Musical Dressage

Kay Laurence
 July 2008

This is possibly one of greatest opportunities to showcase natural movement. A well built dog can be visually enjoyed moving around the Cruft’s main ring, but equally a sound cross breed can “walk on sunshine” and demonstrate elegance from the heart. This is more than just good movement, it encompasses a song as well.

I very little about equine dressage. A good friend, that has lead the way forward teaching clicker training for horses, and I spent a couple of afternoons trying to duplicate the moves and discovered critical differences in structure. The range of types of dogs we train leads to a very wide range of different types of movement, and each movement can be captured, put on cue, and displayed in a variety of ways. But the movement is originated by the dog and we only add enhancement or duration. Trying to duplicate equine dressage would blind us to the greater, and different, range of canine movements.

Four legged animals move in natural rhythm, without it they would trip over their own feet more often than not. Some dogs are designed to have very efficient movement that serves the long distance purpose with minimum loss of energy, and others can go for shorter distances with a more stylised action. Some dogs have one at the front end and the other at the back! But hey, each is still in balance.

The movements for the canine are:

Walk: The same leg on each side is moving together, but the rear leg moves fractionally before the front leg, it seems to push the front leg forwards. Elephants and giraffes are slow versions of the walk.

Trot: The diagonally opposite legs are moving together, and the dog will rise out of the ground. Similar if we were jogging. This is the movement used to assess show dogs, where skeletal structure can be seen in the outcome of the movement.

Some dogs find the transition from walking to the faster trotting difficult and get locked into pacing.

Pace: This is where the same side move together at exactly the same time. It is very similar to the walk but with more push out of the feet, and the dog will rock from side to side the faster the pace. Many medium sized dogs find this is their only action when walking alongside a person since our normal walking pace is in the no man’s land between walking and trotting. If exercise is for the dog’s benefits they will choose to trot or walk, for most dog’s pacing is not comfortable.

Canter: This is the rocking horse movement where the front legs collect as one unit, the same with the back legs and the dog transitions from front to back. Usually in the slower action of this movement one leg will slightly lead the other.

Gallop: This is the fastest the dog can travel, with full stretch of the front legs. The hunting breeds of dogs are designed to complete both this actions with the least amount of movement to the head.

These movements can be altered and maintain rhythm through a change in speed, balance or direction.

Speed: can vary from relaxed, efficient, exaggerated, floating, elegant, halting.

A relaxed, easy going walk, the body will showing a lot of movement. Similar to a catwalk model where the walk action is exaggerated to draw attention to the pelvis and shoulder animation. It expresses extreme confidence, lack of tension and arrogance.

You will often see a dog swagger to catch attention, demonstrating their power range. My boys frequently swagger in front of potentially interesting girls demonstrating their “six pack” and elegant profile. They are not usually impressed.

Dogs will often show exaggerated movement when carrying a prized toy. Particularly if an envious spectator is watching.

Balance: When this changes the intent behind the movement changes. A low head carriage will bring the balance forward adding to forward propulsion. A rising of the head reduces propulsion and demonstrates excessive movement available, a sort of “see what power I can all upon when needed”.

When a dog moves backward the balance is thrown backward by the head tipping back. Balance can also rock backwards and forwards as in the canter, and from side to side.

Direction: Forward action can be in a straight line, although some dogs will not travel true and straight if their back legs take a longer stride than their front they will often appear to be movement slightly on the diagonal. Forward movement can be in curves, where the balance is tipped into the centre of the curve, serpentines where the curves are changing from one direction to the other. Circles and zig zags are different balance/direction combinations. But all can be in a rhythmic movement.

Sideways action can be at ninety degrees, a lateral movement or on the diagonal at forty five degrees.

Backing is a straight line, or any of the forward movements: curves, circles, serpentines, zig zag.

Why Teach Rhythmic Movement?

In nature a rhythmic movement can be sustained for longer, is more efficient and causes less damage to the joints. I was never built for running, but when learning competitive swimming was coached to change my arm/leg/breathing pattern which resulted in more speed for less effort, and at half the pace could be sustained much easier. (Took me months of wrinkly skin to master it!) I imagine the same would apply to running.

Every time the dog flips, or jerks in movement there is a risk of strain or injury, particularly if the action is repeated hundreds of times on different, or unsuitable, surfaces.

