Bernese, despite their large bones and size, love agility work. However, care must be taken to properly introduce these dogs to the equipment. They must be taught to maneuver the obstacles slowly at first in order that they do it safely and properly. Then they can begin to work for speed. Because of their wide rear ends, they essentially have to re-learn how to walk on the narrow dog walk and teeter totter. Repetitive jumping can be detrimental to large dogs especially on their front ends, so the dog should ideally be sound of hip, elbow, and shoulder before a career of showing for agility titles is considered.

When introducing your Berner to the contact obstacles, hold the dog by the collar to insure he/she does not slip or fall off the obstacle.  Use food or fingers to lure the dog and keep the food low so the dog's nose is pointing downward at the obstacle.  Teach the dog a "wait" in the yellow contact zone on the down side of the obstacle.  This helps the dog to learn to walk on the whole obstacle rather than jumping off early in the excitement of a trial.  Lower the A-frame in the beginning stages.  The dog should be confident on the Dogwalk before being introduced to the Teeter-Totter.

Use food in beginning stages, however be careful not to drop it on the ground.  You want the dog to watch your hands, not the ground where food is dropping randomly.   Watch out where your hands go because they will soon be an important guidance tool for your dog.  One hand holds the dog's collar (or leash close to the collar), and the other hand is down on the obstacle showing the dog where to look to negoiate the obstacle.   Eventually, as the dog progresses, the dog has learned to watch your hands.  This leads to signaling the dog to go to an obstacle.  As you use less food, you rely more on your leash arm/hand to signal the dog to approach the obstacle.   For example, the dog is on your left; you are holding his collar/leash with your left hand.  He learns to watch your hand/arm/shoulder closest to him.  Be careful not to cross your right hand over to direct him as this will confuse him as to direction and throw your body positioning off.  If the dog is on your right side, hold the leash in your right hand to signal him with that side of your body.  It is very important to work the dog on your right side as well as on your left side in preparation for trials.

The Teeter-totter:  Use a spotter on the other side.  Again, hold the dog by the collar and guide him up the plank.  Use food to keep his nose down at the plank. Tell him "wait" at the balance point.  Give him a treat.  Then tell him "step" and have a helper help ease the plank down.  Dog will learn that the board tilts at this point. Walk dog down and tell him "wait" in the contact.  Give food reward.   Hint:  A pillow on the ground underneath where the down plank hits the ground helps break the bounce with these large dogs.  As the dog gains confidence at the this, make sure he executes the teeter in a controlled manner.  The safely of our dogs is the first concern. This is the handler's responsibility.

1. When the dog is confident and under control, the leash can come off.  Many handlers use a short tab.

2. Your signal hand is the hand nearest the dog.  Extend your arm out towards the obstacle or jump for the dog to see. 

3. Teach a "wait" in the down side contacts.

4. Teach the jumps in a low position.  Gradually add height.  To teach and to condition, set up 3 or 4 LOW jumps in a row like cavaletties for the dog to jump in succession.  Do not overdo jumping, as repeated landings on the front end structure is harmful, especially to large boned, heavy dogs.

5. Do *Sequencing* where 3 or 4 parts of the course are run.  For example:  jump, dogwalk, tunnel, jump or tunnel, tire, jump, A-frame..............

6. Always warm up your Berner before jumping.  Any athlete warms up his muscles before working out!  Be fair to your dog.  Always think of his safety and health first.