Canine Freestyle

Last weekend I went to a canine freestyle competition.  In case you're wondering, that's a fancy word for creating dance routines with your dog.  You might have seen some videos of amazing teams that turn up on America's Got Talent or other shows like that.  It turns out that lots of people here in Victoria do this with their dogs--and have a lot of fun with it too.

As you can see, dogs of all sizes and types can do this.  It all depends on the skill and commitment of the dog owners who spend a lot of time training their pooches to do the moves and then set it to music.  The thing I noticed was that it wasn't just the people who were having fun here; the dogs love it too.

These photos really don't show what it's like.  It's actually very fast and lively.  The dog just above is new to it and is in the ring for the first time.  She's using a ball to keep her dog's focus.

Some people (my husband for example) laugh at this but I think it's amazing the bond that you can see between the people and the dogs.

The woman below left is waiting with her dog to enter the ring.   Her dog is watching her with rapt attention.  Of course it could be because she's holding dog treats in her hand.  You're not allowed to use them in the ring but they're used plenty in the training.

The woman on the right is actually doing a routine with both dogs at the same time.  That was fun to watch.

Some people get dressed up in a kind of costume for their routine.  This woman was wearing a wig with Dutch girl braids and a European style vest.  

Oh go ahead and laugh, and then I'll tell you that I actually took Geordie to a few freestyle classes and we developed a cute routine to Tijuana Taxi that included Geordie spinning around, weaving through my legs and jumping up to touch his nose to my raised hand.  He's actually very good at this sport and if I weren't so busy I'd probably be doing more training with him.