Guess what? Me & my human, Hsin-Yi, have started working on a new dance routine!

We usually try and do a new routine every year but we have been slacking a bit this year. Hsin-Yi has been a bit lazy about doing training with me – it took us a while to settle into Newcastle after our big move down from Brisbane – and then of course, everything was put on hold for a while when Muesli joined the family! …and then I was hosting Dancing With The Doggie Stars, where I was helping other doggies learn to dance (but didn’t get time to do much dancing myself! )…and then when things finally calmed down again, my humans suddenly started having to do lots of travelling! So most of the year has gone by without us doing much dancing.

Besides, Hsin-Yi says she hasn’t really felt “inspired” – she really needs to hear a song that makes her want to jump up and bop up & down – in order to have ideas for the choreography (and to have enough energy for the training sessions with me – hee! hee – because – um – you know, I need a LOT of motivation and Hsin-Yi has to act like a ‘cracker human’ & speak in a squeaky voice all the time…which she says is VERY exhausting! )

So anyway, she never really found a song to “get her going”…she did really like the song, “Pack Up” by Eliza Doolittle earlier in the year and then she also liked the song, “L.O.V.E.” by Natalie Cole and thought we might be able to do a cool Heelwork routine to that…but none of them really made her toes tap enough to start thinking up a choreography. And then…a couple of weeks ago, she was listening to the ‘Happy Feet’ soundtrack in the car machine and one of her favourite songs on there is the penguins’ version of “Boogie Wonderland”…and she suddenly sat upright and thought, “THIS IS IT!”

Yup! So we’re going to be boogie-ing – literally! – to Boogie Wonderland. Hsin-Yi has made up about 1/2 the choreography and has started teaching me the sequences of moves and stringing some of them together… (although, of course, she often ends up changing things once she starts trying it out with me. She always gets really ambitious and then realises there’s real life speed and – er – “Honey speed” – hee! hee!)

…we have only had about 4 dance practices so far and I don’t know if we’re going to get very far ‘coz this is actually a really bad time to be starting a new routine! See, we’ll be moving to Sydney soon so my humans will soon be busy looking for a new home for us there and packing up and stuff…and the Australian summer is coming which means it’ll soon be too HOT to even walk easily in the evenings, never mind dance! So we might have to take a break until April next year when it’s autumn and cooler weather again…it’s probably going to take us months to finish this routine!

But that’s OK – Hsin-Yi says, “What’s the rush? The journey should be as enjoyable as the destination” – which I think is just a fancy way of saying it doesn’t matter as long as we’re having fun! Anyway, we’re not trying to do this for competition or anything (although that doesn’t mean we won’t do our best!) – this is just for ourselves, for fun, and because Hsin-Yi says it’s always nice to have a goal to work towards.

…oh, and I’m learning a couple of new tricks too for this routine! Well, you know how Hsin-Yi always likes to teach me at least 1 special new trick for each new dance routine? For my first routine, Big Spender, of course, I had to learn a whole bunch of dance moves for the first time but the really special trick I learnt was that Pulling-the-Sash-Around-Hsin-Yi’s-Waist move…

…for my 2nd routine, Sway, I learnt the Leg Weaves! (even though everybody told Hsin-Yi that she could never weave with a Dane!) and of course, my famous Shimmy trick and also to Smack-Hsin-Yi-on-the-Bum!

…for my 3rd routine, Me & My Shadow, I learnt quite a few new tricks, actually – in particular, the Back-to-Back Sit-Up move and the Circling-the-Cane move, as well as Jumping the Cane…

…for my 4th routine – the Pairs Routine to Mercy – I learnt to work together as a team with another doggie and also to let that doggie run under me & jump over me…

…and then for my 5th routine (the last one I did): my Chinese dance, I learnt the Side-Pass, the Pivot and best of all, my ‘Chinese Bow’!

So…what do you think I’m going to learn for this new routine? Well, I’ve already learnt one new trick…although it’s not really *new* ‘coz I sort of already know how to do it. See, I can “High Five” really well – so Hsin-Yi just taught me to “High Ten”. She says it’ll look great in the intro to the song!

And I’m also going to learn another new trick, especially to match one section of the song….

…Can you guess what it’s going to be?

Although I know lots of tricks, we don’t usually learn them “in a vacuum” – like Hsin-Yi doesn’t just find a list of tricks from a dog training book and try to teach me each one. Instead, she likes to always have a reason for a trick – somewhere it fits and has a “creative role”. So most of my tricks are learnt with a dance move in mind and Hsin-Yi likes to use each new dance routine as an opportunity to think up new tricks & skills for me – she always listens to each song and uses it to give her ideas. That’s why I don’t know some of the ‘standard’ doggie tricks that most other doggies know – but I know some weird ones that we’ve made up ourselves, for our dances – like my Shimmy! Hee! Hee!

And Hsin-Yi believes that – just like in humans – to keep learning new skills and keep challenging the brain cells (even if I only have 3! ) – is a very important part of keeping us doggies young!

Well, so I thought you might be interested to see the whole process of how we start to put together a dance routine – the beginning stages and how Hsin-Yi teaches me how to move with her…so here is a movie showing some of our dance practices so far:

As you can see, it’s a bit of a mess at the moment (!) but Hsin-Yi says hopefully, it will all come together in the end! I’m not doing a lot of the things “properly” at the moment – like I’m not Heeling very tightly and stuff – but that’s OK – at this stage, Hsin-Yi says she is just “blocking it in” – getting down the main shape & feel & look of the routine. She will worry about polishing up all the individual tricks & moves later.

Hsin-Yi says that in creative things like dancing, it’s really important to always remember “the bigger picture” – sometimes she sees people in competition get too fussy about making their doggies do each action perfectly & precisely – but then losing the whole “heart & soul” of the routine. There’s more to dancing than just getting the steps right! It’s feeling the music too and moving with the music (you know, like loosening up a bit and not walking stiffly, even if this means the doggie won’t Heel as well)  – it will always look better if you dance with your heart, even if you don’t do everything perfectly!

(*Oh – and excuse Hsin-Yi’s dreadful singing! She has to do that in the beginning until we get good enough to try it with the real music…)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19ONfWXFxh0

If the movie won’t play, you can try it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19ONfWXFxh0

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* Just a reminder: if you ask a question in your comment, don’t forget to check the little box underneath that says “Notify me of follow-up comments via e-mail” – that way you will always know if anybody has replied to your comment. I always try to answer all your questions but I don’t know if you return to the post again so you might miss my answers (or replies from other readers). You can also subscribe to be notified whenever anybody adds a new comment to that post, without leaving a comment yourself.

Well! This has probably been one of the toughest ever competitions to judge and vote for! Every team that entered performed so wonderfully and were all so deserving for different reasons…how is it ever possible to choose??

