Dance Like No one is Watching: Digging the Paw-so Dog-lé

Rennie getting ready to spin.

I’m not an athletic person by any stretch of the imagination. However, I adore dancing.  I’m not good at it, but it makes me happy, and sometimes my body even decides to coincide with the movements in my mind.  And of course, I love dogs.  But even I was a bit wary when I first heard about dog dancing.  Visions of people and dogs wearing matching outfits, Len Gooddog, Bruno Spinoni, and Carrie Ann Ibizan Hound scoring, dogs samba-ing on two feet (yes, I’ve seen the YouTube video and all I can think is that poor dog’s back!)… a circus act, basically.  Not my thing.  Until I actually saw it.

As the former dog training coordinator at ARF, my office was in the Training Pavilion where all the classes took place.  On Friday nights, there is “dog dancing,” otherwise known as canine freestyle (“canine” added so no wannabe rappers show up?), taught by Judy Gamet, owner and creator of Dogs Can Dance.  I listened at first, bobbing and dancing in my chair as I worked at the computer.  Then, giving my eyes a break, I decided to check it out.  Interesting.  Basic commands put to music.  Kind of like aerobics.  I like aerobics (not that I ever do them).  Hmmm.  I put my research skills to work and looked it up on YouTube.  Wow.  Kate and Gin.  OMG WOW! Carolyn Scott and Rookie.  This is cool stuff!

However, time and finances made it easy to hold off on taking a class.  Then, Judy taught a freestyle portion in a Sports Sampler class, and again I took a break to watch.  What caught my eye was an older coonhound /rottie mix.  The owner was trying to get the dog involved in some sport and up until now, the dog had only shown courteous interest.  But all of a sudden, she was transformed!  Her ears went up.  She was prancing!  Her stub tail was moving in time to the music!  She had a little extra wiggle in her walk!  She looked like she was smiling at her handler, saying THIS is what I’m talking about!  Sure, it’s a little corny that it was Elvis’ “Hound Dog”, but what I would later see happening time and time again was that some dogs really enjoy certain music – not the same kind of music for every dog, but each dog has his or her own musical preference.  Apparently, music doesn’t just calm the savage beast, it inspires them.

Yoji, a collie/rockstar mix, is by far my more athletic dog – flying into the air, performing half-twists just to catch a deflated basketball, leaping over ravines on off-leash hikes, and infamously climbing six feet up into a pepper tree just to see what was on the other side of the fence.  I took him to a couple freestyle lessons, and he was o.k., but it was a little sedate for him – no flames or fog machines. At 12, Taro can still get his groove going – he did create the Jindo Hustle after all.  I thought about taking class with him.  However, recalling Rennie’s interest whenever I sashayed around the house with tunes blaring, he seemed the likely candidate.

Rennie, despite being mostly border collie, is almost as physically uncoordinated as I am.  He has mild hip dysplasia, but that doesn’t account for tumbling ass over tea kettle when he goes into zoomies, or falling off the edge of the porch if he’s not paying attention.  But what he lacks in physical prowess, he makes up for in enthusiasm.   He’ll play tug, shag after balls, and best of all, get silly with me without a moment of embarrassment or conscientiousness.  He’s all about the fun of the doing, a lesson I’ve taken to heart.

So, Rennie and I enrolled in freestyle classes.                              

Both of us were in love.  Spins, weaves, passes, cuts – they were all terrific.  Rennie was an eager learner and participant.  His tail keeping rhythm like a metronome, the two of us sailed across the pavilion floor like Fred and Ginger – at least in our minds.  Time sails by, and at the end of class, both of us are exhausted but happy.

I’m not a competitive person, but I am goal oriented and I like knowing when I’m doing well and where I can improve.  However, crowds make me uneasy, so I didn’t have any interest in performing in front of an audience.  The Dog Can Dance Challenge allows dogs and handlers to earn titles by submitting videos that fulfill set guidelines.  Whew!  No live performance necessary!  The challenge is also open to teams (multiple dogs) as well as to dogs and handlers that have limitations based on health and age.  The emphasis of the challenge is on handling skills that showcase the dog.

The Dogs Can Dance Challenge appealed to me, so Rennie and I registered and have just passed our entry level, which focused primarily on handler skills and handler comprehension of freestyle terms.  You can watch a portion of our entry levels.

