In working and training her own dogs, Sheryl moved into Freestyle from Agility. She discovered that the sport of dancing with your dog provided new and deeper training, team building, and creative fun. It was, however difficult to find a venue to learn the moves and the movement of choreographing and performing a Freestyle routine. Freestyle or Heelwork to Music as it is known in the UK started in 1990’s in the UK and Canada. The US Canine Freestyle organizations began in 1994. Today a variety of Canine Freestyle organizations are active today. Since then Canine Freestyle has become popular all over the world with many international competitions. Crufts International is an international competition that offers some of the best Freestyle routines on an annual basis. You can watch them at https://www.youtube.com/c/crufts
Freestyle Classes: We start with learning basic tricks and progress to connecting the tricks into a routine with skilled heelwork. The routine can tell story like a skit and or relate to the music. Freestyle offers you and your dog a way to work together and create what works best for you. It is a very individualized sport as you can utilize both your creativity and your dog’s strengths to create a unique routine. Its a lot of learning and fun for both partners of the team. While the live competitions are not locally available, video competition are offered in a regular basis and can be filmed as a special event related to class.
Trick Dog Classes: Learning a series of tricks enhance your partnership with your dog in a fun way in a 6 week class. Tricks teach your dog more connection with you and also enables them to become more physically & mentally agile as they will think and move differently. Dogs love tricks and its great fun for the handler. AKC offers Trick dog titles which can be tested in the class if desired.
Classes are offered at Joseph’s Obedience Training School:http://josephsdogtraining.com. Register for classes online at their website.