Musical Canine Freestyle
Encyclopedia
Musical canine freestyle, also known as musical freestyle, freestyle dance, and canine freestyle, is a modern dog
Dog
The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...

 sport
Sport
A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...

 that is a mixture of obedience training
Obedience training
Obedience training usually refers to the training of a dog and the term is most commonly used in that context. Obedience training ranges from very basic training, such as teaching the dog to reliably respond to basic commands such as "sit", "down", "come", and "stay", to high level competition...

, tricks, and dance
Dance
Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....

 that allows for creative interaction between dogs and their owners. The sport has developed into competition forms in several countries around the world.

History

Musical freestyle started in many places almost simultaneously around 1989, with demonstrations of the talent of heeling to music being shown in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, and the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 within three years of each other. The main unifying element among the groups was an interest in more creative obedience demonstrations and dog training
Dog training
Dog training is the process of teaching skills or behaviors to a dog. This can include teaching a dog to respond to certain commands, or helping the dog learn coping skills for stressful environments. Dog training often includes operant conditioning, classical conditioning, or non-associative...

, a love of music, and, in many cases, inspiration from an equine sport called musical kur
Musical kur
Musical Freestyle or Musical Kur is a form of dressage movement setting the horse's "dance" to music. Movements and figures are choreographed to meet the technical requirements of the particular level with carefully chosen music that highlights the horse/rider combination. Musical Freestyles are...

, which was a more creative and dynamic form of dressage
Dressage
Dressage is a competitive equestrian sport, defined by the International Equestrian Federation as "the highest expression of horse training." Competitions are held at all levels from amateur to the World Equestrian Games...

.

The first official musical freestyle group, Musical Canine Sports International, was founded in British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, in 1991. Soon, other groups followed in the United States and England. Each region began developing its own style, with many American groups promoting more trick-based routines and costume
Costume
The term costume can refer to wardrobe and dress in general, or to the distinctive style of dress of a particular people, class, or period. Costume may also refer to the artistic arrangement of accessories in a picture, statue, poem, or play, appropriate to the time, place, or other circumstances...

s. English groups focused more on heel work and on the dog, and less on costumes and design. Musical freestyle has become more common in animal talent show
Talent show
A talent show is an event where participants perform their talent or talents of acting, singing, dancing, acrobatics, drumming, martial arts, playing an instrument, and other activities to showcase a unique form of talent, sometimes for a reward, trophy or prize...

s and speciality acts.

Techniques

Teaching a dog to be able to work on both sides of the handler's body, not just the left side as in standard obedience heeling, is the first step to doing freestyle. The trainer first breaks the routine into pieces with only two or three moves linked together, and as they progress these pieces are linked together.

There are two types of musical canine freestyle, freestyle heeling (also known as heelwork to music
Heelwork to music
Heelwork to music is a dog sport similar to musical canine freestyle that is officially recognised by the Kennel Club. The sport has evolved since the early 1990s when obedience handler Mary Ray first demonstrated the sport at Crufts...

) and musical freestyle.

Freestyle heeling

Freestyle heeling focuses on a dog's ability to stay in variations of the heel position while the handler
Animal training
Animal training refers to teaching animals specific responses to specific conditions or stimuli. Training may be for the purpose of companionship, detection, protection, entertainment or all of the above....

 moves to music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...

. In heel work to music, the dog and trainer remain close to each other at all times. Sending the dog away or doing distance work is not part of the routine, with the dog remaining almost invisibly tether
Tether
A tether is a cord, fixture, or signal that anchors something movable to a reference point which may be fixed or moving. There are a number of applications for tethers: balloons, kites, tethered wind-energy conversion systems, anchors, tethered water-flow energy conversion systems, towing, animal...

ed to the trainer. Pivots
Pivot turn
The term pivot turn or simply pivot refers to certain turning dance steps which may differ in different dance styles, with common character that the turn is a rotational movement of the whole body around one's own vertical axis, as if around a pivot. During the turn the foot swivels on the floor...

, and moving diagonally, backwards, and forwards to a suitable musical theme are important to the routine. Jumping, weaving, rolling, passing through the trainer's legs and anything else considered "not heeling" is not allowed.