Completing "Around"

Joining the Dogs Can Dance Challenge wasn’t so much about getting a title as doing something that Rennie and I enjoy doing together (he certainly doesn’t care about letters).  Freestyle has improved our communication and expanded our training vocabulary.  We practice daily in a quiet corner of the local park, usually with me humming or singing off –key.  With the two of us focusing on each other, laughing and having fun, it’s like the rest of the world disappears.  Ren, who can be reactive, suddenly ignores passing dogs, bicycles, and people.  That’s when I know it’s good, when Ren and I can be free to dance like no one is watching.  And it’s good.

Treat Me Right: The Power of Reinforcement- July Newsletter

Hearing parents tell their children, “Oh, too bad school is starting soon,” and watching parents take their child out of school for the day as a “treat” frustrated me as a teacher.  The underlying implication was that school, and by default learning, was something unpleasant and even punitive.  Students came to school expecting misery and the failure of any lesson to be entertaining confirmed that belief.  In contrast, most people come to dog training classes excited and optimistic, expecting “school” will make their puppy or dog the pet of their dreams.   For owners, dog training is a good thing.  As a primarily positive reinforcement trainer, I want my dog clients equally enthusiastic.  Regardless of species, eager students make teaching fun and challenging.  When training is pleasant and successful, everyone wants to continue with the process.

In training classes, our dogs must work in a place with many attractive distractions.  Verbal praise becomes white noise, especially since dogs don’t understand English.  For most creatures humans included, public displays of affection are rarely appreciated when trying to focus.  Food rewards provide immediate feedback and high value food gives the handler top priority. When tasty morsels are only offered during training, an association between learning and pleasure develop. 

According to Dr. David J. Linden, a neuroscientist who specializes in addiction, tiny portions further reinforce the pleasure/training connection – the dog must participate in more training to receive more "pleasure".  It's making the dog want more that keeps him or her interested in the session and that longing becomes connected to you and training.  Click here to hear Dr. Linden’s explanation (5-6 minutes into the interview).  Rewarding at a variable rate (rewarding sometimes - which means not at all, a little, or jackpotting at random times) makes a behavior even stronger, once the behavior is established (happens at least 80% of the time on command).  Think of a slot machine.  If it paid all the time in huge amounts, people would only go when they needed money.   If it never paid, what would be the point of playing?  If there are a multitude of possibilities (win nothing, a little, or a jackpot), it makes it more interesting and optimism keeps people playing.

Learning also requires confidence.  Rewarding the correct response encourages exploration, in comparison to punishing the wrong behavior, which creates hesitancy and fear.  Remember the teacher who made students sink into their seat whenever a question was asked? Pop questions rewarded with extra credit or candy usually encouraged much livelier responses, especially when wrong answers only got "good try!"  Our dogs should be the literal teacher’s pet.

The issue of excess calories frequently comes up where food rewards are concerned.  Using food rewards does not necessarily equate to an obese pet.  The size of the portion, as mentioned, is a major issue.  How tiny is tiny?  For medium sized  to large dogs, a treat portion is about the size of half of a pea.  Don't worry.  Dogs will taste it.  Adjust down accordingly, with toy sized dogs getting portions about the size of a grain of rice.  A jackpot is NOT one large piece, but many small pieces.  Dogs somehow understand number or repetitions rather than size.  Ask a three year old human if they prefer one large quarter or ten pennies.  It's the same idea.  Soft treats, rather than crunchy, work better so the dog isn't distracted by chewing. And a training session shouldn't last more than 3-10 minutes, depending on the number of behaviors being taught and your dog's attention span (classes are usually longer to train the humans, not the dogs).  So, figuring the rate of reward with the portion size, treats during training shouldn't make pets obese.  To practice already established behaviors or if the dog is super motivated by any food, train during breakfast using breakfast kibble with a couple extra treats added.  The video below is Rennie working for part of his breakfast.

Must food always be used as a reward?  Of course not.  Toys and privileges can also be used but are distracting and inefficient when a behavior is first being established (“Sit”, throw the ball, wait for dog to return with the ball and drop the ball before repeating).  However, it’s important that the reward is rewarding to the dog.  Brussel sprouts might be healthy, but they don’t do much for motivation.  Cheese, hot dogs, last night's leftovers, even rinsed canned beans are more interesting.  Be creative!   Experiment. With an eager learner awaiting what’s next, the sky’s the limit!