.. and then I do not mean that mental balance I write about every now and then, but it's actually physical balance I'll write about today. 😀 I told you that Boyo thinks it's fun to jump on things, and we have started to practice some balance. Let me tell you where and how, stupid.
There are huge advantages to engage in what is called dog parkour. I'd be lying if I said we're into it on some kind of advanced or hardcore scale, because we don't. However, it is extremely practical not to have to have special equipment in terms of obstacles or other things (such as agility). Instead, you can use everything that is around you.
One thing I actually don't know, and which I must find out, is whether you are allowed to have a dog in children's playgrounds. A quick google gives a first page with various articles in various newspapers from around 2014 till 2018, which doesn't feel quite relevant – nor are any of them from the town where I live. But aside from that I have to check it out, I can only state the fact – Children's playgrounds are great places to exercise your dog. I have done it with Ella, and I do it with Boyo.
Like for example Just recently. We went for a walk and passed a larger playground a little way away. In the middle of the night, no children are out playing, so Boyo had to look for sweets, he had to jump up into such a giant net swing, and he had to walk on a series of narrow logs of different heights that are closely lined up. And you have no idea how good he is. He has done the swing several times, in different swings in different places. We also make searched sweets regularly in different places. Walk while standing, narrow logs of different heights – it was the second time Boyo had done it, and he was really super talented. Just like that the mat gets ridiculously impaled by his dog.
Except for the candy hunt these are all great exercises for balance and body control. Not because it might be terribly important that a dog that is not supposed to balance daily gets excessively good balance, but I think it's good anyway. It can't hurt to have good balance. After all, he has also walked on the narrow edge of three concrete sows that are close together lengthwise. And fallen tree trunks.
He is like that damn good, my dog. ♥
Otherwise so have we gone back to basics as for the contact drills and do them indoors now. My whole idea with it is that, above all, the walks should become more enjoyable for both of us. And it's probably good to train a little inside for a while. Not because it might make an impression in the walks as stable and good as I want it to be – but we haven't practiced it indoors for a long time either, since he became a teenager. But on today's long walk, I still thought there was a noticeable difference, at least piecemeal. Men; he is still a teenager, although most things work incredibly much better now than a while ago.
What we're going to continue with now are partly contact exercises, partly these balance exercises in good places we find outdoors – but we will also start practicing impulse control. I intend to start with toys and the like, and then move on to something else. This is something I want to do and then transfer it to everything to do with people and other dogs. I want him to be able to control himself, and not rush forward to become completely hysterical in greeting. It also means that I will require whoever wishes to greet Boyo to first completely ignore him until he is calm enough to greet in a meaningful way (that is; without barking, without jumping, without going completely hysterical). It will take time, and I will probably have to scold people for not doing as I say – but it must be worth it.
In addition to that, we also go on forest walks and in the electric light trail – partly because it is so damn cosy, partly to build muscle (on myself too). There are only a couple of downsides to this, I have friends who say there are snakes here in the forest where I live, and I have an extreme snake phobia, plus, if it gets hot this summer, neither I nor Boyo will be able to take any longer walks. Neither he nor I handle heat very well (and it is in itself grateful that we both suffer from it, so one avoids suffering because the other cannot take it).
Here's the situation I just don't. 🙂