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We humans love to have our hobbies, especially athletic ones. Did you know that our four-legged best friends enjoy hobbies just as much? If anything, they consider hobbies part of their daily job. My pup and I discovered a love for dog agility together – a game in which your dog goes through a series of obstacles in a course. The pup that clears the course the fastest (with no mistakes) wins the game!
This hobby used to be a bit of a complicated endeavor because I had to drive pretty far to my nearest dog agility class and could only carve out one day in the week to commit to it. Then OneMind Dogs came along, an entirely online agility class created by professional trainers. All I needed were the agility obstacles (which were easy to find online) and a membership to the program. So, how does OneMind Dogs compare to the classes I used to take in person?
About OneMind Dogs
OneMind Dogs is not your average online dog training app; it is much more than that. Last I checked, it may actually be the only comprehensive online course for dog agility led by trainers and professional agility handlers.
OneMind Dogs was inspired by an exceptional dog named Tekla, a border collie who unexpectedly lost her hearing in 2003. Her owner (and one of the founders of OneMind Dogs) Janita Leinonen had to find a new way to communicate with her beloved Tekla, as verbal cues would no longer work. The journey Janita went on with Tekla helped devise the OneMind Dogs method, with the method’s efficacy being proven with Janita and Tekla winning several championship titles in various agility competitions.
OneMind Dogs formally began in 2012, led by a group of passionate dog behavior experts, agility coaches, innovators, and Janita herself. The primary crew of OneMind Dogs includes Jaakko Suoknuuti, Mikko Aaltonen, Mari Kaplas, Tuulia Liuhto, and Noora Keskievari as CEO – along with 84 other coaches and instructors from 13 different countries around the world. To date, there are over 77,000 registered users from 155 countries.
- Listen to dogs in order to understand and communicate in their silent language.
- Understand dogs so well that the human and canine become one mind.
- Be passionate and fanatical about this connection
- Focus on wordless understanding, not control.
- The human pack of OneMind Dogs is large but shares fundamental values: “Connecting with our dogs with passion, never-ending fun, and endless imagination.”
- Have faith in what we do.
- A belief that sharing all of the knowledge leads to improvement and progress.
Overview
Here is an overview of what you can expect from OneMind Dogs and why this program differs from the rest.
Pricing
For agility classes, which is the bread and butter of OneMind Dogs, there is a free version of OneMind Dogs in all its training categories – but this is simply a little intro and will not give you access to the main training courses. However, the free version offers a great sneak peek.
- Yearly Membership (Renews every 12 months): $411 ($34 per month)
- 6-Month Membership (Renews every 6 months): $237 ($39 per month)
- Monthly Membership (Renews every month): $48 per month
If you only want the agility foundation course, you can purchase it separately at $10.78 per month. However, this course is also included in the main premium membership prices above.
For the Puppy training classes, there is a 7-day free trial to try all of the puppy classes.
The Methodology
The OneMind Dog method bases itself on your dog’s natural behavior. Dogs communicate through body language and the interpretation of body language. The OneMind Dog method trains humans in the language of dogs.
Dogs are encouraged to adhere to behavior that their human wants based on communicating with them in their own way of speaking. The lessons in the OneMind Dogs method focus on explaining how your dog sees and interprets the world, alongside how best to communicate with your dog in the language that dogs fundamentally understand.
This is why OneMind Dogs is so effective – instead of training the dog to your language (like many other training programs), you meet the dog at their level of understanding. There is an excellent lesson in the OneMind Dogs Method training section that is called “Your Dog Is Your Best Instructor,” and that says it all.
Agility Training
OneMind Dogs really excels at its agility training program, which totals over 600 lessons. Premium members have access to all of these, while basic tier subscribers ($10.78 per month) have access to the Foundations for Agility, and free users can just get a sneak preview.
All of the lessons are divided into categories that are easily searchable.
