Are you sick of doing the same boring walks with your dog every day? Do you want to find a fun new way to bond with your dog, stimulate his mind, and exercise his muscles at the same time? Have you ever watched American Ninja Warrior on TV and thought, “That looks so fun!”?
If so, Dog Parkour might be the thing for you and your pooch!
Dog Parkour is a new dog sport that combines human parkour and dog agility in a fun, easily accessible activity for dogs and people. It doesn’t require any specialized equipment because it uses the environment to create the obstacles needed. In fact, it’s against the rules to change or move too many things unnecessarily.
Dogs can climb through a bike rack, jump into a tire swing, balance on fallen trees, and jump over park benches. The obstacles are as varied as the world outside and you are only limited by your creativity and what is safe for the dog to perform.
TITLES
While you can earn titles, it isn’t a traditional competition where you compete against other people. Instead, the dog is competing against itself in order to improve and meet new goals. Since there are no competitions, the titles are achieved by submitting proper videos to the judging body.
Titles range from:
- Training– designed as an introduction to the sport, it has 7 easy moves like putting the front paws on a small obstacle. Dogs can start with either the Training or the Novice title.
- Novice– also an introductory title, it has 13 moves including obstacle sequence-a free flowing combination of at least three different obstacles. Dogs can start with either the Training or the Novice title.
- Intermediate– the next level with 14 more advanced moves like rebounds/tic-tacs where the jog jumps up and bounces off of a slanted surface.
- Expert– expert level dogs have to do even more difficult obstacles like bouncing off of a flat wall, balance and turn completely around twice on a tall, narrow object, and stop on a dime when told to emergency stop for safety.
- Specialty- dogs and their people still hungry for titles go decide to specialize in obstacles in a variety of surfaces and variations like tall/short/narrow/loose
Benefits of Dog Parkour
Besides being great fun for you and your dog, parkour can be a great way to develop other aspects of your dog.
He will:
- Build a healthy and strong body
- Learn to think for himself when faced with a problem
- Become confident in a variety of situations, around many different people, and in many different places
- Build trust in himself and the people around him
- Trust in his limits, but not be afraid to push them
- Learn the skills to move confidently and safely into any other dog sports you may want to do
Learn More
To learn more about Dog Parkour, check out the International Dog Parkour Association. Alternatively, the All Dogs Parkour group maintains a registry and alternative listing of Dog Parkour titles.
Regardless of the avenue you choose to explore Dog Parkour, it should be a fun way for you and your pup to grow together.
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