Welcome to The Moving Canine – home of the Movement Puzzles™ concept!
Boosting your dog’s confidence and stress resilience with fun movement exercises. So that your dog can learn new skills faster and feel empowered in new or challenging situations!
Promoting body awareness and coordination exercises for EVERY dog, to support them during sports performance as well as using this powerful concept for behavior work.
What are Movement Puzzles™?
Movement Puzzles are pattern movement exercises, developed by Mari Valgma, where the dog moves between 2 bowls – the 2 bowl game – and does movement exercises independently from their human (no handler cues!) while moving from bowl to bowl.
The goal of these exercises is to provide dogs with an environment and structure to SAFELY – without pressure or distractions – practice things that may be difficult or challenging FOR THEM. Be it moving on elevated surfaces, stepping onto moving/tilting surfaces, move through tight spaces, run through noisy stuff, turning around in tight areas and so much more!
As a result, Movement Puzzles are a powerful training tool for BOOSTING your dog’s CONFIDENCE in new situations, BODY AWARENESS, COORDINATION, understanding of where their bodies are in space and how to control their movements while actually in motion and running!
And yes, Movement Puzzles are fun DIY obstacle courses that you can set up in your living room or garden, using the equipment you can (mostly) find at home 😉
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Find out more about Movement Puzzles in our blog 👇
What are Movement Puzzles™?
It was back in 2020, Mr Bo and I were doing some agility foundation training in our garden. We were just working on tight wraps around a jump..
7 powerful benefits of Movement Puzzles™
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Beyond the exercise: 3 clear signs you’re creating real Movement Puzzles™
New Movement Puzzles classes are popping up like mushrooms after rain. Unfortunately, upon closer inspection, many trainers use the now popular name Movement Puzzles… While – based on..
Our courses
Movement Puzzles Academy
Our unique step by step program that will show you exactly how to boost your dog’s confidence and stress resilience with fun movement exercises.
So that your dog can learn new skills faster and feel empowered in new or challenging situations!
Reactivity Special
Our proven reactivity protocol to help your dog to make good decisions near other dogs. WITHOUT your constant guidance or micromanagement!
So that your dog would feel safe and you can ACTUALLY trust your dog not to react. Even on their own or when further away from you!
Hi! I am Mari Valgma
The creator of Movement Puzzles, a Certified Professional Canine Fitness Trainer (CPCFT) and a dog training nerd passionate about helping our dogs move with precision, awareness and confidence, especially in situations that may otherwise be called “challenging”.
I strongly believe that feeling comfortable in your own body, knowing how big you are, how your feet move and what your body is capable of, is a huge part of feeling more confident in general. Knowing that you can navigate the world and challenges with ease. You are safe. Your body has got this! It’s easy!
I’m also passionate about bringing most up to date positive reinforcement training approaches into effective, practical exercises that ANYONE can learn to do with their dogs without having even heard about the theory or tricky-to-understand terms before.
That’s why I LOVE teaching Movement Puzzles – exercises that have helped already more than 2000 dog training enthusiast like yourself to combine good training with confidence boosting coordination and body awareness training.
I live in Estonia, Europe, sharing my home with 2 Australian Shepherds Mr Bo and Life, and the memories of my past dogs – Australian Shepherds Kino and Pipi and a mixed hunting breed rescue Mirru. Who have all played a huge role in developing my skills as a trainer and Movement Puzzles!
My training ideas and Movement Puzzles have been featured in Animal Training Academy podcast, Fenzi Dog Sports Academy (where I’m also a proud alumni!), Susan Garrett’s Agility Nation and numerous international dog training summits.
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What others are saying…
– Hélène Lawler –
Fenzi Dog Sports Academy instructor, Founder of Shaping Chaos and Dog Sport Scholars
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.
If you’re struggling with arousal problems, confusion, lack of engagement, imprecise behaviours, or simply want to build the best possible foundation using cutting edge training, join this program now. Both your dog and your inner geek will forever be grateful.
– Reet Volt –
FCI Agility World Championship team member 2019
FMBB World Championship agility team gold 2019
Mari’s methods of teaching canine body coordination are nothing short of genius. I was not new to paw targets or clicker training, however, I was amazed by how much I could improve my training in this area.
The setup of Mari’s exercises is designed so that both the dog and the handler will experience the minimum amount of error and frustration.
Her program really is a must for any training enthusiast, I guarantee you will learn something new!