Our judges have been working hard all weekend to score all the routines out of 10…it was a tough job! Unlike some other dog sports, ‘doggie dancing’ (or Canine Freestyle, to give its proper name), isn’t just about finding the fastest doggie or the doggie who can stay still the longest or who can walk in exactly a certain position…and you might think it’s just picking the doggie who can do the best tricks and the slickest moves - but this isn’t a Tricks Contest, either!

No, Freestyle really celebrates the partnership between a doggie and their human. So it’s not just about doggies doing fancy stuff by themselves – it’s about the doggie & human moving together. But not just like perfect robot machines either! – they have to show a bond between them and a sense of creative teamwork. And although it’s called “dancing”, it’s not really about the human doing fancy dance steps – it’s more about the doggie and human mirroring each other, moving together ‘as one’. (A quiet, simple routine where the doggie & human really move together, with feeling, can be just as, if not more beautiful to watch, as a complicated routine, jam-packed with tricks but with the human just marching stiffly around, directing their doggie. One of our favourite routines which showed this beautifully was Kirby dancing to ‘It’s A Wonderful World’, with his human – the ending almost made Hsin-Yi cry!)

And of course, on top of all this, there has to be a sense of FUN – so that the doggie & human have to look like they’re enjoying themselves! Again, in no other dog sport are you judged on “how much fun you’re having” but in Freestyle competitions, you actually get points for this! Also, unlike other dog sports where beginners can often start on leash, in Freestyle, doggies & humans are only attached by the invisible leash between their hearts – so they can wander off anytime and it is only their great bond that keeps them together…

…and then you have to bring all these things together in just 1 ~ 2 minutes!!

When you think about all these points, it is a pretty amazing feat what all our dance teams have accomplished. Although my contest was really “just for fun” – our teams have still had to meet all these challenges…it was certainly not an easy job!  So you should all be incredibly proud of yourselves.

In fact, one of our judges actually IS an official Canine Freestyle judge for real trials & competitions in the state of Victoria, Australia – and she was very impressed by all the DWTDS dance teams. She said: “I think all the competitors have made a magnificent effort and congratulate them on their courage to enter the competition and to enter with breeds that are difficult to train and motivate.  All looked like they were having fun and that is what it’s all about!”

Now, before I announce the winners, I must say thank you again to our wonderful prize sponsors for their support & their generosity - Superstudio Pop Art Pet Portraits, Kyra Sundance & the Sundance Dog Team, Around A Hound Collars and Designer Duds for Dogs.

- and also a big thank you to my blog friends, Jed & Abby from Merryland, who have generously sponsored Mirror Ball Trophies for all the winners!

And now…

…the judges have made their decision…

…announcing the Dancing with the Doggie Stars - Grand Champion for 2011:

Prana the Dachshund!

And here, for you to enjoy again, is Prana the Dachshund & her human performing their winning routine, to Lowrider :

(talk about having fun! I thought Prana’s tail was going to wag right off! )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJbXcmQYUcc

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Our judges have also very kindly spent time providing comments for each & every team -

• Mango the Mastiff - Unexpected music for a big dog – but it worked well / Great choice of music,  the bigger dogs move slower so this music makes them graceful.  Thanks for making us laugh too / I love the costume and the choice of music, which suited Mango well
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• Dexter the Labrador - Some lovely heeling & fast catchy music / Another fantastic choice of music to show off Dexters enthusiastic jumping / Dexter is very attentive and animated.
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• Penny the Mix-Breed - Some nice moves in this – very nice bow at the end / Love the spin into the leg pull through move / Penny has some advanced moves, which were executed wonderfully. I love the pair bandanas that Penny and her human are wearing
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• Lassiter Chase the Sheltie -  Good use of matching the words of the song to the moves – loved the disco ball / Lassiter shows a lot of focus / I can see wonderful relationship between Lassiter Chase and his human. Also, the props are very original
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• Kasha the Great Dane - Some creative use of the furniture / What does Mama mean you guys don’t dance? Love the creative use of the chair to give height advantage / Very elegant!
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• Beryl the Greyhound - Nice costumes / Love the costume, and Beryl – love your bows. / I love the way Beryl’s human talks to her! Also, the bow move was nice
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• Frankie the Pig-Dog - Love the way he drops / Such an enthusiastic dog with some natural talent.  I think you should take things further with him. / The way Frankie lies down is so charming!
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• Christmas, Happy, Pinky & Jingle-Bell the Mini-Schnauzers - Good ending / Impressed that the dogs calmly wait till their name is called.  Good jumping up on the back move at the end / It’s amazing that their human controls all four dogs well and lets them dance in turn peacefully! There were some very cute moves too.
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• Tucker the Great Dane - Nice kicks / Hehe, another “high leg weaver” from the Honey School of Dance.  Love the “Bang you’re dead” move. / I love that popping and barking move!!
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• Oreo the Sheltie - Lovely leg weaving / Those reverse leg weaves are advanced.  Nice. / Those moves were in nice tempo and matched the music!
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• Tucker the Service Dane - A lovely compliment to Catherine’s dancing /  What a gentle beautiful dog.  Absolutely love the slow foot over the foot move which is a good visual with a large dog / That is a lovely costume Catherine is wearing. Also, I can see that Tucker always supports her by being with her
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• Nala the Italian Greyhound - Nice circle work / An enthusiastic wee dog that quite obviously loves doing this / Nala’s moves were so quick that I sometimes missed where she was
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• Lexi the Great Dane - Nice backing at the side / Very cool routine, (we hope to see you live!) / Yes, I can see Lexi enjoyed it a lot! Those pearl necklaces are so elegant.
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• Ludo the Sheltie - Good matching of music – liked the flower prop / Lots of hard tricks in here / Can I steal that roll-over move with your human spinning?
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• Prana the Dachshund - Great routine / A cool routine for a cool wee dog.  Awesome side to heels for a long dog too. / This is a wonderful, well choreographed routine!!
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• Megan-Joy the Golden Retriever - This dog is having fun / Lovely to see the enjoyment Megan-Joy gets from doing this / Eight takes!? That’s amazing! I definitely encourage you to keep on doing dancing
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• Griffen the Dogue the Bordeaux - Nice marching / Good match of actions to words and right on time / The music matches the speed of Griffen’s moves. I love his human’s costume too.
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• Lance the Corgi - Great tricks / Clever routine and good choice of moves for Lance / Lance can do so many advanced moves! Very impressive!
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• Lacey the Great Dane - Nice use of box / Getting a pat on the bum isn’t as easy as you make it look   We know,  we have tried. / This is awesome!! Lacey has a lot of potential to be a great dancer like Honey!!
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• Hauwii the Small Musterlander - Liked his leaps / Yep jumping moves are Hau’is trademark / Those jumping moves are cool! Yes, the music matches well with Hauwii.
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• El’bow the Mastiff - Very funny to watch / A roaring success, this made us laugh so much / Oh, it was so much fun! I love El’bow’s humans moves – very unique!! Also, El’bow was eager to dance throughout the routine, even though his humans says he is lazy!
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• Shiva the Mix-Breed - Some great tricks in this routine / Impressive “on the spot” high jumps. / I think Shiva’s human is a great dancer. I am impressed how high Shiva can jump!
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• Barbie the Greyhound - Liked her crawl / We think this was still awesome attention after 7 takes / I couldn’t help watching Barbie’s eyes
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• Lucille the Great Dane - Liked the ending /  Good timing on the paw moves at 1.01, better to make them slow and exaggerate them for visual effect / Lucille’s paws are huge!! I had to sympathise with her having had to stop dancing while she was picking up dropped food.
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• Jackal the Beagle-Cross - Good use of props / We were holding our breath for the final salute / The choreography is very original. I have never seen a doggie dancing like this. Jackal looks like a real soldier!
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• Kirby the Mix-Breed - Lovely interaction between handler and dog / Beautiful interpretation of the music and loved the pauses for dramatic effect / I didn’t know a small dog like Kirby can dance gracefully like this!
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• Emma the Great Dane - Lovely choice of music – can really see the bond between them / This touched our hearts, Emma’s obviously no way ready to retire yet / Emma, you don’t look like a 13 year old Dane!
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• Bella the Mix-Breed - This dog enjoys her dancing / Bella is so focused and obviously loves doing this / 
   like the move Bella’s mom moves her body from one side to another while Bella moves her head in the same way.
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• Pepper the Kelpie-Cross - Lovely routine / All the tricks fit the theme beautifully and Mum danced nearly as well as Pepper. / It was unfortunate that the space was too small to show off Pepper’s tricks. Both Pepper and her human were cheerful throughout the routine, which was nice
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• Luna the Mix-Breed - Good use of the umbrella / Luna obviously likes that 2 paws up High five move / Luna and her human are really brave! Literally dancing in the rain!!
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• Lincoln the Great Dane - liked the human dressed in black – they complimented each other /watching the “how we made it” shows just how far you have come / I enjoyed the behind-the-scene part! I could see that so much effort had been put into this routine

