Honey the Great Dane

 

Ooh, I was so excited last weekend when I got to meet the famous Richard Curtis (www.k9freestyle.co.uk) who is one of the the top Canine Freestyle / Heelwork to Music trainers from the faraway place called England. 

We were very lucky because Richard was very nice to spend a long time on the Big Flying Machine and come all the way to Australia to do some trainings with the doggies here. He was giving a ‘doggie dancing’ workshop at Camp Tailwaggers on the Gold Coast and so of course, my human signed us up immediately! 

Here is an exciting movie of the highlights!

 

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Hsin-Yi was very excited because it was always her dream to meet Richard -- especially because Richard always supports other types of doggies doing Canine Freestyle too and not just the usual working breeds. He was also very kind to help Hsin-Yi a few years ago when she was writing an article for her UK dog magazine, Dogs Today. 

Hsin-Yi was also happy because Michelle, who is my dancing buddy, Bodie the Border Terrier’s human, was visiting us from NZ and coming to the workshop with us. There were so many things to pack -- especially my crate this time -- that it wouldn’t all fit in the car machine! Just my beanbag bed took up most of the back seat! So my humans had to tie my crate to the roof of the car machine and Hsin-Yi was driving very carefully because she was worried it would come off and fly away!  

Anyway, we arrived on Fri afternoon after 2 hours in the car machine. It was great to get out and stretch my legs at last -- Camp Tailwaggers is a wonderful place, with forests and hills and ponds to explore and everything is off-leash so us doggies are free to roam wherever we like! There were so many people coming for the workshop this time that they had to bring extra caravans for people to sleep in. 

But we were lucky because we got a cabin. If you remember my post about the ‘doggie dancing’ camp I came to here back in Feb, the cabins are fantastic, each with their own doggie door (although they don’t fit giant doggies like me) and come with doggie beds, bowls and towels supplied! They also each have their own fenced garden and doggies are allowed inside. 

As soon as we settled in, I went to say hello to my new neighbours: Molly the Old English Sheepdog and Jazz the German Shorthaired Pointer.  (Actually, you might be able to see that me and Molly were saying rude words to each other in this picture but our humans gave us each a Telling-Off -- so after this, we were good and polite to each other! ) 

 

After Registration, Hsin-Yi and Michelle went to meet Richard and have dinner with all the other humans. And then after dinner, there was a Cabaret show again where we all performed our routines to show Richard what we could do. 

I have been practising very hard for this with Hsin-Yi in the last few weeks but it’s been very difficult for me because Hsin-Yi wants me to learn to do my whole dance routine without getting a single treat in the middle! Can you imagine? That’s like concentrating for 3 whole minutes doing 30 tricks and moves in a row! (Yes, I counted!) Who on earth would do all that work for nothing?! I mean, I’m not a workaholic Border Collie or Malinois or something, who thinks its fun just to do lots of tricks again and again for nothing!  I need to see that my human is holding something really yummy in her hand and that she is going to give it to me soon -- otherwise, I’d much rather just lie down and have a nap! Huh! So there!  

But Hsin-Yi said I had to learn to be like the Border Collies -- humph! So I have been trying, although it is really hard, and has been making both me and Hsin-Yi very stressy… I hoped that Richard will tell my human at this workshop that I’m NOT a Border Collie and so she can’t make me like them, no matter how hard she tries!  

Still, I did manage to do my dance routine at the Cabaret without any treats after all!    

Although it was not a competition and so our humans were allowed to use “motivators”, Hsin-Yi decided to test me and try to do the routine without any rewards - but she did bring my dinner bowl and put lots of yummies in it and then left it by the side of the dance floor so I could see it. 

So I tried my best! 

I did miss a few of my moves and my mind did wander a few times -- hey, how can you expect a girl to concentrate when there are no treats to focus the mind? - but considering that I was doing it all for nothing -- I think I did pretty well! Anyway, Hsin-Yi was pleased with me -- and as soon as we finished, she let me eat all the yummies in my dinner bowl!  

Well, the next morning, the workshop started very early. Because so many doggies and their humans had come to do trainings with Richard, they had to split us doggies into 2 groups: Beginners on Sat and Advanced on Sun and I was in the Advanced group, can you believe it?! 

 

…so on Saturday, I just relaxed at the cabin while Hsin-Yi and Michelle went to watch the workshop… 

 

There were LOADS of doggies there -- mostly Border Collies and Malinois and German Shepherds and Golden Retrievers, of course, but Hsin-Yi said it was really nice to see quite a few “non-traditional” breeds there too. She went a bit crazy and took 403 photos!  (Don’t worry -- am only showing you some of the best ones!) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Hsin-Yi especially fell in love with one big, beautiful Malamute boy who was “so photogenic”! 

 

And it was very exciting because although she had heard my blog friends, The OP Pack & Army of Four talk  a lot about ‘wooing’, Hsin-Yi had never seen it in real life… 

… until this big Malamute boy started wooing at his human to throw him the treats! 

