# Our First Rally Show



## fairhavenmagick (Jan 19, 2011)

I took both of my girls to a show this weekend. It was Halo's first rally competition. Fable has a UKC rally 1 title that she got a couple years ago.

Both came home with 2 qualifying legs! Poor Halo was so distracted the first day (you would have thought she had never seen a cone before!) and the judge gave her a (generous) 90. The next day she had much better focus and we got a 92.

Fable received a 93 the first day and a 99 yesterday.

I'm so proud of both my girlies!


----------



## HerdingStdPoodle (Oct 17, 2012)

*Congratulations Fairhavenmagick!*

Congratulations to you both! Way to go!

HerdingStdPoodle


----------



## cavon (Aug 10, 2010)

Congratulations!!!!!! Great scores any way you look at it!!!! Give the girls a treat!!


----------



## schpeckie (Jun 29, 2010)

Congratulations to both of the Girls! That is wonderful! My Sadie is hoping to start learning Rally-O in the spring - who is quite a smart cookie! Looking forward to these classes with her, sounds like alot of fun!
Sylvia & the Girls!


----------



## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Congratulations to all three of you! I find it hard to go back and forth between dogs at the same show unless we are close to home. Since mostly nobody in the family wants to come to trials with me I handle them both myself. This is part of why Peeves has such a short little list of titles after his name. You did a great job getting both of your girls such nice qualifying scores in the same class on the same days.

I see Halo is a Mithril dog. Interestingly, I met someone who was talking about Mithril this weekend. The context was poodles with good working temperaments. I am sure you will go far with her in all you do with her (as it looks like you already have from your signature, SAR-search and rescue?).


----------



## sarahmurphy (Mar 22, 2012)

:cheers2:Yeah!!


----------



## fairhavenmagick (Jan 19, 2011)

Thanks everyone! I forgot to mention- their scores were good enough to ribbon this weekend as well. A 2nd & 1st for Fable and a 3rd & 2nd for Halo. It was fun on Sunday to have the 1st & 2nd place dogs  Our class wasn't very big- but I'll take it!

Rally is so much fun. I actually think I'm going to have a hard time switching over to the OB ring. I want to talk to my dogs too much! I'm sure they'd do just fine, it's me I have to teach!

Lily- I'm lucky that my husband came along, he'll haul the dolly with the crates, etc. while I handle the dogs. He'll usually potty one for me too  But it was an adventure doing both in the same class. Especially because we ended up with only one dog in between runs!
Halo is a Mithril dog, they are only a couple of hours from me which was nice for all the testing I do for SAR work. Both of my girls are Human Remains Detection dogs. I did find that the Mithril lines almost always turn out a few really nice working cadidates in a litter.
Unfortunately, she's hasn't been breeding for the past year or so. She's stationed overseas but I'm able to keep her up to date on Halo's accomplishments.


----------



## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Congratulations again on placing with all those lovely scores.

When I started working with Lily I only planned to do obedience. As you can see from the titles we have earned we have ended up doing lots of rally because I have found rally to be a very good training support for obedience.

Although you can talk to the dog more in rally I try not to. I will give second commands if I need to but only if I need to. When she does something hard but very well I will tell her good. This way I am giving her feedback that would NQ us in obedience with no penalty. Being able to give the second command got her back into the ring when she left at the start of our first advanced trial. I have found that rally advanced and excellent have helped her to understand that she has to stick with me through the whole open routine off leash. I never worry about giving my leash to the steward anymore.

Doing RAE legs is teaching Lily that one trial and done for the day is not how things will work from now on. It only took us 11 trials to get our ten RAE legs. The one mishap was my fault. It was an AM/PM two trials one day set up. In excellent in the morning the judge told me I lost points for crooked sits. In the afternoon I corrected them, not realizing she was dinging me for IPs every time I did so. Now if I get a sloppy sit for some reason I redo and take the three points off! Even though we have finished RAE, I will keep entering it until we are doing UDX legs so that she knows she has to do two routines, each of which will be different.

From the conversation I had in Springfield this weekend I was aware that Mithril is overseas and not breeding at the moment. Do you know when she will be back? I am starting to think about a puppy, but will have to find someone other than Lily's breeder since they have stopped.


----------



## Sookster (Apr 11, 2011)

fairhavenmagick said:


> Rally is so much fun. I actually think I'm going to have a hard time switching over to the OB ring. I want to talk to my dogs too much! I'm sure they'd do just fine, it's me I have to teach!
> 
> Halo is a Mithril dog, they are only a couple of hours from me which was nice for all the testing I do for SAR work. Both of my girls are Human Remains Detection dogs.


Isn't Rally a blast? I too am struggling with whether or not I want to take Sookie into the OB ring. We actually did beginner novice at a trial a couple weeks ago and Sookie got 2 legs, but she didn't enjoy it. I didn't really like it either :| But that was my first venture into obedience, and only my second time trying Rally so maybe I will warm up to it. I'm not sure Sookie is the dog for obedience though. She lacks confidence and really needs the verbal encouragement. We will see. We've only been training for it for a few months, so hopefully her confidence will increase. We are absolutely LOVING rally though. She got her URO 1 a couple months ago, and now has 2 legs toward her RN. 

I would LOVE to get involved in SAR, but haven't really been sure about where or how to start. I'm also not sure either of my current girls have the personality for it. Nova has no work ethic, and Sookie doesn't have much confidence, but I would be willing to give it a shot.


----------



## fairhavenmagick (Jan 19, 2011)

I'm looking forward to our next show in Feb. I'm debating whether or not to enter the girls in Beg Novice and Rally. I'm not sure how I would handle all that running around. And it's a 3 day show so there is a chance they could move up to Adavnced Rally- offlead! I have no idea how that would go over with Halo in a show setting!

If you are interested in SAR the best thing you can do is contact teams in your area. Often there is a lot you need to do before you can consider bringing a dog along so even if your girls end up not being a fit doesn't mean you can't be 
There is also a newish nosework sport that it becoming a thing. They use essential oils as the target scents.


----------



## Sookster (Apr 11, 2011)

There are so many things I would love to get involved in that just aren't offered in my area  

Beginner Novice really wasn't that bad. I think it's a good place to start and get your foot in the obedience door. Sookie's automatic sits fell apart (she just didn't do them), leash got tight on the outside turn during the figure 8, and I had to give 2 commands on the recall (unheard of outside of the ring for her) and I STILL got scores in the 90s. So I say go for it. You will never know if you like it if you don't try.


----------



## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Beginner novice is so much like rally novice you won't find it hard. I am always doing multiple events in single days now. Over Thanksgiving weekend I did RAE, open A obedience and agility three days in a row. That was too much. In the future I will keep days as either obedience or agility. 

When you are in rally and obedience you just make sure you talk to the stewards and/or the judge for the rings you are in to let them know you may have conflicts. They want you to succeed and will generally be very helpful. I have never missed a ring because of conflicts.


----------

