The history of canine freestyle
Canine freestyle, also known as dog dancing, began to develop recently in the early 1990s, when various dog trainers around the world began practicing their obedience and heel work routines to the beat of music. . With music in the background, it was natural to want to do the doggy boogie and start choreographing his movements to match the music.
At first, it was simply a heeled work to music in which the dog and handler move as one with the dog close to the handler’s side as they walk around the ring performing some basic obedience movements. Mary Rae from England and Carolyn Scott from the United States were two of the first most famous dog trainers to start performing their heels to the beat of music. Today, heel work to music is still a category of dog dancing.
From there, people began to be more creative and began to borrow ideas and movements from dressage. The movement became more free and creative. The handlers began to move their dogs in lateral, diagonal, circular and backward movements. The trainers opened up their heel work to include five positions, the right heel, the left heel, the front heel, the follow position, and the middle heel where the dog is between your legs. People found canine freestyle to be a liberating space where anything could go, as opposed to strict obedience, rally, and agility areas where certain movements were expected in certain places at certain times. Canine Freestyle training develops a more balanced, agile and happy dog than other canine sports. In fact, having a happy dog that has a good connection with the handler is one of the requirements and judgmental aspects of the sport. Doggie Dancing is the sport where tails wag.
Agility movements were introduced as people developed a wide variety of creative jumping tricks, such as jumping up the arms, jumping over the back, and bouncing at the waist. People also started making their dogs go through their legs. First forward and then backward, while crawling and even doing a figure eight. Weaving became a fundamental movement in canine freestyle.
Carolyn Scott and Rookie, her golden retriever, wowed audiences with their very musical style of dancing together. His most popular routine is performed to Grease. Later, other coaches began to tell stories and be comical or dramatic with their routines. Attila and Fly will always be remembered for their Charlie Chapman routine and their Gladiator routine. They are both quite classic.
Canine Freestyle is an amazing sport because any dog of any age, any breed, and even disabled dogs can participate and compete. This sport allows the dog and the handlers to choose movements and songs that suit them without strict requirements of what to do. You can easily train in the comfort of your home, garden, or park. No special equipment is needed. There is no special need to train in a class. Although training with others always helps to overcome distractions and develop ideas better. People of all ages can enjoy this sport from small children to elderly people in wheelchairs or walkers. It is a great exercise for both the dog and the handler, but easy to do with whatever physical limitations one may have.
Whether you’re training to dance for your friends and showing off all the cool tricks and moves you know, or volunteering at a nursing home or entertaining people at a park. You can take your show on the road and compete in a variety of different competitive organizations or just enjoy performing your dance routines. Doggie Dancing is the fun canine sport to train.