Clean Run - January 2013 - 66

I learned how to be a better competitor under pressure, to change my behavior so that I wasn’t nervous, and to improve my focus. I have been working very hard on it and have been better ever since. Making a Plan
Finding the time to do her own training is the most difﬁcult part of agility for Daisy. Planning what she is going to do before hand helps her to make the most of her limited training time. “I don’t keep a written record as well as I used to. It’s more a journal of scribbled notes.” On her larger goals, however, Daisy is crystal clear. “I have big picture goals of where I hope to be in the next couple of years. I keep them posted in the ofﬁce, where they are handy and I can refer to them regularly.” To get there, she looks at the whole year, and the cycles that it entails: preparation, competition, and training. Training goals are based on that cycle. Individual training session goals are measured against the big picture goals. She encourages her students to work with her on goal setting and mental management, as well as goal setting for individual training sessions. She wants them to see how those small goals ﬁt into the bigger picture.

Keeping in Shape
Daisy tries to swim her dogs for 1020 minutes every day when it’s warm. “They get exercise and get clean at the same time. “They wander around when she is outside, taking care of the property, but she doesn’t want them running around at top speed. “They like to lie there, waiting for me to do something with them, or dig holes, which helps to build up the muscles in their front end.” For her own conditioning, she jokes that there is weeding and building courses. But her favorite exercise is hiking in the Oregon hills. “It’s hard for me to go to the gym because while I am at the gym, my dogs are at home doing nothing. Or they swim and I do nothing. Hiking is perfect because we are all getting exercise.” She tries to get out for an hour or two at least a couple times a week.

began when she was frustrated with her results. “I would make it to the big ﬁnals in big competitions, and then make mistakes that didn’t seem like they had anything to do with my actual ability.” A seminar in 2003 or 2004 with Lanny Bassham introduced her to his mental management strategies and she has been a devotee ever since, even going so far as teaching his principles in seminars. “I learned how to be a better competitor under pressure, to change my behavior so that I wasn’t nervous, and to improve my focus. I have been working very hard on it and have been better ever since.” On a daily basis, she works on her general patience with her dogs. At local trials she tries to work on her mental management skills as if they were bigger competitions, practicing to behave the way that she wants to behave at more important trials. She does it by saying to herself, “What if this was a really big event,” or watching some of the videos that she keeps on her iPhone of her best runs. D

Playing the Mind Game
An essential part of Daisy’s program for reaching her goals is a strong commitment to mental management. That

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 - January 2013

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