Dancing Dogs

Zoe and Dressage

Zoe and I are involved with a local group of dog dancers.  We call ourselves The Island K9 Freestylers.  In this group is quite the mix from Yorkies to Berners, mixed breed to purebred.

The thing we have in common is our love of music and our dogs.  So when you combine the two this is what you get. As a group we have put on 2 competitions locally, traveled to the mainland and participated in their competitions and are planning to attend 2 more competitions this year.

Zoe and I have been working on a dressage routine for the last couple of months and hopefully will perform in Vancouver this spring and earn our Dressage Novice 3 title. Dressage with your dog is a little bit different than dressage with your horse.  Basically it is precision heeling to music.  In the first level the only required elements are that the dog maintain the heel position with a change of pace and show they understand where they belong.  At level 2 the degree of difficulty rises with the dog having to backup, in a straight line, to 4 of the handlers step.  Zoe and I had to try three times before we passed this level.  I learned that it's all about trust.  Zoe had to learn to trust that I was not going to back her into anything, no matter where we were. We are currently working on our Level 3 routine where the degree of difficulty now includes side passes as well as maintaining heel position and backing up.  The side passes must be performed from the heel position, either side, and go in both directions.  Zoe does wonderful side passes away from me, where I'm stepping into her. Unfortunately the towards me passes are a little more difficult. This is what we are working on. Zoe must maintain the heel position, perpendicular to my leg, no turning towards me, no angling off to the side.  This is proving to be the hardest for Zoe.  Luckily we have lots of time to work on this.

In Freestyle dance with your dog the rules are slightly different.  In Freestyle you are encouraged to perform tricks with your dog, have a theme to your routine and put it all to music.  This team was performing to a Big Band piece called Bugle Boy.  They were very flashy and the dog was obviously having a blast.  And ultimately that's what it's all about.

Here are a few more videos to watch if you are interested.