Well, this goes back a few years, and a change of colour… grey!
The photo was of me and my then-dog, Rusty. It was a staged photo for an article about the Pine Rivers Dog Obedience club and the Dancing with Dogs training, of which I was a part.
I can’t say we were very good or that we achieved many ribbons, but I very much enjoyed the time I spent training, competing, and practising with friends.
Yes, it’s a real thing, dancing with dogs. And you can go all the way to Crufts to watch or compete. Here in Australia, the competitions are held within the Australian National Kennel Council (ANKC) rules. And there is a DWD club. Here’s a link in case you have an interest.
What is Dances with Dogs?
Dances with Dogs (DWD) is a relatively new canine sport, which began in the UK in the early 1990s. It was approved by the Australian National Kennel Council (ANKC) as an official sport in Australia from 1 January 2009.
DWD provides handlers and their dogs with an opportunity to demonstrate a skilful, choreographed routine, performed to music. There are two divisions of Dances with Dogs, Freestyle and Heelwork to Music.
Freestyle enables the handler to include innovative and creative moves and movement in time to music, giving the illusion of dance. In Heelwork to Music (HTM), which is more closely aligned to obedience heelwork, the dog performs in one or more of the prescribed heelwork positions for at least 70% of the routine.
In DWD, handlers and their dogs develop a terrific rapport and, most of all, have fun doing it! Spectators also
thoroughly enjoy watching the sport and seeing the enjoyment of the dogs and marvelling at their achievements.
Taken directly from the website.
Back to my story with DWD
My dog Rusty had been competing in Agility, another great dog sport. Unfortunately, she had arthritis and was no longer able to do agility, so I was looking at what else I could do with her. That’s when I joined up with the talented Gay Westmor, who was running a workshop on DWD. Well, I was hooked; we loved teaching new behaviours and different tricks, and the ‘moves’ could be modified or kept easy for my Rusty to perform without the strain on her body. Gosh, it’s very complex when you do get to competition level. First, it’s choreographing a routine to an edited piece of music. And back when I was doing it, I had to learn how to use music editing software, and even downloading the music track was a challenge. Teaching and practising all the ‘moves’. Getting a costume that suits your music theme. Practising out in a public area, the list goes on. Performing a ‘dance’ with Rusty proved to me to be more of a challenge than I had thought; I think we both got stage fright. We lasted a few years but then went on to nosework instead, but that’s another story.
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