Rally or traditional obedience?

[SleepiTune]

I'm considering enrolling Mud in either an obedience class or a rally obedience class and I'm wondering which would be recommended? I know a lot more about regular formal obedience than I do about rally.

How do most people in the dog show world view rally? I would imagine that the serious showers would view it as a "fun" sport for beginners and not take it too seriously, but I could be wrong. I also imagine it would be easier to train a Dachshund for rally since it's not as strict and well...let's face it, most Dachsies are living for FUN, not for perfection. LOL (And I'm NOT complaining!)

I think there would be something a lot more accomplishing feeling about earning an obedience title than earning a rally title.
Is it possible to start with rally and move onto formal obedience, or is it best to start training for formal obedience right off the bat so the dog gets into the right habits??

[Tucker's Mom]

Wow - I can tell that you've really been giving this some serious thought before jumping in with both feet and 4 paws LOL. I am not an expert, by any means; so, this is just the approach that I decided to use. Tucker and I took 3 regular obedience classes (puppy, beginner and intermediate) before we did Beginner Rally and Beginner Agility this summer. If I had it to do over again, I'd do that exact same thing. My feeling is that having the basic commands down and having had the "class room" experience was so beneficial for both Tucker and me before we went into Rally and Agility.

We could then concentrate on learning the rally signs and the agility course without being bogged down with teaching "sit, down, stay", etc.

Tucker loved Rally and so did I. We've already signed up for the advanced rally class in the fall. Agility is great exercise for both pup and handler and we may take an advanced class in that someday as well.

Do I ever plan to do rally trials or show in conformation or formal obedience ??????. Our rally instructor wanted Tucker to start doing rally trials this fall; but, I'm not confident enough yet. LOL

Even if we never step foot inside of any kind of show ring, I feel that the more time you can spend learning and teaching the better. It's kind of like education for humans - noone can ever take it away from you.

Hope this helps and I'm sure that others will have ideas as well. Good luck with whatever you decide to do. I'm sure that you and Mud will enjoy the time that you can spend in training. Keep us posted and have fun!

[kpm_tex]

If you can do traditional obedience, you can do rally very easily.
I would suggest though doing what I did with Badger so that Mud has
a good foundation and you're not trying to catch up on what other
dogs and handlers in the Rally class already know.
When I started out with Badger we took an advanced obedience class
where he learned heal, front, finish, various other stuff you don't
work on in a basic. The next class we took was a Rally class where
we actually put what we learned in the other class to work.
I don't think we will ever compete in regular obedience, though I
won't rule it out entirely, but Rally as an event is more fun, IMO,
than regular obedience.
I think regular obedience folks are warming up to rally and really
once you get past novice and are off leash it does take some work.
I have heard they are going to tighten up the rules in Rally at the
beginning of the year... I still need to check out what the changes
are. Rally Novice, being on leash, is a piece of cake with a dog
that at least has a clue what is going on and tries. Just don't
skip a station.
As far as competition.. I'd start in Rally and work your way to regular obedience if you find you want to do that as well ... or you can do both.. no rule says you can't!

[SleepiTune]

Ok thanks! That helps me a lot. So basically I should focus on teaching him all the basics and maybe some advanced obedience as well, then I can go from there. I am going to go work on training right this instant! I feel like going through an obedience class would better prepare us for the show ring as well, because we'd devlop that training bond and he'd be better socialized for showing. I'm just dying to at least do something with him!

Thanks again you guys!!!

[kpm_tex]

Do I ever plan to do rally trials or show in conformation or formal obedience ??????. Our rally instructor wanted Tucker to start doing rally trials this fall; but, I'm not confident enough yet. LOL


Oh go for it!!! At an all breed show you'll have everything from Newfies to Chihuahuas competing. It's fun and you only need a 70 to pass. Our lowest score in Novice was an 83 and I and everyone else I knew was sure we didn't qualify.... But then the Judge wrote down 83 :wahooo:

We did better then next day.

[TessieMom]

I thought about doing rally, but then I started agility and that has taken all my time! Good Luck! I know you will do great.

[Suzanne R]

Just jump in and get started - you'll have a blast!!

[SleepiTune]

Oh go for it!!! At an all breed show you'll have everything from Newfies to Chihuahuas competing. It's fun and you only need a 70 to pass. Our lowest score in Novice was an 83 and I and everyone else I knew was sure we didn't qualify.... But then the Judge wrote down 83 :wahooo:

We did better then next day.

I totally agree! Tucker's Mom, you should go for it!!!

[xsnmodr8tion]

WHere can you read up on

obedience class or a rally obedience class ?


That explains one from the other ?

[kpm_tex]

Here is the AKC page for Rally that has a good explanation and links to rules and such
http://www.akc.org/events/rally/index.cfm

This is the obedience link
http://www.akc.org/events/obedience/index.cfm

You can usually find training classes through Doggie Day cares, Obedience training clubs or schools and even contact local breed clubs and see who their members might recommend.

[xsnmodr8tion]

Ill check em out now. What age did you get your pups started in Rally and so on..

[kpm_tex]

In order to enter a trial the dog has to be at least 6 months old... It's really never to early to start training. If you are going to do a class you would have to check with the instructor to see if they had any age limits... for a rally class an instructor might not want dogs under a certain age because their attention span may wander.

[xsnmodr8tion]

Thanks for the volumes of Info you share.