AMAZING dog video

[astrid]

Okay, you all get teary-eyed over a video of a kid singing the national anthem. Well, I know I"m different, but this had ME reaching for the tissues. :thumbup1:Dogs have such a unique relationship with humans, and the partnership in this video is nothing short of stunning. I've seen some pretty impressive canine freestyle routines, including the Golden Retriever doing the "Grease" routine with the blonde woman in hotpants, but this takes the cake.

 

 

 

What amazing things can be accomplished with a lot of love, patience and a clicker!

 

Enjoy!

[sleepy]

That doggie really loves her mommy :laugh:

[Laura in VA]

That was amazing! :)

[Michelle T]

So, how does one train a dog to do something like this? I didn't see the woman using any obvious hand signals, and if she was holding a clicker, I really couldn't tell. Didn't hear any spoken commands, although I guess it would be hard to hear in a large arena.

 

Can't imagine all the patience, time and treats it took to train the woman to dance so nicely with her dog!

Michelle T

[astrid]

So, how does one train a dog to do something like this? I didn't see the woman using any obvious hand signals, and if she was holding a clicker, I really couldn't tell. Didn't hear any spoken commands, although I guess it would be hard to hear in a large arena.

 

Can't imagine all the patience, time and treats it took to train the woman to dance so nicely with her dog!

Michelle T

 

Those are really complicated behaviors, but are really lots and lots of smaller behaviors strung together or "shaped" into a larger routine. I don't know about this particular dog, but a great many dogs who perform the complicated routines in musical freestyle are clicker trained. Clicker training allows trainers to "mark" and reward individual behaviors, then shape them and string them into longer, more complicated series of behaviors. The "clicking" is merely in the training phase; by the time this team hit the spotlight at Crufts, the clicker had long since been phased out.

 

Once the dog has the behaviors down, physical cues are paired with the command for the behavior so that the dog associates a certain body movement with the command for each behavior such as lifting his right foot, lifting his left foot, etc. So in essence, the woman "dancing" with him is really just giving him a long series of commands to which he's responding with the behavior that has been shaped on that cue. For instance, when she plants the cane out to one side, the dog is cued to circle around it. When she switches hands, it's the dog's cue to reverse direction. See how the dog always has his eyes on the woman? He's watching for a subtle cue that HE knows. Dogs are INCREDIBLY perceptive about body language. It never ceases to amaze me just how much dogs pick up on their owners' movements when I'm working with a dog and owner.

 

This is a WAAAY complicated series of behaviors, and the breeds who are most successful at musical freestyle (and many other competitive/working events) are those who have hundreds of years of selective breeding that makes them WANT to work with humans and look to them for subtle cues for behavior. That's part of the reason you don't often see a Great Pyrenees or a Komondor performing a freestyle routine or competing at high levels in obedience, for example. They have hundreds and hundreds of selective breeding behind them that makes them self-reliant and able to work independently of humans. They were bred to be left out with a flock for months at a time and guard it with NO human direction or interaction. Border collies, (like the one in the vidoe) on the other hand, work solely at the command and behest of their handlers. INCREDIBLY smart, perceptive dogs.

 

Sorry for the long ramble.....I could talk about dogs all day! ;)