Rally-O!

[k&s]

I have been taking a Rally obedience course, and recently participated in a Rally Obedience Match sanctioned by American Professional Dog Trainers assoc. It was fun and we did well (earned 2 legs out of 2 tries, with 'cumlaude' scores of 187 and 188). We even got extra credit for 'attitude'! One more successful match and we'll have a title.

I would recommend Rally to anyone who is interested in participating in obedience work, but might be a bit intimidated by the formal AKC novice trials, or even if you are training for AKC obedience but want another venue. APDT holds trials and AKC is planning to sanction Rally trials soon.

I believe it is more accessible to the pet dog owner to get titles and do well in Rally because you can talk the dog through the exercise, give multiple commands, and dole out plenty of praise and encouragement as you do the course. You can even give food rewards. However, you are not to use food as a lure, and you will get points off if you yank the dog around on the lead.

They also let you walk the course several times prior to running the course, so that you can be familiar with the stations.

Plus, it is something that mixed breeds can participate in and earn titles in both APDT and AKC.

I did notice that alot of people in the match behaved fairly seriously and methodically. I felt it was important to do a brisk pace both for the dog and the audience, and keep a very upbeat and happy appearance, although the pace did cause me to goof up & loose points at some stations.

If anyone else is particpating in Rally I would be very interested in hearing of your experiences.

[mickeymichellie]

I did not think that rally was a titled event in AKC yet. Am I wrong?

[Judi W]

I would describe it more of a warm up for agility than for obedience. It has little in common with obedience but much in common with agility.

[DNeff]

APDT offers Rally-O classes and AKC is offering Rally as a non regular class. They are done slightly differently. Which is why you can get an APDT rally-o title. AKC is planning on making rally a titling class soon.

The rally run throughs I have done have had been much more similar to obedience than agility. In rally you are working on precision, attitude and attention, agility is speed, distance and direction.

I recommend rally to anyone who wants to work on getting some ring time and making it up beat and positive for their dog so that when the get to Novice there dog has a history of positive fun ring experiences. I feel it's an excellent lead in to Novice classes.

Dawn
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[k&s]

It is going to be a sanctioned AKC event soon, as I understand it.

Judi W, I would disagree, from what I have seen. There is little agility until level 2, and the emphasis is definitely on heelwork. I see it as a good warm up for AKC obedience, because I can gradually wean the dog off of the extra commands and praise (and I don't treat while running the course, although others find it helpful).

[HerculesMomma]

I was checking out a new training facility for Hercules and I when the instructor mentioned Rally-O to me. Can anyone provide more information on this (has anyone tried it?)? As I understood it, the AKC will make it an official event for January of 2005.

The instructor offered it as a possible alternative to conformation for Hercules. So far Hercules does not seem to like other dogs and I couldn't trust him with other dogs off leash at this point. But the instructor said when you do Rally-O that you're the only one in the ring? Do you think it would be worthwhile (in addition to obiedence training) for Hercules?

[frontierrots]

Judi
As an obedience trainer I too disagree that Rally has more in common with aglity.

It is pretty much all obedience. ALMOST ALL of the exercises are derived from "doodling" exercises designed to make heeling practice more interesting and less boring when preparing for traditional obedience

Rally IS fun! So much more so than traditional obedience. Bea and I actually practiced more rally exercises than traditional when preparing for this Novice obed titling journey because it is more fun AND because it makes the dog pay better attention!

APDT Rally is open to mix or purebreds and is titling now

AKC Rally will be open to purebreds or pure dogs with ILP numbers only and will be titling as of 1/1/05

Bea and I will be goingfor Rally titles in 2005 and the goal is to at the least, obtain her Rally i and Rally II if not the III as well. Bea is all trained for Rally I and 99% of a Rally II already

Rally is especially good for dogs who have trouble on the exam and long stays in traditional obedience. Those exercises do not exist in rally

[Rottlva]

Diane, Don't quote me, but I do believe that advanced rally ( what ever comes after novice) has an honoring down?? I should go check the rule book huh?

I would say rally is an obedience/agility mix....The thing I find hardest about it is being someone who competes in obedience I am always looking to correct a crooked front, sit, whatever. My dog actually will correct himself on occasion! In rally they consider it a redo of an exercise if the dog does this.....so, as a polishing tool for obedience, I wouldn't do it. Because they don't look for perfection, just completion of the exercise, you can develop some bad habits which you'd get docked for in AKC obedience. As something fun to do with your dog to improve communication, and to have alot of fun while proofing exercises in a "ring" enviornment... GO FOR IT!!

The signs are also somewhat ambiguous, they have an left and right about turn which totally threw me for a loop.

Up until I became super pregnant ( I am now a week overdue) I was pretty involved with it..... we did it for fun, we will title for fun. I think it allows novices to really get thier feet in the water and gain some ring experience.

[frontierrots]

Originally Posted by Rottlva

Diane, Don't quote me, but I do believe that advanced rally ( what ever comes after novice) has an honoring down?? I should go check the rule book huh?

