Dog training today is gaining more and more research into the validity, and effects of various aspects of training. Which is pretty freaken cool! Being able to justify, with evidence, who you use a particular method, and why we don't use another is, in my opinion, a huge step towards being a professional body that is recognized as being science-based, and best practice. Unfortunately, in many parts of the world, there are not laws and professional standards about those who call themselves dog trainers. So whilst there are many trainers that are using science and best practice, and continually undertaking professional development, unfortunately, there are many that are not.
As an agility and canine fitness specialist trainer, the use of science is even more relevant and important. Unfortunately, the way that science works is that someone needs to fund research. And the world of agility, and fitness, at the moment is very small. Generally, research is funded if it will impact the income of a company, product, or treatment in some way. Basically, it needs to be useful to someone. And there are not many agility communities that have the money to put into great science research just because it's worthwhile or needed. That means that much of the research we do have is related to rehabilitation, specific products, or owner questionnaire based which is not the most valid form of data.
So why is data important to YOU, and what data can you collect and use?
There are two ways that you can better use science, and data for you and your canine companions.The first is by being critical of the sources of information that you use, and search for science that backs up the ideas that you read about. You can do this by:
- Understand basic science. If you don't, learn. Coursera has a whole bunch of fantastic FREE online courses. Whilst there are some fantastic courses related to dogs, learning and training start with some basic science ones like https://www.coursera.org/learn/scientist#
- Looking for reference lists at the end of articles. These should list some scientific journal articles.
- Use Google Scholar as a search engine. This specifically searches in the journal articles published. https://scholar.google.co.nz/
- Look for information produced by authors with valid qualifications. This article is written by a very well qualified veterinary specialist, who live's in my country, and has treated dog's of people I know. Also check out the references at the end of the article! http://veterinarymedicine.dvm360.com/sporting-dog-injuries
The second way is by collecting your own data on your training, and your dogs.
- How about keeping records of your own training. This can be as simple as what you train and when, or more complex such as the number of times that you reinforce a particular behavior, or an in-depth training plan and record of progress. https://soundcloud.com/sarah-stremming/keeping-records-against-all-odds
- Keep regular data on your dogs. For canine fitness and agility training, these are things like images of a sit, stand and down, muscle measurements, video of movement (walking and trotting), and other measures of fitness. Remember if you don't want to (or can't) do this by yourself there is always someone around you can pay to do it for you!
- Get baseline data on your performance dogs. This means BEFORE you start any agility specific training! The things I want to know are:
- Are there any health, or structural issues I need to be aware of. This means performing any required health testing prior to starting agility specific training.
- Are there any joint, muscle or other soft tissue issues's I need to be aware of?
- Are there any behavioral, or temperament issues I need to be aware of?
The reason for the collection of this data is that you need to consider all of these factors before starting your agility training. Your dog has a weak topline? Core specific fitness work is necessary before starting agility. Your dog has a straight front and lacks shoulder muscle? You need to add strength before starting weave pole training. Your dog is over aroused with toys? Then you need to be an excellent trainer with food to ensure optimum arousal levels, before you start jump work and flinging toys.
So why talk about this now? Because today at 11 weeks old Flori had her first check over by my animal physio (http://animalfisio.co.nz/). To check that there are no issues that I need to know about now.
And in her future, she will most definitely be getting a SyncCanine body scan with Rachel at Hydropaws. This is to get great valid baseline data, to help for if she does have any issues later on.