- Guided Courses
- Fitness
- Puppies and Beginner Dogs
- Courses and Sequences
- Obstacle Training
- Handling Techniques
- Mental Training
- The OneMind Dogs Method
The Foundations for Agility course, which is the most popular one (and where you should start, even if your dog has some understanding of what agility is), teaches you to both work as a team, improve your dog’s focus, help with mental stimulation, teach body awareness to your pup and how to use their body in a balanced way and help your pup build the right attitude for agility.
The Handling category is also cited as being quite popular on the OneMind Dogs website, stating that this set of courses teaches more than 30 different techniques. The first 20 are stated to be based on natural behaviors from your dog, which make them easier to learn and teach. As someone who has done dog agility classes before, I found the Handling category incredibly comprehensive, covering every maneuver you may encounter on the course.
All the lessons are wrapped around ways to maximize your backyard so you can train efficiently at home, which is especially prevalent in the Courses and Sequences category with course plans for your yard, as well as tips and tricks for teaching sequences at home.
Puppy Training
Although OneMind Dogs focuses on agility training, the puppy courses are also a great resource. The Online Puppy Training by OneMind Dogs is a foundational series to help your puppy become a wonderful adult dog.
- Housetraining
- Being alone (mitigating separation anxiety)
- Socialization
- Walking nicely on a leash and heeling
- Basic commands such as sit, stay, and lie down
- Greeting people politely
- Coming when called
- Safely traveling in a car
- No biting
- Playing together
- Building trust between you and your puppy
- Bringing you a toy
There are 96 total lessons and 40 total socializations.
Much like agility training, the entire system is based on proper communication between yourself and your dog.
Professional Trainers
All of the trainers at OneMind Dogs are fully vetted and very accomplished, with many holding top titles in dog agility! OneMind Dogs uses coaches, assistant coaches, and instructors.
- Coaches are those who partook in the initial Coach pilot program and were professionally trained in Finland. They have passed a test to achieve their title.
- Assistant coaches are those who work underneath coaches.
- Instructors are those who go through rigorous online and live training and pass tests to teach specific training modules. When they have completed testing on all of the available modules, they can take the ultimate test to become a coach.
What to Expect and Ease Of Use
Upon registering for OneMind Dogs, you get your own dashboard that is used to access lessons, communicate with coaches and instructors, and keep track of how your dog is doing.
The Online Puppy Training has a different dashboard than the Agility training, and both aim towards their goals. Whichever one you are using, the website is straightforward to use, with everything not requiring computer knowledge.
To access classes for the Agility training, just press “Start Training” at the top menu. Courses will populate with an easy-to-use search bar and category drop-down menu.
Very app-based, each lesson works in three easy steps:
- Select the lesson you want to teach and learn
- Follow the step-by-step video instructions and practice with your dog
- Keep track of the progress in your OneMind Dogs dashboard
It’s as simple as that! If you scroll further on the lesson page under the instructional video, you will find a written breakdown of the following:
- What you need
- The goal for you
- The goal for your dog
- The summary (the main steps of the instructional video)
- Tips to troubleshoot common problems (if your dog isn’t doing what they are supposed to be doing)
This thorough information makes training at home tremendously easier, especially for a sport like dog agility.
Forum and Blog
Membership includes access to the OneMind Dogs forum, where you can interact with the coaches, instructors, and other students going through the course. The forum is quite active and lists workshops you can take. OneMind Dogs also has a blog with valuable articles on various topics.
Philanthropy
Believe it or not, your soon-to-be favorite online agility training platform also has a charitable side. OneMind Dogs has partnered with Austin Pets Alive! in Austin, Texas, a rescue that “pioneers innovative lifesaving programs designed to save the animals most at risk of euthanasia.”
In Summary
- Over 600 lessons
- Agility foundation program
- Online puppy training
- Access nearly 100 trainers
- Easy-to-use and understand lessons
- Affordable
- Membership needed for actual lessons
Key Features
The OneMind Dog Method
The OneMind Dogs method is exclusive to this program and is probably the most effective one out there. OneMind Dogs teaches you the language of your dog.
Puppy Training Courses
Online puppy training courses are available, teaching the fundamentals of raising a great dog, such as housetraining, walking on a leash, and more.
Extensive Agility Training Courses
Agility is the primary purpose of OneMind Dogs, and their agility courses are unbeatable.
