TRAINING TIPS

Rally Obedience.

Rally –O.

Rally.

Published with permission by the author, Julie Barrett.

What is it?

How do you perform the exercises?

How do you mark the performance?

The questions can go on and on………

I was under the impression that the majority of obedience clubs, pet or competitive, knew all about Rally-O – how wrong I was! After a telephone conversation, just the other day, I was brought back down to earth and reality – in the UK it is not a widely known sport for dogs!

Some of those ‘in the know’ about Rally-O may be a bit bemused by it. The lack of knowledge brings comments some of which have been “it’s too easy!”, “well, what’s the point of it?”, “It’s boring!!!” But invariably that is from people who have never tried it!

So what is Rally?.........

It’s about team work. Basically, the owner and dog follow a course designed by the judge. The stations are numbered to show which direction the competitors have to take, and the degree of difficulty at each station depends on the level at which the team is competing. Owners are encouraged to smile and talk to their dogs, give praise and in some classes titbits are allowed at stationary exercises.

Where did it come from? Whose Idea was it? In the USA during the mid-1980’s American Professor ‘Charles L (Bud) Kramer‘ was instrumental in the concept of dog agility. Later he become concerned that agility was causing the demise of competitive obedience. With waning interest and falling entries, he realised something was needed to bring new interest to competitive obedience. During 1998 while watching competitors ‘doodling’ (warming up) outside the obedience rings, his ideas for Rally Obedience were born.

With every dog owner in mind, he gave each obedience exercise a degree of difficulty, then split the exercises into groups and called each group a ‘level’; he then thought at great length about rules and added a scoring system. In 1999 Bud published four articles on Rally Obedience in the American journal ‘Front and Finish’ it was also about this time that the nickname “Rally-O” was given to the new sport. Later during the same year the American Kennel Club (AKC) asked for permission to use the copyright materials of Rally Obedience; AKC has now developed Rally-O into its own formatted program, and has now run Rally as a titled event since 2005.

During 2001 the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT) asked for permission to use the copyrighted format of the concept of Rally Obedience; permission was granted and APDT Rally is now a titled event which is organised as close as possible to Charles ‘Bud’ Kramer’s original concept for Rally-O. There are now many Rally Obedience ‘Associations’ worldwide with Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Finland, Sweden and Germany to name a few; and it has now reached the shores of the UK where at present there are three Rally-O organisations, most of which base their signs upon the many available from the USA.

I started using AKC Rally signs to ‘pep-up’ my classes - put a sign in front of a pet dog owner and hey pesto the interest is amazing! String a number of signs together to form a course and the concentration becomes intense; add a scoring system that they understand and which doesn’t hammer every misdemeanour, and watch ‘owner and dog’ become a team.

The fact that many of the exercises or ‘stations’ are taught in the puppy class, and that many owners and dogs have been doing the exercises for months (in some cases years) is forgotten. Their enjoyment soars and the ‘want’ to do better increases.

Signs! WHAT signs? – The Sign used at each station can vary in appearance; each organisation having their own set of signs. Many signs are similar in appearance but the performance criteria can be very different from organisation to organisation.

Signs can be downloaded free from most Rally organisations website’s along with the exercise performance. Each exercise sign is known as a ‘station’ and is based on a competitive obedience exercise. BUT remember we are talking USA with different obedience exercises. Anyone seen the World Obedience competition at Crufts? Anyone watched FCI Obedience?. Don’t forget the concept of Rally came from Bud Kramer, an American, therefore Rally exercises have been based on AKC and FCI obedience exercises. In our traditional obedience we do not have a food refusal (off-set figure 8), a bar jump, or Left about turn (continental left about turn), to name but a few of the extra ‘non-UK standard’ exercises.

Depending on the organisation holding the Rally trial, owners are encouraged to talk to their dogs and give praise, in some classes titbits are allowed at stationery exercises (yes that could be ‘stationery stations’!). Nor does Rally require the dog to look ‘lovingly’ at its owner with its head glued or velcro’d to the owner’s leg! Please don’t get me wrong, I love traditional competitive obedience heelwork. Heelwork in Rally is encouraged to be attentive, consistent, and within touching distance of the owner; remember old-style working trial’s heelwork?

