Just wanted to say THANKS! so much for being my teacher! I really enjoyed my classes! Love Reagle Beagle
-- Megan & Ron Christ - Rancho Santa Margarita
RALLY OBEDIENCE
What is Rally Obedience?
Rally Obedience is an AKC program that is just for fun or eventually competition. The name Rally Style Obedience was adopted because of the use of directional signs to guide the handler throughout the "course". The course consists of up to 25 signs. Each sign is a behavior that the dog/handler team must complete. The dog/handler team will heel from sign to sign and perform the exercises indicated by the sign at each location. Sample signs are About Turn, 270 Right, Fast Pace, Spiral Right, Right Turn, Halt, Figure Eight, and heel around cones. The Rally Style concept is to make obedience fun, more relaxed, and natural approach. Handlers can verbally encourage and praise their dog all the way through the course.
Our rally class will teach you and your dog how to perform all the behaviors necessarily for Rally. We used treats, toys, and praise to shape or lure the behaviors until they can be completed in sequence. Rally Obedience is great for dogs going into agility but need more obedience work. Rally is also
great for older dogs or dogs that have structural issues that prevent them from doing agility. Rally Obedience is an easy sport to be successfull at and spend some quality time with your dog.
Requirements: For dogs 6 months and up.
Must already know sit, down, and have some control on the leash.
Be prepared to have fun!
The focus for the Fundamentals class will be on building teamwork between the handler and dog. Fundamentals of Rally will be explained and Novice courses will be practiced, but the emphasis will be primarily on developing communication and rapport between the handler and the dog on the course. Attention and Heeling will be emphasized. Dogs should have a basic sit, down, target, and be comfortable on a (non-flexi) leash. Although it is meant to lay the groundwork for Rally and Traditional Obedience, this class is an excellent place to build attention skills that will benefit any performance sport. Each team will differ based on how much experience they already have and how much time they spend on homework, but 12 weeks should be the average time spent in this class before moving to Competition Rally.
Competition Rally will focus on Rally course work, including Advanced and Excellent Rally exercises. We will work on performing the exercises accurately and quickly with distractions. Dog's should already be able to heel with attention in a low distraction environment. Teams who have developed good attention in another dog sport - i.e., agility,freestyle, trick training - and have already experienced competition in another venue MAY (pending instructor approval) come into this class without going thru Rally Intro.
