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Dog Parkour


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Does anyone do this? Seen it.

I used to do agility when I had more money; this looks like it might be a low-cost alternative.

http://www.dogparkour.org

The facebook page has some video.

https://m.facebook.com/dogparkour

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My dogs have always done this. But I've always called it "climbing around on the farm" :D :D

Trained on cue or do just doing their own thing?

 

Either way, lucky dogs to have a farm to explore.

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I looked at that site a couple of weeks ago when a FB friend posted something about dog parkour - although I think a better name is "Barkour".

 

It is mildly interesting that they have set up a titling sequence. [i say 'mildly' because I am not interested in titles, but if someone is interested ......] From what I saw, the first two titles consist of a lot of stuff my dogs (and many other BCs) already do. I could easily get the first 2 titles on both my dogs, but my holdback is that I am technically challenged as far as submitting videos and the fee (although minor) for having someone tell me that my dog can do simple maneuvers. The upper levels certainly look more challenging - and fun.

 

I think that as long as you are having fun with your dog - safely - go for it. I don't think it is a waste of time to train them for various skills.

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Looks like trick training to me. As in, if you're interested in going after titles and enjoy behaviours like this, you may be interested in trick training title. That way you'll not be 'stuck' with only one flavour of trick if your interests change.

 

I love the idea of encouraging us to get out and be active with our dogs, and any excuse to train is good. But the basics of dog parkour are, like, reaaaally basic. Even the advanced videos I'm seeing are dogs doing fairly simple things, and often while wearing a leash. As someone who does agility (and as someone who just dislikes leashes) I get all knee-jerkish when seeing people ask their dogs to perform on leash since it's kind of unsafe and I generally see people using leashes as a crutch with unfocused dogs.

 

So, this is neat, but it's not something I'd participate in myself.

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I'm not interested in titles, but title requirements can help with focus and goals. I have a tiny unfenced (not worth fencing) front yard which means leashed exercise is a must (leash or long-line only for now--I hope to get him off-lead in the woods someday).

Finding activities that are active and engaging is more the goal. I just don't have cash to throw at "fun" stuff like agility class--if I did, I would. It looks like this may be a decent substitute.

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This is going to be my gift to Tessa when we finish our C-ATCH!! She ADORES this sort of thing. Often when we are out hiking, I have her get up on benches and rocks, and things like that.

I like working toward titles (how much I learned this past weekend - title goals, apparently, provide me with structure, focus, and motivation) and I think Tessa and I will have an absolute blast doing this.

We will still run Agility, but Parkour will be something new and different for us.

Maybe Bandit will come along for the ride and play, too.

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I'll be the spoil-sport here.

 

Up front: I do agility with my dogs, and I know some would say "It's dangerous,too." Depends.

 

But this parkour stuff makes me cringe. l don't care HOW carefully you train it - bouncing off concrete walls and landing from 10' in the air cannot be made safe. No doubt some of the "tricks" are fine - but it depends on the dog, the trainer....and concern for the future of the dog.

 

That said, I'm dealing with on-going shoulder problems with a dog who has jumped 22" (in agility) for a few years, jumped 16" for a few more, and is now down to 12". He stands 20.75" at the shoulder. I'm *always* aware of surfaces and won't run him now on most dirt. Grass is best.

 

YMMV....

diane

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I'll be the spoil-sport here.

 

Up front: I do agility with my dogs, and I know some would say "It's dangerous,too." Depends.

 

But this parkour stuff makes me cringe. l don't care HOW carefully you train it - bouncing off concrete walls and landing from 10' in the air cannot be made safe. No doubt some of the "tricks" are fine - but it depends on the dog, the trainer....and concern for the future of the dog.

 

That said, I'm dealing with on-going shoulder problems with a dog who has jumped 22" (in agility) for a few years, jumped 16" for a few more, and is now down to 12". He stands 20.75" at the shoulder. I'm *always* aware of surfaces and won't run him now on most dirt. Grass is best.

 

YMMV....

diane

 

Tessa will absolutely not be doing that, or anything like it.

 

That is one of the tests for the International Dog Parkour Association? I'd be very surprised! That's the organization that requires that the dog actually be lifted down off of things if they are a certain height relative to the dog (higher than the dog's shoulder height, I'm thinking?). I am actually going to have to go out of my way to find things low enough that Tessa would be allowed to jump off of since she isn't comfortable being lifted and I only do it when absolutely necessary.

 

I have friends that are involved with the International Dog Parkour Association. I'm going to ask if they do anything like that. I can't say for sure that they don't. But, again, I'd be VERY surprised if they were even allowing, much less requiring, bouncing off of concrete walls, or jumping ten feet!!

 

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Don't get me wrong, I do think a lot of what this guy does is extreme and probably pretty risky for the dog (and him).

 

But I also think that, at least in this video, there's some very clever camera work that makes a lot of these tricks (for lack of a better word) look even more extreme than they actually are.

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  • 3 months later...

Well, we jumped in and gave it a try!! What a fun "retirement sport" for Dean Dog. I will definitely be doing this with Bandit and Tessa, as well. I think Tessa will just love every second of it, and it will be a great confidence builder for Bandit.

 

As far as safety goes, well . . . see for yourself. This is the Training Level, but . . . everything is extremely safe.

 

We have submitted for Dean's Training Level title and I will know in about a month if we got it!!

 

This is fun - it's cool to go out to places and do stuff like this.

 

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I am surprised that I have become quite taken with this activity!!

 

With Tessa, it is just plain fun. She loves to use her body in different ways, and she loves to interact with "stuff". Out into the woods we went and we had a blast:

 

For Bandit this is proving to be fantastic confidence building!! He got to work on a Bocce court!!

 

 

I actually love the fact that we are not building behaviors that I intend to have on a certain type of cue in a ring setting. We can really focus on what the dog is actually doing.

 

And I am getting out to different places with each dog individually, and that is always a good thing!!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I know. I am going to have to differentiate. I usually use my hand to indicate - high above him for the two on and more parallel to the surface for four. But I really do need to come up with something that means "Four paws on", and keep "Up up" for just two.

I was thinking about calling anything I want him to put four paws on "Table".

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I know. I am going to have to differentiate. I usually use my hand to indicate - high above him for the two on and more parallel to the surface for four. But I really do need to come up with something that means "Four paws on", and keep "Up up" for just two.

 

I was thinking about calling anything I want him to put four paws on "Table".

I love that you understood my nonsense :) haha yes of course I meant two versus four paws! That was a good point made that table in agility is a down or sit (can it be both we only just started recently and I've noticed people do both?!?!) so that might be best to avoid. Luckily they all seem to respond better to visual cues so changing the word for one probably will not phase them.

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