Musical freestyle

Musical freestyle demands that the dog perform a variety of tricks and other obedience talents. In musical freestyle, heel work can be combined with other moves such as leg weaving, sending the dog away, moving together at a distance, and more dramatic tricks such as jump
Jump
Jump may refer to:* Jumping, to propel oneself rapidly upward such that momentum causes the body to become airborne* To get attacked by a group of people e.g...

ing, spinning, bowing, rolling over
Rolling
Rolling is a combination of rotation and translation of that object with respect to a surface , such that the two are in contact with each other without sliding. This is achieved by a rotational speed at the cylinder or circle of contact which is equal to the translational speed...

. Dancing
Dance
Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....

 in place, and other innovative actions where the dog plays off the dance moves of the trainer are encouraged. A popular finishing trick for some routines is for the dog to jump into the trainer's arm
Arm
In human anatomy, the arm is the part of the upper limb between the shoulder and the elbow joints. In other animals, the term arm can also be used for analogous structures, such as one of the paired forelimbs of a four-legged animal or the arms of cephalopods...

s, or over his or her back
Back
- People :* Adam Back, British cryptographer* Charles Back, South African winemaker* Chris Back , Australian politician* Ernst Emil Alexander Back , German physicist* Frédéric Back , Canadian animator...

.

Competition

Currently, there are several organizations regulating competitive freestyle, such as the World Canine Freestyle Organization, Canine Freestyle Federation, and the Musical Dog Sport Association in the United States, Paws 2 Dance Canine Freestyle Organization in Canada, Canine Freestyle GB in Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

, and Pawfect K9 Freestyle Club in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. In the UK, the sport is called Heelwork to Music
Heelwork to music
Heelwork to music is a dog sport similar to musical canine freestyle that is officially recognised by the Kennel Club. The sport has evolved since the early 1990s when obedience handler Mary Ray first demonstrated the sport at Crufts...

and is an officially recognized sport of the Kennel club
Kennel club
A kennel club is an organization for canine affairs that concerns itself with the breeding, showing and promotion of more than one breed of dog...

.

Competition rules vary from group to group, and from country to country, but most are based on a variety of technical
Technical
Technical may refer to:*Technical , a fighting vehicle based on a pickup truck*Technical analysis, a discipline for forecasting the future direction of prices through the study of past market data*Technical drawing, also known as drafting...

 and art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....

istic merit points. All routines are done free of training aids or leash
Leash
A leash is a rope or similar material attached to the neck or head of an animal for restraint or control...

es, except in some beginner categories. Competition can be done as a single dog-and-handler team, as a pair of dogs and handlers, or as a full team of three or more dogs and their handlers. Generally, there is only one dog per handler for competition.

In either type of competition, the choice of music and the way the routine reflects the music is important. Routines not following the rhythm
Rhythm
Rhythm may be generally defined as a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions." This general meaning of regular recurrence or pattern in time may be applied to a wide variety of cyclical natural phenomena having a periodicity or...

, no matter how well executed, do not score well.

Exhibition freestyle is a no holds barred
No holds barred
No holds barred or no-holds-barred may refer to:Sports*One of several types of fighting, including:** Hand-to-hand combat, where indeed no maneuvers are prohibited** Hybrid martial arts, which combine elements from several particular martial arts...

 routine designed to demonstrate the full extent of creativity and excitement that musical freestyle can offer. Though highly entertaining and representing what most people see on television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 or at events, it allows for moves, props
Theatrical property
A theatrical property, commonly referred to as a prop, is an object used on stage by actors to further the plot or story line of a theatrical production. Smaller props are referred to as "hand props". Larger props may also be set decoration, such as a chair or table. The difference between a set...

, cues, and costume
Costume
The term costume can refer to wardrobe and dress in general, or to the distinctive style of dress of a particular people, class, or period. Costume may also refer to the artistic arrangement of accessories in a picture, statue, poem, or play, appropriate to the time, place, or other circumstances...

s that would not usually be allowed on the competition circuit.

External links

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