I love working with beginners, especially those who actually have no preconceived notions on what dog agility is all about or how to go about it. A Clean Slate. With new teams of dogs and owners, whether the dogs are puppies or new to the game, it is wonderful to see them realize how much fun they can have with their companion.

Ripper standing on kitchen pot

To get dogs and owners started on their first step towards agility, I do not work with the standard agility equipment, instead I use a pot from the kitchen and a ball. To begin I like to teach balance, body awareness and movement in space, also known as proprioception. Proprioception is the process by which the body can vary muscle contraction in immediate response to incoming information regarding external force, or movement intelligence. As we work on this we are going to build balance through awareness and at the same time strengthen our dog’s core.  If your dog has a strong core then it only follows that jumping, turning and other skills needed for agility will have a better physical foundation. The core strength of the abdominal, back and gluteus muscles is the foundation from which all movement originates.

And let the games begin… to get started the first thing you want to do is get a large old kitchen pot. See photos I like to use a pot because eventually I will be using a ball inside the pot. But anything that your dog can get up on, perch on or wants to get up on will work in the beginning, even a small phone book or plate.

Cayenne using the food bowl

Next, you want to make sure your puppy (I will use puppy, but any age dog fits here) isn’t afraid of the pot. You can simply mark and reward your puppy for hanging around the pot (or other item), sniffing it, touching it, anything at all. Make sure the puppy is not afraid of the noise the pot can make if banged or accidentally tipped over. I simply like to feed my dogs like crazy while next to the pot and slowly and quietly start to tap the pot with a wooden spoon. If the puppy is okay with the sound, increase the loudness while at the same time continuing to feed and mark the behavior. Once you can bang the pot and the puppy doesn’t worry, we can move on to working with the puppy and the pot.