Clean Run - June 2011 - 73

stay you had first envisioned. We all know it takes more time to retrain a behavior than it does to teach it originally, and it is less fun to retrain a behavior. Actually, we may even say to ourselves: “Why did I think it was okay for him to stand? I knew this might happen. Now I have to work on a start-line behavior, so what am I not going to work on?” Fretting and regretting are not good uses of your time or emotional energy. Building a cohesive, sound training plan is. Start from a point of success, that is, what your dog does well and reliably, and build to the next level. As long as you see improvement toward your goal, your training is good enough. When you watch a video of your runs and see yourself moving adeptly through crosses, marvel at the sight, and congratulate yourself for the work you did to attain that handling prowess. Then ask: “Is it good enough? Can I work harder on direct eye contact now and maintain my crosses at their current level for a while?” Most likely the answer will be a proud “Yes, I can!”

You can actually quantify good enough by establishing a tolerance limit. For instance, in AKC and USDAA you can’t have a knocked bar in the non-game classes, so you need 100% at trials in Jumpers and Standard. But, mistakes happen. Would 98% be tolerable? Decide, and draw a line for good enough. This line is now both your cutoff and your goal. When your data indicates that you have dropped below an acceptable level, that is the moment to ratchet up your training for that data point.

Record Keeping Can Be helpful
One way to help stave off the frustration of the good enough roller coaster is data. Keeping data is time consuming in the beginning, but once you develop a system that works for you, it can save you time and anguish. And, just because you don’t like what your data says is no reason not to track it! Data doesn’t lie, so if you are unhappy with data results, work to improve them. One other suggestion to novice data keepers, track only the data you are really going to use and only three to five data points to start. Keep it simple and user friendly. (I track mine on my iPhone so that I always have it with me.)

We Cannot Be the Best at Everything We do
Good enough has value in training. We cannot be the best at everything we do every moment of the day, every moment we are training. We often settle for what we get, for who we are, and for what our dogs can offer us at the time. Good enough is a measure that meets our needs; it is sufficient by definition. So, when is good enough, enough? When you decide it is. D

Linda Randall, DVM, ABVP, is the owner of Cloverleaf Animal Hospital, Westfield Center, Ohio, and also The Agility Underground, an agility training center using clickercentered training. She has trained multiple breeds, notably Rottweilers and Flat-Coated Retrievers to titles in obedience and field, and currently competes with her Flat Coat and Border Collie in agility.

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Clean Run - June 2011

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