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Next…

…we have the Viewers’ Choice Award!

Thank you to all the people who voted for their favourite team - we had over 100 votes (!) and every pup got votes, so you have certainly been keeping us busy in the last few days!

Especially as you know Hsin-Yi’s Maths is just terrible (she doesn’t even count her change in shops because she is too embarrassed by how long it takes her to work it out!) - Hah! I think it serves her right for saying rude things about my 3 brain cells – when it comes to Maths, she’s probably only got 1 working brain cell!!

So Hsin-Yi has been getting dizzy from counting up and adding votes and checking everything twice to make sure she hadn’t counted it wrong! But even with Hsin-Yi’s rubbish Maths, it was soon easy to see that we had a clear winner – a doggie & their human that got more votes than anybody else as the favourite team…

…announcing the Dancing with the Doggie Stars - Viewers’ Choice 

for 2011:

Prana the Dachshund (again!!)

Congratulations to Prana and her human for their awesome teamwork and wonderful routine!

But wait! We’re not finished yet!

I would also like to give the Best Costume Award to Jackal the Beagle-cross for his & his human’s matching costumes & props (which his human had built all by herself) in their amazing ”K9 Military’ theme routine – what a great effort!

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And I would like to give the Best Use of Props Award to Pepper the Kelpie-Cross for her & her human’s wonderfully original, clever use of – er – “cleaning stuff” in their routine (even if Pepper did end up with a slightly unhealthy obsession with feather dusters! )

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And now…I would also like to give a few other special awards.  All the teams were amazing in their own ways and really all deserve an award! But there were a few teams who had to overcome some very special challenges and their dance routines are a wonderful achievement, ‘Against All Odds’…

They are:

Mango the Mastiff for heroically continuing to dance, even as he was fighting the Seizure Monster and then the horrible side-effects from his seizure medicines…

Megan-Joy the Golden Retriever for finding the courage to overcome her extreme fearfulness and the confidence to “get out there and shake her stuff”!

Tucker the Service Great Dane for being the best partner anyone could ask for and giving his human a new way to enjoy her beloved dancing…

…and last but not least, I would like to give the Terrific Teamwork Award to Christmas, Happy, Pinky & Jingle Bell, for being the only team in the whole contest to have FOUR doggies working together – if that doesn’t show ‘terrific teamwork’, I don’t know what does!

Could all the winners please email me your addresses so I can arrange your trophies & prizes?

But as I said, all the teams deserve an award so I will be sending a little something to each & every one of the teams who participated. So could EVERY TEAM please send me your postal address? My email is: bighoneydog (AT) gmail (DOT) com

* Hsin-Yi has disabled the “Right-Click” function on my blog (I’ll explain why in another post!) – so you won’t be able to save any of the images from this post – but if you’d like to have your award to put on your own blog, just let me know and I’ll email the image to you!

Thank you so much everybody – all our dance teams, our ‘spectator doggies’, our judges, our sponsors and everyone else who has helped to make my Dancing with the Doggie Stars contest such a success!!

I hope you have all enjoyed it as much as I have and had lots of fun!

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And now, me & Hsin-Yi are going to do a bit of this…! Hee! Hee!

* I know we’re awfully, awfully behind with visiting blog friends (I think our Google Reader is on over 200!) and we will try our best to catch up as soon as we can but Hsin-Yi says her brain feels like mashed potato now and she needs to have a bit of a break from blogging & blogs in general - so we might not be around for a while. Hope you’ll understand!

My humans are also doing quite a lot of travelling these few weeks so they will be very busy and we won’t always be home (Hsin-Yi actually spent most of last weekend in airports & on Big Flying Machines, trying to get all the entries up & finish my DWTDS Finale post on her laptop machine, with poor internet connection and not able to get to photos or YouTube video links properly…plus she had a horrible fever & flu sickies and had to breathe through her mouth like a goldfish the whole weekend…oooh, major stressy!! So I’m sorry for all the delays! ) – so I hope you’ll bear with me if I can’t come to visit much or reply to messages very quickly!

 

Welcome…

…to Dancing with the Doggie Stars!

The Grand Finale!

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Well, it’s here – the moment you have all been waiting for. For 2 months, we’ve watched as our dance teams wagged & weaved, bounced & bowed, and twisted & twirled their way across living rooms all over the world – together with 59 kilos of treats gobbled, a camera machine broken, a rose prop eaten by rabbits, a pair of nearly-shredded angel wings, a custom-built military assault course, a famous wig, a wounded knee, a snazzy tophat – and lots & lots of yellow duster feathers that have ended up – er – somewhere they shouldnt! – but through it all, you’ve all been such wonderful sports and we have all loved cheering you on.

