06/21/2026
Hi everyone,
I have gone back and forth about whether or not to share this post….part of me says it’s dealt with, move on, another part says the broader situation needs to be brought to light.
I recently became aware of a situation involving the use of material from my jumping curriculum within another commercial educational program.
I will not be naming the individual or sharing the details publicly. My purpose in writing this post is not to create conflict, but rather to start a conversation about professional ethics, attribution, and respect for educational work within our sport.
Many of you know that I began teaching my online classes in 2013. However I started teaching jump classes in 2003. What started as a way to support my Outreach students between visits has grown into a program that has reached students across North America and beyond. The program that exists today is the result of decades of experience, observation, study, experimentation, and collaboration.
Over the past 23 years, I have worked with my own agility dogs, as well as thousands of dogs and handlers through classes, seminars, private coaching, and online instruction. I have spent countless hours testing exercises, refining and re organizing the progressions, evaluating outcomes based on my students homework videos, documenting results, troubleshooting problems, and updating material as our understanding of performance, biomechanics, and safety issues in our sport has evolved.
Many of the exercises and progressions in my program were developed to solve specific problems that I encountered with my own dogs and my students' dogs. Some ideas worked. Some did not. Some evolved over years of refinement. Others were completely redesigned after seeing how different dogs responded. The program has never been static. It was started in 2013 and was updated and restructured again in 2021, and will likely have another review this year. It has continually evolved as the sport has changed, and I have learned more from the dogs I work with.
I have always been very open about the people who influenced my own development. Anyone who has trained with me knows how often I credit Susan Salo for sparking my interest in grid work back in 2003 and being the pioneer of jump work for agility dogs in my opinion, and that Susan Garrett has shaped my understanding of dog training since I first met her in 1999. I have never believed that learning happens in isolation, and I have always felt it was important to acknowledge the people whose ideas helped shape my own work.
My concern is not that someone teaches jumping mechanics or grid work or conditioning, or handling concepts etc. None of those ideas belong to any one person.
My concern is when lesson structures, exercise progressions, diagrams, terminology, educational frameworks, and supporting notes taken together en mass, begin to mirror another instructor's work so closely that the distinction between inspiration and reproduction becomes questionable.
This was not limited to broad concepts. It involved lesson progressions, exercise sequencing, terminology, diagrams, written explanations, and educational frameworks that I believe mirrored my material too closely to be explained by coincidence alone. All of my lessons have a clear “please do not re produce without permission” note on them.
Don't get me wrong, I am THRILLED when instructors incorporate work from my classes in a live setting to inspire others to add jump grids to their dog's agility program! More dogs doing grid work is a win as far as I am concerned. But reproducing an entire program of over 28 lessons and selling it in another online platform as "original work" just doesn't seem right.
I recognize that these questions are rarely simple.
In our field, almost every exercise builds on concepts that have existed for years. Collection, extension, striding, conditioning, safe jumping mechanics, and handling maneuvers are taught throughout the sport. The question is rarely whether a single exercise is entirely unique.
The more difficult question is where we draw the line when a “collection” of lesson sequences, notes, terminology, progressions, class structures, and specialized exercises are reproduced as a "complete program" and closely resemble another instructor's body of work.
At what point does inspiration become replication?
Innovation in our sport happens because people are willing to invest years testing ideas, refining systems, documenting results, sharing failures, and ultimately sharing what they learn. If we want that innovation to continue, I believe we need to respect the time, effort, and creativity that go into building those educational systems.
I do not pretend to have all the answers about exactly where the legal or ethical line exists in every circumstance. However, I do believe our sport would benefit from a broader and more honest discussion about attribution, professional ethics, educational ownership, and respect for intellectual property. The amount of work that goes into these programs is astronomical and should be respected.
Those of you who have worked with me know that I have always tried to model that approach myself. If I use someone else's photograph or diagram, I always ask permission, note where and how it will be used and provide attribution. I believe that is simply the right thing to do.
For those of you who have been with me for many years, thank you for recognizing the history, effort, and thought that have gone into this program. Some of you are now working your fourth or fifth dog through these classes, and your continued trust means more to me than I can adequately express.
For those who are newer to my program, please know that every lesson, progression, and exercise in my program has been built with a commitment to dog safety, sound biomechanics, thoughtful progression, and ethical teaching practices. Those principles will continue to guide everything I do moving forward.
This experience has been disappointing, but it has not diminished my passion for teaching, learning, and continuing to improve the education I provide to my students and their dogs.
I would genuinely be interested in hearing your thoughts.
Where do you believe the line exists between inspiration and reproduction?
What does ethical use of another instructor's ideas look like to you?
Kim
