Do you have a ring and show routine? Do you need one?

Routines provide us with comfort, control, and can reduce stress levels. They help us relax and can reduce anxiety. Think about how it feels for you, to be thrown out of your normal routine. It can be stressful for some of us! Now think about this happening when you are in a new and strange place. That's uncomfortable, or even scary.

It can be the same with our dogs. Routines can help provide comfort, especially in new environments. It's important to note that like everything with our dogs, this is an individual thing - routines can be less important for some dogs, and have more of an impact with other dogs.

Benefits of having a show / ring routine

For some dogs they provide comfort if they are anxious or uncomfortable with travel, or in new environments that they haven't been too before
They allow your dog time to acclimate to new environments and stimuli in the environment
They can provide a physical warmup as part of your routine
They can provide contextual cues to the TYPE of competition if you compete in multiple disciplines
You can integrate start button behavior into your routine that give you information to if your dog is cognitively and emotionally ready to go into the ring
You can integrate specific strategy's in to address over aroused, or anxious dogs e.g. soothing strategies

Your routine should vary to meet the physical and emotional needs of your dog, and should emphasis the parts of the routine that will meet their biggest need that may have a negative impact on performance. Key components of your routine should include acclimatization or exposure to the environment, physical and mental warmup, startline behaviours that cue the dog to that will happen next (e.g. going into the ring to do an agility run) and give you information to if they are cognitively and emotionally ready for that to occur. This also builds an aspect of consent into your routine.

Here's some examples:

Evo is my 'over the top' border collie. Being in the ring, away from reinforcement is a very arousing environment for him. The focus of our ring routines is to 1. manage his arousal, 2. ensure that he's physically warmed up (because he will move at 110% speed and effort), and 3. make sure he is able to think before we enter the ring. This involves a sniffy walk of the rings at the start of the day around the rings before agility starts, an intensive physical warm up away from the rings, and soothing behaviours like treat scatters before we enter the marshalling area, and then a standard pattern of behaviours before we enter the ring, that he must be able to respond to appropriately, or we will not go into the ring.

Grid my working cocker spaniel is less environmentally sensitive, but overall more of a sensitive boy. His routine is more about making sure he is physically and emotionally ready to enter the ring, so the routine is focussed on 'pepping him up.'

Grid show routine:

What do you think? Do you have a deliberate show routine? Does it work for you? Do you need one?? Find out more in my upcoming FDSA June Class: Caring for your star athlete.