AKC Rally have you done it?

Question

This was quoted from a reply to someone else's question. To the person that said this, I ask have you ever done Rally?? Rally is not as basic as some think. Rally Novice is on lead, yes. But, you are doing 2 different finishes from a front, in the regular obedience ring, you only need to make sure your

"By the way, I think RALLY is incredibly stupid!! Those are just the exercises that you use to teach the dog the things needed for real obedience work. If you spend all the time practicing the practice moves, you will bore the dog into the ground and never get the real job done which getting them through the legitimate degrees. If you were learning to play the piano, would you practice fingering the keys for 2 years or would you move onto scales and pieces of music to stretch your skills? Rally is something the AKC came up with so people could get ribbions without having to do as much work as for the real degrees so then they would enter shows and the AKC get more money......"

dog does one finish, Rally Advanced and Excellent are done off lead. Oh, do you have the dog do healing backwards off lead in regular obedience?? I think not. Rally is geared towards people who have not been in the ring yet, and I think it is a good thing. The biggest mistakes made in Rally are handler errors. So, I think Rally is a good way for handlers to get used to the ring. My young male has not been entered in novice obedience yet as I do not want him bomging the recall. I am planning on entering him in February for his CD and his RA title. I believe that you should not let a dog bomb in the ring if you know it can happen. How are you supposed to correct this behavior in the ring??

Dane lover, I agree with you! Rally is a lot harder than some people think. A trainer from my club who has several OTCH's showed a doberman for the first time last weekend in Rally. He scored in the 80's the first day and 90 the second. We asked him what he messed up on! It was his error's that he got hit for and not his dog's error's. When training a dog for obedience, that dog can get to the point where they anticipate what is done next with the same patterns most of the time. In Rally thing's are rarely the same! I know of someone that shows Malinois in French Ring. She was bragging on how a UD is so much easier than French Ring. She entered her dog in 2 shows. Bombed 3 of the days and did not return on the 4th. Most of the Rally excercises are not used towards a CD, CDX, UD, or UDX. Thanks to the people who answered this and get the picture about Rally!! For those of you who think that it is so easy, feel free to post your Rally scores, especially in RE or even RAE.

Answer 1

I am a trainer and have been for 35 years...I train for basic pet obedience as well as competition obedience, rally and conformation. I also show in Obedience trials, Rally and conformation. I have dogs titled in OB and in Rally. Rally is nowhere near as simple as some peopel believe.It is a wonderful venue and it certainly wasn't created so "people could get ribbons". In many ways rally can be more complex then traditional obedience. Rally takes a lot of time and dedication and it takes every bit as much time and training as traditional obedience trials do. Anyone who thinks differently has never really done it, hasn't competed in it or trained for it .

Answer 2

Well, I do think rally is fun. And I have been a serious OB person for 30 years with many titles and HIT's. I have also been teaching puppy k, beginner, novice, open/util, and agility for 25 years (not at Petsmart, LOL!).

I don't take Rally too seriously, but I see nothing wrong with it. It is pretty easy (I got 98's &99's without ever training for it) if you have trained well and your dog *really* knows where the heel position is. OB entries are down, and if Rally gets people training and out doing something with their dogs, I think it is a good thing.

I hate to see the few knowledgable people here argueing about something as stupid as this. We don't all have to agree, but we can be nice to each other, there are so few of us here.

Answer 3

Like I said ,Sugar, all that Rally is are the exercises that one uses to train a dog to do the real competitions.

Maybe your Petsmart trainer or whatever didn't give you all the tips, techniques and exercises to sharpen and teach a dog how to do the real thing, BUT THOSE OF WHO HAVING BEEN DOING THIS FOR 43 YEARS THINK IT IS A JOKE to give a ribbon for practising the scales.!!!

There is NOT one thing in Rally that I haven't been using for years to get dogs trained and competition ready.

2 different finishes before that dog hits the ring for its CD? You bet - and on hand signals as well as voice. That gets them sharp and makes them pay attention to you and keeps them from anticipating the finish - they don't know which one you will be asking them to do or how you will be asking,

Move backwards at heel so they don't forge or get inattentive and they have to step back to stay in position?? Yep, was doing that stuff with the dogs when I wasn't even 12 years old (and ALWAYS getting 197 or better all the way through Utility.)

Those are practice movements, people

We all vehemently opposed the "dumbing down" of the obedience requirements so people could start showing sooner. The argument from the proponents was "well, if we make it "EASIER" then at least they will try showing. We can use as a hook to get them to do the real thing." Uh Huh ....and those of who throughly disliked the idea replied that it would end getting treated as a goal in itself and they would spend years drilling the poor dog on the movements and exercise for Novice!!!! (Gee, and that is exactly what is happening!) It was a very nasty non-public fight in the obedience community.

If you are going to train the dog for Novice, Open and/or Utility, train the dog for it and move on and up. Get it done and don't fiddle about.

ragapple - how nice you FINALLY go to open. I'll see and raise your 1 CD with close to 175 CDs on my own dogs and students, nearly 90 CDXs and over 50 UDs plus I'll throw in the few Tracking Dogs, starting Search and Rescue Dogs and some Service Dogs - completely trained for their jobs. JEALOUS OF YOU?????? HA HA HA I was teaching Open and Utility for my Kennel Club at 14/15 years old.

Trainers who work with pet people LOVE Rally - its lets them get their pet owners who don't really want to work that hard to get a dog ready and sharp for Novice or Open into the ring. They get to tell these people how really really hard it is to do so they can keep them coming back for lessons.

RE: "I believe that you should not let a dog bomb in the ring if you know it can happen. How are you supposed to correct this behavior in the ring??"

DUH>>>>> YOU TAKE THEM TO PUPPY MATCHES FOR EXACTLY THAT REASON! Let them mess up and correct them!!! That is how you teach them that being in the ring means the same as at home.

Answer 4

I had fun with it and I assure you my top dog who has his CD & is competing in OPEN in standard obedience found excellent rally a challage. Unfortunatally lots of jellous people in dogs just want to prevent anyone else for any degree of sucess.....