# Rally competition: questions & training



## poolann (Jan 31, 2013)

I'm starting this thread for folks who compete in rally or those that have questions. It is a great bonding activity with your dog and is not as exact as traditional obedience. I know we can all learn from each others successes and growing experiences! 

Please join me in wishing luck to Lily CD RE as she travels & competes at the AKC Rally National this week. The thread is her suggestion 

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## CT Girl (Nov 17, 2010)

Great idea for a thread. I just recently started classes and I am really enjoying them. I also think this training will be helpful with agility.


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## poolann (Jan 31, 2013)

CT Girl said:


> Great idea for a thread. I just recently started classes and I am really enjoying them. I also think this training will be helpful with agility.


All of the credit to Lily. 

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## CT Girl (Nov 17, 2010)

poolann said:


> All of the credit to Lily.
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com Free App


You can share the credit too, you started the thread


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## liljaker (Aug 6, 2011)

Great idea. I WANT to do rally with Sunny.....finding someplace locally that fits with a weekend schedule is the key. I am very interested in following this thread. Thank you.


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Good luck Lilly - I am sure that you will shine!


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Lily and I are here in Harrisburg! We got up early this morning to beat the rush hour traffic around New York City. We got a crate space that will work well for us, on the end of an aisle with a rail and curtain so there is no dog next to Lily and my chair on the other side. The crate set up behind us is for a small dog so we have space behind us. We are not at the end where the rings are, but we will have a good view down that way. We hung out for much of the afternoon at the show site. I let Lily relax with me or in her crate when we got set up. Then we walked all around where the vendors are and past the rings. We spent some more relax time then did some practice pivots and other things I think are likely to show up in tomorrow's courses such as moving down walk around, double about turn, stationary position changes, etc.

Around 3:00 we took a long slow walk all around the rings. We sat near them where the gallery will be. I talked to her about what we were going to do and gave her lots of pets and Zukes. She seems happy over there and we have had a nice relaxing evening. We will be turning in soon since we have to be up early. There will be live video streaming. Here is the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u3rV7a0dJs 

Thanks for the good wishes PF friends.


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## CT Girl (Nov 17, 2010)

That is good that you are getting Lily acclimated to the area and that you got such a good spot to put your crate. Good luck, we are rooting for you.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

We had fun today, but it was very intense, and our scores showed it (mostly in the low 80s). The courses were very good and the stewarding was great. The rings ran very well and everything stayed well on time. Several judges had very sharp pencils for some people and not so much for others. As a result many of us had a hard time understanding why we got the points off that we did, but everybody was graceful about accepting things as they turned out. 

Although I've done many AM/PM trial days (in other words 2 excellent and two advanced runs in one day) having three rings back to back to back with different judges seemed to be fatiguing for Lily. Our worst score was the advanced run just before lunch, but the last run after lunch was one of our best. One thing I would suggest to folks who are thinking about doing big events is to try to help your dog have good endurance for them.


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## CT Girl (Nov 17, 2010)

Excellent point. I wonder how you would built up that endurance, have them around a lot of hustle and bustle? I hope you and Lily had fun.


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## Countryboy (May 16, 2011)

liljaker said:


> Great idea. I WANT to do rally with Sunny.....finding someplace locally that fits with a weekend schedule is the key.


There's gotta be somewhere near u that will do training. If not weekends maybe one nite a week. But, once u pick it up over a couple of classes, u can practice Rally anywhere. On yr way to and from the beach, in a yard, even in a big living room. 

Sunny will pick it up in no time. It always takes the handler a little longer.  lol


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## Countryboy (May 16, 2011)

Uh-oh... now ya got me back on Rally again. lol

It's been years since I looked up this stuff. Long enuf ago that the .pdf with the printable (I imagine) signs wasn't available then. With a few of the common commands u could lay our yr own Rally practice course. 

Rally Signs.pdf

And the AKC Rally Regulations.pdf


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

CT Girl said:


> Excellent point. I wonder how you would built up that endurance, have them around a lot of hustle and bustle? I hope you and Lily had fun.


We are having fun this weekend. Lily has had lots of fun flirting with people when she isn't working. I volunteered to steward for the obedience championship today (very long day, but interesting!). Lily spent most of the day resting in her crate, but I had a friend take her out a couple of times and I played with her at lunch time. She seems pretty sacked out right now.

I think to build the stamina you just have to make sure they are in physically top condition for a start and spend lots of time at big trials so they get a feel for it. I know Lily is in good physical condition, so we really will have to up our mental preparation with some big clusters while we work on utility and beyond (with the hopes that we will qualify for national obedience in a couple of years).


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

So I finally got to sift through some of the video on YouTube from the nationals (use the link above). There are some really great runs that you can see there and some goof ups (it is ten hours long!, so lots of dogs and handlers). There were three black standards in RAE. We had consecutive armband numbers. You can see all of us on our last run (advanced) starting right around the seven hour mark. Lily and I were last of the three of us.


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## spindledreams (Aug 7, 2012)

*A tale of two finishes....*

Okay funny question Jazz has finish to the left pretty well down including an extra little pop up she added on her own (someone talk me out of trying to teach her a flip finish) 

ON THE OTHER HAND finish to the right is a total flop. If I pull her around with the leash she very reluctantly does it even for her favorite treat. off leash sigh she refuses to move more then a quarter of the way around and sits glaring at me...

HELP how to I make her finish to right as fun as the finish to the left?


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Do you have a toy that she really loves that you could use as a lure? Show it when she is at front in your right hand and pass it off to your left hand as she follows it around behind you. Drop it right in front of where you want her to sit. I wouldn't throw it out in front of you since you don't want to teach her to take off on you.


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## Countryboy (May 16, 2011)

I used to walk Spud on a 6' flat, woven leash. That was good for our regular strolls. He would walk off to the side, sniff, and explore on this leash.

In training or a competition tho, we used a show/ring/slip leash... very narrow, and completely different than his stroll leash. 

As soon as I put on the ring leash, he never left my side. Always in a heel position. He knew he was in performance mode with that leash.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

I also used to use a separate leash and collar with Lily for performance vs. walk in the neighborhood. Now that all her obedience and rally performance is off leash that doesn't seem to matter too much, so I use pretty matching collars and leashes. This way if we do really well and want a picture we are wearing our "blingy" things. I do still use a separate leash with a martingale for entering agility rings. Also of course for tracking she wears a harness and we are on a long line. For tracking we have a routine around "getting dressed" to go find stuff.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

I had a thought from reading another thread that for those of you who are interested in rally, but don't have a class you can go to. There are many things you can do to prepare for rally on your own, but what I was particularly thinking about just now was position changes. With your dog at heel you can practice sit to down, sit to stand and other such combinations (e.g. sit down sit). You can also practice down while heeling and walking around your stationary dog in all those positions. You don't need any special equipment for those.


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Quick beginner tip - if your dog is used to coming to a finish sit in front of you, or just sitting in front of you for a treat, walking with the dog between you and a wall helps enormously to keep her in place by your side!


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

fjm said:


> Quick beginner tip - if your dog is used to coming to a finish sit in front of you, or just sitting in front of you for a treat, walking with the dog between you and a wall helps enormously to keep her in place by your side!


This is also a great way to teach the AKC excellent exercise "back up three steps, dog remains in position (at heel)."


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