Friday, October 14, 2016

Multi-Circle Waltz - Dean Dog - CRO Dance Division

Going back to this past February, Dean and I also completed the Multi-Circle Waltz at the Pre-Bronze Level in the Cyber Rally-O Dance Divisions.

This was also a Q - With Honors.

Our Comments:

Awesome teamwork
Interesting music selection!  Lovely connection between dog and handler and very smart looking heelwork.  Well done!
Congratulations!  It's a Q!  90% or better on all categories!  Clean performance, team maintains very nice position.  Pattern is great. 

Our performance:


Come Fore Foxtrot Dean Dog - CRO Dance Division

Recently, Dean Dog and I started doing some video work again.

This is our entry for the CRO Dance Division - Pre-Bronze - Come Fore Foxtrot.

It was a Q - With Honors!


Following are our comments!

One very brief sniff at a cone and one slight step out of position, otherwise, nearly perfect connection and position.  He looks like a happy boy and your handling was superb
 

Nice continuity.  Only one very brief disconnection as Dean went towards the cone in the midst of his spin.  Quick reconnect established by Kristine.  I commend Kristine  for waiting for Dean to come out out of the spins before continuing into heel position

Nice connection with this team.  Dean responds well to handler cues.  Kristine does a lovely job on accommodating Dean's movement style by giving him time to complete weaves and spins.
Here is our performance!!  I was very pleased with this.  Dean and I actually worked on this pattern for a very long time.  He struggles a bit with holding center position because his back legs are two different sizes.

He definitely delivered here!





 




Sunday, January 12, 2014

Level 1 Cyber Rally-O - Speedy

Although well past his retirement from Rally, Speedy and I had a bit of fun with Cyber Rally-O, and he did earn his CRO-I, his last Rally title.

This was his first Level 1 submission.  Just one "blip" - such a Speedy thing - he "rounded up" the sign on the 180 right.  Level 1, Course 18 . . .



Up next was a bit of self-video just this past summer.  Level 1 Course 24 . . . 



Finally, we finished off our CRO-I with Level 1 Course 10 . . .



I am proud and grateful that Speedy and I had a chance to enjoy Cyber Rally-O as one of his "retirement" sports.  We had fun filming all three of these.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Level 1 Cyber Rally-O - Dean Dog

Dean really is the dog that I consider to be my "Rally Dog" and he adores Cyber Rally-O.

This was our first run ever!  This was run on Level 1 Course 3.



And our second Cyber Rally run, and Q - Level 1 Course 13



Finally, our last Level 1 Q.  This is my absolute favorite.  The purpose of the music was to drown out the sound of the teeter from the room next door, but it was actually very fun to do this to music!

Level 1 Course 5.



I was pleased to add the title of CRO-I to Dean's "collection"!

These are Tessa's ribbons, but Dean's are identical!

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Level 1 Cyber Rally-O - Tessa

Following are Tessa's Level 1 Cyber Rally-O runs that went toward her CRO-I.

This run was her first run/performance of any kind and it was her very first Q ever!

This was Cyber Rally-O Level 1 Course 3:



Watching this, I would never have thought that she had no performance experience!  This was a very nice first run!

Our second Q was earned on Cyber Rally-O Level 1 Course 20:



Finally, we earned our third Q, and our CRO-I title on Cyber Rally-O Level 1 Course 5:



Tessa's CRO-I ribbons:


And a Traditional Ribbon Photo:


Monday, September 30, 2013

Our Dogs Can Dance Challenge

Immediately following this post are four posts that contain all of the routines that we submitted to the Dogs Can Dance Challenge toward our first team Championship.  I have a tiny bit of reflection on each, our scores, and some select judge's comments.

In the future I plan to add our performances toward our second time through the Challenge (which we have just begun at this time), and other examples of our video work from Rally FrEe and Cyber Rally-O.

Thank you for watching our performances!  Enjoy!

Kristine
and Speedy, Dean Dog, and Tessa

Dogs Can Dance Challenge - Classical Freestyle

The Classical Freestyle Division places a heavy emphasis on synchronized movement with the dog.  This really was a division made in Heaven for Speedy!  He and I moving together to the music is, quite simply, his favorite way to dance!

Our first routine to Waltz of the Flowers was created to be an MI submission, but Waltz from Maskarade earned our division as a waltz, so I decided to go ahead and do this as our first Classical Freestyle submission.

Speedy, unfortunately, had not quite recovered from a minor foot injury, at the time of this filming.  In spite of that, he really did do a beautiful job!



We earned a very solid 129 points for this, which turned out to be a pretty consistent score for us in this category!

Some of my favorite comments from the judges:

"Floor patterns were very well defined - the flow and path of your serpentines, and your spirals are lovely"

"The dynamic between you and Speedy on that floor is phenomenal.  Your synchronization is gorgeous"

"Excellent job of showing Speedy's lovely flowing movement!"

And just a bit of constructive criticism:

"Of course rewards are allowed in this division, but at the end of the pass phrase, you fumbled with it and that was distracting"

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For our Intermediate and Advanced Classical Freestyle submissions, I did something that was very special to me.  I very slightly reworked one of Speedy's WCFO routines - one of the two that were our best - a routine to Steven Kravis' Reunion.

This was just fun to do.  We love to perform this and our work on it for the Challenge really was a tribute to Speedy!



We earned 128 points on this performance, as score I was very happy with.

Some of my favorite comments (this one had so much positive feedback that it was difficult to choose my favorite comments!):

"The 'float' between you and Speedy when working Center front is lovely"

"The dog knew the dance"

"Beautiful teamwork, just beautiful"

"My sheet was covered over with 'Yes!" for almost every question to consider"

And some constructive criticism:

"This dance employed gentle contrast in height and had short changes of pace.  More extreme contrast was not possible due to the dog's limitations but was not necessary for this dance"

"It does appear that moving backwards is not Speedy's favorite thing to do"

"I found the kneeling axial move that you included for contrast to be a bit jarring and then I realized that it was also unnecessary"

This routine is very meaningful to Speedy and me and I am glad that the judges received it so well!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For our final Classical Freestyle submission - for Advanced - I elected to film Reunion one last time.  This was not my best performance!  I was a bit of a clodhopper, dropping the leash a couple of times!  But Speedy did such a lovely job that I had to go ahead and submit it!

The Final Performance of "Reunion"



We earned 129 points, completed the level, and earned our Classical Freestyle title!

My favorite comments:

"When the leash was dropped the dog did not hesitate to stay on track with the handler"

"You and Speedy have spent years and hundreds of hours working together.  It shows"

"The handler's hand movements presented the dog well and enhanced the dog's movement"

And a bit of constructive criticism:

"The music did not provide any contrast"

"The only problem was a couple of small hiccups with the leash on your part"

We did enjoy our Classical Freestyle work and I am pleased that Speedy carried this division on his own!