Clean Run - January 2020 - 31

The Three Hats of Agility, Part 2
By Sandy Rogers, illustrations by Laura Hartwick
Last month I explained what the
"Three Hats of Agility" are and why I
think they are important to self-examination. Here's a refresher:

yourself about yourself is as accurate
as it can be. Realistic self-assessment
will allow you to learn how and why
you and other teams are successful.

Every agility enthusiast is three parts:
one part trainer, one part handler, and
one part competitor. Even if you do not
compete in organized agility trials, you
still compete on some level with regard
to improving your agility skills. We are all
trying to get better than someone else,
whether it's someone in your training
class or it's yourself if you train alone.

What Makes a Great
Trainer or a Trainer Great?

Non-judgmental, realistic self-assessment is essential to improvement in
any endeavor. If you want to improve
in agility, you need to be able to
identify your strengths and weaknesses when you are wearing each
hat. Breaking down your abilities into
these three categories makes it easier
to keep tabs on the areas that relate
to improvement. This month's article
focuses on the trainer's hat.
I'm sure you have a thought or two
about your strengths and weaknesses
in the three areas. One of my goals
with this series is to help you determine if the information you are giving

I want to inspire you to become the
trainer you want to be. What does that
trainer look like? Do you know a great
trainer? What is it about them that you
admire? What do they get from their
dogs that you don't get from your dog
and why?
I'm going to suggest that you seek
out a few trainers who impress you
and ask them what they think makes a
trainer great.
Tip: Good trainers may not be the
ones who win classes the most, their
handling might even be mediocre,
and their dog might not be perfect
ringside. But, the behaviors they have
trained well-in and out of the ring-
look trained, and the dog performs
them with ease, consistently and without a lot of help. It might seem like the
dog is special, that the dog is "making
up" for the handler. In reality, it is more

likely that a successful dog with a less
than stellar handler is being run by a
good trainer.
The only better way to get information about what makes a good trainer
would be to ask a dog. I think every
dog would consider their trainer great
if that trainer:
* Is always willing to answer the
dog's questions, even if the
questions are not relevant to the
speciﬁ c task at hand: An example
is a dog that spins and barks during a weave pole drill. The dog is
asking, "Does it matter how I get
to the poles? Do you mind if I bark
at you and spin, or is that behavior okay with you just as long as I
eventually make it to the poles, hit
the entry, and don't pop out?"
I see many trainers ignore the real
(often serious) questions their
dogs have because they want to
work on the weave poles (or whatever); the handler seems to be "not
taking questions" on barking and
spinning that day.

January 20 | Clean Run

Clean Run - January 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - January 2020