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He was a great catcher too -- look at those teeth! 

 

There was also a little Border Terrier there, like my friend, Bodie, so Michelle got very excited when she saw him! 

 

And there was even a tiny little Malinois puppy who could barely keep her eyes open by the end of the day after watching all the excitement!  

 

But all the doggies were very good, waiting patiently for their turn and being very friendly and polite to each other, even though most hadn’t met before… 

 

And Richard was a great teacher! He explained everything really clearly and showed the humans lots of clever ways to make training more fun for us doggies. 

 

I couldn’t wait for my turn the next day!  

After the workshop finished on Saturday, Hsin-Yi & Michelle came back to the cabin and took me for a nice walk before they went back to have dinner in the training centre with Richard and all the other humans … 

 

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…but they did share some late-night snacks with me later! 

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The next morning, I sprang out of bed, bright and early, all ready to join the workshop! 

 

Er…well, OK, maybe I didn’t quite ‘spring’ -- that’s far too energetic! -- but I did get up. Eventually. After a lot of prodding. 

When I finally staggered to the training centre (am so NOT a ‘morning doggie’), I found all the other doggies there already, ready for another exciting day! 

 

We  started with some “warming up” exercises, just to help our doggie brains wake up and get our attention on our humans…my brain took a LOT of warming up… 

 

 

Richard said it was very important for us doggies to learn to always keep our attention on our humans all the time, no matter what was happening around us… 

 

…and even if our humans are walking around… 

 

…well, I’m normally quite good at ‘attention-walking’ (a.k.a. Heeling) -- I have practised lots with Hsin-Yi -- although I have to say, I do find it a bit difficult staying in the right position next to Hsin-Yi’s knee AND looking up at the same time. You know us Danes don’t do “multi-tasking” very well!  

Besides, I don’t know why humans want us doggies to be looking up at them all the time when we are walking beside them - it gives us a crick in the neck! Still, I can do it -- in fact, I’m proud to say that I can Heel as beautifully as a Border Collie when I’m feeling energetic (which, OK, is not very often)… 

 

But to make it more interesting and challenging for us, Richard got us doggies to Heel on the right side of our humans…this is something that only dancing doggies learn because most Obedience doggies only learn to Heel on the left side but dancing doggies have to learn to Heel on both sides (we learn a different command -- my left side is “Heel” and my right is “Side”). 

Richard also got us to do this around cones to make it more challenging… 

After that, we did some more funny exercises around cones to test our attention. Like our humans had to put their hands on their heads (so no treats to lure us!) and walk backwards around the cones while recalling us -- and us doggies had to remain in exactly a straight line in front of them … 

 

…or they had to walk  with us next to them but with their arms held out so they can’t rely on it to keep us in Heel position or use treats to lure our attention… 

 

Here is a short movie of me doing the ‘Recall-Around-Cones-Without-Arms’ exercise with Hsin-Yi: 

After this, our brains were so warm they were sizzling! Ha! Ha! Then we started practising some dance moves. 

First we did some Paw work… 

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…some Weaving… 

 

 

… some Bows… 

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…and Reversing Through Legs…!

This was a really hard move for me -- as you can see in my highlights video at the top -- am just too tall and Hsin-Yi is too short! Hee! Hee! But Hsin-Yi is determined to come up with our own version -- after all, everyone told her she could never do weaving through the legs with me -- and we have proven them all wrong!

Aside from tricks, we also practised some of the Heelwork to Music positions. For those who don’t know about this, ‘doggie dancing’ is split into 2 types: Canine Freestyle and Heelwork to Music (HTM). For HTM, there are 8 positions that us doggies must be in when dancing and we must never move out of these positions for most of our routine otherwise we will be disqualified - 

If you think how hard it is for us doggies to remain in the correct ‘Heel’ position just on the left side, with our shoulders perfectly in line with our humans -- imagine how difficult it is for us to make sure we are in the ‘correct’ position for another 7 different positions! It takes a lot of training and practice -- and needs a doggie to be very ‘precise’. That is something that is quite difficult for giant breed doggies like me.  

This is not like Canine Freestyle where us doggies can be anywhere -- even really far away from our humans - and we can do any kind of tricks and moves we like. Me & Hsin-Yi have always done Canine Freestyle because it is more creative and fun -- and also because it is hard for me to do the very precise moves needed for HTM. But after Richard started showing us some of the Heelwork positions, Hsin-Yi got inspired and decided it would be a good challenge to try and teach me some of the other positions. I already know 2 of them (Heeling on the left and on the right) -- but we started learning some others at the workshop.

First, we learnt the position where the dog is on the Right side of their human but facing backwards, with their shoulder in line with their human’s leg - like this:

It’s very important for the doggie’s shoulder to remain exactly in line with their human’s legs all the time, no matter how fast their human is moving or where they are turning…and most doggies learn this by their humans holding a treat at their hip to show them the correct place to target…

…but it was really hard for me ‘coz I’m so much taller and bigger than the other dogs, so in order for MY shoulder to be line with Hsin-Yi’s legs, I would have to target the side of my muzzle to her shoulder…but it was hard for her to hold a treat in the right place to show me what she wanted!