Me & Hsin-Yi have been TOTALLY OVERWHELMED by the number of entries that have come in (31!!!) – we are so proud of all the doggies who have given it a go! And you know what? You don’t realise how amazing you all are – because you have all done it completely by yourselves at home, with no help or guidance from any dance classes or clubs, and your busy, busy humans have had to squeeze out time and space for your dance rehearsals…and all this in less than 2 months! When I first started dancing, I went to dance classes for weeks and then took nearly 6 months to come up with my first routine, ‘Big Spender’…so what you have all achieved is absolutely pawsome!

I want to say a VERY big thank you to all the DWTDS dance teams – for all the hard work and time you’ve put into this. This contest would have been nothing without you and your wonderful, enthusiastic particpation. We think Beryl & Frankie’s human said it best when she said, “You/we all ROCK and are winners because we participated ”

A big thank you also to all the ‘spectator’ doggies who have encouraged and supported our dance teams with their lovely comments during all the DWTDS episodes and really made this a community event in Blogland.

Now, our 3 judges, Cinnamon the Beagle, Bodie the Border Terrier and Charlie the Toy Poodle will be busy this weekend scoring all the routines (boy, am I glad I’m not judging! Every routine I’ve seen is so wondeful, I would never know how to choose!)

…and in the meantime, it’s also time for YOU to vote for your favourite dance team – for the Viewers’ Choice Award! I know there are a lot of routines but voting will be open all weekend, until midnight Mon (in YOUR local time zone), so take your time! At the bottom of this post, you will find a little voting box where you can tell me who you’re voting for and then click on the “Submit” button. You can only vote once (and of course, you can’t vote for yourself! )

And now…here are all the routines, in the order they were sent in to me…

…let’s welcome the Dancing Doggie Stars!

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#1 Mango the Mastiff (USA)

 - dancing to Divertissement

* Mango is one of our most heroic dancing stars – he started getting scary seizure sickies just one week into the contest and then his medicines made him all weak and wobbly but he is one determined guy and has fought through it all to produce a one-of-a-kind mastiff ballet!

(Mango) “Now…. before you watch, I need to tell you a few things. First of all, I have not been my usual peppy self and getting up and down can be quite challenging so we had to trim out some of my best moves like the mastiff roll over. We didn’t have much time to spend practicing. Maybe like only 10 minutes 3-4 times per week. That’s all my mentals can stand. Secondly, Momma says that I can be “stubborn and dim witted” which I believe is an insult. But by that she refers to my improvisation. When you watch, you might think that about in the middle I stopped dancing. NO WAY! I was merely savoring the nommy cookies that had collected in my jowls during rehearsal.”

http://mangosgreatadventures.blogspot.com/

If you can’t view the video, here’s the link: http://youtu.be/RMB9lwUuRKU.

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#2 Dexter the Labrador (USA)

- dancing to  Spazzmatica Polka

(Dexter)”I’m having a blast working on my dance routine! It just feels good to be ME and to be jumping and flying through the air. Momma says I need to curb my enthusiasm a bit, but I say, NO WAY! She needs to step up to the plate and work on HER moves. Now, listen, Momma says please ignore the fact that her head is partially removed. She did not notice until after we had done my routine about 87 times and we were both too tired. But you are watching ME anyway, right?”

http://mangosgreatadventures.blogspot.com/

If you can’t view the video, here’s the link: http://youtu.be/Pd12I1rrZrw

* (Mango Momma) “Thanks for inspiring me to do this. I would NEVER have done it without you and regardless of the quality of the final products, we all had a ton of fun.”

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#3 Penny the Mix-Breed (AUSTRALIA)

- dancing to The Man

“After Penny tore her cruciate ligament last year, we stopped our fun activities – flyball, canine freestyle, tricks classes – even tennis-ball chasing. And we’ve been feeling a bit down, ever since. So Honey’s competition has come along at just the right time! It has spiced up life in our household immensely. We had fallen into the trap of thinking Penny can’t do things just because she’s had an operation on her knee. Now we remember what fun tricks and dancing can be.

Penny entered into the spirit of things, soldiering on through myriad practices and dress rehearsals – actually, totally chaotic attempts at the routine – to be quite honest, the competition part of it isn’t the attraction for us – rather, it’s the fun.

And as you’ll see, it’s all about laughing and enjoying ourselves together. I think Penny’s wagging tail speaks for itself.”

http://mydog-parlance.blogspot.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WB-prt-eZQ

If you can’t view the video, here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WB-prt-eZQ

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#4 Lassiter Chase the Sheltie (USA)

- dancing to Cha Cha (Doggy) Slide

(Lassiter Chase) “Mommy made me a bow tie to use as a costume for my dance routine. I am super excited to try it out. Don’t I look snazzy! My dance partner is wearing the same kind of bow in her hair. I had a lot of fun making the video.”

http://lassiterchase.blogspot.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOaw2C6r4p4

If you can’t view the video, here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOaw2C6r4p4 

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#5 Kasha the Great Dane (USA)

- dancing to Baby, Why Don’t We Just Dance?

* Kasha is one of the oldest dancers in the contest at 9yrs of age for a Dane - but she certainly shows that she can still teach those young pups a thing or two! As a rescue Dane who only found her forever home 2yrs ago, never mind a more mature lady, it is amazing to see what Kasha has achieved with the loving help of her human.

“My oh my, was this ever a fun competition for you to have for all of us dog bloggers!   As you will see we are by no means dancers but we had fun and Kasha enjoyed it but it was very hard to get her to go the entire song as you will see. Since we have never done any dancing and I’ve been watching some of the previews of the other doggies dancing (that were really, really good), I had started to doubt myself and wonder why I was entering in the first place but then I decided what the heck it’s for the fun of it and I just love doing things with Kasha.”

http://kashathedaintydane.wordpress.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g54dWHjRmMI

If you can’t view the video, here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g54dWHjRmMI

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#6 Beryl the Greyhound (NZ)

- dancing to Slice of Heaven

“Most people know Beryl and I are both Australian but New Zealand is home and I thought we’d have a real fair dinkum (oops, sorry, that’s an Aussie saying!) Kiwi flavour to our routine.  And you can’t get more Kiwi than Footrot Flats which is an iconic cartoon strip that ran for many years in the papers and ‘starred’ a farmer called Wal and his faithful Border Collie sheepdog called Dog. OK, so I’m Wal and Beryl is Dog and we’re performing (dancing isn’t the best description for our routine!) to Slice of Heaven which was the hit song from the movie

Most of you know I get lost going around Rally O courses where the stations are not only numbered but also tell you what to do at each station.  So I confess to not having done any choreography except for the beginning and end of our routine. The rest involved a lot of improvisation on both our parts.  At times I go wandering off without Beryl, I’ve got our next moved planned but forget to tell her what it is.  Other times she’ll chuck in a move that she thinks is appropriate.  And I totally forgot to include her marching, duh. And I think I deserve a medal for my costume, I couldn’t have flung anything less flattering together, but I look more like Wal than Wal does LOL!”

http://greyhoundscansit.blogspot.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q9HyjPX3D8

If you can’t view the video, here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q9HyjPX3D8.