Controlled rhythmic movement can be choreographed more exactly. The number of strides (beats) a dog takes to complete a circle can be measured and matched to the music. If the dog flips the turns or spins, then timing is less synchronised. The human eye adores synchronised movement, think of the River Dance routines where forty to fifty dancers are in perfect time to the music. The same warm feeling can be stimulated by watching a dog move in perfect time to the music.

Rhythmic movement is in the capabilities of all dogs, all shapes and sizes. No one is judging the dog’s movement for their reproductive potential. Very often the flashy movement of some dogs is more attractive but less desired in the show sense. But we all love to see the dog move with sunshine under their feet, there is a joy in the action and it truly looks like the dog is singing along to the music.

Well taught balanced movement will develop excellent fitness in the dog, even prepare a dog for extremes of movement where there are sudden turns or changes of direction or energy.

Using their body in balance helps the dog feel good. We teach cavaletti to every dog, and even dogs that are low in self confidence and social skills adore cavaletti exercises. I think they feel good in natural balanced movement.

A relaxed gait can allow the dog to mentally take an energy break from the intense, and sometimes unnatural movements, that are choreographed into a performance. For a dog that experiences stress in ring conditions a timely insertion of relaxed, rhythmic movement can make the dog feel, and look, much better.

Capturing the movements

Observation skills are essential to seeing the dogs’ wide variety of movements. A video camera is a blessing, especially if you can replay at 50% of normal speed and really see the action. What you also need to notice are the conditions that trigger the movement. The dog may be following their dinner bowl to the garden, anticipating the throw of the toy, or carrying a ball. Teaching something that is in your dog’s natural repertoire is more likely to be successful, and reinforcing, for the dog,  than trying to copy the movement of another dog.

To calculate the beats per minute that will match your dog’s trotting or cantering action, ask an experienced handler to trot the dog as in the show ring in a straight line. If they are being asked to move too fast the dog would show too much effort to maintain the movement and wobble from side to side, if they are moving too slow, they will drop in and out of trotting to a pace or walk. There is variation within those extremes that can be managed to suit the beat of the music.

When the dog needs to cover ground they will carry their head low and forward. If the head is elevated through focus on an object then the ground coverage is reduced, more of their action is air borne. But the dog must always be in balance between their front and back movement, the exaggeration of movement should not concentrate on the front end exclusively and cause a compression of the rear movement.

Training the movements

The movement can be stimulated, with target training, or luring, and then clicked when the action is true. This is not easy to see when the dog is close to you, and almost impossible when in heel position. Target sticks become essential tools to move the dog at a distance and observe the action. The dog will need to be taught to change into the action, or sustain the action to earn the rewards. Training must also include building strength in the action so that the dog is competent, light and displays endless energy available – they are “fit” in the action. Tug games are excellent strength builders.

The floor surface must give the dog 100% confidence, and the presence of other dogs may inhibit the type of movement you are trying to stimulate.

The way the movement is captured is clearly expressed in the final product. I see many dogs that have been taught to go backwards with pressure from the front. They learn to move backwards to avoid being trod on and this often leads to a hunched, jerky action. By using a target behind the dog the dog learns to pull away from the handler.

The same can be seen in lateral or sideways movement, the dog should be naturally moving with the handler matching the movement, not avoidance by pressure.

With the experience of personally teaching and coaching several hundred of many different breeds heelwork for obedience I have changed my teaching significantly. Obedience based heelwork is driven by the measure of accuracy, where the location of the dog to the handler is closely scrutinised, through tests of patterns and duration. The handler’s speed and length of stride dictates the dog’s action. In Heelwork to Music, rhythm and balance should be our first consideration, where the dog is taught a natural rhythmic movement and the handler moves into an accurate position to partner the dog. We have a vast range of steps that can be adopted to match, and compliment the dog’s stride.

Get creative

The requirements for the Musical Dressage class is a “natural rhythmic movement”. This excludes unnatural movements, such as hopping on the back legs, but is wide open to interpretation. Once the movements are established small adjustments to the balance point can change the rhythm to mimic the musicality. A weave can be altered by the amount of travel time off the handler, a spin can be enlarged. A paw kick can be inserted into a walk on every third stride to emphasise the beat of the music. I particularly like to build a young dog in balanced movement through to the adult with a natural elegance. This movement training takes every bit as long to teach as heelwork, or a beg with paws over the face. I think it appeals to us on a different level than the tricks, but can be equally skilled and crafted over the dog’s career in competition. Many movements become richer with time

It’s not unusual for me to mess around to music and suddenly a new movement will catch my eye. But always the dog’s balanced movement and music combination finds the warm place just under my heart.