Valentine’s evening was extra special this year for Cani-Trail members who participated in group parkour training classes at ZENFULdog.
The 5 pm session hosted Brom, Ollie, Lily and Riley with their parents while the 6 pm class hosted Frankie, Lucy, Maverick and Odin with their parents.
Warm-Up and Introduction
Dog and parent teams began their training with a short decompression walk allowing the dogs to do their business and sniff the equipment to become acclimated to the space. The walk was followed by warm-up exercises for the dogs—like standing still for ten seconds on two platforms with 4 feet and ‘backups’ where the dogs backed up slowly and thoughtfully. For the warm-up exercises, Kendra and pet-parents were looking for quality before quantity. In the other words, when dogs are learning new exercises they are not expected to do repetitions but rather learn the correct form in order to perform the exercises safely and effectively. The dog-parent teams then moved on to ‘stands-to-downs’ and ‘downs-to-stands’ before heading over to the parkour equipment.
Parkour
The dogs were introduced to the parkour equipment with an ‘across’ activity using a low, wide plank to build the dogs’ confidence. Later, as dogs get used to parkour, the plank for ‘across’ is adjusted narrower and higher. Lots of choices are given to the dogs as they first cross the low, wide platform and they are consistently rewarded for their effort. Pet-parents used lures and guided the dogs at first but as the dogs became more comfortable with the ‘across’ exercise, pet-parents were able to simply walk near their dogs for safety and to reassure them—allowing them to walk across the planks independently. Encouraging the dogs to be independently mindful and thoughtful on the obstacle is an important step to building their confidence with parkour.
The next parkour exercise was ‘under.’ The dogs were set up with ‘sits,’ ‘downs’ and ‘stays’ before going under an obstacle and meeting their parent on the other side. The obstacles were wide and low so that the dogs had to crawl under them. Once the dogs had nailed the ‘under’ exercise, the teams moved on to ‘tic tacs.’
Tic Tacs
Tic tacs teach dogs how to use equipment to jump—dogs aim for minimal contact with platforms to perform low jumps with each paw not touching the platform more than twice. The eventual goal is to perform the behaviour going in both directions—also known as a ‘rebound’ and similar to a ‘flyball box.’
Tic tacs start with a flat platform that is tilted higher and higher as the dog progresses and masters the behaviour. For this first day, the dogs were simply asked to do a small jump on a flat platform and catch a little air before touching the platform and coming back around. Dogs love learning this skill that can later be applied to having some fun outdoors doing tic tacs on walls, trees and other obstacles found in nature.
The introduction to tic tacs was incredibly fun—the dogs were all smiling, competitive and clearly enjoying themselves. Pet-parents were cheering them on, laughing and having an equally great time. Parents were also mindful of the dogs and the work they were doing but it was easy to get carried away with excitement seeing these agile dogs figuring out the tic tacs and enjoying them so much. Every single dog—from tiny, light dogs to heavier and muscular dogs— did a fantastic job! Both successful training sessions were wrapped up with a much-needed cool-down.
How it Went
Kendra stresses the fact that every single dog’s performance and effort were outstanding. It was a bonus to discover in the first session that Lily was built to do tic tacs and that Ollie got amazing speed and height as he landed the tic tacs—and was able to come back well.
All the dogs performed outstandingly again in the second session and it was heart-warming to watch the bond between Odin and his mom. Odin followed his mom’s arm so precisely that he would end up jumping 6-feet into the air with such joy and happiness to be performing an activity with her. While he may need to tweak the mechanics of his tic tacs, it was such a joy for everyone to see him jump so high in the air for his mom who he clearly
loves so much.
Special Mention
It is important to highlight that the second session was Frankie’s very first group class with other dogs. When Frankie and her mom, Maddie, first started training with ZENFULdog, Frankie was terrified to be there, would not perform anything and would not even take treats. Maddie and Kendra worked together to gain Frankie’s trust, build her confidence and teach her how to relax. Once all of that was accomplished, Frankie was introduced to other dogs at a distance. At first, she was reactive because she was overly thoughtful and unsure. Eventually, thanks to Cani-Trail walks, Frankie learned to walk well with friends as long as she had space to decompress, sniff a lot and walk where she wanted.
Introducing Frankie to an enclosed space with other dogs (with nowhere to run) was a big step for her. Kendra was thrilled to see her come in wagging her tail and happy. Despite being slightly distracted by the other dogs, Frankie was confident and had a great time being with her mom. There was a lot of excitement in the group (not a lot of calm moments) and there was even a dog who was feeling sensitive and having a tough day. Frankie overcame everything going on around her and really flourished. Frankie’s success at the session is a big milestone for her and her mom as well as a testimony to the hard work they have been putting into training.
Great job everyone! Don’t forget to follow ZENFULdog Training on Facebook where you can stay connected to your like-minded dog-loving community every day.
Comments