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#7 Frankie the Pig-Dog (NZ)

- dancing to Slice of Heaven

“But wait – there’s more!  We can’t leave Frankie out.  The excuses background for his video is that he had not 1 second of training, no run throughs of things he can do and the choreography is pretty much all his:)  You will notice he isn’t wearing the angel wings, they would have been shredded in 10 seconds, LOL”

http://greyhoundscansit.blogspot.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdFEgByFEJE

If you can’t view the video, here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdFEgByFEJE

* “Beryl and I had a lot of fun and we haven’t finished yet, I’m determined we’ll get the marching thing down and who knows what else?  Frankie had lots of fun just being himself and participating. Now we can relax and look forward to watching all the entries roll in and seeing lots of lovely dogs of all shapes and sizes having fun with their people!  You/we all ROCK and are winners because we participated ”

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#8 Christmas, Happy, Pinky & Jingle Bell the Mini-Schnauzers (MALAYSIA)

- dancing to She’ll Be Coming Round The Mountain

* This is the only multi-doggie team in the whole contest and we think Aunty Diana was AMAZING to train FOUR pups to dance together, all at the same time, and all by herself! Talk about wonderful teamwork!!

“Phew!  Glad that we finally made it, though I must say, not a perfect one.  ”The girls were getting uninterested and were moving rather slowly than they used to and I was getting worried that we may not be able to come up with a recording.  During our past trainings, we did much better but we were not ‘dressed up’. I must say it sure isn’t easy training four pups at the same time but having the others in the playpen to train one at a time is also not easy too.  They will be barking and whining in there! But we did have fun doing it, especially when we first started out.  Thanks for having this contest.  It has introduced us to doggie dancing! I didn’t know that those moves that we did in our daily training can actually be dance moves until you made those comments on our blog.”

http://santa-ms.blogspot.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmGjAX8g1Uw

If you can’t view the video, here’s the link: http://youtu.be/cmGjAX8g1Uw

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#9 Tucker the Great Dane (USA)

- dancing to Jailhouse Rock

(Tucker) “Here is my entry to Honey’s Dancing with the Doggie Stars Event!

My routine isn’t perfect but it was fun just the same.  I’m a very lazy Dane and you can see I need a BIG cookie to motivate me, which I knock outta Momma’s hand during the routine… BOL.  Anyways I hope you enjoy…”

http://greatdanetucker.blogspot.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQr-ZBhv8sg

If you can’t view the video, here’s the link: http://youtu.be/uQr-ZBhv8sg

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#10 Oreo the Sheltie (USA)

- dancing to Don’t Worry, Be Happy

“Honestly, we haven’t had much time to practice, but I wanted to at least attempt a short routine.
What did I learn?

1. Oreo has a really hard time stringing tricks together without getting rewarded after each one.
2. I am a much better dancer when I don’t have a dog partner!
3. Freestyle is waaaaaaay harder than agility!
4. I may be able to “wing it” when it comes to lesson plans for school, but not so much when it comes to a dance routine.  
5. A really, really, really cute puppy interferes with training time!”

http://saralovesdogs.blogspot.com/

If you can’t view the video, here’s the link: http://vimeo.com/25042778

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#11 Tucker the Service Great Dane (USA)

- dancing to

“Here is the video of Tucker and Catherine. You will notice that their “dancing” style is a little different than other doggie dancing. Tucker is by Catherine’s side to be able support her. When I told you that Catherine used to love to dance I did not tell you that she use to dance Ballet. Hypokalemic Periodic Paralysis affects the muscles which has made it hard for Catherine to dance her much beloved Ballet. Thank you for having this competition, now Catherine has been given the opportunity to learn how to dance in a new way!”

http://packofchaos.wordpress.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EA7vHuLR9FY

If you can’t view the video, here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EA7vHuLR9FY

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#12 Nala the Italian Greyhound (USA)

- dancing to Flight of the Bumblebee

(Nala) “I am not really a bumblebee but I did pretend to be one for Honey the Great Dane’s dance competition…. Dancing with the doggie stars. I think that must mean that I am a star… I always knew I would be one someday. Grandma says I only have 2 speeds 35 miles per hour and off. Brittany taught me a lot of neat tricks for this dance. She taught me how to stand up on my back legs… I added the cute little wave on my own, she taught me how to play “dead”, and how to go around in circles real fast, and also how to circle around the human. I think the best trick of all is when I get to go over and under the humans legs ….. that by far is the funnest … I will even do that one without a treat I love it that much! But please don’t let the humans know that cause then they would not give me any treats. Here is our dance routine I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I enjoyed doing it!!”

http://packofchaos.wordpress.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqYuprA9R9c

If you can’t view the video, here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqYuprA9R9c

* “I think they did incredibly well putting this routine together in about 2 weeks time. All the tricks Nala does in this video she learned for this dance competition. I am so proud of both of my girls.”

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#13 Lexi the Great Dane (NZ)

- dancing to I Am A Good Girl

(Lexi) “Well I managed to finish, with LOT of stressing on Laura’s behalf!It’s definitely not the most flawless routine…lucky the competition is about the fun, and there was definitely a lot of that!

You may have notice that I performed the routine in the living room, which isn’t exactly a Great Danes sized Dance floor…but it’s just typical that when you have planned to do something outside on a certain day, it RAINS! 

You’ll all be glad to know that both Laura and I thoroughly enjoyed working on our routine, even though it was a little improvised and we are going to make it into a proper routine and put in some of the tricks I learnt and was learning that you didn’t see in the entry!  Who know’s maybe I’ll become a dancing dane like Honey!”

