The video camera and agility
One of the best training tools to use in agility training is the video camera. I don’t go to a trial without it. At first we used it mostly for entertainment, to film our runs and then watch them upon our return home. Then we realized that watching ourselves in slow motion was very revealing.
Humbling too I might add as it also reminds me how much I need to go on a diet and wear a good sports bra. (I could write a whole article on that one but for the sake of the men who might read this column I won’t)
The best way to view video taped runs is on your TV or computer, the larger the screen the more detail you will be able to see. There are several ways we use video to assist us in agility. The most frequent is to video our runs and then watch them several times in slow motion to see how we might be able to improve. I look for things like poorly positioned feet, slow commands, bad body position and in general how I might have done something differently. I can also check out position on contacts, 2 on 2 off, vs. 1 toenail in. Another interesting side effect to videoing is to listen to the candid remarks about your run being picked up on your video recorder microphone.
We also video other handlers and their dogs. Depending on what you’re looking to improve on, videoing someone else’s run can be very beneficial. For instance if you would like to get tighter turns from your dog pick a handler who runs a dog similar to yours in size but just a bit quicker with tighter turns on the course. Video your run on the same course and video theirs. Watch them both in slow motion and see if you can pick out the differences that make their dog faster. Pay close attention to their body in relationship to their dog versus yours, see where/when they make crosses, and watch the timing of their signals. At regular speed these things all seem to run together but comparing them at slow speeds will give you great insight into differences that might give you tighter turns and faster times on course. Unless you have some very sophisticated video software this will mean a lot of rewinding and watching again and again but it’s worth it if you are able to see the differences and make changes in your handling.
Speaking of video software there are some great new programs available. Most of these programs are expensive but if you can find someone at a trial who provides them on CD or at a training class who uses them to assist in training you will find them very helpful. Some of these programs allow you to run two runs side by side, this is great if you want to compare your run with someone else’s to see why they had a faster time than you did. Other video programs will actually allow you to overlay your run on top of another run so you can see both runs on the same screen. I’ve used both of these methods several times to compare my runs with my husbands. He’s usually a second faster and both our dogs run very similar to one another. The comparisons show that my dog has tighter turns but he can run faster, so on courses with straight away runs he makes up time on me. On tighter courses I usually have faster times than he does. Without comparing our runs side by side we probably would have never known the reasons why. Now I’m trying to run faster and he’s training tighter turns so the video analysis should result in both of us having faster times.
Another benefit of the side by side or the overlay comparisons in training is to look at your own runs being handled in different ways. For example I recently attended an agility camp where one of the instructors had us run and filmed a course with lots of crosses. First I ran it as I most likely would have run it in a trial with front crosses and then I ran it again but with rear crosses. I was amazed to find out that my dog prefers rear crosses and was faster on the course. As most of my students will tell you I am very fond of the front cross as I prefer to be in front of my dog as often as possible. They were all totally shocked when I came to class the next day and told them to walk the course with all rear crosses. When I explained what I had observed and we ran the course both ways in class, several of them found that their dogs also preferred the rear cross.
Of course crosses depend on timing and you need to have both front and rear crosses in your bag of tricks, but knowing which one your dog prefers in certain instances can help improve your time. Sounds like a good topic for next month.
Happy Thanksgiving
Happy Runs to everyone….Shar