Dances with dogs: Pet owners practice fancy footwork with four-legged friends

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TACOMA — How does dancing with dogs differ from dancing with men?

With "canine freestyle to music" becoming the new rage in dog sports, let us count the ways.

No. 1: There's the eagerness.

Djana Milton of Lakewood, formerly trained in ballet and jazz dancing, is yanked into a practice ring in Tacoma as if hauled by a ski boat. Her partner is Merlin, a 2-year-old black Lab, who carries about 60 of his 85 pounds in his shoulders, linebacker style.

In between chasing a golden retriever, dashing from water bowl to water bowl, and slobbering over treats, Merlin cuts a pretty fancy rug. Canine freestyle is less Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers dancing than handler and dog doing fancy footwork together, in time to music. The human can do anything, but the dog generally borrows moves from obedience, equine dressage and even old standards like "shake."

Merlin weaves between Milton's long legs, backs up, comes forward, heels, spins and ends "Rock Around the Clock" with his great big paws on her graceful, outstretched knee.

Difference No. 2 from dancing with men: Milton's canine partner gazes up at her adoringly and attentively. (Or is it the treat in her hand?)

Canine freestyle — doing choreographed musical routines ranging from show tunes to square dance, from absolute precision to "come back!!!!!!" — is not exactly sweeping the nation but it is gaining speed. Humans — in this case mostly women — keep finding new ways to bond with their dogs.

The World Canine Freestyle Organization held an international competition this spring in Portland (albeit most of the overseas competitors sent videotapes of their routines). The sport so far is more popular outside of Seattle than in it, but that could change this summer when The Emerald City Canine Freestylers present "Boot Scootin' Boogie" July 18 in Tukwila.

What's all the hubbub over, Rover? Can't these people get dates?

For a peek at the joy that dancing with your dog can bring, see this story at www.seattletimes.com/living. Half the fun is seeing Rookie the golden retriever's delight in performing this paw de deux with Carolyn Scott of Texas, hitting every beat to a song from "Grease" with almost no visible commands (at least to the audience).

Heel, sit, heel, sit, down, STAAAAAY, spin, spin, spin, bounce over, bounce back, grapevine, weave. The experts have complicated routines that are difficult and precise but look like pure fun.

Beginners can do routines with three or four basic obedience moves, which they learn from the many videotapes available or from classes and workshops.

It's perfect for people who find obedience training too stiff, says Buckley trainer Lori McKenna. Or for those who do agility training but want to really "partner" with their dogs instead of pointing where they want the dog to run.

It also fits the evolution toward more positive training.

"If your dog is not happy out there, it's not a pretty sight," says Pat Moore, co-chair of Boot Scootin' Boogie. "The training is all up."

Dancing with her dog is foreign to the rest of her life, says Moore, a long-time obedience enthusiast. She has no musical background and overcomes being a "closet" dancer by focusing on her mini poodle's moves when out in public.

Which somehow leads us back to Merlin the linebacker Lab.

His owner, Milton, is a former dancer. In an effort to bond with Merlin and wear him out, she enrolled him in McKenna's sports sampler class.

Agility. Frisbee. Fly ball.

What did Merlin love?

Four dewclaws up for dancing!

"Of all the things," Milton says. "He's either on or he's off, but we have a lot of fun."

There are two groups represented in the Puget Sound region, both small, both friendly. Some, like McKenna, belong to Canine Chorus Line, a local chapter of Central Oregon's Dogs Gone Dancin.' Others belong to Emerald City Canine Freestylers, which is part of a larger Canadian group, Paws2Dance.

"The intent is to showcase the abilities of the dog," says McKenna, and, to a lesser extent, the handler.

Then, of course, there's the entertainment value, which is equal parts amazement and amusement. And no wonder.

"The dogs have to perform weird behavior to the beat of music and us flailing our arms around," McKenna says. "It looks like fun and it is fun, but it's difficult because the dogs have to be so precise."

McKenna's Bouvier des Flandres, Griz, picked out his own music, getting up for a little soft shoe twice when he heard a song from the "Wizard of Oz" that didn't make the movie. Her Australian cattle dog, Ellie, who prefers quick, fun music, has gone one step further: adding her own moves to routines, which McKenna then incorporates.

"You gotta love a herding dog."

The sport has changed considerably since Dawn Jecs of Puyallup was credited as helping start this movement in 1989. The latest evolution is "canine dressage," primarily obedience work to music. That tosses a bone to those in the obedience crowd who see this dancing business as silly.

Once they get out and try it, they see how much discipline is involved, says Corinne Lawson, a Woodinville trainer, but it's still important to retain some decorum in the sport.

"We don't want to make it as if it's a circus performance with the dog wearing this little tutu," says Lawton, a former ballet dancer who inspires fellow freestylers with her routines. "We're showing off the dog's talents."

Lawson's 7-year-old son dances with his grandmother's dog and there are grown men with substantial roles in the sport. But it's definitely a great outlet for women who can't get their men to dance, McKenna says.

And that's another difference women say they enjoy with their four-legged partners:

They finally get to lead.

Sherry Stripling: sstripling@seattletimes.com