It’s not every day you spot a dog on a skateboard when you’re out and about. But that’s exactly what Russian news journalist Anna Nemtsova discovered while she was on the Palace Square in St Petersburg.
In the short clip filmed by Anna, amidst the normality of people taking a stroll, riding their bikes and jogging, a beagle was casually skateboarding, balancing on the board with his tail wagging.
According to Anna, the dog in question was being trained by the young woman who walked next to him. This seems to be the case, as when the dog’s skateboard has reached a near stop, he hops off and looks up hopefully at his trainer, who throws a couple of treats into his mouth for good work.
There’s no denying that this dog really has mastered the art of skateboarding. He isn’t simply being pushed or pulled along by his owner – he pushes off himself with his two back legs, giving his board plenty of momentum to roll forward.
A girl’s been training her smart Beagle on the Palace Square in #SaintPetersburg. pic.twitter.com/83gaHwCkeN
— Anna Nemtsova (@annanemtsova) July 14, 2020
What’s pretty astonishing about the video is that nobody else is paying attention to the skateboarding dog. People are going about doing their thing, like this is the sort of thing that they see every day. Yet Anna’s video already has more than 6,000 views on Twitter, suggesting that the online audience is a lot more impressed with this dog’s skills.
Anna doesn’t have the details of the dog and owner featured in the video, and we were unable to trace her online. While nobody will know just how long it took for the young woman to teach her beagle this trick, it’s likely that lockdown has proved handy in giving her those extra hours to train her dog.
Apparently, skateboarding isn’t unheard of amidst beagle owners. According to Modern Beagle, any beagle owner can teach their pup how to skateboard.
In a blog post shared to the website, the author discusses several steps you need to take to train your dog, including getting him used to the skateboard, taking him outside, introducing movement, and finally, rewarding him for pushing forward on the board.
There are a few safety measures that have to be considered if you’re considering training your beagle – or any dog, for that matter – to skateboard. Selecting a safe environment for practice, ensuring the ground isn’t too hot, and picking the right skateboard for the job are all important, according to the blog post.
As it turns out, the skateboarding beagle filmed in Russia isn’t the first of his kind. A beagle named Jasper the Skate Dog was filmed skateboarding at a downhill course alongside his bike-riding owner and shared to YouTube in 2017.
Jasper is clearly a lot more advanced than most doggo skateboarders, and picks up impressive speed and clears some tight corners.
But this dog knows what to do if his board loses control – he simply hops off and continues to run until his owner comes to a stop. He’s also padded out in a whole lot of protective gear, which would prevent him from injury if he was unable to find his feet.
The skateboarding dog in Russia is clearly on the right track towards success! Perhaps he’ll become a skateboarding pro in the near future – we’ll be watching out for him.
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