In all levels the exercises are:

halt, sit
halt, down
90degree right turn or 90 degree left turn
about turn right
left U turn
270 degree turn right or 270 degree turn left
360 degree right 360 degree left
call dog to front, finish to the right, forward
call dog to the front, finish left, forward
call dog to the front, finish right, halt
call dog to the front, finish left, halt
slow, fast and normal paces
moving side step to the right while heeling
spiral left or spiral right
straight figure 8 weave twice (two 8's connected)
serpentine
halt, 1 step, sit, 2 step, sit, 3 step, sit
call to front then 1 step back, sit, 2 step back, sit, 3 step back, sit
moving down
halt , sit, fast forward
left about turn (schutzhund style)
halt, sit, walk around dog
halt, down, walk around dog

The higher levels include the above plus some of these

halt, about turn right, forward,
halt, left u turn, forward
heel, send over jump, heel
halt, take 1 step right, heel, sit
halt, stand, walk around dog
halt, pivot 90 degree left OR right, halt, sit
offset figure 8, has food bowls 6' apart from center of figure 8
halt, side step right, halt
halt, call dog to front, finish right
halt, call dog to front, finish left
halt, pivot 180 degrees left OR right, halt
halt, down, sit

and in excellent some of the above two groups plus

halt, stand, down
halt, stand, sit
moving stand, walk around dog
heel backwards 3 steps
honor down or sit while another dog does the routine

As you can see there is ONE exercise that is agility like and the rest are ALL inventive heeling exercises or stays

I would say rally is an obedience/agility mix....The thing I find hardest about it is being someone who competes in obedience I am always looking to correct a crooked front, sit, whatever. My dog actually will correct himself on occasion! In rally they consider it a redo of an exercise if the dog does this.....so, as a polishing tool for obedience, I wouldn't do it. Because they don't look for perfection, just completion of the exercise, you can develop some bad habits which you'd get docked for in AKC obedience.

See above and it is only considered a re do if YOU ask the dog to correct. You are not docked as a re do if the dog sits then shifts itself. I find Rally to be great for polishing performance. You get to talk to the dog as much or as little as you like- though talking is encouraged and expected in level 1 and less so in the two upper levels. The dog must pay much better attention to you in Rally than in obedience because there are all sorts of unexpected tasks. You as the trainer will have your own level of perfection you are looking for and training for. A Rally class at a trial is not a ring where you can correct anyway so in that respect it is just like traditional obedience. Whatever happens in the ring happens, you can't fix it in traditional obedience either. Your impression is a common one among traditional obedience people but it is not a truely accurate one

As something fun to do with your dog to improve communication, and to have alot of fun while proofing exercises in a "ring" enviornment... GO FOR IT!!

Agreed, but it is also wonderful for a ringwise dog to get them interested in competition again!

The signs are also somewhat ambiguous, they have an left and right about turn which totally threw me for a loop.

The signs are only ambigous if you don't memorize them like any other signs in the world. I made flash cards with small signs on them and we shuffle them and work with them a few times a week, just doing them in whatever order they shuffle into :) It makes those signs really stick. Plus the signs have words on them as well to jog your memory

Bea and I will be going for Rally titles next year. It will be MUCH more fun for both of us than traditional obedience!!

[Rottlva]

http://www.akc.org/dic/events/obedie...y_Document.pdf

Check out this link. It wouldn't let me copy it, but in section four it describes an "honor exercise". This is done at the excellent (higest level).

I think alot of people see it similar to obedience not only because of the exercises ( ignore all heeling exercises), but the serpentines and spirals ( how you enter them), the ability to walk the course, have a course map prior to walking in the ring and the time factor (not that it plays a big part, but being a tie breaker) all are agility factors.

None the less, it is a way for dog and handler to sharpen thier skills and yes, I agree with you, the course which is different each time keeps the dog more focused on you, and deffinitely will cut down on anticipation like we have in the traditonal sport of obedience.

[frontierrots]

Originally Posted by Rottlva

http://www.akc.org/dic/events/obedie...y_Document.pdf

Check out this link. It wouldn't let me copy it, but in section four it describes an "honor exercise". This is done at the excellent (higest level).

yes, I mentioned that above

I think alot of people see it similar to obedience not only because of the exercises ( ignore all heeling exercises), but the serpentines and spirals ( how you enter them), the ability to walk the course, have a course map prior to walking in the ring and the time factor (not that it plays a big part, but being a tie breaker) all are agility factors.

I guess I just don't understand. Yes the map, the walk through, the entries to the spirals and serpentine and the time are agility like. However, Other then the ONE jump, the rest is 99% heeling. All the turns and pivots are heeling, all the walking, serpentines, figure 8's etc are heeling. finishes and halts are heeling, pace changes are heeling. So if you discount all the heeling you aren't left with much. Just a few sits and downs and stands.

I see Rally as a sharpener for traditional obedience and is more difficult to most handlers and dogs than standard obedience routines. I've seen a great many CDX dogs attempt advanced and fail because they are so pattern trained for the normal exercises

Rally is lots more fun for both dog and handler and I think will interest many more people than traditional obedience because of the fun factor and because it is less scarey/formal

[Liz]

Dizzy and Chrome took a Rally course over the winter in order to work on fronts and sits. I don't see much correlation to agility at all - it's obedience exercises in a format that is slightly similar to agility. I found it to be very helpful for attention work, auto-sits and fronts. Will probably compete with Chrome - it was a cinch for her, but Dizzy needs to grow up a bit :)

Liz

[Judi W]

Well, I'll stand semi-corrected. I liken it more to agility in the communication end.