Rally Show 'n Go

I really liked it. It was fun and very low key. It felt more like a run-thru than what I would imagine a show would be like. There were 5 runs in Level 3 and about 16 in levels 1 and two each. Many people went twice.

Tom did quite well. When we first got there I was a little nervous because he had no interest in cheese and wasn't focusing enough to practice a couple rally commands at once. Even my duck jerkey was only medium interesting, liver worked but he still didn't have the treat focus he'll sometimes give me. I took him out two separate times before our run to pee and do a little training, but left him in the car in his crate with the back hatch open. That worked well.

There was a woman, Judy, who had a pretty brindle greyhound. Mother and I talked with her a little and she was trying to convince to do rally with Opal. I still don't think so. It takes a long time to teach Opal stuff and she doesn't have the foundation obedience and I really don't see the point in teaching her it. She walks with a loose leash wonderfully, I really don't need heeling and auto sits from her.

I took Tom out three runs before his turn and he wasn't focusing outside so I brought him in. He has a much easier time focusing inside. He was interested in the other dogs but gave me eye contact. I then came up with the idea to use a heavy rate of reinforcement to get attention. That worked wonders. When we got into the ring he was more focused which happens at class too.
The course was:
1. Halt/Sit
2. Halt 90 degree pivot, halt/sit
I wasn't sure if Tom would do the pivot because Jennie uses the one where you tell the dog to stay, step to the side, and call them to your side more often. This one the dog moves with you. He did pretty well with it.)
3. serpentine once
4. Call front Finish Left (In APDT "finish" means the dog sits when they return to heel position. "call front forward left means the dog doesn't sit. And unlike AKC you are supposed to let them catch up to you and then heel forward)
5. 360 left
6. right turn
7. Fast
Tom doesn't quite get this one. Rather he doesn't speed up immediately, there's lag time and then he needs to catch up but the judge didn't comment on that specifically.
8. Normal
9. 270 left
I came really close to missing this one and doing a plain right turn instead but I caught myself in the nick of time.
10. Halt, 1, 2, 3, steps
Tom lagged some on this one and was a bit slow and distracted.
11. 270 right
12. Call Front Forward Right
I cued a left finish on this one instead. Oops. And Jennie taught the AKC method (above mentioned) so I walked off before Tom was close enough.
13. Left Turn
14. Moving Side Step Right
This one was fine today but it took me a while to learn it even though it's really not that difficult.
15. Spiral Left
Tom started out a bit distracted but then I think he started to like it, "oh I get it, we keep going around the cones in circles but I need to pay attention."
16. Right Turn
17. Call Front Finish Right
18. Halt, Sit, Down, Sit married to Halt, Sit, Walk Around
Tom ended up a little confused on this one. We got through halt, sit and then he was a little slow on the down and didn't quite get it but finally did. When I moved my hand to give the stay he downed again. I wasn't sure he was going to stay but he did. And I did pause.
Finish
Bonus Exercise was a basic obedience recall with your choice on the finish
Halt, Leave dog, recall
Turn and Call, