Rally Obedience – New Titles Offered by AKC

            In January of 2005, Rally Obedience will be a new titling sport offered by the American Kennel Club.    Taken from the AKC website;

“ Rally is a sport, held in conjunction with Obedience, where the dog and handler proceed at their own pace through a course of directional signs in a manner similar to Rally Car Racing. The signs are numbered sequentially in the ring to indicate the course the handler must take. The dog and handler team heel from sign to sign and perform the exercises indicated on the sign at each location. Each sign contains an exercise illustrated with symbols.

A title may be earned in each of three levels - Novice, Advanced and Excellent. In addition, a dog may continue to compete in the Advanced and Excellent classes to earn a Rally Advanced Excellent title. The suffix title designations are RN, RA, RE and RAE.”

            For complete information about this new titling sport, plus the rules and regulations, visit http://www.akc.org/dic/events/rally/event_info.cfm

            At the all-breed club where I train, Oshkosh Kennel Club, we offered Rally Novice classes for the first time this spring.  I found that my already trained dogs loved the class as it was fast paced and I got to talk to them throughout the course.  This type of training is not stressful for the dog or the handler as you get to give extra commands and really keep them revved up!  I thought it would be fun to talk about these exercises in this and future columns for Everything Golden.

            #29 The Left About Turn:

            This exercise may be new to you if you have only been training for a few years, but for us ancient trainers, it was around way back when as a doodling exercise in obedience.  This exercise is taken from Schutzhund training and is used in their competitions.  The exercise requires the handler to turn to the left while the dog circles around your back and comes into heel position.  If you are doing this exercise on leash, it is quite easy for the dog and handler to perform, as you can guide your leash around your back and simply change hands as the dog is making its circle around you.  Off leash,  I have found that a key word is needed for the dog to pick up the position that is being asked.  I have used the work around to my dog with a motion of my hand to show the position.  Remember, that in Rally competition you are able to give additional hand and voice signals to your dog – in fact, it is even encouraged.  Because this is a difficult exercise to explain in words, I have included a short, 30 second video where my dog Sabrina and I are demonstrating the exercise.  Just prior to seeing the Left About Turn, you will see Sabrina demonstrate the Call Front and Finish Left exercise.

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