But here’s the thing. When training the dog walk, most struggling dog walk enthusiasts make the costly mistake of focusing only on training the contact zone.

If you are here, then most likely your dog is either super careful and slow on the dog walk, or reckless and often misplacing paws.

Or maybe you just want to make the dog walk a safer place for your dog…

Welcome! You’re in the right place 😊

Training the dog walk with a dog who is scared of it or is just running recklessly, can be a lonely journey.

If you are like most of my students, you’ve already tried making the dog walk a happier and safer place for your dog.

But there really isn’t much information available and most of the advice seems to be along the lines of “Just train more, your dog will learn eventually.”

I’m here to tell you that THERE IS A BETTER WAY FOR TRAINING THE DOG WALK - especially the moving on a narrow, high surface part.

The part that tends to be dangerous and scary for many dogs.

You  and your dog are not alone! 

While running on the dog walk seems like an easy task, it's actually a complex behavior that requires a combination of skills from your dog.
 
In fact, most dogs who are struggling on the dog walk are missing one or more of these essential skills: 

And here's what you need to know: 

If your dog is missing ANY OF THESE THREE SKILLS, 
then your reckless dog won't be able to run the dog walk safely, without misplacing paws or losing balance as soon as the course setup is less than perfect.

Not only that, if your dog doesn't know how much space she has, where are her paws at any given moment and how to control her own balance, then your careful dog will be moving slowly and cautiously, just to keep her safe. 

Missing ANY of these skills means that your dog has a higher risk of falling of and getting injured.

Your dog won't be able to run the dog walk confidently. Your training will progress slower. Your relationship with your dog will suffer.

And you may never get that worry-free, confident, fast and precise dog walk performance.

Body awareness, balance and coordination are transferable skills, meaning that if you teach them away from the dog walk… they will transfer to your dog’s dog walk performance!

I am a firm believer that if you can teach dog walk skills in a safer setup, then you should do it.
What about you? 

If you choose to teach dog walk skills in a safer setup, then there are some juicy benefits waiting for you on the other side:

Hey, I'm Mari Valgma

I am a Certified Professional Canine Fitness Trainer, helping dedicated sport and working dog owners train their dogs to move with balance, precision and awareness.
 
My passion is to help you achieve training goals faster, without overloading your dog’s body with repetitions or placing your dog in dangerous situations over and over again.  

Every single work or sport challenge can be broken into smaller, transferable skills that can be taught away from the work environment.  

While it may sound like a longer route - it really isn’t. You’d be surprised how much faster your dog can learn complex tasks when physical skills like body awareness, balance and coordination skills are in place!  

After working with more than 500 dogs over 5 years, I found traditional canine fitness training often lacking the elements that link the fitness exercises to real life challenges.  Elements like movement - your dog is rarely still when doing the sport!

Hundreds of hours of brainstorming, researching and testing resulted in special movement focused body awareness, balance and coordination exercises for dogs: Movement Puzzles.  

Every single dog has things they find challenging. And my super power is helping your dog overcome these challenges, build confidence and commitment for work.

You get to your goals faster. And your dog is safer, happier and more confident during the work and sport exercises! 

Hélène Lawler

Canada

Fenzi Dog Sports Academy instructor, Founder of Shaping Chaos and Dog Sport Scholars

USBCHA herding Open handler & coach

"My dogs and I are absolutely loving Movement Puzzles, which have become my new go-to for building foundations."

This unique skills-building program is so powerful that I believe it has the potential to completely change how we train our dogs for work and sport. Not only that, it SHOULD change how we train for work and sport.

Mari’s systematic program teaches both dog and handler the skills we need for performance excellence without danger of over-arousal (hallelujah!), all the while building confidence and developing excellence in communication.

Her step-by-step lessons are clear, easy to follow, and well organized. Her insights are paradigm shifting. Which, as a lover of rabbit holes, is my favourite part of working with Mari. But my dog is very grateful too! Particularly since the exercises allow her to tell me exactly where I need to improve, and how.

"Mari has a fresh approach to developing the underlying coordination and balance needed for dog sports...

... that dovetails beautifully with current training concepts such as loopy training, performing in flow, slow is the new fast, and forward focus. In a warm, engaging manner, she pulls together these bits and pieces into a cohesive whole. And my dogs love the exercises!"

Kathryn Kuhlen, USA

"Mari’s Movement Puzzle class was a surprising adventure into a new way of training and thinking."

I worked with my then 10-month old BC pup and my 5 year old field Labrador. It was enlightening to observe their balanced movement progress, development of body awareness for performance of the challenges, and mental acuity to solve the puzzles. My observation skills improved and I consequently became a more effective partner for them.

Mary Young, USA

INTRODUCING

BEYOND DOG SPORTS:
DOG WALK

Rita Annus & Zirka
Estonia

"Her foot placement got better, we started to get less misplaced feet and one day I realised it has been a long while since the last time she had a DW incident "

Zirka is a typical young „ride or die“ border collie, with little regard for her personal safety. It’s all about doing it all and doing it fast!

Hitting a target mat was never an issue, but as soon as we moved to a plank, oh boy was it clear that we will have some problems! Her focus was totally on hitting the target, the rest of the plank was just something on her way to get there.

 When we moved to low dogwalk, she would often step off with one or more paws and no amount of falling off would „teach her“ – as this was one of the advices I got, that she would just eventually learn from these mistakes.

I was afraid of moving to higher dogwalk levels, afraid of having speedy approaches, having visions of her one day not managing these falls from misplaced feet.

 Luckily we have Mari in our lives! We had been doing her fitness classes, and one day I mentioned in passing this problem we are encountering in RC training.

She came up with exercises that specifically target feet placement on narrow surfaces and somehow something clicked in Zirka’s brain. Her foot placement got better, we started to get less misplaced feet and one day I realised it has been a long while since the last time she had a DW incident. 

Céline & Puche

France

"If you want to learn how to help your dog to find balance in movement, to be aware of his paws, to be more independent in work, to be focus on his own body/movement and have more focus forward, then, TAKE THIS COURSE."