As I have already said, Rally is about team work. It is also about having a well-trained, happy and obedient dog. Dogs must be on a flat collar (canvas or leather/snap or buckle fastening), half-checks and martingale collars are also allowed; some organisations will also allow head collars and no pull harnesses, whilst others will only allow a standard harness. No organisation will allow the use of E-collars, spray collars, prong collars, Slip collars/leads, choke/check chains.

As a general rule there are 3 levels in which to compete; each level is divided into two streams ‘A’ and ‘B’. Every team starts at the bottom, in level 1 ‘A’ after gaining three qualifying rounds (sometimes known as legs) under two different judges a team leaves the ‘A’ stream with the title RL1 behind the dog’s name, and moves into the ‘B’ stream, teams may continue competing in the level 1 ‘B’ stream, for as long as they wish, gaining many qualifying rounds and working towards Awards of Excellence and a level 1 Champions title. Once the RL1 is gained; teams can also start competing in level 2A, it is a big step from level 1 to level 2 as the exercises are more difficult and are performed off lead. Some organisations have Puppy and Veteran Classes. PDRO uses colours for the different levels (ie. Pink, Bronze etc), and has a slightly different stream criteria in that teams stay in the stream they are eligible to compete in.

With the exception of UK Rally (APDT) there is no 1st prize, this is worked out by using score + time. However in all organisations teams compete to better them-selves and gain qualifying rounds enabling them to gain titles of excellence within the sport of Rally.

So what is a ‘qualifying round’? or ‘qualifier’ as it is sometimes known. Depending on the level being worked a course consists of 10 – 20 stations. To qualify a team must complete the course including the bonus station, within the course time, without an NQ and with a score of 170 or above.

Whilst traditional obedience allows judges, if they so wish to deduct in ¼ ‘s, ½ ‘s or 1 point marks, it is then left to the individual judge to decide on just how many points to deduct for a tight lead, crooked sit, additional commands etc.

Rally judges deduct points in increments of 1, 2, 3 or 5 points (in PDRO only 10 and 20 point deductions can be made) There is also an NQ (non-qualified). Teams NQ at any station were 10 or more points are lost (15 in one organisations rules).

This now leads you to ask ‘What’s a Non-Qualifier?’ or ‘NQ’? – Good question. NQ quite simply means you have failed to qualify. All organisations have a list of misdemeanours that will cause a team to ‘non-qualify’ instantly whilst working their round. Amongst these are constant barking, continuous lead jerks/bopping. Losing 10 or more points at any one station (15 points in PDRO), or passing on opposite sides of a cone can cause a team to NQ.

A harsh verbal/physical command will not only receive an NQ, you will also be asked to leave the ring.

The course is designed by the Judge; he/she will design their course from a selection of station signs. Each level has its own set of signs, a level 1 course will be made from level 1 signs, while level 2 and 3 courses will be made from its own signs plus signs from the lower level(s). Handlers walk the course before judging begins; this allows handlers to get a feel of the course, along with the direction it takes, and the exercises required at each numbered station, judges are present at the walk through to answer any questions handlers may have about the course.

Courses are timed, and once again this depends on the organisations rules. PDRO do not time courses, UK Rally has a course time of 4 minutes, while in TDRally teams have 10 minutes to complete the course.

Teams enter the Rally ring with 200 points. On entering the ring your partner must be on lead, before starting the judge will check your team details, and you will be asked whether or not the team will do the optional Bonus Exercise, after which you will then be directed to the starting line.

You’ve arrived at the starting line, there’s no steward to ask if you’re ready, no-one to tell you to start. Your team member does not have to be sitting beside you. When you’re both ready and you cross the start line, timing and judging begins.

As you make your way around the course, the judge will be looking for inconsistencies in heelwork, inattention, errors made by your partner, handler errors, performance mistakes, course deviation. As you cross the finish line, timing stops.

