Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Rally O and Doggie Dancing:)

A couple of posts ago I mentioned that Frankie, Beryl and I went to a Rally O competition last Saturday.  Even though the weather varied between misty rain and steady rain we had a fun day.  I entered them both for Rally Novice but when I walked the course and saw all the sits in it I changed Beryl to Rally Zoom.  The grass was wet and I thought my chances of getting about 6 sits out of her were absolutely nil!  In Zoom there aren't any sits or downs:)

The only surprise in Frankie's run was that it wasn't my fault we NQ'd:)  As usual he had his nose to the ground for 75% of the course!

When it came to Beryl's turn she wasn't sure what was going on the first part of the course but then something clicked and she seemed to start enjoying herself and paying attention to what we were doing and I was really rapt with how she finished.  Then the judge came over to me and told me I'd missed a whole station:(  As had the competitor before me.  Neither of us saw the sign, it was a 360 degree turn to the left as we came out of a weave and apparently we both treated it as an extra cone in the weave, duh!!!  Another competitor did the same thing after us.  If I hadn't disqualified us Beryl would have got a gold card!!  So while I was kicking myself SO hard I was also thrilled with her.  I never thought to ask someone to take photos but hopefully I'll get some at the next competition this Saturday:)

Next topic is Doggie Dancing ... Honey the Great Dane is hosting a doggie dancing competition on her blog.

"Don’t worry if you’ve never tried dancing before -- this contest is especially for newbies! The routines won’t be judged on how slick they are or how many fancy moves & tricks the doggie knows but rather on creativity and originality, and most of all the “wow factor” -- the top prize will go to the human & doggie team who look like they are having the most FUN, who can make you smile and think “Awww….” or “Yeah!” and take you out of the moment. :D


And because I’m an Equal Opportunities Doggie (hey, we’re not all cracker doggies who are happy to work for nothing…us Danes need a pretty good reason to expend any energy! ;) ), I’m not going to put those stupid rules like at the club trials. Nope, in my contest, you can use whatever ‘motivators’ you like during the routine. This means if you need your human to hold some treats to help you focus or even your favourite ball or toy -- whatever it takes to make you keen, happy & enthusiastic - go for it! :P"


It looks like lots of fun, the rules are simple and you've got 2 months to get a 1 minute routine sorted and videoed.  Plus there are some wonderful prizes on offer.

Now, Greyhounds and doggie dancing aren't words you would usually put in the same sentence but hey, Honey is a Great Dane (a breed not usually associated with doggie dancing either) and she's a whizz with her dancing routines.  And here is a video of a Greyhound doing Canine Freestyle (the offical name for Doggie Dancing) and having a blast


So I'm mulling over the idea of having a go at this with Beryl and maybe bringing Frankie in somewhere, but I'd better not mull too long or it will be June 15th and I won't have done anything!

Why not pop over to Honey's Blog and check it out.  She's got a few videos on the page for inspiration and if the little dachshund getting down doesn't make you smile I don't know what will:)
And I'll finish with a couple of photos of Beryl playing fetch with some of her little mates at the park the other night.  They all had a blast:)  I was trying out some different settings on my camera and none of the moving shots were in focus but you get the idea with this one ....
Shadow, Beryl, Lucas and Nugget
Lucas, Ted and Beryl

9 comments:

Never Say Never Greyhounds said...

Better luck in Rally next time. I didn't know it was available on the other side of the world. :-) What a cute greyhound doing the dancing!

georgia little pea said...

You guys always seem to be going places and doing things. It makes us feel very slothful :)

Boy, that daschund can move! Hmmm. Can't wait to see Frankie the proud pig dog dancing *snigger*...

rottrover said...

We hope you're able to get pictures of Beryl next week. We'd love to see her in action. Liked the dancing greyhoud - it showed that we don't need to be great human dancers in order to have fun... hmmmm :-)

-Gizmo, Bart and Ruby

Sue said...

I am sure next time you and Beryl will ace it.

Off to watch the dancing vids.

Sue said...

Just made Song watch the Greyhound. Won't tell you what she said:)

Unknown said...

Aww...thank you so much for spreading the word and I'm SO delighted that you'll be giving it a go!!!!! That would mean so much to us!

And it really doesn't have to be really complicated - that greyhound was fantastic (wow! I'd never seen Greyhound do freestyle before - thanks for sharing that!) - but I do think the rfoutine was a *bit* long - it's perfectly fine if you keep things short & sweet! Can't wait to see Beryl & Frankie in action!! :-)

Hsin-Yi

houndstooth said...

That song was perfect for that routine! I remember hearing them play that at my grandma's when I was little. That Greyhound was so cute, too! Did you see the freestyle routine on Life With Dogs today? That might give you some inspiration.

I'm sorry about the bad luck with rally this time! I really hope you'll be able to get pictures next week.

Jay at The Depp Effect said...

Both of those videos of Canine Freestyle brought tears to my eyes - as they often do when they're good. There's something magical about watching a dog work that closely and with such obvious enjoyment with his or her person, isn't there? And for a greyhound to be doing it is quite something! Loved the end of the dachshund routine - wasn't that cute??
I think you're doing amazingly well with Beryl. As you say, greyhounds aren't well known for doing this kind of thing at all - and it seems to me that the people who laid the course must have been partly at fault for not making it clear enough if THREE people missed the turn!

I'd love to give it a try, but it would be asking an awful lot of a greyhound with only three legs!

Kristin G. said...

You just have to love dancing dogs!! They both looked like they were having fun. Those little dachshund lugs were so cute. By the way, your pack is lovely, and Beryl's markings are so striking. Wishing you a safe and happy weekend!

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