(Laura) “I’m definitely very keen to continue to work on this routine, I have really enjoyed doing it and Lexi has picked up everything very quickly, she is even well on her way to learning to lift her back paws!   I was a bit gutted that I didn’t have enough time to get this one a bit better – I guess that is what happens when you work a 45min drive away from home and you have 6 dogs living at home with you! I’m really looking forward to seeing everybody’s entries – it always makes my day to see people doing fabulous things with their dogs ”

http://doggyadventures.wordpress.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-gKSRJ7kqM

If you can’t view the video, here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-gKSRJ7kqM

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#14 Ludo the Sheltie (UK)

- dancing to I Am A Man

“We were not that successful with our recording. Having Sally with us till Monday meant we couldn’t do the dress rehearsal and recording till today and I think Ludo was a bit distracted and decided he didn’t like some bits of the routine LOL! I’ve got some fun outtakes though my uploaded version has a blooper in it. I tread on him! But I thought that was quite realistic. LOL! I don’t want to keep trying to get it cos I don’t want to make it not fun for him

It has inspired us to have another go though, choose a better song and routine etc. We’ve learnt a lot. I hope it will be good for Ludo. He gets too barky at agility watching the other dogs and that makes him stress, so I think this will be a good sport to still engage his brain and challenge him.I  hope everyone had as much fun as we did.”

http://ludwigvanpup.blogspot.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-FONWe9b8k

If you can’t view the video, here’s the link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-FONWe9b8k

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#15 Prana the Dachshund (ESTONIA)

- dancing to Lowrider

“I have a breed that is considered to be rather untrainable and unsuitable for any kind of sport that doesn’t require running around sniffing for wild game With some work even the unusual breeds can excel and their owners can have unimaginably lots of fun doing it!

You just HAVE to love internet- without it I would never have gotten the information on positive reinforcement training, not to mention all this info of how to teach tricks. When I first saw a dog doing a hand stand I thought it must be some sort of photoshopped picture because this is impossible to do We don’t have canine freestyle as a sport in Estonia and I think there is just one trick class in Tallinn, our capital but this is too far to go to regularly. But we are not thinking of quitting dancing. Right the opposite actually – I have picked out a bunch of songs and already started to start thinking of new routines and also one for my Doberman. It is just great how both sizes have their limitations on certain tricks but can do fancy stuff the others can’t

Enzo can never compete on official agility because of the height of the jumps but he sure has the potential to dance. Despite the fact that we have had trouble having time to do anything the past few weeks, this contest has been a great experience overall and I am very thankful for this! Thank you again for hosting this amazing contest! No matter how we end up, it has been a very nice journey for us that I probably would have not taken without this nudge ”

http://enjoyyourdog.wordpress.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJbXcmQYUcc

If you can’t view the video, here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJbXcmQYUcc

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#16 Megan-Joy the Golden Retriever (MALAYSIA)

- dancing to A special Christmas jingle composed by her human’s father

* Many of you will remembe that I featured Megan-Joy in one of my DWTDS episodes – she is another heroic dancing star because she got stuck when she was being born and might have damaged her brain – so she has always been a bit shy & ”different” from her brothers & sisters. So conquering her fears alone has been a huge achievement for her!

“Megan-Joy is a dog who has very low confidence. She is fearful of a lot things since a very young age. Basically she is afraid of her own shadow & this is the reason she has not been competing in any dog sports like Obedience, Agility, Conformation or anything else that required her to be in public view where there are other people & animals. Physically she can do everything but psychologically, she has this barrier which is the hardest thing I had to break for Honey’s competition. If you notice in the video, I was using lots of baby tones & doing lots of play with her to get her to play along with me & just relax. She often tenses up, freezes & her muscles would become very tensed. One minute she will be able to do a “spin” & the next minute, she can’t & would run away from me with tail tucked between.

There have been many times when I just wanted to just give up on her. In fact, on the day we were supposed to submit out entry, I almost pulled her out from the competition because she refused to do anything with me. But after spending some one-on-one time with her & playing with her, she started to have confidence again & she nailed her dance in all EIGHT TAKES! The one I submitted is the last take we did. Megan is one very strange dog but I still love her & I will try my very best to build her confidence up a little at a time. There may be many ups & downs during our training but I will still persevere.”

http://ambers-diary.blogspot.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pORk4JvweC8

If you can’t view the video, here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pORk4JvweC8

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#17 Griffen the Dogue de Bordeaux (AUSTRALIA)

- dancing to Mr Cellophane

“I wasn’t sure how I was going to go about coming up with a routine with Griffen’s limited number of tricks and his appalling heeling skills. It should be interesting! Luckily this competition is all about having fun.

Well it took a while but I finally got a video I’m pretty happy with. Griffen does start to loose focus in the middle and my videoing skills are shocking. The only thing I’m really not happy with is you don’t see the end trick properly where Griffen jumps up and gives me a kiss. I had so much fun with this competition”

http://www.mastiffmaiden.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QT5VcgWxG-Y

If you can’t view the video, here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QT5VcgWxG-Y

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#18 Lance the Corgi (USA)

- dancing to Lowrider

“Life is more than a little hectic right now.  But the routine was fun, not work. I think the hardest thing about it was my part.  I like obedience and agility training since I am just a part of the background but with freestyle the emphasis is on the the teamwork between human and dog.  I am not very comfortable moving and don’t like being in the spotlight let alone having to be creative.  But clearly Lance had no problem being innovative and coming up with own tricks when he didn’t like the ones I picked out for him!”

http://laurawaudby.blogspot.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umVTzRHYjKc

If you can’t view the video, here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umVTzRHYjKc

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#19 Lacey the Great Dane (AUSTRALIA)

- dancing to Mean

* Lacey is the youngest dancer in the contest at just 8 months and she shows such amazing focus for a young pup (gosh, I could barely walk in a straight line at 8 months, never mind dance with my human!)

“I bring to you, without further ado, the result of all our blood, sweat and tears and the result of three routine changes! There are some glitches and ‘Ooh, whats that?’ moments but I think she did well for her first dancing routine at eight months old.

Dancing with Lacey was a really fun experience. I changed the routine several times on Lacey and got very stressed out about making sure it was perfect! After a while, I just realised- having fun is the key. Once I understood that and relaxed, we were great and I’m really happy with the end result. Lacey loved working on the standing on the pedestal tricks- she would run to it whenever I rolled it out, and she would hop on it every chance she got- so much that I had to put in more tricks with it so that she wouldn’t run to it in the middle of the routine!

