(Sorry about the title of this entry, but the other option was “Dances with Woofs” and that’s probably worse…)

Peg Hall (another Fulbrighter) and I attended the 2006 Dog Dancing Show here in Prague a couple of weeks ago.  For those not familiar with dog dancing, this is an event (typically a competition) in which dog owners create dance routines that they perform with their dogs.  (No, I'm not kidding.)

At this show, the music ranged from oldies rock-and-roll to new age instrumental pieces and the dogs showed off their moves by spinning in circles (forward and backward), running backwards, weaving between the owners’ legs, rolling over, and walking on their hind legs. That they did these things was less amazing to me than the fact that they did them on command, and those commands were sometimes nothing more than a head nod from the owner.

Peg got a couple of neat still photos during the show. The first two are the same performers – a young woman (the one in the tiara) and her border collie.

And, like all competitive events, there are judges…

I took several video clips (no audio, unfortunately) and they’re available on another server. (I can’t put video clips in my blog.)  If you have RealPlayer on your computer, these should open and play when you click on the link. The first one is of an owner dancing with her Doberman.

http://merlin.cc.ku.edu:8080/ramgen/ids/john/susan/DogDancing1.rm

This next one is of the owner dancing with TWO border collies, and they appeared to be having a ball.

http://merlin.cc.ku.edu:8080/ramgen/ids/john/susan/DogDancing2.rm

Finally, another border collie and owner are in this clip.

http://merlin.cc.ku.edu:8080/ramgen/ids/john/susan/DogDancing3.rm

Prague is the perfect place to have a dog dancing show, because the people here are CRAZY about dogs. Another reason I fit in so well here…