52 Hours to Analyze What Really Matters

The MCR Pack in Alberta!!

Remember that trip that didn't go according to plan? 🚐

Well, 52 hours of driving gives you a lot of time to think. ⏰ And somewhere between Alberta and home, I found myself breaking down my lead up to Nationals and the weekend itself - what went well, what I would have changed and everything in between! My post-competition analysis is just as important as my pre-competition analysis and planning! 📊

We Talk About Change, But We Don't Actually Plan for It

🎯 "My dog's contacts need improvement"
😰 "We really struggle with confidence at trials"
🤔 "My handling could be more consistent"
😬 "I wish we were more prepared for challenges"
💪 "We should have focused more on fitness this year"

We recognize the problems. We talk about wanting change.

​But how often do we actually sit down and create a real game plan? A systematic approach to get from where we are to where we want to be? 🎯

​That's where most of us get stuck - in the gap between recognizing what needs work and actually having a plan to fix it.

The Real Lessons from Nationals

Let me show you what I mean with both my girls' stories:

Siren and I headed to the finish line

​​Siren's agility trial journey with contacts started just 6 weeks before Regionals - she was going in the right direction. ⬆️ Then Regionals hit with bad weather and slippery contacts. By Sunday, I couldn't even get her on the contacts after she took a massive confidence hit. 💔

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​Siren is one of the softest dogs I've ever owned, and that's ok. I wouldn't trade her for the world and all the lessons she has taught me in her two years. But to face this setback, I needed to create a systematic plan to help her overcome it. I worked with a trainer in Europe 🌍, brought in a parkour expert from southwestern Ontario  and put on my creative thinking hat! I needed a comprehensive approach that would work for her specific needs - this was not a cookie cutter case!

At Nationals - was it perfect? No. But we were 5/6 for our contacts and saw huge improvement. She gained confidence and became grittier. 🚀

Keeper tackling the double jump

With Keeper, I controlled everything I could: her training, fitness, skills all summer. Hormones beat us, plain and simple - out of my control. But was she prepared physically? The work we put in all summer wasn't for nothing. It sets us up for our fall schedule and work ahead. 💪

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​Both stories, same message: Formulating a plan and sticking to it!  ✅​

Here's What Changes Everything

When we shift from just identifying problems to creating systematic solutions, everything transforms. This applies whether you're tackling mental challenges like confidence, or physical improvements like faster course times, tighter turns, or better yards per second. ⚡

Think about it - if you want to improve your team's speed, do you just run more courses hoping to get faster? Or do you break it down: fitness plan for your dog, handling efficiency for yourself, specific drills for acceleration and deceleration?

The teams that consistently improve - whether it's mental resilience or physical performance - they don't leave it to chance. They create systematic approaches and stick to them. 📈

Most handlers are great at training individual skills but struggle with creating systematic approaches for improvement - whether that's mental game, fitness, speed, or handling. And that's often what separates good teams from great ones. 🏆

The dogs that thrive under pressure, that run faster each year, that bounce back from mistakes and grow stronger - they didn't get there by accident. Their handlers had a plan.

When you have solid systems in place, you can weather any storm. ⛈️ Hormones, bad weather, off days - they become temporary setbacks instead of derailments with a structured approach. 

I've been thinking a lot about the idea of a systematic approach and how to help more agility teams build these kinds of bulletproof systems.  Through my work with fitness, I've learned to create systematic approaches that actually work. Not random workouts or hope-for-the-best training, but structured, progressive systems that build real results over time.

These lessons can be learned and applied to all aspects of your training. 🎯

What I've realized is that having the right plan is only half the battle. You also need the right support, accountability, and guidance to execute it consistently. 🤝

Here's the thing - something is coming down the pipeline that I think will help with exactly this, and I'm going to need your help to make sure I build something that truly serves our agility community.

​So stay tuned... 👀

Carolyn