Freestyle

This weekend, Zane and I went to a Freestyle seminar in Tucson.

Friday night at the hotel, Zane was a bit freaked. He's actually been at this hotel before (but didn't spend the night there) for a dog show. This hotel is a series of buildings with wonderful courtyards in between. We were outside that evening and he was freaking about everything: people, birds, trains. . . it was all a bit much for the country dog gone to the big city. We played a lot of "look at that".

The next day was was the first day of the workshop. There's Zane working in a room with a ton of other dogs out - all working at the same time and at times pretty darn close. He settled right in and did it! He had to look around a bit, but his focus was pretty good and he did everything I asked.

Throughout the weekend he had dogs all around him. He made some new friends, let other dogs sniff him, talked to other people. . . what a great growing up experience for him.

The seminar was put on by Judy Gamet of Dogs Can Dance. What an exciting seminar! And the truth is, this seminar wasn't just about Freestyle. There were things to bring into obedience and rally and conformation and just about anything we do with our dogs. What a wealth of information.

One interesting thing that happened. Judy shows us that our dogs chose the right music - it's not just about matching the dog's footsteps to the music. The dogs will show you if they like a piece of music or not. On Sunday, Zane and I were out on the floor with the James Bond theme playing. He was wild - leaping and bouncing and getting mouthy. He was horrible! Then Judy changed the music to Mission Impossible and he immediately settled down, got into heel position and strutted around the room. What a difference just with a music change!

I never, ever thought I'd have anything to contribute at this seminar (I don't do freestyle after all!), but a couple of times I was able to help people. I was trying to explain to one woman how to move differently for her dog, but I couldn't get across what I meant. The next time I had a run through, she said, "I get it! Your lower body is moving, but your upper body is very still except for your cues." Her next run was gorgeous. Her body was so smooth and easy - she'd start to go to her old style of moving and catch herself and get beautiful again. I think the still upper body must come from obedience, because I sure don't realize I'm doing it!

Towards the end of the workshop, I was in a group with her, and we were going one by one, moving with the music, and watching the dog so we could tell the handler what the dog liked and didn't like. For the spins, we told her to slow down, use big sweeping hand motions, and wait for her dog. All of a sudden, you could see the teamwork happen. She and her dog (a Berner) were so graceful and wonderful. She told us that she kept trying to make the dog spin faster like a Border Collie. But her dog is NOT a BC and had such elegance and beauty when allowed to move like she's supposed to. What a light bulb moment for that team.

The funniest moment in the seminar was after Judy had already told us to limit a move to 3 times in a row. Never do it more than three times. One woman was doing a grapevine into a weave, then a grapevine the other way to a weave. She did it three times, and went for a fourth. As her dog started to go under her for the weave, he reached up and bit her in the crotch. "We don't do it more than 3 times. Now learn that lesson!" She sure learned it well! The dogs will find ways to tell us if we don't listen.