# Tips for new obedience and rally exhibitors



## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

I've been asked by a couple of different people here and at my club for opinions about whether they are ready for showing and the like recently. Those conversations have made me realize that there is a lot that obedience instructors don't necessarily communicate to their students about the ins and outs of being successful with all the bits other than knowing the exercises that go into those beautiful runs you see by top teams.

I will share some of my helpful hints here, but also hope people will ask questions and that others who have done performance sports will share their tips. 

If you are doing obedience (or rally) make sure that your dog knows all exercises for all levels before you start showing at the lower levels. In other words train through utility before showing in novice. One thing this does is helps give your dog confidence for those first times at trial. If the dog can do utility signals then the novice routine is no big deal and they will get through novice with no problems. The other thing it does is it lets you be just about ready for open as soon as you finish novice. Why should you and your dog now have to take another year of training time before working on your next title? 

Practice in the kinds of places you will enter trials. If you only practice indoors then don't enter an outdoor trial for your first experience. If you practice in a very small facility find a trial with one or two trial rings rather than something like the Thanksgiving cluster in West Springfield, Massachusetts where there are over 20 conformation rings in one building and five obedience and rally rings in another and four agility rings in another. I know people who have entered all of those events in a single day and they run around like crazy and end up on the agility course in their show suits. For a green dog this is an overwhelming venue even if you just stay around the obedience and rally building.

Make sure to go to matches if you have them in your area (and try to organize some if you don't). Ideally a dog should do qualifying routines under matches that you treat like trials three times before you think of entering. The best thing you can do in terms of matches is go to matches at the facilities where you will trial. Some of the events I go to I enter specifically because there are opportunities to match in the trial rings the day before the first event or in the evenings after judging is completed. To illustrate how helpful this has been for Lily and me, we were at a three day trial where you could match after judging was over. In the first day we were qualifying for what would have been our second novice leg. It wasn't pretty though. We probably would have had a score in the low to mid 170s, but we got excused when Lily did the zoomies between the sit and the down. I decided to try to reset her before the down and when I asked her to stand up she took off. Thankfully she didn't wreck anyone else's downs. That evening some friends helped me to proof her stays very heavily. There was nothing in the world that would have made her break the next day. But that wasn't the only benefit. She gained so much confidence from the practice that on the second day we got a 195 and took first in the novice a class. The third day I entered rally novice and her first RN leg was a very nice 95.

That's enough for now. I will add more later and hope to have an interesting and helpful conversation about all those things that some people know, but never think to say to others.


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## zooeysmom (Jan 3, 2014)

Very helpful, thank you! :adore: I had no idea I should be training for the highest level of rally before competing!


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

If you teach those higher level signs then you don't have to wait to enter higher levels! Let's say you get a title on a Saturday and are entered for the same level on Sunday. In many rally trials as long as you notify the trial secretary early enough before the next day's trial you can transfer to the next class. the same applies to agility.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Don't practice in a sterile environment! Many years ago when Lily was young I had a conversation with someone at work who had occasionally gone to my obedience club with her BC with whom she did rally. I was new there so I didn't know too much about how things worked there and asked her what she thought of the training environment. She replied that she didn't like it too well since there often were people doing stuff with their dogs right next to the training floor and her dog found it too distracting. The reality is I wish I had more people doing stuff next to the ring a lot of the time. This is more like the picture at a trial. The on deck dog and handler will be warming up near your ring. Other people and dogs will be walking by. There will be a gallery and there will be noise. If you are practicing in a quiet place play some music or even better a recording of dog show sounds (barking, people clapping and the like). Judges often put chalk or tape marks on the floor to indicate things like the minimum distance away from the broad jump you need to be. These used to be a distraction for Lily. We fixed that by drawing on the floor with chalk, putting out bits of tissues and cotton balls to represent shed dog hair that can accumulate and such. If you want to do rally, invest in signs and stands. You can practice without them, but if you do you run the risk that you will be saying lots of leave its in your trial if your dog isn't used to having them around.


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## Axeldog (Aug 29, 2014)

lily cd re said:


> If you teach those higher level signs then you don't have to wait to enter higher levels! Let's say you get a title on a Saturday and are entered for the same level on Sunday. In many rally trials as long as you notify the trial secretary early enough before the next day's trial you can transfer to the next class. the same applies to agility.


