Canine Culture

22/04/2025

30 Questions to ask yourself as an Agility Handler from Iwona Golab
🧭 Reading Your Dog’s Line’s:
1. What line is naturally easy for my dog, and am I aligning my handling to it?
2. Where exactly do I want my dog’s eyes looking next?
3. If I were my dog, how clear would this cue feel to me?
4. Am I clearly guiding my dog’s ideal line, or am I playing not too lose?
5. What does my dog’s landing position tell me about my timing and cues?
💡 Decision Making & Strategy:
6. Am I choosing this handling because it’s comfortable, or because it's best for my dog?
7. If I had to run this sequence without my strongest skill, what would I do instead?
8. Have I considered at least two different handling strategies before settling on one?
9. Which handling choice sets my dog up confidently for the next obstacle?
10. What risks am I prepared to take on this course, and why?
🤝 Connection and Communication:
11. Am I truly present and connected with my dog right now, or am I rushing?
12. What is my body language saying to my dog in this exact moment?
13. Am I cuing clearly, early enough, and consistently?
14. When my dog is unsure, how do I immediately adjust to reconnect?
15. Do my verbal cues match my body language perfectly?
🎨 Creativity and Adaptability:
16. What is one fresh handling idea I haven’t tried yet on this sequence?
17. If I had unlimited confidence, what handling technique would I dare to test today?
18. Can I visualize at least two different successful paths through this sequence?
19. If this run wasn’t about results, what creative handling would I explore right now?
20. How quickly do I adapt when something unexpected happens mid-course?
🧠 Mindset and Emotional Control:
21. Am I making handling choices out of trust or out of fear?
22. What am I feeling before the run, and how does this influence my handling decisions?
23. If my dog makes a mistake, how will I respond constructively rather than emotionally?
24. Do I celebrate my dog's good choices enough during our runs?
25. How quickly can I emotionally recover and adjust after a handling error?
📈 Growth and Reflection:
26. What did my last run teach me about my handling style?
27. Am I honestly assessing my strengths and weaknesses as a handler?
28. What’s one specific skill that, if improved, would dramatically elevate my handling?
29. Have I asked for or watched objective feedback recently, and how did I apply it?
30. What’s the single most impactful change I could make today in my handling style?

21/04/2025

As an agility instructor, I regularly receive feedback from students. Recently, I got this from a Ring Stress student and I'm thrilled when this message gets through and handlers concentrate more on joy:

"I really want to thank you, I think this is going to change ____ and I’s relationship and we are going to be a better team. I’m a very competitive person but your discussion about how titles and Qs should never be the priority really brought it home for me. _____ is an awesome dog and he always gives me his best, I need to celebrate that and not worry about Qs."

10/04/2025

👇If you compete in dog agility, this is a must read IMHO 😊

Canine sports have become increasingly popular as more and more people choose to engage in sports activities with their dogs. At the same time, we continue to observe a division between “professional athletes” and “hobbyists” in some disciplines. Currently, we see national team competitors w...

08/04/2025

Georgia bound in June

Is your dog showing stress at trials? Inside the ring, outside the ring?
Laura Bussing will be at Canine Capers:
Fri-Sun; May 30, 31 & June 1st 2025.

https://tinyurl.com/RegisterLB
https://tinyurl.com/FlyerLB

Fri & Sun
Ring Stress-Unleashing the Potential in Stressed Performance Dogs
Sat
Canine Fitness-Strength. Balance. Flexibility
Flow Like a Pro Handling

25/03/2025

Next Session of Fabulous Enthusiasm for Faster Course Times starts April 2nd on Clean Run! Working and Auditing available.

Bring out the best in your agility dog by revving up their speed and increasing their motivation! Whether you are struggling to make course time or missing out by just a couple of seconds, Laura Bussing will show you how to increase your dog's speed and love of the game so you can achieve faster cou...

07/03/2025

Failure is an opportunity in disguise. Find the lesson from it. Fine tune the skills for future success. Today's NQ will bring tomorrow's Champion.

04/03/2025

👇👇👇

I apologize, this is long. But I would appreciate you lending an ear as this is something that has been on my mind often this year.

The last few Mondays, we've experienced an unusual number of orders for one specific product through our Amazon store. This type of order tends to happen when a seminar presenter discusses a particular product at a seminar. But what's very different from past years is that even though the presenter said to buy the product from Clean Run, the people went to Amazon to shop; despite the product including shipping fees and not being eligible for Prime.

