Heroparkour – the perfect sport to strengthen the confidence of the dog

Heroparkour is a great sport for problem dogs. Since a great part of problem behaviour has roots directly in timidity. Such dog is unable to handle more complex situations of ordinary life due to fear. It doesn’t believe non-standard conditions.

Heroparkour will teach the dog how to handle such situations, it’ll increase its confidence and it’ll teach the owner how to work with the dog without touching it and how to positively motivate it (some masters will be surprised, how complicated the things are that they will be able to carry out with their problem dog). At the same time, the trust and respect of the dog to the dog handler strengthens in difficult situations.

Heroparkour is, similar to agility, it’s about overcoming obstacles. In this dog sport, which is widespread mainly in the Czech Republic, however, it’s only about one obstacle that can be assembled differently. It’s a small bridge of different heights composed of grates, platforms, ladders, rope and chain bridges, movable partitions, from a bath with balls and the like. Simply a “monkey track”.

Elsewhere in the world, we encounter more frequently the so-called urban agility. Same as with the Czech version of heroparkour, even urban agility or simply dog parkour is about overcoming different objects. The main difference is, that these are objects of everyday life that the dogs encounters regularly in the street in the city, but which can give rise to uncertainty and fear in them.

So, the principle is the same, strengthening the confidence of the dog. But how does this special training work? The obstacle is designed in such a way for it to simulate the most complex situations. The dog slowly overcomes it, it gradually gains skill, confidence and it increases its concentration. For example, to cross a bridge (or a low-lying branch that can be used for this training), the dog must acquire confidence and trust, that it’s capable of managing such things by itself. And it will carry this confidence over into normal life.

For the dog to be able to cross a bridge (or a branch, bench or a low wall), it must concentrate. This sport will teach hyperactive dogs to work in a calm and concentrated manner. Not to fool around, to handle everything without stress, emotions and running wild. Greatly motivated dogs have the tendency to jump over the obstacles. But they will learn how to calm down in parkour and how to overcome the obstacles with precision and calmly.

Another advantage is, that the dog will start to be better aware of its body and it will improve its motor activity. It’ll learn, that it can use its hind legs independently, not only as a “propeller”. And awareness of oneself also helps in breaking down fear aggressions.

As with all the activities that you do with the dog together, even in parkour, you are strengthening your mutual relationship and trust. Still, don’t expect the result to be in the form of an entirely controllable and fearless dog after a single training. If you decide for regular training under the supervision of an expert trainer, your dog will probably advance faster than if you would train it by yourself on walks in the park. The advantage of the second option is, however, the real training environment. So, it’s definitely worth a try :).

Have you got any experience with this relatively new dog sport?