OK you’ve crossed the finish line, let’s look at some of the things you will be likely to lose points on. Always check the scoring guide lines of the Rally organisation whose trial you are competing in, as they vary considerably regarding some rules for example; Luring and Flow. Luring depending again on whose rules and regulations you are working with can mean the difference between a 1 point or 5 point deduction to an NQ. Flow - as you work the course each station should appear to flow into each other without any hesitations from handler and dog, stepping back on left turns or touch rewards that interfere with the smooth flow of movement to name but a few of things that will cause the loss of 1 point. Other examples of points you could lose are, 1 point every time you allow the lead to go tight. When doing the exercise: halt, sit, walk around, don’t to tempted to drop the lead as this will earn you a 1 point deduction, as will a 45-90degree crooked sit, yes you read that right; your partner isn’t deemed crooked until he’s 45 degrees out of place from the desired zero degree position. Excessive barking will either get you a 2 point deduction at every woof! or if barking continues for more than a third of the course, it could earn you an NQ. Knocking over a cone could cost 3 or 5 points again depending on whose rules and regulations you are competing under.

While an automatic 3 point deduction is made for a re-try, yes you can re-try a station but be careful you return to the start of the exercise or you could end up with an extra loss of 5 points for SNC/ENC (station/exercise not complete).

So where is the start and end of a station? A common misconception is that the station is the area just in front of or to the left of the station sign. An exercise should be performed within 2 – 4 feet of the station sign depending on the size of your dog…... The first station on a course starts at the back of the start sign, and finishes as you pass the 1st station sign; after the exercise is performed the team continue to the next station keeping the performed sign on their right, unless otherwise stated in the organisations rules, a sign may be placed on the left if the judge deems it appropriate or in front of the exercise in which case this will be pointed out at the walk through.

Let’s now leave the round behind and look at the Bonus Station. There is only one bonus exercise on a course and it is performed at the end of the round. As you are now aware a team needs a score of 170 or higher to qualify, any team starting the bonus on a score of 161 or higher could gain a qualifier, but those with a qualifying score could just as easily end up with an NQ. Although the clock stops on crossing the finishing line, be careful, as in two of the organisations judging will continue between the finish line and the bonus start line. The Bonus has a value of 10 points, points which can be gained; points lost on the bonus are taken from the 10 point value and the remaining points will then be added to the final round score. Any team who commits a NQ error during the bonus will forfeit the whole round. However one organisation allows 15 points to be lost before the NQ kicks in, thus any points lost over 10 will be deducted from the round score.

Each organisation has their own point system for teams to earn Titles and National Rankings, and with three Rally organisations in the UK at present, it is the individual’s responsibility to ensure they know and understand the performance criteria, rules, regulations and scoring systems of the organisation that they are competing in. Although you can compete at any trial providing you met the entry requirements, qualifying rounds only stand within the Rally organisation whose rules and regulations you are competing in.

Rally is a new sport in the UK. Those Rally Organisations running trials in the UK, are still developing and putting their own perspective to their own Rules and Regulations. All organisations require Dogs to be sociable. However one organisation recognises that some dogs, like some humans do not like being crowded and allows the wearing of a green collar and lead as an indication of this

Charles ‘Bud’ Kramer, has trained and competed with his dogs in Obedience and agility for over 40 years. He had an idea which he developed into what is now known as Rally Obedience or Rally-O. It was and still is his hope that Rally will encourage people to have an obedient and well trained dog, while having fun and enjoyment along the way. Those who have more competitive interests will have a go at a local trial and maybe try and improve their performance. Rally could be a stepping stone into traditional obedience or agility; it can also be a stand-alone sport.

Rally has many uses, it can be used by pet dog trainers to put an element of fun into instructing and training helping owners and their dogs trust and gain confidence in each other as a TEAM!!! it is also a sport for everyone to enjoy.

Julie Barrett – UK Rally (APDT) Judge levels 1,2,&3

Permission to use the station signs in this article has been kindly granted by.

UK Rally (APDT)

Pet Dog Rally Obedience

Talking Dogs Rally

More Training Tips Soon!