Yesterday after my blog went live I received so many lovely messages from friends and clients 💕 . These messages said how much they enjoyed reading the blog, but more importantly how they completely resonated with my story.
I believe as a coach it is so important to tell the whole story warts and all!
Dog training is hard, sport is hard. It takes dedication, commitment, consistency, desire, vision and hard work!
I wouldn’t be a very good coach if I just told you all the good bits, the good bits are fantastic but you don’t learn from them. The hard bits are what make you grow both as an agility handler but as a person too!
Today I’m at a place where I can laugh about the antics of the weekend. Instead of it making me wollow in despair, it is the wind in my sails to push on to the next one! It was funny actually, just after I finished writing yesterday’s blog I checked my emails, in my emails was my running order for the next show in a couple of weeks time.
I could have thought ‘oh what’s the point in going etc etc’ but that is when you pull out your WHY card!
What’s a WHY card? It’s your reason for doing what you do, or in my case competing in dog agility.
I do it because I love connecting with my dogs and having fun! The relationship it gives you partaking in the sport together is like no feeling that can be matched. It isn’t about winning or proving a point, it’s about me and my dogs. In those 40 odd seconds that I’m in the ring I forget about everything else!
People have often asked me if I get scared when competiting and I used to, but that’s because I was focusing on all the external factors of people watching etc. When your in that moment with your dog is is like nothing else exists, just you and him having fun together.
I could have easily given up but that’s not me! If I gave up then I would miss out, my dogs would miss out and we would all be a lot more miserable as a result!
So I do what I have always done and what I tell my students to do after every single training session.
Evaluate, analyse, action!
I know what I need to do for next time, I know what skills I need to brush up on. I have learned from the mistakes I made and I will use that information to propel me forwards!
The first step is to write a plan but the most important step is to action that plan! It is no good me writing a plan if I don’t do it! It won’t work unless I do!
I think that is where the majority of people fail with their training. They know what went wrong but don’t actually take the action to improve!
My logo is jigsaw blocks for a reason. Each block represents the pieces that fit together to make the bigger game of agility.
There is no one size fits all, each dog is individual, each handler is individual and as a team they are unique in comparison to the next.
As a coach I look at all the individualities in the team, bring out their best qualities and help guide them in improving their weaknesses.
We all have weaknesses, it is about recognising them, being honest and putting a plan in place to turn those weaknesses into strengths!
That’s what I have done with this weekends competition.
I’ve analysed, written a plan and with the help of the team around me I know both me and my dogs will be physically and mentally stronger, happier and ready to take on the next competition with a new set of goals ❤.
A friend reminded me yesterday of a quote and I will leave it here for you.
Happy training
Katrina 🐾
KB Agility 