Freestyle class

Tonight I took Guiness to his freestyle class. I missed the last class because it was on the same day as the agility trial. Its always a fun class to go to. Stress free. Not that other dog classes are stressful but this just seems so relaxing. Basically you are just teaching your dog tricks. Guiness loves food alot , so he works very hard and learns quickly. Tonight we worked on getting the dog to follow behind you. You walk with your hands behind your back and the dog is suppose to walk with you but stay right behind you. Guiness had a hard time with this, so we will need to practice. We also worked on having the dog go through your legs to a chair that had a treat on it and then he has to back up between your legs again. The treat brings them through the first time and then you can squeeze your legs together and the dog will back out. Remember to add verbal cues to all tricks. Like "through" and "back". In freestyle you have to divide the ring into 4 quadrants and you must cover 75% of the ring. Its also a good idea to to label the corners of the ring, 1,2 ,3,4 and create in your mind your pattern. Like 2341. You will start in corner 2 and go to corner 3 , then 4 and then 1. This helps keep you oriented in case you get disoriented while doing your dance. Also you don't have to go all the way into the corner and your not to get to close to the fencing. You can get penalized for using the fencing to keep you dog going straight even if you didn't mean to. Also no part of the dog can go pass the fencing , so if they are to close and the tail hair goes through , your out. We also practice making our dog stay in place while we walk and skip around them and move your arms in all different ways. Its a fun, goofy class. Then we all had to make up a dance to the same music. It was fun. We are not great but its fun and if your dog or you mess up, you just add something else. Hey , kinda like gamblers. Ha!! Some people have taught their dogs some cool moves, I wish I had video so I could remember exactly what they did. I did remember to bring Guiness's crate. Now he doesn't bark when other dogs are taking their turn or the teacher is talking. Yea!