Canine Parkour: a fun way to connect with your dog

by Claire Anderson, CSAP-BC, CPDT-KA, FDM

Also known as urban agility, puppy parkour, barkour, parkour— canine parkour is a fun and engaging way to explore your environment with your dog! Through parkour, we teach our dogs to interact with their environment. They learn to climb, move through, move under, balance, and jump on obstacles. Also, they learn to move their bodies in creative and interesting ways through space. It can help dogs gain confidence, build your communication with them, and it provides amazing exercise.

*Claire offers a Story, a black Dachshund on a stump and Bear, a Rottweiler sitting in front of her a treat!*

Parkour is a wonderful way to learn how to celebrate your dog’s choices! Our dogs can be very creative when problem-solving and this a great opportunity to watch their creativity come to life! Look, I know that life gets busy and most of us are just trying to get through the day. But when we give our dogs the opportunity to be creative and interact with their environment in interesting ways, it can reinvigorate our relationship and can be an incredible stress-reliever—for humans and dogs. I am speaking from experience here.

A great option for behavior modification and other sports!

Parkour can be a wonderful way to work through reactivity as well, whether it is fear or frustration-based. Living in an urban environment can be a struggle for any dog because of the noises, smells, fast-moving objects, and other animals. Fearful and/or reactive dogs have an especially hard time. With parkour, we can use our crazy, urban environment to our advantage by playfully guiding our dogs to focus on climbing onto a bench or weaving around a lamp post; instead of fixating on the potentially triggering elements around them.

Parkour can also be a great way to dip your toes into agility. While parkour is not competitive, agility is! Parkour can be a great, low-stakes way to give your dog the confidence and foundational skills they will need in an agility competition.

Building confidence in fearful dogs

My favorite way to use canine parkour is to build confidence in fearful or anxious dogs. Many dogs, who are living in a very humanized world full of rules they don’t understand, loud noises, and unpredictable events, struggle with fear, anxiety, and stress. Simple parkour behaviors can help build a dog’s body awareness and confidence moving through the world. Also, they can learn to trust their human to help them overcome obstacles.

*London, a brindle husky mix, proudly standing on a moss-covered rock!*

To use parkour to build your dog’s confidence, start very simple! The first thing I like to do is place a small platform or stool in the middle of a room in which the dog is comfortable. I begin by simply tossing high-value treats near or on the stool and allowing the dog to sniff and explore it. When the dog is comfortable with the item—this may take a few sessions—I encourage the dog to place a paw on the platform using a food or toy lure. As soon as the dog places a paw or two on the platform, I celebrate and provide a jackpot reward on the platform. As the dog becomes more and more comfortable climbing up on the platform, I put it on cue, using a hand signal and/or verbal cue. Then, we are ready to move to other obstacles!

Behaviors that are great for building confidence:

2 Paws On
4 Paws On
Through
Over
Around
Under
In
Balance
Jump

Real life example

My dog Austen and I were on a walk and I cued her to climb up onto a stump. She paused, looking from me to the stump a few times. Then she circled it, put two paws on it, and then off. Then she climbed onto a log near the stump and leaped onto the stump from the log. She was BEAMING with pride while I acted like she just scored the winning touchdown of the Superbowl. She overcame a fear in that moment, and was creative with her problem-solving! We both had so much fun and our bond became stronger in a moment.

*Austen, a Rottweiler proudly stands on a tall stump looking off camera to her right.*

Titles

While there aren’t official public parkour competitions (yet), you can still title in canine parkour! There are levels and titles including:

Training Title: seven basic parkour maneuvers and combinations
Novice Title: 13 basic parkour maneuvers and combinations
Intermediate: 14 advanced maneuvers and combinations
Expert: 13 complex categories of maneuvers and combinations
Championship: creatively develop new parkour skills in a variety of locations
Specialty: consists of three levels, with an increasing number of obstacles at each level

*Story, a black Dachshund, stands on a stumps decorated in miniature fairy toys.*

Titling is achieved by creating and submitting a video of you and your dog working together through all behaviors and maneuvers listed on each title. The video is submitted directly to the International Dog Parkour Association with an application and a small fee. Watch an example of a submission video by TrainingFaith!

For more information on canine parkour and titling in it, visit the International Dog Parkour Association!

Are you interested in doing parkour with your dog but don’t know where to start? I can help! I can offer private lessons and I run group classes. Contact for details!