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  1. #1
    Senior Dog TuMicks's Avatar
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    Training Journal

    In field sports, keeping a training journal is recommended and not that unusual. I've just started doing it and hope I have the self-discipline to continue.

    In your chosen dog endeavors, do you journal? What sorts of things do you find useful to note? Is there anything you can share about your style or format that would be helpful to others wanting to do the same?

    I mention it because for years my efforts have been futile (I keep losing or otherwise abandoning my notebooks.) Then I started my own (invisible-to-others, and consciously search-engine minimized) webpage. It seems to work for me.

  2. #2
    Senior Dog Labradorks's Avatar
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    I sure do! I use Evernote, which is an app. I can use it on my computer(s), iPad and iPhone. I can clip videos (my own, how tos, etc.), Fenzi class sessions and more.

    I don't tend to get too fancy for field stuff. I just take notes after lessons and practice -- what went well, what did not, my mistakes, what to work on, etc.

    For obedience, I keep it organized by exercise and I typically check in after a private lesson.

  3. #3
    Senior Dog TuMicks's Avatar
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    Do you have your device with you and make notes as you go? I make scribbles on paper (or just eyeball our training set up and mentally note things...) then in the evening put it together to enter on my website. What I notice is how I do NOT recall MY mistakes when I look back just from memory. The most important part of making notes is to record what I did wrong.

  4. #4
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    I have kept one for M as it has help keep her programme balanced and I can be more specific when Don and I get together. It has helped with reinforcing skills and gives me the next steps. it is paper and pencil as this seems to be the only format that I will stick to. It will be the blueprint for tune up training once we get back in the field. I also have. I also have a set of quick check sheets for drill that I use on a grading system.

  5. #5
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    I don't but I probably should. I'm usually pretty good at remembering what I need to work on though.
    Annette

    Cookie (HIT HC Jamrah's Legally Blonde, UDX, OM2, BN) 6/4/2015
    Sassy (HIT Jamrah's Blonde Ambition, UDX, OM2, BN) 6/4/2015

    Chloe (HIT HC OTCH Windsong's Femme Fatale, UDX4, OM6, RE) 6/7/2009

    And remembering:

    Scully (HC Coventry's Truth Is Out There, UD, TD, RN) 4/14/1996 - 6/30/2011
    Mulder (Coventry's I Want To Believe, UD, RN, WC) 5/26/1999 - 4/22/2015

    And our foster Jolie (Windsong's Genuine Risk, CDX) 5/26/1999 - 3/16/2014

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  6. #6
    Senior Dog Labradorks's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by TuMicks View Post
    Do you have your device with you and make notes as you go? I make scribbles on paper (or just eyeball our training set up and mentally note things...) then in the evening put it together to enter on my website. What I notice is how I do NOT recall MY mistakes when I look back just from memory. The most important part of making notes is to record what I did wrong.
    For lessons, I really don't have the opportunity to take notes as I go. We are typically on a roll and I also don't want to eat into my hour. At the end, we'll quickly re-cap, "So, I need to work on X, X and X, right?". Then, I'll sit in my car and put my notes in my phone. This is both for obedience and field.

    For weekly class I typically do not take notes. Class is mostly where I practice what I learned in lessons with other dogs/people around.

    When I video myself at a match or picnic test, I will show my two instructors and they'll pick me apart and show me what was good. I can clip those videos in Evernote and record what they said.

    I did not do this until precision/perfection became important to me. The journal is more about perfecting the exercises rather than learning them, if that makes sense?

  7. #7
    Senior Dog TuMicks's Avatar
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    I guess I'm an old f@rt, and use my phone to make calls. (Actually, I also text! Woo-hoo!!!) Perhaps it's true in Ob and other sports, but is especially so in field work, that diagrams are very important. Besides, I learn best with spatial reasoning... it's how I learned biochemistry. If I could draw it, I could remember it.

    Many field folks take a picture of a lay-out from the line, and then apply lines diagramming things onto the photograph. But that perspective isn't useful to me. Some people use google earth and diagram their marks and blinds on that. But in google earth, everything is flat. You can't appreciate (visually) the roll of the land. So I make cartoons (literally sometimes because it can be comical) of what we do.

    I find it fascinating how others do their "homework." But I think the most important thing is that a journal entry be done as quickly after the fact as possible. Your app sounds perfect for that.

  8. #8
    Senior Dog Labradorks's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by TuMicks View Post
    I guess I'm an old f@rt, and use my phone to make calls. (Actually, I also text! Woo-hoo!!!) Perhaps it's true in Ob and other sports, but is especially so in field work, that diagrams are very important. Besides, I learn best with spatial reasoning... it's how I learned biochemistry. If I could draw it, I could remember it.

    Many field folks take a picture of a lay-out from the line, and then apply lines diagramming things onto the photograph. But that perspective isn't useful to me. Some people use google earth and diagram their marks and blinds on that. But in google earth, everything is flat. You can't appreciate (visually) the roll of the land. So I make cartoons (literally sometimes because it can be comical) of what we do.

    I find it fascinating how others do their "homework." But I think the most important thing is that a journal entry be done as quickly after the fact as possible. Your app sounds perfect for that.
    I like that I can talk in my phone to make notes, I don't have to type or write. Hand writing is uncomfortable since I never do it other than the occasional check, signature or Post-It note. You can get apps to create images using your finger -- think Etch a Sketch but with color. For the diagrams, this would work especially well with an iPad! You could save that diagram in your Evernote app. Or, you could draw the diagram and take a picture of it. Smartphones are amazing and super helpful in dog stuff. I have a metronome on mine (through an app) that I use for heeling. I also use my iPad specifically for dog stuff, like videos.

 



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