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 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 to control her body while moving or feel confident with precision exercises on high surfaces, 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.

And here's the painful truth:

Your dog will have to learn these skills anyway. He won't be able to perform the DW reliably without controlling his body on DW entries, feeling confident on a high & narrow surfaces, have the coordination to adjust gait while running on a narrow plank.

Have you ever seen a perfect DW performance where the dog was struggling on the plank?

It's totally up to you if you want to wait for your dog to learn these skills during your full DW and contact zone training, potentially resulting in slow learning due to multitasking and dangerous situations for your dog...

Or you take full control over your DW training journey and make sure to train these skills BEFORE asking your dog to run on the DW.  So that your dog can fully focus on hitting that contact zone during your DW training. And do it with confidence, precision and speed.

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 the foundation skills are in place!  

Beyond Dog Sports: Dog Walk is the result of my experience of working with more than 300 agility handlers and helping their dogs overcome their own, individual challenges on the dog walk.

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! 

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. 

Monica Bush
Canine Massage Therapist & Agility Coach

"I have seen marked improvement in my young dog! I highly recommend this class to do alongside your contact end behavior foundation."

The Beyond Dog Sports Dogwalk class is the perfect foundation for stopped and running dog walks!

My young male is the first dog I have owned that is truly scared of heights. We spent tons of time working on a low dw to build his confidence, but his fear is still very much appreciable. I decided we needed more help.

Mari's class is a series of movement puzzles to teach your dog body awareness while in motion vs somewhat static exercises that require less movement. The dogs learn to navigate physically challenging puzzles that have an underlying theme of foot fall awareness.

I'm still working through the exercises, but I have seen marked improvement in my young dog! I highly recommend this class to do alongside your contact end behavior foundation.

Merit Jähne

Running Contacts coach  www.fellow4ever.com

I highly recommend the Beyond Dog Sports Dogwalk Online-Class! If you want to prepare your dog in the best possible way for your further dogwalk training, you will find great step by step instructions about many little pieces of a puzzle. It seems like it's just a lot of unexciting exercises, but you will have a great benefit if you train all of them exactly.

Sally Jones

Agility competitor since 1989
Agility judge since 1993 
Judged World Agility Open in Ermelo 2019 
Coach for Italian National squad 2012-2017 at World Agility Open

"My pre-competition youngster is progressing confidently with great balance and coordination and these qualities have also transferred to the seesaw. I wish I’d had this course years ago."

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."