At 11½, Reg may technically be an old dog, but Cathie Leslie had no trouble teaching him a few new tricks Friday morning.
With a tennis ball and some treats providing a little extra motivation, the border collie-Kelpie mix climbed onto rocks, circled obstacles and balanced his way through Mehaffey Park as Leslie put him through the paces of canine parkour.
“He likes to keep things moving,” Leslie said of her energetic dog. “This is a good way to keep him active.”
Leslie and Reg were among those taking part in an introductory canine parkour session hosted by Loveland Open Lands and Trails.
The sport borrows its name and basic idea from the human version of parkour, but there were no death-defying rooftop leaps or elaborate obstacle courses involved. Instead, Reg’s course consisted of whatever happened to be around — benches, rocks, trees and other everyday features of the park.
Thatap exactly the point, said Loveland Open Lands and Trails education coordinator Michele Van Hare, who led the session.
“Parkour is just something fun to do with your dog,” she told participants. “And itap very accessible. Old dogs, young dogs, even three-legged dogs can do it.”
The group started inside the dog park with the basics, practicing moves such as “two paws,” in which a dog places its front feet on an object such as a boulder, and “four paws,” in which all four feet are placed on the object. Other beginner moves include “under,” where the dog crawls beneath an obstacle, and “around,” where the dog circles it.
“If you keep the cue consistent — consistency is really a big part of it — then you can transfer the behavior to different objects,” Van Hare said.
The class then ventured beyond the dog park to put that idea into practice around Mehaffey, including a “creativity” exercise in which a dog performs two different moves using the same object.
Reg, demonstrating on a park bench, first put his front paws on it before crouching down to crawl underneath. Other dogs practiced balancing along a path of increasingly narrow boulders or circling some of the park’s many trees.
Along the way, Van Hare stressed that safety should come before difficulty.
She encouraged owners to pay attention to what their dogs’ body language tells them and avoid obstacles where they appear uncomfortable or the footing is unsafe. Extra care is also needed with young dogs, she said, which should not be asked to jump from high objects while their bones and joints are still developing.
Friday’s session was the first of three Van Hare is offering with the goal of forming a canine parkour group through Open Lands and Trails. Eventually, she hopes to take the group beyond Mehaffey to natural areas around Loveland, where dogs and their owners can make a course out of whatever they encounter.
For Leslie, thatap a major part of the appeal.
Canine parkour encourages owners to slow down and experience the world a little more from their dog’s perspective, she said. When a dog stops repeatedly to sniff during a walk, itap an opportunity to discover more about your surroundings.
“Put yourself in the dog’s place,” Leslie said. “Pay attention to something besides getting there.”
Two additional introductory canine parkour sessions are scheduled at Mehaffey Park for Sept. 9 from 1 to 2 p.m. and Sept. 30 from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. The classes are free and registration is available through the city of Loveland’s online recreation system at .
