Jump to content
BC Boards

The Making of a Freestyle Dog


Recommended Posts

I guess Crufts was an inspiration because Bandit and I finally shifted back to his Freestyle training!

 

And what awesome progress he is making very quickly!

 

We have been spending a bit of time on paw work. After several unsuccessful attempts to train it other ways, I went back to the way I trained Speedy paws, and Bandit is picking it up in record time!!

 

First session with the "Speedy Method":

 

 

And third session! Already introducing a cue!!

 

 

This should lead to paw touches to the hand, paw lifts, paws to different props and objects, paw to my leg, and - something I've never trained before - crossed paws!!

 

And some backing . . . this was about his third session backing to the toe board, and the first time without barriers on both sides of him. I have no idea where the default sit is coming from, as I minimize sits with him as much as possible.

 

 

I have a slightly fancy, but simple, backing sequence planned for his first routine. I think he can learn to do it!!

 

Sorry about Tessa yowling in the background. She apparently feels that Bandit is brilliant and needs no training while she is sadly undertrained and so she requires all of the training time . . .

 

I'm hoping by summer that some of this is going to start looking like Freestyle!!

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Bandit at our competition yesterday. He is still playing in the exhibition division with a tug toy, but he had such a good time at the event.

 

The plan at this point is to start getting more focused with his Freestyle training. We are so ready!!

 

Bandit%20Mardi%20Growl_zpspkhfavdi.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

And . . . we are off and running!! We still have a ton of precision training to do. Right now I am really trying to bring out the best of his natural movement.

 

But it feels "real" now!!!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Studying for our first Cyber Rally-O Dance Division pattern!! The simplest one - but it is truly a joy to start at the beginning!!!

 

He's got the outside curve down. Lots of work to do on the inside curve! I'm hoping we will perform this for real by sometime this fall!

 

Neither piece of music really fits him, but we will be trying a lot of different music to find what does fit.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks!! He is really enjoying it!! When we walked out onto the floor, I could see it in his eyes - he knew what we were doing and he was very eager!

 

He is something incredibly special!

 

We will be performing this live in two weeks!! We will be performing in the "Junior Division" (they are eligible for that division until 18 months old, so he is just making the cut!), so I can use food, although it must be concealed except when rewarding. He's ready, though!! I can't wait to see how he does with an audience!!!

 

We still have tons of foundation to train, but I couldn't be more happy with where we are right now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Shaping "Through a Hoop". I think Bandit is going to be able to do a lot with hoops, which is very fun. Speedy got overstimulated by hoops and anything that he would go through, or jump through, and neither Dean nor Tessa have ever really been all that thrilled about working with hoops, so being able to use these kinds of things with Bandit - and seeing that he will really enjoy it - is awesome for me!!!!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

We spent some time on Monday working on preparation for the Cyber Rally-O Dance Divisions. We are working on the Figure 8 Waltz, which is the simplest pattern.

 

I am having the darndest time learning the body language I need to show him we are going to turn on an inside curve. Speedy always struggled with that, but Dean is brilliant at it, so I can't blame my training ability.

 

We worked with a gate a bit so I could figure out the body language.

 

I predict Bandit will do an awesome job once we get this down!!

 

I like this music for him (he was actually working to this song for much of this footage) and I love his light, joyful movement style!!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Bandit has earned a Level in the Dogs Can Dance Challenge!! He has earned his Entertainment Opening Act Level!! Now we are on to Feature Presentation!!

Back at the beginning of August, he performed in his first "real thing" live event!! This was for DCD Challenge points. Given his age and level of training, I opted to have him perform in the Junior division. Dogs are eligible for the Junior Division up to 18 months, and he turned 18 months last week, so he was just still eligible!

The nice thing about the Junior Division is that food is allowed, under the same rules that it is in the Honor Class. It must be concealed except when actually giving it to the dog. And it must be concealed in an actual pocket - no bait bags! The not-so-nice thing about the Junior Division is that you only earn half of the points that you would in the Open or Honor Classes, but that actually worked to our advantage in this case because we would have earned too many points between the live and video events if we had been getting full points!

 

He did well in the live event - earned 64 points!! And he was adorable! When the audience clapped, he ran out across the front of the ring in an arc, tail wagging!! I don't have video from that because I forgot to press "record" on my camera.

 

Then, the other day, we got our results from the video event! 64 more points!

 

So, we earned our Level for Opening Act Entertainment and I am so proud of my boy! I plan to lengthen this routine to use for Feature Presentation! Not sure if that will be ready to film for November, but definitely by March if not!

 

I have posted our video event submission in the next post. It may seem a bit redundant, as it is similar to what I posted a bit above this, but that was a practice, with food in my hand. This is a real submission, with food concealed, according to event rules!

 

In any case, enjoy!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

I had a long overdue chance to doodle with Bandit on the floor the other evening. I am really blown away by where he is right now.

 

This was improv - this is not a routine. I think he really has a good understanding of what we are doing and he is staying engaged very nicely!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Just saying thanks! I've watched and will follow. I love seeing people work with their dogs especially in stages. Very much like seeing works in progress in the arts. I want to do some canine freestyle on a casual basis, non competitive, so it's nice to see how things go.

You two look lovely together.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Just saying thanks! I've watched and will follow. I love seeing people work with their dogs especially in stages. Very much like seeing works in progress in the arts. I want to do some canine freestyle on a casual basis, non competitive, so it's nice to see how things go.

You two look lovely together.

 

Thank you! I am really glad you enjoyed the video!

 

I hope you get a chance to do some Freestyle - it really is a lot of fun!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pivots! Pivots! Pivots!!

 

It's time to work pivots!! I have started Bandit on the chair method. Yes, we are also working on pivot platforms, but the chair method worked so well with Dean, and I believe that Bandit will respond very well to it.

 

So . . .

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh . . . also, we are going to be taking From Dream to Dance this month, and I am going to be starting a brand new routine with Bandit that I hope to use as our first Open Class routine for the Dogs Can Dance Challenge, and as our Beginner Musical Freestyle routine in WCFO.

 

This was the first step - trying out different music to see what he likes.

 

 

I ended up choosing the first piece. I actually think that the last, surprisingly, was the one he enjoyed moving to most. But he really did enjoy the first one, and I want to have this first full-length routine be something fun and light and simple. I will save the last piece for a time when he is ready for something more sophisticated.

I will share video as Bandit and I start to piece the routine together!! I am hoping that by early summer we will be ready to start rehearsal for actual titling performance in late summer/fall.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

We are busy working on Bandit's first "grown up" routine. I had posted above when I was choosing his music. Well, here is some of our work on the routine.

 

This is a rough draft, and - even once it is finalized - we pretty much need to finish training all of the skills!

 

But I love it so far. I can't believe how easy it is to come up with ideas to try with him!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...