I understand the appeal of one-stop shopping for your dog at sites like Amazon and Chewy. We have stopped selling a number of products because we can't compete with their pricing on those product lines. They get distributor pricing while we get wholesale pricing. So for some popular dog toy brands, the price I pay to bring the product into the warehouse is the same as what Amazon and Chewy are selling it for on their websites. So Clean Run looks greedy if we sell those products because we have to mark up the prices; we can't sell products at our cost.

To make things even more complicated for a small business like mine, a number of manufacturers are now selling their products directly on Amazon. They set the price of their products below the price they require me to sell the product for (minimum advertised pricing). If I break MAP and charge the same that they are charging on Amazon, they won't let me carry the product in the store.

We have always tried to "think big" at Clean Run in terms of the projects we have taken on over the years and how we always try to present ourselves professionally. We also have a fairly big warehouse because, let's face it, agility equipment is big. But we're a small business. There are 6 full-time people, including myself, and 1 part-time person that are involved in the retail portion of the business. The government defines a small business as 500 or fewer employees, so I think of us as micro-small.

But being small allows us to offer advantages to our customers that the large corporation can't.

Small is quality. Curating awesomeness is a small company's superpower. We can't phone it in and order the same dog stuff you see on these other sites. We investigate dozens of companies and other small retailers, including ones in other countries. We sample, test, reject, re-examine, and fret to no end until we find unique products we think will meet your expectations.

Small is unique. We are highly attuned to the community we serve. Whether that means being super friendly and kind to people just getting started in dog sports, or super generous when our community needs assistance (situations like clubs whose outdoor spaces are wiped out by a disaster, and they can't afford new equipment). Over the years, we have played an integral part in spending money and resources to advance agility, including equipment safety changes and the adoption of electronic timing. We sponsored the seesaw study that led to design changes to make seesaws safer and perform in a more equitable manner for all sizes of dogs. We disseminated information about the importance of conditioning and strengthening before anyone was doing it. We share the same passion for dogs and dog sports as our customers.

Small is a robot-free zone. Think about it. Just how much do you dread dialing a big company for some of that down-home robo-service? Sometimes you have to spend time just trying to find the phone number on the website. Contrast that to our customer service who understands that not all dogs are the same and will spend as much time as necessary explaining the differences in the harnesses we sell and why we chose each one. They'll also ask for photos so they can see how the dog is built. Likewise, if you are just getting started in agility, will that company explain what you may need as well as offer options that fit your budget rather than upselling you.

Small is your voice. Every time you shop at a small business, you send powerful message to the world around you.

Small is happy. Small is family. According to research, 87% of small business employees feel it is more fun working at a small business and they like "feeling like family." They feel less stressed, more appreciated, and more heard.

I also like to think of Clean Run as a "local" business; that is, local to the agility community and now other dog sport communities as well. Our objective is to support those sports, the health and happiness of the dogs that do them, and the people who love them. While we have to make money to stay in business, our primary goal is not selling enough widgets to make the stockholders happy.

So next time you need to buy training equipment or supplies, think about shopping small. And that applies not just to Clean Run, but to the other small companies running canine-related businesses.

Monica Percival, Owner

22/01/2025

📣Coming to Tennessee March 22, 2025
Register here: https://www.canineculturecompany.com/Forms.aspx?FormID=484

24/12/2024

Happy Holidays to all of my wonderful students and friends. Wishing you health, happiness and hallmark movies! ☃️

19/12/2024

Physics can be predictive of future CCL disease

28/11/2024

Happy Thanksgiving from my family to yours! I'm incredibly grateful for all of my students and their determination to bring out the best in their dogs.

23/10/2024

I loved that there were kids bar setting this weekend. I'm also happy that my dogs didn't think a thing about it. When your dog is totally engaged with you, the rest of the world does not matter. I hope we continue to see more kids at trials and that they are welcomed like they were here. Future junior handlers in the making!

01/10/2024

📣Registration Open - October Intake
Online Dog Agility Class with Working and Active Auditing

𝑭𝒂𝒃𝒖𝒍𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝑬𝒏𝒕𝒉𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒂𝒔𝒎 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑭𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑨𝒈𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝑪𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆 𝑻𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔

How great would it be to improve your dog's agility course times and Love for the Game!
👉Has your dog has lost some of its desire for playing agility and is not running as fast as they could?
👉Do you just want to get a bit more speed out of your sort-of fast dog?
👉Do you struggle to make course time?
👉Join this class for a faster, more motivated and passionate teammate. Let's show your dog that running agility with you is like Doggie Disney World! Perfect for young dogs too! Learn more by clicking on the photo below!

Dog agility training to bring out the best in your Teammate. Focus on building speed, motivation and enthusiasm for competing.