Freestyle

Last Thursday I was lucky enough to attend a meeting with a group I was invited to join, the East Bay Dog Trainers. The group is invite only and consists of positive trainers that train in the East Bay. While only a few were able to attend that meeting, it was great to meet some inspiring trainers.

The group decided to do something new to them and have group members teach a special training topic that not all of us may be aware of. The topic of that meeting was canine freestyle AKA doggie dancing.

I will admit, in the past I have been on the fence about freestyle. Half captivated and half embarrassed for the people, I never gave freestyle a chance. At one point I almost signed up Lucy and I for a class in Oregon with the express interest of teaching her the "moves" but not linking it to music, and certainly not dancing with her. Turns out there is a lot more to freestyle than fancy tricks and dancing around with your dog.

What I learned
Freestyle isn't about trick after trick, it is about moving with your dog and transitions (which are the tricks) and then more movement. The dogs that do freestyle are very well trained in heeling/moving with their owners and seem to heartily enjoy the sport and the attention that comes with it. Freestyle is about the bond between the owner and the dog. Watching freestyle done correctly, is like sneaking a peak on a private moment between owner and dog.

I also learned that music isn't randomly picked. The music should actually fit the dog's natural gait and movement. We did a little exercise of heeling/moving in a circle for each dog and handler while someone played a variety of music snippets until there was this "ah-ha" moment that that song was MEANT for that dog. Lucy's song was a lively Celtic song with a fast tempo almost difficult for me to keep up with! Then again, that has been the theme of every dog sport I do with Lucy. Her flying through agility courses while I struggle to spit out the next obstacle and her nearly pulling my arm off tugging during flyball, so much in fact that while pregnant with Elsie, I had to have someone else handle Lucy during flyball while I continued to handle Lex well up till my 8th month! For Lex, the music was a bit slower with less high notes and a more deep, powerful tone with some fun flares here and there. I have to say, that describes Lex. He can be very serious when working and is a very well grounded dog and powerful for sure when confident. There is also a goofy, silly side of Lex that periodically makes an appearance, depending on his mood.

The other thing that we learned was that handlers doing freestyle don't just walk about the ring in circles, they have a pattern in mind they are walking and it is really easy to pick a letter of the alphabet as your pattern to walk and do multiple letters for longer routines.

What is the point?
So what is the point of freestyle? It is another activity to do with your dog, but unlike agility, flyball, dock diving etc. the dog doesn't really need to be that athletic. With Lucy having been retired from hard sports, freestyle is a really good option for her. It can keep an older dog's mind and body fit without all the stress. Another great thing about freestyle is that YOU don't have to be athletic! In fact, there are several different organizations that put on the freestyle competitions and while one is focused on the owner fully participating in the dance, the other puts the focus on the dog, meaning you don't have to even be on the beat, just be helping and cuing your dog. I wish the lady I would have talked to about this years ago would have mentioned that to me! Freestyle is also wonderfully positive. Some obedience and rally competitors (another sport for the less athletic dogs and humans), use traditional training and can suck the fun out of the event. Not saying all are like that, but that is the core reason I have stayed away from obedience competitions.

Cool Stuff to Teach
After watching some freestyle videos and seeing a mini live performance by our presenter, I am once again fueled to teach my dogs some new things. Since Lucy doesn't live her anymore, that means my primary focus is on Lex. This is so great because Lucy has always been my go-to trick dog and even though I have taught Lex many of the same tricks, I always got frustrated with his different learning style and would abandon some tricks. I have learned that Lex is quite awesome at learning new things as long as I don't push him too fast and keep a level head. For some it may seem silly that I had to get inspired to teach something new, but honestly, my dogs know so many complex behaviors and tricks that I run out of ideas! Aside from all the obedience commands, I have taught my dogs to spin, roll-over, high-five, wave, dance on hind legs, open and close doors and drawers, blow bubbles in their water dish, open a suitcase and lay down and let it close, fetching specific objects, nose targeting, "talking," walking backwards, the list goes on.

The newest thing that I am working on with great results is a high step. Basically I want Lex to literally "march" and lift his front legs high like a high-stepping horse would. At first, I was very experimental in figuring out how the heck to teach this! There is nothing online or on youtube with any tips. I tried setting up obstacles for him to lift his legs over but he either walked normal, or jumped over it if I increased the height. Then I tried having him to walking high-fives. That worked, but it was only one paw and very exaggerated and my hand needed to be there. I actually e-mailed the presenter on tips for this behavior and turns out I guess right, that doing the high-five is a way to teach it, but of course, I had moved to fast (something I tend to have issues with training my own dogs). So I took a step back and have focused on getting either paw while he is in a stand. I had to start with my hand lowered and after 3 days of 1-2 short (meaning 5 minutes) sessions per day, he can now lift his right paw on cue (I say "lift") without me touching him. I created a hand signal that he will do it for as well. The left paw still needs more help, but that is fine. Once I get the left, my goal is to have him alternate them in a stand, then put it into motion. All of this was done with clicker training, so if you haven't tried clicker training, please do.