What's in a Title?

It’s time to let go of our Title obsesssion

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I have a bone to pick, and it has to do with titles. For those of my fabulous readers who don’t participate in dog sports, you can think of “titling” as “leveling up”. Once your dog meets certain criteria in your sport of choice, you get to move them along to the next level. We put a lot of emphasis on titles. We plan, plot, cry, agonize, and throw up our fists in frustration. We obsessively track qualifications and points, and plot who has the best title ribbons and how to work our trial schedule so we end up at that competition and happen to title.

And in the end, what is it all for?

To truly understand the absurdness that is our obsession with titles, you have to understand how the American titling system works, and how it compares to others out there. In most cases, the Europeans adhere to a “win-up” titling system. This means that dogs need to win a certain number of times before they can level up. For instance, if I bring Fin pup out in Novice, I may need to win 3 different times before I can move him to the next level. For most handlers, this means that eventually there is a glass ceiling on how far they can go; if you have a slow dog, or happen to trial in a highly competitive area, it is unlikely you will make it to the top levels (aka. grades).

In the US, by contrast, most of our venues are on a “qualifications based titling system” or a hybrid of qualifications (Q’s) and wins. What this means is that you need to perform the courses by meeting a certain number of requirements a certain number of times and Voila! you can move up. What this looks like in practice is, I can bring Fin pup out in Novice, compete him on 3 different courses, only making certain errors, and I get to move him up to the next level. So unlike the win-up system, there is no glass ceiling based on the competitiveness of my dog; if I have a reliable dog, and well trained skills, and a desire to trial often, I can still attain the highest levels, independent of what the competition looks like.

Now, don’t get me wrong, there are pro’s and con’s to both systems. Frankly, if the US wasn’t on a Q based system, I likely wouldn’t be blogging to you today. The reality is, a win-up based system would have made competing with Riley wholly unfulfilling; he’s in a competitive height class, with a lot of competitive dogs, and I honestly can’t say that Novice Grace would have been happy continuing to compete in that environment. So in some respects I don’t like the win-up system because it creates barriers to the sport that prevents new handlers or those with non-traditional breeds giving it a shot.

That being said, the US’s continual emphasis on qualifications rather than speed encourages handlers to play it safe. I routinely see handlers picking plans that are within their comfort zone, but causes them to sacrifice the win, and ultimately this mentality is reflected in the competitiveness of our International teams. I also think, to a certain extent, it encourages mediocrity. Rather than going home and training new skills, or shoring up foundations, many US handlers will simply wait for next weekend, to see if the course is more favorable to their dog’s skills. We fall into this mindset of “getting our dogs through” each course, rather than striving to master each course.

And none of this addresses the real elephant in the room: titles are false goals; they shouldn’t be your end goal, they should be bi-products of your end goals coming to fruition. Each year, my work encourages us to set SMART goals. If I said the target was to achieve a promotion (i.e. a title) I would be laughed out of the office. The promotion comes as a bi-product to achieving your technical goals and growing your performance as an individual. The same is true for each of us competing. I’ve talked a lot the last few weeks about creating your Vision, and your plan for how to achieve it. Your end target should never be X title, rather it should be mastering the technical and mental skills that both you and your dog need to succeed. Titles will come as a bi-product of that.

If a title doesn’t serve my overall Vision, I won’t reach for it. For some dogs, just walking in the ring without a meltdown is a success. Maybe you’ve taken time off to re-train your weave poles, and your dog nailed them in each competition. Or maybe you plan on making an International team, and would rather hone skills that will make you successful in tryouts than chase qualifications every weekend. No matter what your Vision is, a title shouldn’t be the goal, but rather a bi-product of that goal. If you have solid skills and a good understanding of handling, titles will come, but isn’t a more accurate reflection of your vision a wicked fast, clean run, where you and your dog were in sync every step of the way?

Just some food for thought.