DogSportMag

Kristine Goossens with Havanese Dalia took the 5th place on a Dog Dance competition in Belgium.
On Thursday July 21, 2011 Kristine an Dalia have participated to a Dog Dance (Canine Freestyle) competition of dog school TeLandein Belgium. She said that It was a very nice competition and the atmosphere was pleasant.

Let’s read what she has revealed to us

Krisitne annotations:
In Belgium there are seven categories at a Dog Dance competition: Initiation, Beginners, Novice, Intermediate, Advanced and Innovation. A dog who participates for the first time starts in the Initiation class. The jury decides if you are passed or not. The dog must know at least five different exercises and show them well with his handler on the music. The next competition you can enter the Beginners class. A jury judges the technical and artistic side of the performance. When you have 4 times an 8 (on 10 points) you have to go to the next level (Novice), when you have twice a 9 (on 10 points) you may pass to the next class. After the Novice class, there is the Intermediate and then the Advanced class. Another class is the Innovation class in which one or more handlers work with two or more dogs. There is also a Juniors class in which teenagers between 12 and 14 years old can participate. It’s not for points. It’s a demonstration class.

Dalia participated for the third time in the Intermediate class. We showed the routine on the music of the animation film “Happy Feet”. Dalia had just been in heat so we didn’t practise outdoors for the last few weeks. She was also a bit overwhelmed by all the people standing around the ring. In the beginning of the routine she was a bit distracted, but soon I could get her attention back and the rest of the routine went very well. It’s not easy to combine dancing with heavy shoes (tap shoes) and giving commands to the dog, but it’s a challenge. I’m proud of Dalia. In the Intermediate class there were several good working herding dogs. We’ve obtained a very good 5th place with 8.44 points. I’m very happy and had lots of fun!