First Rally class

Rally obedience class last night. I like Jenny. She’s very friendly and welcoming and has a nice manner of instructing without correcting.

I thought Rally was easier than agility. You can think when you’re walking much easier than when you’re at an agility pace!
A nice woman with a poodle took me aside in the beginning to help me. It was really nice. She made sure Tom had the basic commands and then taught me how to train a finish on the left side. Tom began to get it by the end. We also worked on finishes. Tom could get closer to me for that.

I was encouraged to talk to Tom and praise him while doing it. That I am not used to! Traditional Obedience is without much praise and you don’t want to say anything unnecessary in agility because you’ll be late giving the cue you need to.

Need to figure out a word for the commands/obstacles. I want to call them obstacles because of agility.

The class started out with a walk through. I brought Tom with me. I think he would have pawed and barked in his crate and he didn’t seem quite comfortable enough to tether to the A-frame but I might do that next time. Jenny walked us through the course explaining exactly what each sign meant, a lot for my benefit I think, and gave a few tips as to how to do it. The course was weave cones (called a figure 8), an actual figure 8 with two food bowls as a distraction. Jenny recommended ignoring them and I don’t think Tom looked twice at them. Then a 270 degree turn. I turned left instead of right. Oops. I think you teach that with an actual cue, get in, so the dog pivots and you are the one making the turn. And then a halt. Dog sits, stay, you turn and take a step to the right. Tom’s never done that before but he got the concept immediately. Then a spiral (get dizzy obstacle). Three cones and you have to circle all the cones then just the nearest two and then just the nearest one. Then a sit, down, sit. I need to work on that. Tom did it but not easily. I practiced a few times. Jenny recommends bending your knees and bringing your hand up from your dog’s nose while standing up straight at the same time. I gather that’s because you can only make one continuous motion. Then forward and a right turn. I lost Tom in the corner. He was looking at dogs and the exit. Then an about turn where you make a tee with your feet. I think I need to clicker Tom that he may need to speed up to catch up with me to remain healing. Then a right turn, forward, bring your dog in front, sit and finish except they don’t sit when they finish and you walk off as soon as they’re in the right direction. I nailed the timing of walking off when I did the course. Of course I tried it later and was late, but oh well. People clapped for me it was nice.

The atmosphere is very friendly and everyone knows each other (like you do in agility class) and seems to know the other’s dogs strengths and weaknesses enough to be really encouraging when someone does something they were having trouble with.

Rally is so much more fun than traditional obedience.

Things to work on:
Finishes, perhaps fade the lure by next week since it’s supposedly easier to fade the lure early.
Sit, Down, Sit, fade treat.