Another Video- Puppies introduced to the tunnel

Poodles make fabulous agility dogs.  Seriously fabulous agility dogs. You can't start jumping puppies until they are closer to a year but until that time foundation work can be done with puppies to set a foundation of confidence, focus and strength for when their body is ready to start doing the physically harder stuff like jumps.

We try to expose our puppies to many things in their weeks with us. The goal is to give them positive confidence building experiences.  This is what we advise our puppies new families to continue.  It is not about exposing them to everything under the sun, but that making sure they gain confidence and it's a positive experience as they get each new experience.  From grooming, to new people, to new places each thing a puppy is exposed to and gains a positive experience from it forms confidence. Confident dogs are dogs who trust their handler, are willing to try new things, and do not fall into fear. Confidence building can improve even on the most timid dog.  Learning new tricks, sit, down, etc all help build confidence in your dog.

So we start on this work at a young age. Today the puppies were exposed to a tunnel- similar to an agility tunnel - but smaller (OK it's a cat tunnel!) it's just the right size to give them the same experience as an agility tunnel they may encounter down the road with their new families.  The puppies proved to all be curious confident puppies trucking through it.  And here's our video showing some of their first exposures to it!