Dogs, handlers take a spin on dance floor

MILWAUKEE, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- Dogs can disco, waltz and keep a Latin beat as they shake their booty on the dance floor in an activity gaining popularity across the United States.

And there are seminars to teach your pooch the proper dance moves. "Dancers with Woofs K9 Freestyle Dance Camp," reportedly the first of its kind in the Milwaukee area, was a three-day seminar in which handlers and their dogs learned how to give Fred and Ginger paws on the dance floor, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

Dancing with Fido is no joke. Dogs, responding to verbal or hand commands, perform dance moves set to music. Enthusiasts in 1999 organized the World Canine Freestyle Organization, in which judges score freestyle dancing's creative and artistic endeavors similar to an Olympic competition.

Cheryle Homuth, 56, an emergency room nurse from Woodstock, Ill., said her 6-year-old border collie, Holly, loves Latin music and country music and is responsible for about 40 percent of the choreography.

"She'll throw in special moves she knows she'll get applause for," Homuth told the Journal Sentinel. "People don't realize the potential of their dog until they start doing freestyle."