Covid19 has been a challenge for so many agility enthusiasts. The halls have been closed and competitions canceled. It almost seems like the source of our inspiration has somehow vanished from our everyday lives.

However, quite many of us have managed to get over the disappointment and registered to different online courses. After all, if you have a small backyard and a couple of obstacles, you can already do miracles to your dog’s skills.

Online courses are great for so many reasons: they don’t require a certain time slot repeatedly from your calendar, they don’t require you to go to a certain place where the course is taking place, and you have lots of world-class coaches to choose from.

However, surprisingly, many people feel that they don’t get enough out of these courses. Yes, there are some challenges and in this article, we’ll figure out some tools to overcome them and help you get everything out of your online courses.

The most common challenges in online courses

To find solutions, we first need to analyze the problems. Why is it that people find it hard to get the most out of these courses? We made a quick poll in Agility Training Challenges group on Facebook, and here’s a list of the most common challenges people face in online courses.

• Video editing takes time

• Everything depends on you

• The social aspect is missing

• No group pressure

• No F2F contact with the coach

• Not getting enough feedback

• Having to video-record everything

How to overcome each challenge

Having to video-record everything and video editing takes time

Yes, this is the biggest challenge of all in online courses. You really need to make an extra effort for these and sometimes this even sets a high threshold for starting to train. However, you can do it! And not only do it, but this actually teaches you so much about your dog, so it’s worth doing it despite the effort it takes! Here are some tips on how to make this easier for you:

• Buy a compact tripod for video recording so you won’t be dependent on other people doing the video shooting for you.

• Pack the tripod to your training bag and keep it there, so it’s always with you and you don’t need to remember every time to take it with you.

• Get a video editing app, like Viva video, to your phone, so you don’t need to move the video file to your computer.

• Edit the video of each training session right after the training. This way you won’t have tons of videos to edit at once.

• Analyze the training session at the same time as you edit the video - here multitasking works

Everything depends on you and no group pressure

Right. This is actually the same in all dog training. A coach can give you great tips and support you in your journey, both online and offline. However, the ugly truth is that in the end, it is you and only you, who carries the responsibility for the training of your dog. However, in online training, you need even more self-discipline. But you can do it by using some time in the beginning for plan-making and then turning separate actions into a holistic routine!

• In the beginning of the course take time to define the goal for the course. You can try and use AgiNotes training list features for that to support you.

• Make plans on how to do the training: where and when will you train. Is your back yard the best place or a nearby field, or something else? How many times a week do you need to train to get to your goal?

• Add training time to your calendar and stick to them.

• When you get training session information like course maps, add them to AgiNotes training list, so you can move them to the training diary easily with one click.

• After that, make an effort to follow the plan for two weeks. After that, it should be more or less routine for you, and it all rolls smoothly.

The social aspect is missing

We all know how dear the other agility people are to us. How fun it is to talk with like-minded human beings who totally love dogs and this sport. In online courses, you seldom get to know others well. But, you can fill this social emptiness in other ways:

• Start e.g. Whatsapp group for the other agility people in your training club and start a discussion on different topics and share your course videos there.

• Get a friend to participate in the same course and chance thought and experiences with him or her regularly.

• If the online course has a discussion board or is in a Facebook group, comment and participate in discussion.

No F2F contact with the coach and no direct feedback during the training

Not having F2F contact with the coach has one major pitfall: not getting feedback during the training. This means that all feedback comes only after you have done the training, video shooting, and editing. In F2F training you get comments all through the training and you can change what you do right away. However, quite often we tend to forget the advice quite fast unless we write it down and really internalize what is said. In online training, you are forced to think more for yourself first. The trainer has probably prepared you to pay attention to certain aspects during your training sessions. While training, you need to ponder your actions more and you see your handling and how your dog is behaving when you are editing and analyzing the video.

In the end, because you don’t have a trainer there next to you doing all the thinking in real-time for you, can actually make you develop your thinking and understanding faster than if you’d only use F2F coaching. Thus, in the end, this might not be a problem at all, even if it makes us feel uncomfortable at times.

• Instead of seeing this as a problem, view this as an opportunity to learn more and faster.

• Read all the instructions very thoroughly before training to know where you should pay attention to.

• During the training, if something seems not to work, take a few minutes and just think about the situation from different viewpoints and try to spot the root of the problem.

• Learn to enjoy analyzing your videos.

Participate, learn and enjoy

Even if online courses save time, they also take time. And they require so much self-discipline! But you can do it. Try online courses from different coaches to find the ones that suit your way of training. Take time to define the goal for each course, and plan how and where you use time. Create a strong routine that includes training, video recording, editing, and analyzing. As Will Durant said, “Excellence is not an act, but a habit”. And remember to find joy in every single training session. That is what keeps your habit alive.

Online courses are now a great solution for so many, and OneMind Dogs have been so nice to offer all AgiNotes users a great discount for their Premium membership!

With the discount code ‘AGIGOALS’ you get 35% off the first month for new members. The discount is valid until 11.11.2020.