# Rally here we come....



## spindledreams (Aug 7, 2012)

Gulp, in a moment of insanity last night I entered both the younger dogs in Novice Rally in Gateway. This UKC show is held the last weekend of October!
AND since my Jazz and I have earned our URO1 the "pups" have to compete in Novice B.... 

The poor unsuspecting souls are Twilight and Cole:

Twilight has been to puppy class, conformation classes, and a basic obedience class. She has been shown at Gateway so knows the place but never been in a performance class before. She is smart, sweet, and shy tending to shut down in stressful situations. 

Cole has been to a couple of puppy classes and a Foundations of Rally class. He has never been to Gateway but has been shown in conformation at a couple of inside shows. He is brash, swaggering, and loves to learn. Nothing fazes this dog. 

UKC novice is all done on leash and there are 15 to 17 signs not counting start and finish. The skills I figure we will need are:

heel
90 degree pivot right
Moving Side Step Right (use clue slide?)
sit
down 
stand 
wait/stay
walk around dog return to heel position 
Come Front
finish left 
finish right

of course there will be spirals, figure 8s, and/or serptines in the course also.

Will we Q doubtful, but we will have fun.


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## Click-N-Treat (Nov 9, 2015)

Noelle and I have our first rally show in October, too. I doubt we'll Q either, but focusing on fun is what I'm trying to do. Good luck and happy training!


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

You both need to be more optimistic about your prospects. Going into a ring thinking you won't Q will help make sure you don't Q. spindledreams your skills list sounds good. Before your event work on keeping heads up attention as best you can and everything else should take care of itself. I wish you both success at your debuts next month.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

I agree with Catherine - think positive thoughts. I think you'll both do really well. Have fun and enjoy the process.


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## zooeysmom (Jan 3, 2014)

But if you're truly not ready, don't enter. Make sure you and your dog can do a full course at home or training class without stress or treats. If you can, then go to that show with confidence and believe in you and your dog. And have fun!


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## scooterscout99 (Dec 3, 2015)

The judges I’ve had for Novice level are really nice. One AKC judge even said that you would have to try hard to not qualify. It was a confidence booster. Try to relax and be with your dog.


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## mashaphan (Sep 4, 2014)

Visualize and POSITIVE thoughts,always. (I would use "get close" for the moving side step-I know nothing about UKC rally.but AKC now has a 2 steps to the side that we are using "slide" as the cue-or you could use "slide,slide" for that one. I use "pivot,pivot" for the halt,about turn left,halt" sign(may not be actual verbiage.)

I was so very nervous my 1st NovB (put CD on my Airedale when I was 12!) that a friend had to rub me down:ahhhhh:. Breathe,and enjoy!

Martha et al


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## spindledreams (Aug 7, 2012)

Gateway is over, no Qs but lots of good experiences. Cole "forgot" what sit meant, Twilight forgot how to heel... and I couldn't remember the difference between 360 right and 360 left... Toli is never to be allowed near the Rally ring when Cole and I are competing...

All in all we actually did better than I had hoped for since this is a very distracting environment (remember the agility ring next door) I did get a few sits from Cole for which he got praised lavishly, both went down when asked but failed to remain in position for the walk around. The courses were interesting and I LOVED that the change of pace all three days was normal to slow to normal. It was intriguing as she used a set of cones in the middle of the ring twice in each course. One day it was a left spiral at the start and a right spiral at the end, another it was a straight figure 8 at the start with a right spiral as the last station... Day two had both an about turn and a right about turn... 270s and 360s were in all courses.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

I'm sorry you didn't come away with at least one green ribbon, but it sounds like you had some nice moments and fun overall.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

I'm sorry too you didn't earn any legs, but it sounds like it was still a good experience and it's always interested to see how the judge layed out the course.


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## spindledreams (Aug 7, 2012)

Click-N-Treat how did your Rally adventure turn out? Hope you had fun.


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## spindledreams (Aug 7, 2012)

The courses were very interesting and like nothing I had encountered before. The use of cones in the middle of the ring lead to some interesting pathways you really needed to figure out before you walked into the ring but at the same time they were actually very logical once you got going. I will be scanning them into my computer and may have to see if I can post one or two here for folks to look over....


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## Click-N-Treat (Nov 9, 2015)

Noelle struggled with Call Front _____ for some reason on both days at our trial. Fortunately for me, that was only one sign in the course, so we qualified twice. We have a trial tomorrow. Hopefully, that's Leg 3 and an RN. 

There is a correction match tonight and Noelle and I are going through the course twice. So, with any luck being in the same ring two times tonight will help Noelle on Saturday. I don't know how it's going to go, that's what makes trialing so much fun!

The course on our first day was really straight forward. Second day, the judge realized she had too many right turns, so she added a diagonal and moved some signs. That made the course more interesting, but easier to get lost. We also did slow. That was the last sign on the course and a lot of fun to creep our way to the finish line. We had a really good time in the rally ring. 

I'll let you know on Saturday evening how our trial goes.


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