This is exactly where Axel and I are

Last summer, I memorized the Rally Novice signs, and we got his BN in three trials. Now... admittedly I have been lazy and not working him much, but I still need to learn all the new Advanced signs well and teach him the new exercises before we compete again.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

Darn - twice I wrote out a long response and the internet gremlins stole it. 

I do agree with training open and utility while you are still working on novice. You feel you have the time to properly train them without the stress. One of my trainers also pointed out that you need to reach and complete utility while your dog is still healthy enough to carry a dumbbell over a jump, have acute sense of smell for article work etc.

However for those of us who have never participated in a trial - there is a lot more to it than just doing the exercises you have practiced in class, at home and elsewhere. Knowing how to prepare your dog, hanging around til it's your turn, keeping your dog rested when your dog needs to rest and focused when you're heading into the ring, and dealing with your own nerves is not something that you're born with - it's something you learn and adjust along the way. The experience you have with one dog helps with the next. You may not qualify at a trial but come away with an improved strategy for the next. 

My first love is Obedience - I find it the most challenging and gives me a solid base for everything. Agility is lots of fun. But I'm going to use World Cynosport Rally to ease our way into competing in Obedience. One of the clubs I take classes in does World Cynosport Rally and I've signed up for it. I will treat it like Obedience - not a lot of cheerleading, instead focusing on signaling with body movement. I like that I can use it to wean off treats in the trial because you can hide food in your pocket and opt to treat in a stationary exercise.


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

I can't thank you enough for this thread. Please keep updating it as more stuff pops in your head, Lily. I never would have thought of training ALL the exercises before competing. It makes so much more sense to do it that way. 

My first goal is getting a really sharp heel. A truly awesome heel is something that I love to watch other dogs do. But, I have no idea how to train my own dog to do it. Noelle and I are off to our first Rally class in the next few weeks. We got our CGC, the golden ticket to new and fun adventures. Whoopee!


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

I am getting ready to leave the house with Lily to go to our advanced workshop/clinic, but I will address that issue of heeling here when I get settled this evening at our hotel.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

Click-N-Treat said:


> I can't thank you enough for this thread. Please keep updating it as more stuff pops in your head, Lily. I never would have thought of training ALL the exercises before competing. It makes so much more sense to do it that way.
> 
> My first goal is getting a really sharp heel. A truly awesome heel is something that I love to watch other dogs do. But, I have no idea how to train my own dog to do it. Noelle and I are off to our first Rally class in the next few weeks. We got our CGC, the golden ticket to new and fun adventures. Whoopee!


Heeling and focus are my two areas we are working on. I struggle with focus and sometimes I regret getting a dog that was a almost a year old instead of a puppy that I could have developed that special bond from 8 weeks old. My dog loves me and will always come back to me but she's happy to go to someone else and work for them - she's not a one person dog. OTOH I've seen enough dogs in my various classes that I know that while we struggle with X - others struggle with Y or Z. The strange thing is people in class point out how well focused my dog is and how good she is heeling - but I just don't see it. I do see the other dogs in the class doing so well and feel my dog is lagging (she does lag sometimes in the figure eight). Unless I'm in that small section where there are mirrors and I remember to look, when I'm standing up correctly, I really don't see what my dog is doing. (Those of us with smaller dogs are at a disadvantage here as I only see a tiny part of her head out of my peripheral vision if she is in the proper heel position). DH took a video once and it looked good, but there was furniture in the way. I do know we have moments of brilliance and I look forward to the day when those moments stretch into longer periods.

As for heeling - I have this picture in my mind of one of my trainers dogs heeling - but I have to keep reminding myself that she's been training her dog for 7 years and she's still working on heeling. I love when the dog is looking up at the handler with this adoring face (that's what that trainer's dog does so beautifully)- however that head turned looking up is hard on the dogs neck and not what heeling is about. Heeling is being in the defined heel position and maintaining that heel position no matter what the handler does - whether they speed up, slow down, make an about turn or a circle etc. "The dog should be at the handler’s left side straight in line with the direction the handler is facing. The area from the dog’s head to shoulder is to be in line with the handler’s left hip. The dog should be close to but not crowding its handler so that the handler has freedom of motion at all times." Quoted from AKC's Obedience Regulations.

Click-N-Treat, I think you'll have an advantage with Noelle's focus on you that you've trained for her service dog work. I know you're going to love Rally.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

The classic way of training for Obedience was you trained for Novice and only when you completed Novice then you trained for Open, and once completed you began Utility.

