Parkour is amazing (or how going to class made our holidays better)

(Blog written by Laura and the Daring Duo)

As anyone who has attended one of our Parkour workshops or classes will already know, I agree with that statement on principle, but given that we were halfway along a footpath deep in the Welsh countryside and, not two minutes earlier, had been talking about what we were planning to have for lunch, it wasn’t really what I’d been expecting to hear.

When I turned round though, I saw this and it all suddenly made perfect sense

The route from our holiday cottage to the local village was a little over a mile and included at least six stiles, two kissing gates and a metal bridge, all of which I hadn’t really noticed because we’d been able to just move past them.

Our parkour practice means that Brian and Seamus are confident about problem-solving the obstacles in their paths – they’ll work with me to climb up on things, wriggle under things, jump over things and are basically happy putting their feet on anything!

If my dogs weren’t confident in exploring and navigating their environments, it could have been an absolute nightmare of a walk (and I’m lucky; my two are both small enough that in a worst case scenario, I can always lift them over an obstacle.

I distinctly remember Laird’s first encounter with a stile being a LOT more challenging and involving two people, a lot of encouragement, a rear end lift and a flying sausage!).

The games we play in a training class are always best when they translate into a real world setting and make our lives easier and more enjoyable.

Classes should be fun, but the things we learn there are often more than just a trick to be saved for that training setting and sometimes they can come in useful in unexpected ways.

The world is full of obstacles for our dogs (literal and figurative) and I’m a big fan of using whatever you have in your toolbox to help your dog work through those obstacles in the ways that work best for them.

I’d love to hear about how you and your dogs have used the things you’ve learnt in classes in your daily lives, especially if you’ve been inventive and used things in ways you hadn’t expected to!

If you can’t think of an example, that’s okay – it’s never too late to start trying out the things you know in different situations and see if they give you new and interesting approaches to whatever challenges you face.

Have fun problem-solving your week!

Laura and the daring duo 

PS For literal problem-solving fun, why not come along for one of our Parkour workshops this autumn. We have introductory and progressions sessions suitable for all types of dogs and we’d love to see you there!



PPS If you’re in a sticky situation with something that you and your dog can’t work out how to problem solve, you don’t have to struggle alone – why not drop us an email at the office and see if it’s something the team can help you with?

How long did it take you to fall in love (with your dog)?

The overwhelming feeling of warm fuzzies that melts your heart while you watch them sleep, or the oxytocin burst if you prefer!

Either way, you know what it feels like when you have that rush of sheer love for your dog.

Even if they have just eaten something indescribable...

Apparently it’s #NationalLoveYourPetDay today, which is weird because this topic has been in my head since Saturday!

So how long did it take you to fall in love with your dog?

I mean really fall for them, not just think they were cute?

During our Monday team meeting I asked Laura and Clare what their experiences had been.

Laura adopted Seamus last year as a young adolescent. He’s a Beagle x Cavalier, and it’s fair to say Seamus and his shouting has been a challenge! In those first few weeks Laura phoned me more than once in tears because he just would not stop barking…. But after a few months, there was that solid warm feeling of love.

Scout came to Clare as a wee pup, and apparently his goofy happy face won her over in a couple of weeks!

As for me, it always seems to take me about 6 months or more to really fall for a new dog.

It’s not that I don’t like them or appreciate them to begin with, but it doesn’t feel like I really know who they are. That sense of knowing them deep inside, how their individual personality feels when I think of them. The quiet companionship that has a different flavour depending which dog I’m concentrating on.

Learning about their personality and special quirks is an integral part of falling in love with my dogs.  I will always think of my dogs as individuals first, but breed characteristics can be important too.

Adding in Laird the HPR (hunt point retrieve) to my collie girls has been a whole new challenge, plus he’s an adolescent boy. I think we’re making good progress despite the teenage months...

Breed specific behaviour is a tricky topic – and it’s important not to lose sight of your dog as a unique individual. But we ignore those pre-wired behaviours at our cost….

You can listen to Clare and I chatting about breed specific behaviours in gundogs, doodle/ocker crosses and herding breeds in this wee video – we’d love to know what you think too!

I hope you’re enjoying living with your companion animals (pets!) as much as we are, and don’t forget if you need any help to tweak that relationship we’re always at the end of an email.

Morag, the big beast and the collie girls 

#NationalLoveYourPetDay

PS Want to spend more time working with your dog’s natural instincts rather than fighting against them?

Why not try a half-day workshop with us:

Does your dog ONLY come back when you have their kryptonite handy? Laura has a plan!

“Find it!”

My own voice sounds pretty loud in the quiet of the icy field, and I’m pretty certain that the teachers in the school playground next door think I’m a bit strange, but I don’t care, because I have two dogs who are off lead and 100% focused on me and there isn’t a tennis ball in sight.

Why is this important?

Well, my boys have something of a variable relationship with recall – they are both mighty, mighty hunters and the training that works so well in the classroom and in the garden can wobble when it’s faced with the amazingly alluring smells of cat, or bunny, or squirrel, or deer, or…well, you get my point.

Tennis balls are our safety net, because Brian loves tennis balls.

But between moving house and Christmas and everything else the new year has brought, we’ve started relying on tennis balls too much. The problem with that is that when the squeaky is available, Brian doesn’t really care about me (so there’s always the risk he’ll just bog off with the ball, and take his brother with him!).

So, we’re back to using a whole range of other strategies to make sure that Brian and Seamus want to remember we’re walking together, rather than taking the first opportunity to disappear into the distance.

Check-ins and parkour and chasey games and tuggy toys and cheese trees are back to being staples of our walks and we’re already seeing the difference.

More importantly, our walks are already back to being more fun for me, and when I’m having fun, it’s much easier for the boys to have fun as well.

And isn’t that the entire point?

Wishing you happy, excited and engaged walks!

Laura and the troublesome twosome. 

P.S. Need help to get your training back on track after the chaos of Christmas? We have spaces coming up on our three week intensive courses for recall, nice lead walking and manners to give you a real push in building those skills!

Get your 3 week super boost booked

P.P.S. If you haven’t yet introduced your dog to the joys of cheese trees, why not come along to one of our Introduction to Scentwork sessions – I promise your dog will thank you!

Scentwork workshops and more

And don't forget, if your dog already graduated from Sniffing School Level 1, you're eligible for any of these advanced modules!