Failure is a Growth Opportunity Virtual Event

Failure is a Growth Opportunity Virtual EventFailure is a natural part of learning and growing, for dog and handler alike. However, it is far too common for those of us in the sniffing community to shy away from failure, even fear it! This roundtable is designed to help attendees more fully embrace failure and use it to their advantage! Our speakers will share how they have personally used "failure" to further grow as a professional, trainer, instructor and dog owner. Exercises will be shared

Failure is a natural part of learning and growing, for dog and handler alike. However, it is far too common for those of us in the sniffing community to shy away from failure, even fear it!

This roundtable is designed to help attendees more fully embrace failure and use it to their advantage! Our speakers will share how they have personally used "failure" to further grow as a professional, trainer, instructor and dog owner. Exercises will be shared that attendees can try on their own, learning how to reframe "failure" whether in a training session, at class or at a trial.

SECTION 1 - Defining Failure and Why it is Beneficial

• What is "failure" when it comes to Scent Work?
• Are all instances of failure productive or learning opportunities?
• Why do you think handlers find failure so aversive? How does this manifest? How can avoiding failure backfire?
• What are your general recommendations for clients when it comes to coping with failure?
• Any special guidance you provide when coaching fellow instructors?
• How do you keep yourself honest in leveraging your own failures?

SECTION 2 - Failure When Training

• What are some common ways teams experience failure when training Scent Work?
• Should handlers purposefully cause the dog to "fail" when training, if so, why? Or should the dog be "set up for success"? Are these mutually exclusive approaches?
• How can handlers assess their failures to know what to do as a result? What is the dog, them, the environment, etc?
• How do you coach clients to use failure to progress and grow? Are there specific exercises you recommend?
• What are some of the ways you use failure when training your own dogs?
• How do you personally cope with failure as an instructor to further grow as a professional?

SECTION 3 - Failure When Trialing

• What are some examples of failure a team may experience at trial?
• Is it important to isolate failures on behalf of the dog, handler and team or does it matter?
• When a team experiences a failure at the trial itself, what should they do? Can this be addressed on trial day or only afterwards?
• What advice do you have for teams who feel as though they are buried under a mountain of "failures" (lots of false alerts, string of NQs, etc.)?
• What are some examples of a trial failure which prompted you to grow as a competitor?
• How do you personally cope with failure when trialing?