100 Trainers From 13 Different Countries
Trainers to suit every aspect of agility and puppy rearing, all accomplished and heavily vetted.
Easy To Follow Videos
All the lesson videos are simple and easy to follow with clear instructions and tips. Each lesson page dedicates space to written instructions and tips if your pup isn’t doing what they are supposed to.
A Forum To Connect With Other Users
An active forum to talk with other users or engage with instructors.
Get One-On-One Feedback From Coaches And Instructors
Times are available for one-on-one feedback from a coach, an assistant coach, or an instructor.
Is OneMind Dogs a Good Value?
Depending on where you live, the average agility class costs $25 – $60 per class. Assuming you go with your dog once a week like I did, that is $100 monthly on the low end and $240 on the high end.
But in all actuality, once per week is not very beneficial for your dog. You should be training two to three times a week, which quickly adds up to anywhere from $200 per month spent on classes to $480 per month!
OneMind Dogs costs at most $48 per month.
To buy your agility equipment and train at home, you’ll need to spend around $100 – $300 for a complete set, depending on how many of each obstacle you want to buy. This is a one-time purchase. Pair this with a yearly membership fee of $411, and you’re still getting a massive value and cost reduction per year! Over 600 lessons are available to you immediately, with guided courses to help you train at home.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Do you need to own agility equipment for the agility classes?
You do not need to own any agility equipment for the Agility Foundation classes. Equipment will be required for the agility lessons beyond the extensive foundation course. Equipment can be purchased in a variety of places, including online.
What ages of dogs can participate in the OneMind Dogs method?
OneMind Dogs has lessons for dogs of all ages, from puppyhood to adulthood. Beginner and advanced dogs are welcome.
There are a lot of lessons. Is there a way to bookmark or save lessons?
Yes. Press the star icon next to any lesson video to start a bookmark list you can visit again in the dashboard.
Our Experience With OneMind Dogs
I enrolled my pup, Lorelei, into agility classes the day I finally got her health on track from adopting her at the animal shelter. She was about two years old at the time. Although the lessons were a lot of fun, I had difficulty finding any near me – and an hour’s commute each way is rather hard to carve into a busy work schedule, and my pup only went once a week (sometimes once every two weeks). Not only was this a pricey endeavor to begin with, but I felt like the money wasn’t being very well spent because we weren’t progressing with so few classes. We had stopped doing agility some years ago, so when OneMind Dogs came along, I was curious to see if it would be possible to get going again on our own; I have some of the equipment anyway!
Upon first registering and receiving a Premium Membership, all of the lessons became instantly available to me. The dashboard is really simple to navigate, and finding the lesson I wanted wasn’t difficult either. We started with the foundation course and haven’t quite progressed to the main agility lessons yet – but what we’ve done so far is pretty brilliant! I really appreciated how easy and straightforward all of the video tutorials are – I am a very visual learner, and watching proper handling helped tremendously. The tips to assist in situations where Lorelei wasn’t quite catching on to what I needed helped tremendously, which mitigated my need to constantly bug a trainer to ask what I was doing wrong.
Most of the lessons teach you about viewing life from your dog’s vantage point and how dogs communicate with us and the world around them. I felt like I was learning a new language, but every time I accomplished something in this canine way of communication, my dog understood me far better than before. We naturally rely a lot on verbal cues because humans are vocal, but dogs are body-language communicators. I felt like even just going through a few courses, the bond with my pup got a lot stronger – and at the end of the day, that’s the goal, is it not?
The blog was a fun read in my relaxation time, and the forum was a helpful addition to the OneMind Dogs program as a whole. I even recognized a few agility students from when I used to take classes!
Overall, I am delighted with OneMind Dogs and will continue further in their lessons.
Conclusion
In conclusion, OneMind Dogs is the ultimate resource for all things dog agility. A cost-effective and really valuable way to excel in this fun hobby, OneMind Dogs is truly changing the way people train and view this sport. By shaping your dog’s natural behaviors, you can find a new way to become a great agility team. 10/10 would absolutely recommend!
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