourselves
before creating a toxic learning environment. There is a balance to be found
between pressurized learning and
learning which thrives from recovery
time. Pressure-cooker environments are
important for creating tough but calm
competitors, but just as recovery time
is vital to the physical development of
athletes, it is also vital to the mental and
emotional development. At the end of
the day The Bad Session can be a useful
training tool, but it is not worth the cost
of you or your partner working in an
emotionally unsafe environment.

Valuing Error
Over time, most of us involved in
sport come to realize that there is value
in making mistakes. Learning itself

involves error, and it involves feeling
our errors, but feeling is not always an
easy task to take on. Making mistakes,
whether they are big or small, leads to
loss. From a big picture perspective loss
can open up new opportunities for us
down the line, but our immediate response is often grief, anger, sadness.
Yet time and time again the very next
training session or competition run is
one of our best ever. Whether we end
a bad session early or carry on for the
practice, without always being aware of
it, we learn. Learning doesn't happen in
giant, light-bulb moments; learning is
every interaction we have throughout
the day, every session, every moment we
spend in the world. Our successes-our
good sessions and good runs-come
as a result of the cumulative effects of
everything we've done up to that point.
So actually, without the bad sessions it
would be impossible to achieve our particular successes.
Life is not about achieving perfection.
Drop your practice makes perfect mantra. Simply relish all practice, the good
and the bad, the good runs and the
bad runs; relish everything. Behavior
is a fluid phenomenon. We don't get to
check a box (e.g., weave pole entries,
contact behavior, mental game) and be
done with the challenge. It is constant
effort, constant performance, constant
execution that is key. D

Tori Self is an avid dog lover, writer, agility coach, wannabe chef, and explorer. She started competing in agility at 12 years of age and has since earned national and
international success alongside her Border Collie, Revolution. Tori currently trains and ventures with Rev and her young Border Collie, Brave, narrating their journeys
on her blog at www.toriself.com.
August 17 | Clean Run

http://www.toriself.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - August 2017