One of the books my trainers recommended has a different schedule of training which makes a lot more sense to me - and it follows that philosophy about training for Novice, Open and Utility before you start competing. The book is Competitive Obedience Training for the Small Dog by Barbara Cecil and Gerianne Darnell. Novice =N, Open =O and Utility =U

They have a diagram in their book that I can't copy but I'll try to describe. The training overlaps, once the dog is comfortable and understands the concept but hasn't perfected it you layer in the next step. You first teach Stays (N) and when the dog is comfortable with the concept you add in Heeling and Figure 8 (N). Then Recall, Fronts, Finishes and Go-out (N). Next layer in Dumbbell Retrieve (O). Then High Bar and Broad Jump (O). Next is Signals and Drop on Recall (O). Then there is Directed Retrieve (U) and the last step is Scent (O). With this method the dog should be ready to enter Novice while you're still perfecting O and again ready to do O while you're finished in U training.

This is one books recommendation so I'm sure Catherine has other ideas based on her experience and knowledge. 

I don't know enough about Rally but the concepts would be similar.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Well we had a great day today. Lily found some of the work difficult because the methods being used are not how I taught her originally. We will tough it all out though. And she is very happy because to my pleasant surprise a friend of ours from upstate NY is here with her black spoo boy. She loves Stacey very much and we had a chance to work on something challenging for her with our friend as our assistant. I feel very positive about some excellent work we did on the utility signals. There is one rottweiler here and he worked just on the other side of the ring gates from where we are set up and Lily was pretty relaxed watching him. He seems not to have the rottie vibe that she often is afraid of, so him being there should be good for her.

Okay so we have to have definitions for what we think heeling is before we can decide if we like the behavior the dog gives. For Lily I never taught her to do heads up heeling, but I have struggled so badly with utililty because I was lax about her heeling that I have distinctly different heeling criteria for Javelin. Lily pays attention but also has had a history of scanning around and in utility this is deadly. What most people think is heeling is really just nice loose leash manners. If the dog is not close to you or his head and shoulders are out in front of you or you can't look down your pants seam and make eye contact with your dog the dog is not heeling. While I have worked on other issues with Lily her heeling has improved significantly but she will never be the beautiful heeling dog that Javelin is becoming. With Javelin we always can easily make eye contact because he is always looking to my face for information. What I expect from Javelin outside of the setting of obedience work is not heeling by my performance criteria. I do not expect him to keep heads up but I do want him to be at a close approximation of heel position and I do expect him to check in frequently but maintain constant heads up, no... We also have to pay attention to the pace/gait of the dog. When I am walking to my office from the parking lot I walk at a pace that allows Javelin to amble. When we heel he has to trot, so for heeling I pay much more attention to my feet and how I move them than I do when we are just walking in from a parking lot.

Here is how we made that happen. You need long strands of treats like slices of hot dogs the long way or strips of string cheese. You will set yourself up next to a wall with the dog between you and the the wall. Dangle the long cookie over the dogs head with your hand held next to the crest of your hip for a spoo or along side your thigh for a shorter dog. Keep your hand lined up with your pants seam. The dog does not have to sit at the start of this and they don't have to sit when you stop early on. Tell them let's go and step off on your left foot with the dog attending to the cookie above their head. This will line them up to make eye contact with you. Initially you may only take a step or two, but it is important to mark the steps taken with his head up and not allow them to look away. Remember they have no understanding of what you want and so effectively you are really luring/shaping the first steps. If the dog looks away say your correction marker and stop then reset the correct heads up picture. Working on a wall will keep the dog from wrapping in front of your leg and sidewinding/forging. Gradually you will be able to add more steps and you will continue to mark the correct behavior with yes and a bite of the cookie while the dog is still correct.. Make sure you don't let the dog nibble at or jump up for the cookie while moving, but pay well by marking the correct posture frequently even if just for a few steps. With Javelin we now can go the length of the ring and do pace changes and halts with 95%+ correct responses. He has really nice left turns but still is figuring out lefts and abouts. We have worked seriously hard on this for over a year now and it is just beginning to approximate heeling that I would find acceptable from him. Keep in mind though I am looking to get full points, not just good enough to qualify. When I am home next week I will try to get some video to show what I am doing. My trainer says that if we can get impeccable heeling (meaning unflagging attention) then almost everything else will follow without too much trouble.


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

Thank you for your description of training heel. Noelle heels nicely with eye contact... by walls. Yes, when we are against a wall, she's got it figured out. If I step away from the wall, no idea what I want. Back to the wall, and heeling. How do we remove the wall? I swear Noelle learns in the weirdest behavior chunks, and she picks up on external cues and relies on them hard. 