I think I’m going to need LOTS of practice!!!!!

We also tried another of the HTM positions, where the dog is in across the front of their human, facing to the right:

 This was also difficult for me ‘coz I’m much longer than other doggies and so Hsin-Yi’s arm isn’t really long enough to hold the treat out far enough, so that I am making a perfect T with her body -- and so that my body stays straight (v important!) -- without my head curving towards her, which would make my bum swing out…

Other humans could just stand up straight and hold their arm out with the treat and their doggies could just line up straight, across them but me…? *(sigh) Nothing is simple and easy with us giant breed doggies!

Still, I did sort of get the idea and Richard put on some cute music for us to try dancing to in this position (you can see this in my highlights video -- the bit where we are all skipping sideways to the “bum-bum-bum” music).

It wasn’t just the positions that were hard for me…it was really hot (even in the shade) which always makes me feel sluggish and OK, I have to admit, I am just not a ‘morning doggie’. I usually go straight back to bed after breakfast and don’t stir again until around 4pm in the afternoon for my daily walk…so asking me to do anything in the morning is a real effort, never mind using my brain and dancing!

So while all the other doggies were whizzing and spinning across the floor, I was sort of -- um -- trying to collect my thoughts…well, see for yourself:

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I was really glad when Richard said us doggies could have a break after lunch (whew! a nap! hooray!) and the humans were just going to do some trainings by themselves.

Richard gave them some interesting exercises and fun games to do, like making up dance routines for different types of music or guessing which tricks and moves look good together -- or even learning some dance moves themselves, like how to do a snazzy walk with a cane!

And can you believe it, the humans even pretended they were doggies so they could act out some of the dance routines they made up -- gosh, they looked silly! But then, humans are always doing silly things!

When us doggies joined in again, Richard gave us some games to test our ‘reliability’ -- he said that it’s really important for us to practise all our commands in lots of different situations and with lots of different distractions, so that we can perform them anytime, anywhere, in any position.

In fact -- unlike other types of dog training which often likes to teach us doggies to rely on hand signals more - in dancing, us doggies have to learn to respond to just verbal signals (voice commands), regardless of what our humans’ bodies are doing - so that our humans’ hands are free to do other things in the dance. Also so that it is not obvious that they are giving us a signal, which would look very ugly in a dance. The reason ‘doggie dancing’ looks so beautiful is because humans & doggies are moving together as a team, in time to the music - and not the human just standing there, waving their arms around, telling the dog to do tricks.

But of course, this is easier said than done, especially as us doggies usually find it much easier to follow body language and hand signals, rather than verbal commands. Many of us can do a trick when our humans give the hand signal but have no idea when they just say the command. So again, lots of practice! Richard made our humans fold their arms so they couldn’t use them at all -- and then tried to get us doggies to weave through their legs, follow them, twist and spin…just on verbal signals…there were a lot of blank doggie faces, I can tell you! Hee! Hee!

What’s more, Richard said us doggies had to learn to do our tricks even when our humans aren’t facing us! This is really hard. It’s a great test of how well you know your commands -- if you can still do them when your human has their back to you. Try it and see!

Here is me trying it with Hsin-Yi at the workshop…

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…hey, I was actually quite good! Guess us Danes aren’t as dumb as people think!

Actually, Hsin-Yi had already taught me some dance moves where I have my back to her or she has her back to me…

…in dancing, these are considered “advanced moves” -- so that makes me an ‘Advanced’ doggie!

Well, after that, it was time to wrap up the workshop -- and for Richard to go to the airport to get on the Big Flying Machine back to England!

We had one last fun game where we practised having fun ‘in the ring’ -- coz a lot of us doggies are great during training but then freeze up when we have to go in the ring -- because our humans get all serious and stressy. So Richard said it’s really important to practise having fun in the ring too and not only go in there for scary, stressy competitions! So he put on some really loud music and got each of our humans to run into the ring with us and jump around and act silly and give us treats and play fun games. It was very exciting!

Here is my turn:

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And then it was all over! Time to pack up and go home!

Whew! I know this has been a mammoth long post but I did so much exciting stuff that I just wanted to share it all with you! I hope you enjoyed it and feel a bit like you came along to the camp too!

 

* A big thank you to Bodie’s Human, Michelle, for taking all the photos & videos of me and Hsin-Yi! Usually, Hsin-Yi takes lots of photos & footage of other doggies but there is no one to take any of us -- so it was wonderful to have our own “cameraman” this time!

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Richard Curtis is a wonderful trainer and instructor -- and does brilliant workshops, both in the UK and lots of other countries overseas!

Check out his website www.k9freestyle.co.uk  for more information.

He also has some great DVD’s and books available at his shop, which can be ordered online.

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