Clean Run - November 2013 - 54

At the moment she is also working on
Rodney's running dogwalk. "He is not
powering across it well enough. We have
been seeing a lot of turn backs at the bottom of the dogwalk in England, so he is
expecting that." In an effort to improve
his extension and drive ahead, Laura returned to using a plank on a small table
so that she isn't asking for full dogwalk
performance every time they train. She
places a toy ahead so that he is driving
straight at the end of the plank. "I want
him to learn that the default behavior is
'take what is ahead of you unless I tell
you otherwise.' I don't want the reward
on me because I don't want the dog focusing on me." She moves the toy farther
away before adding jumps. There are
jumps straight ahead, and to the left and
the right, as traps. The reward is always
ahead after whatever sequence they are
completing so that the reward is the focus point, not Laura. When she is happy
with the performance, it is transferred to
first a low then a full-height dogwalk.

The Training Plan
For the bigger picture, Laura sits down
at the end of the competition season to
build a training plan for the upcoming
year. It includes long-term goals, such as
competing at the top level with Troy by
the end of the year, and all of the things
that have been weaknesses and need improvement for the next season. "I have
my short-term plans all written up and
sorted out to work on. Things happen,
like weather, but I like to stick to my
plans as much as I can."

Fit for the Job
She also puts a lot of stock in keeping fit,
both for herself and her dogs. Before a
major competition she makes sure to get
the gym regularly and do a lot of sprinting.
She is also about to follow the new Shaun
T Focus T25 10-week fitness program
on DVD. "I need goals and structure."
The fitness program for the dogs is equally structured. They get out for a walk
twice a day, 45 minutes in the morning
and a full hour in the afternoon. They are

usually off lead, with Troy racing to and
fro, and Rodney walking beside Laura
and trotting around the fields. Because
he is less active on the off-lead walks he
also works on the balance discs and gets
some extra jumping work.

Mental Work
Mental fitness is as important as physical
fitness, but not as challenging for Laura.
She is, by nature, very confident. She believes that good training sessions set her
up well for the start line. "I have walked
the course enough, know it, and have a
solid start-line stay. I walk to the line,
stand tall, and get on with the run." She
tries to surround herself with equally positive people and tries not to watch the dogs
running before her. "I don't want to see
mistakes. I learn from patterning; I copy
other handling, whether I like it or not."
There is a lot of pressure in Great Britain for top handlers to do well. "There
are quite a few of us now," she explains.
"People get on the start line and feel that
they have to be successful because there
is so much competition."
That competition translates into shows
with as many as 18 rings and 400 runs
in each ring per day. Laura has chosen
to cut back on her trialing for a couple of
reasons. First, she thinks that every dog
only has so many jumps in them. Second, because they are spread out, trialing
requires a lot of travel and becomes too
tiring for her. It's one of the reasons she
started Agility-Secrets.

The Connection
Underlying all of the training, the physical fitness and the mental work is the relationship. The partnership between dog
and handler is key for Laura, and makes
agility a sport that everyone can enjoy,
from beginner to international competitor. "When the people that are very successful leave the ring, you can see that
they really love their dog." Being positive and getting the best out of the dog
is something, she believes, that anyone
doing agility can have. D

Sally Silverman is a freelance writer whose life has gone to the dogs. She and her husband share their hearts
and their home with three Australian Shepherds. An avid agility competitor, Sally is working on MACH3 with
Bounce, who also has a PDCH, as well as many canine freestyle and herding titles. Baby sister Java is now in
AKC Excellent and working on her Intermediate freestyle title. Sally is an active member of Y2K9s Dog Sports
Club outside of Philadelphia, where she trains and teaches.
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Clean Run - November 2013

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