Rally Obedience is a fun, encouraging and welcoming dog sport that is sort of like a cross between Obedience and Agility. Instead of a judge telling you your next move, Rally, for short, consists of a course, with stations, not unlike a numbered agility course. You are required to heel the course and perform all displayed stations under a certain time with less than a certain number of points lost. There is no judge telling you where to go, rather the stations are numbered, and you complete the course on your own, with the judge off to the side marking your performance.
Ok, fine, but you are not interested in competing. No problem! Rally Obedience is a fantastic way to reduce energy, work your dogs (and your own) mind, teach new skills, and build a fantastic relationship. Rally can be done anywhere, with any dog, and it is inexpensive, and easy to set up for even the most beginner team. I really do love the sport as it is much more welcoming to new comers and is less stressful over all, from a competition standpoint, than obedience and agility.
We encourage positive dog/handler interaction throughout the training and competing, and unlike regular obedience, rally encourages verbal motivation throughout the course, whether training or competing. The main component of rally obedience heeling and engagement. Once you have that down, the rest comes very easily. I highly encourage anyone who’s even remotely interested to give it a try. It’s always a benefit to training your dog, not matter what you are teaching, and rally obedience is no exception.
I have included a couple videos below as examples of what you might encounter on a rally course. You will note, one of my dogs is clearly more intelligent than the other (or else one of them thinks he’s pretty funny). If you are intrigued, we will be offering a novice/intro Rally Obedience course for all levels and all dogs. Please contact us if you are interested in learning more dogtraining101@hotmail.com
Smart Dogs Canine Training Milton 