We had a lot of fun, and even though it was stressful and frustrating at times, we both really loved it and hope to do it again- it was a real bonding experience for us both, we learned to work together and that is the best thing we gained from dancing together”

http://laceythegreatdane.wordpress.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRstGGxMnRc

If you can’t view the video, here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRstGGxMnRc

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#20 Hauwii the Small Musterlander (BELGIUM)

- dancing to Cotton Eye Joe

“It wasn’t difficult to dance with Hauwii, I know he loves to jump and is quick, and he knew some tricks and doggy dance. So I had to find a jumpy-happy-bouncy-quick song, that was difficult. After looking in my music, I had found an old CD wen I was just 14. It was a 90′s CD, and there was a song of Rednex; a Happy-Pop-country song, just perfect for my bouncy Hauwii. The rountins came quick when I dance allone on the music and when Hauwii came to dance with me the magic happened and we had a lovely routine.”

http://elbouwii.blogspot.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6chvCuERTfY

If you can’t view the video, here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6chvCuERTfY

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#21 El’bow the Mastiff (BELGIUM)

- dancing to Wounded Knee

“Well , El’bow is getting old so I dance more then him but I think its a very, very, very, funny dance routine Hope I start a trend with our new El’bow-wounded knee move

El’bow is the most difficult to train - he’s lazy, lazy, he drools, he’s lazy . So what did I do? I pick a very different funny song, that I can dance on it and not too quick for El’bow. We trained only on this paw-work, and my El’bow-Wounded knee move,  the rest is inprovised. What can i say about the routine, our goal is succeeded, everyone who watch the routine just smiled and laugh! And that the dance-talent I and El’bow have. And we had lot of fun!!!”

http://elbouwii.blogspot.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qEivPaO3jk

If you can’t view the video, here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qEivPaO3jk

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#22 Shiva the Mix-Breed (USA)

- dancing to Get The Party Started

“Here’s the thing, I am quite possibly the worst dancer who ever lived. It’s not that I don’t have any rhythm, more that I lack any semblance of coordination. Really most days I am lucky I am able to walk. This doesn’t stop me from dancing. It probably should but it doesn’t. I try to limit my flailing movements to private spaces. It prevents injury to others as well as utter humiliation. However, there are times when I forget myself, times when the urge to dance is just too strong. Even though I completely suck, I still think it is a lot of fun. What I lack in skill, I think I make up for in entertainment value. Is that not what it’s all about?

When I heard that Honey the Great Dane was running a dancing competition for amateur dogs and their humans, I was immediately tempted. In my humble opinion, Shiva and I already have some pretty wicked moves. Jerky spins? Check. Clumsy antics? Check. All we need to to now is put it all together with some great music and bam! We are on our way to dancing super-stardom! We may not be the best dancers out there but we are sure to wow everyone with our extreme levels of goofiness.

The idea of dancing in front of random strangers on the internet kind of terrifies me, I will admit. I am relying on Shiva to steal the show. She has more talent in one whisker than I have in my entire body. At least, the contest rules don’t say anything about alcohol consumption! Thank you so much for running this contest. It has been such a blast putting a routine together, but it has also been a challenge. I didn’t think it would be so hard to string tricks together in time to music. But it is not an easy thing at all. I think I need a nap now. ”

http://rescuedinsanity.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JPwrx6AkBs

If you can’t view the video, here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JPwrx6AkBs

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#23 Barbie the Greyhound (AUSTRALIA)

- dancing to Time After Time

“OK for a bit of background, this video is my inspiration for my costume…. particularly the hair…I couldn’t find the awesome pants anywhere though! I am a child of the 80s, and I still love Cyndi and this song really makes me think of my relationship with my dogs. I know it’s supposed to be romantic, but that kind of commitment is very much what it takes to be a dog owner!

Barbie looks a bit flat in this routine – this is because my camera was playing funny buggers and cutting out 30 seconds into the routine, so we had to do it about 7 times. More than enough to wear out a greyhound. I also have to admit that we haven’t been training for this. She is asleep right now as I type this while Mittens is trying to attack my wig as it sits on the arm of the couch.

Thank you for the motivation to do something delightfully silly on the internet!”

http://jetsagenda.blogspot.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=antVBG7UBpM

If you can’t view the video, here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=antVBG7UBpM

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#24 Lucille the Great Dane (ITALY)

- dancing to Lucille!

“It has been real fun!!! And I learnt a lot doing this…The video is a mess, it never turned out the way it had to be…Lucille kept on losing the treats… or she lost attention after two seconds…But I also saw that thanks to the music, I am more relaxed and things run …. not smoothly … but they go… as if I let more go…

Mario laughs every time he saw it because of the end…When I hug Lucille I could not help it and say “Lucille abbiamo proprio fatto schifo” which means “Lucille, we were really bad”… and even if it has more mistakes than other tries, since they also had once, it had a nice ending … funny one…Just sorry that Lucille missed a bow…. anyway… we are not stopping here… more practice!!! Next year we have to do better!”

http://lucillemia.wordpress.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6g1BUHTByQ

If you can’t view the video, here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6g1BUHTByQ

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#25 Jackal the Beagle-cross (USA)

“Wow I really thought I wasn’t going to make the deadline.    It’s been a lot of fun.  I wish I hadn’t been so busy because I know Jackal and I could have done a lot better. I taught him a new trick when the competition was first announced and then didn’t work on it again until about a week ago . . . I am a world class procrastinator, but this time I can actually blame life. Sigh. However given the time we had to practice, my inability to dance, my difficulties with choreography and that this is the first time I’ve ever put together any sort of routine before I think it turned out pretty good. I’m not making excuses, just warning you in advance that it is a very rough freestyle routine! LOL!. I did have so much fun with it though so I’m planning on polishing it up and recording it again later this year.”

 http://myfarmerlife.blogspot.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdJsaUQLIY0

If you can’t view the video, here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdJsaUQLIY0

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#26 Kirby the Mix-Breed (USA)

- dancing to It’s A Wonderful World

(Kirby)”Mom and I had lots of fun working on our dance routine – we have put some of our rally moves into it and learning some new ones – and boy did I get the treats!!”

“We had so much fun with this - Kirby and I are going to experiment with some more dancing on our own, until a class comes along in our area!”

http://welcometokirbysworld.weebly.com/my-dog-blog.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0_m7fo29tc

If you can’t view the video, here’s the link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0_m7fo29tc

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#27 Emma the Great Dane (USA)

- dancing to Good Morning Beautiful

* As a 13yr old Great Dane, Emma is the oldest doggie in the competition – getting to this age for a giant breed is an achievement in itself, never mind dancing as well! 

(Emma) “ I think I was remarkable for a 13 year old Great Dane.  How many teenage Great Danes can even get off the couch let alone dance.   Sorry, I’m not supposed to toot my own horn.  Mom says that not very nice.  I am dancing to Good Morning Beautiful by Steve Holly.  I told Mom I could do something more upbeat but she said with such a small space to work in and such a large dog we should try something kind of slow.  We have matching attire.  You can’t really tell but my collar is lime green with butterflies and dragonflies my flowers are lime green and match Mom.  

The choice of music is kind of special.  Every morning when I wake up Mom tells me Morning Beautiful.  From reviewing the video clips, Mom said she had never realized how confusing her body language must be to us.  Wow, that’s all it took to make her realize that.  Her hands are both moving and she’s doing one thing, requesting something different and it looks confusing to us.  We know verbal and hand commands so sometimes she is saying one thing and her hands are moving in what appears to us a different command or something we’re entirely unsure of. 

