Dog Agility Isn’t Brain Surgery

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Dog Agility Isn’t Brain Surgery

Written by Lorrie Reynolds

Lorrie has been an agility enthusiast since 2002 and has taught tricks, family obedience, agility, and canine conditioning since 2005. When she's not writing articles, developing courses, or training dogs, you can find her curled up with a book in her hands and a dog warming her feet.

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“Dog agility isn’t brain surgery – anyone can learn to train it.”

That’s one of my go-to quips for new people. From the outside looking in, the number of things new people find out they have to learn and teach their dogs can be completely overwhelming.

Even though I focus on science-based training methods (like brain surgery focuses on science-based methods!), you don’t need an IQ of 160 or 12 long years in college to succeed in agility. I do my best to make training concepts accessible to anyone with a willingness to learn. It’s my way of saying that it looks hard until you break it down. Brain surgery is always hard, in my opinion.

Girl in front of blackboard with complex equations

“Dog agility isn’t brain surgery, anyone can do it.”

Along those same lines, not only do you not have to be top in your class to learn it, you don’t have to be a track star (or have amazing hand-eye coordination) to play.

There are accommodations that can be made for us older, slower handlers, and every task in agility can be broken down into multiple parts to help people learn to dance, even if they have two left feet. This is what I say to people who are unsure if they can play or continue to play with their dogs.

“Dog agility isn’t brain surgery – nobody dies if you get it wrong.”

People make mistakes. People new to agility make LOTS of mistakes. (Heck, after almost 20 years, I STILL make mistakes.)

Mistakes can be frustrating for people learning new concepts, whether they are new to agility, or just new to learning something like distance handling. The nice thing about agility is that it’s ok to screw up. Nobody will die, you just start again. This saying is my way of telling people that it’s ok to mess up – there aren’t any dire consequences.

Man pulling hair out after making a mistake

“Dog agility isn’t brain surgery – you don’t have to get it right the first time out.”

This is intended to convey that experimentation in agility can be a good thing. We would still be heeling with our dogs around the ring from obstacle to obstacle if people didn’t experiment.

Dogs are different. What works for one dog might not work for another. The perfect training method for dog number one might go over like dropping a sand-filled tunnel bag for dog number two. If you don’t get it right the first time, you try something else. You can’t do that inside someone’s head!

“Dog agility isn’t brain surgery – it’s not a life or death activity.”

I’ll admit, this one is sometimes just a tiny smidge sarcastic. I most often use it when I’m reminding people that agility is supposed to be FUN!

I think a lot of people go through a stage in their agility career where they have gotten good at the sport, and are starting to think about national competition. They get a little too serious about it and it goes from a fun bonding activity with the dog to a serious business with lots of pressure to perform perfectly.

Most people “make it through to the other side” and realize that they can excel AND have fun with their dogs. To me, that’s the pinnacle of agility – performing at the top of your game while maintaining a relationship with your dog and having fun doing it.