For example, in the grocery store she will walk next to my leg in aisles 3, 5, and 12, but not in the other ones. Those she pulls ahead and aligns herself with the shopping cart. Why? No idea. I get perfect eye contact heeling in the soap aisle. Why? No idea. But, she heels and gives stunning eye contact in that location without me saying anything.

Noelle, smelling soap, Oh, look, we're in the watch Mom and heel spot. Ok, I dos that now. 

I can watch Noelle take a deep breath when we get to the end of the aisle.

Noelle, dusting off her wee paws says, Great, now that we're done with thats, I'm going to pull ahead and walk by the cart nows.

Facepalm. Am I the only one dealing with inexplicable poodle weirdness, or is that just Noelle being Noelle? If it is a poodle thing, HELP! She's using external cues way too much.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

Haha, I tried that trick of dangling a long string of turkey and OMG - if I could do this in a trial we'd be finished Novice tomorrow. Babykins did jump up and grabbed the whole piece of turkey and I had to grab it back out of her mouth. I wasn't surprised because sometimes during heeling we've done "touch" where she jumps up to grab a treat. She must have been waiting for that "touch" command and when it didn't come quickly enough she took matters into her own hands - uhm, mouth. 

Click-N-Treat, it looks like Noelle has not yet generalized what she has learned about heeling. She needs additional training in the other aisles - enough that she finally realizes that every store aisle requires heeling.


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

Skylar,

I've been working on that for six months! :rofl: She just seems to learn in the weirdest inexplicable chunks. Here in this location we do this thing. Here in this location we do this other thing. And here in this location we needs to do this. 

I think what happened was I rewarded her early on in those places and she learned to anticipate a reward in that specific location. When I reward her in the other locations, it's not having the same effect. 

Yes, thank you for givings me a treat. I likes that very much. Now let's continue our walks and I'll pull ahead slightly next to the shopping cart like always, until we gets to the correct heeling place and I'll heels again. 

Noelle learns very rapidly, but does not generalize well at all. She has a brain like an ice cube tray, each thing she learns goes in a specific compartment. It takes a great deal of effort to overload the tray and spill things over into all locations. So instead of working on teaching a skill, I spend way more time getting Noelle to generalize a skill. 

However, today we went outside and she heeled without a wall, with eye contact, and it was fun. We did pace changes and she enjoyed it. Slow is fun for her because I creep, creep, creep and make it a dance move. So, I think she is getting the idea.

And the turkey snatching was hilarious, by the way.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Yes there do seem to be "punctuated equilibria" with a lot of these things. Make sure your dog is clear on where their focal point should before you try to get away from the wall. If the dog knows where it should be looking it won't notice that you are moving away from the wall. For Lily she looks generally at my hip, but for Javelin he has to look at the side of my face. When I look at Lily while heeling I can see the corner of her right eye, but with Javelin I make direct eye contact with him if I glance down to my left side.

Here's how to get away from the wall. Once you get good on the wall for a decent distance and with your cookie held way up above the dog's head (like dangling from your mouth or even better invisible in your mouth) you will set up away from the wall and do some focus games, get the dog sitting at heel and take one, two, three steps (however many you get *before* the dog looks away or otherwise drops their head) and then mark that with a yes and feed. Gradually you will add more steps just like when you heeled in a hallway or along a ring gate. Gradually you will move the cookie up and then out of sight just like on the wall. Then you will teach turns with heads up. Then you will teach changes of pace with heads up. I have been working very hard on Javelin's heeling for over a year now and we are still dealing with issues on the right and about turns and have just finally gotten the left turn to be pretty good. In other words you will need to spend tons of time and be very patient.

If your dog tends to forge think about why this happens. Are they trying to see your full face? If the dog is smaller they will have to forge to do so. Choose a lower focal point like your hip. If the dog is tall and forging then the focal point probably isn't the problem, they are just being impatient. Is your pace correct to keep them trotting or are they ambling? Staying in position won't happen if you aren't keeping your pace correct. Another thing you can do with a dog that forges is to put a 2nd leash on the dog. You will hold one leash in your left hand and the 2nd one behind your legs and in your right hand. When the dog starts to forge you stop and put your left leg behind you to apply pressure to the back leash and let the dog know they have to move back to the proper place. For dogs that lag you are probably being too boring and they think that heeling is just unfun. Play more motivational games and you will get a brighter affect and the lagging will fade away.


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