Mom said it was very rewarding to see how much we each enjoyed our routine.  Mom thought teaching us peekaboo where we walk through her legs and gaze up at her would be difficult to teach to Me but it was really easy.  I guess she forgot I do it half way on my own sometimes!”

http://awonderfuldogslife.blogspot.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uey9BgltGk

If you can’t view the video, here’s the link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uey9BgltGk

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#28 Bella the Mix-Breed (USA)

- dancing to You Make Me Smile

(Emma) “Mom and Bella did a routine to “You Make Me Smile” by Uncle Kracker.  Bella’s collar is purple plaid with flowers and she is wearing pink flowers to math Mom.  I think Bella has awesome energy and you can tell she just loves to dance and prance.  She will do anything Mom asks.  I got tired just watching her

She’s got talent (Bella definitely not Mom).  That girl sure could dance with the proper training.  Can you imagine how awesome she would have been had Mom practiced the whole 2 months.  Don’t tell Mom I said this but please someone needs to get Mom a dance instructor.  Where are her moves….we’re moving but I didn’t see Mom moving too much.  Maybe we need to find a really good motivator for her….maybe chocolate. 

Mom and Dad love Bella’s smile and she’s kind of like a little jester.  She is always doing something to make them smile at her. She was surprised at how much Bella liked to improv and do her own tricks, one she completely made up herself and offered repeatedly Mom is going to try and capture and click for regular use. Mom was amazed at how well Bella’s improv  actually fit into the routine.”

http://awonderfuldogslife.blogspot.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmCdVx3Vnpo

If you can’t view the video, here’s the link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmCdVx3Vnpo

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#29 Pepper the Pound Pup (NZ)

- dancing to Sadie (The Cleaning Lady)

“I wanted to make a really good effort (even have a cool costume with a pinny and everything) but I really have just had so much going on - we just haven’t had a single free day for the past 4 weeks with visitors and dumb work. It was my day off today and I thought - right, I’m going to spend today and just do this! But then one of my good friends partners got knocked off his motorbike in the morning and I ended up in at work with him. So we had one shot after I got home to choreograph and film it and get it on the computer before going to training. Haha!

The hardest part was not having an “area” to train in – a slippery wooden living room floor isn’t ideal. The feather duster became a source of fixation for Pepper and she did once manage to find it when no-one was looking and partially strip it. Feathers were pooed out for days! ”

http://pepperpoundpup.blogspot.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R37M5sCAC8U

 If you can’t view the video, here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R37M5sCAC8U

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#30 Luna the Mix-Breed (USA)

- dancing to Singing in the Rain

“Hi everyone! This is Luna’s entry for the Dancing with the Doggie Stars freestyle competition! As you may notice, she was VERY distracted. Where I live, it has been raining for the past 3 days, and this was Luna’s first time doing a freestyle routine in the rain. She keeps sniffing slugs on the ground (Yuck!) and is kind of slow. We still had a ton of fun, and are really excited about this competition. It was so fun dancing with Luna, and a lot of hard work making a routine! Sometimes I would get upset if Luna wouldn’t do everything perfectly, but I realized that it really doesn’t matter if she does it all right or not, just as long as she and I are both happy while we do it!”

http://www.youtube.com/user/LunatheMutt

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwc54abhriY

If you can’t view the video, here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwc54abhriY

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* So sorry to Lincoln!! This was my fault – he sent me his entry and I missed it!! (

#31 Lincoln the Great Dane (FRANCE)

- dancing to (a French song)

Unfortunately, we had a problem with uploading it to YouTube so I can’t embed it but here is the link to the video:

UPDATE: Yay! Hsin-Yi managed to upload Lincoln’s video to our own site so now you can view it here:

(* if you can’t see the video, then look at the top of your browser window – there will be a bar saying something like “Temporarily allow XXX software to run” – something like that – just click on that and the video will show)

[local /wp-content/uploads/2011/06/LIncoln-DWTDS.wmv nolink]

http://lincolnthegreatdane.blogspot.com/

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I hope you enjoyed all our wonderful dancers – now tell us who’s your favourite team?

(* this box is just for votes and will only be seen by me - if you’d like to leave a general comment, please scroll down below – thanks!)

Voting is now closed. Thank you!

Just a last reminder for all the Dancing with the Doggie Stars dance teams – you have until midnight tonight (Wed 15th June) to submit your routines! (That’s midnight YOUR local time, since we’re all across the world – I thought that would be the easiest – ‘coz when it’s Thur here in Oz, it’s still only Wed in California! )

I’ve had 15 wonderful entries already! Wow! I’m so delighted at how many are taking part and supporting my contest! Come on – the rest of you – you know who you are! We’re waiting for your routines! Don’t be shy!!

And don’t worry if it’s not “perfect” – gosh, if we wanted perfect, the contest would be called “Dancing with the ROBOT Stars” – right? You never get “perfect” when doing stuff with us doggies – that’s what makes it fun and not boring! -  and besides, a bit of “independent improvisation” shows off our doggie personalities – hee! hee!

So don’t worry – just send ‘em in! You’ve all been working so hard and we’d love to see your efforts, no matter how simple or ‘rough’ or whatever – we just want to see you having FUN!

Now, I know I’ve been talking a lot about dancing in the last few weeks but haven’t been doing any dancing myself! Well, me & Hsin-Yi had originally hoped to rustle up a short routine to perform for you but we’ve just been so busy with hosting the contest, making all the video tutorials and “behind-the-scenes” sneak peek compilations and doing the weekly DWTDS episodes…that we just haven’t had any time to do any training ourselves for a new routine!

But I thought you might still enjoy watching me & Hsin-Yi doing a bit of silly, “ad-lib dancing”!! This is from back when we were still living in Auckland – this is the kind of thing that me & Hsin-Yi used to do a lot: put on some music and just have fun messing around the living room!

There wouldn’t be any choreography – Hsin-Yi would just bounce around to the music and not give me any special commands and see what moves I come up with all by myself, to match hers – hee! hee!

(sadly, we can’t do it now coz the house here is just too small – our house in Auckland was just a 2 bedroom unit too but it was “open-plan” and had a big living room with nice, soft carpet!)

It was great fun – and whew, really exhausting too! Hsin-Yi loves dancing and when she gets bitten by the dancing bug, she can go on for hours! (when she was at college, she once danced non-stop for 3hrs in a nightclub)

Well, we don’t do ad-lib dancing for that long but sometimes we go on for 1/2hr or more!(yes, we danced to the whole of each song in this video, although I only showed you a bit of each, coz otherwise it would get boring!)…I hardly need a walk after that and Hsin-Yi says it’s better than going to the gym!

Hope you enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbQ_uMyIB7M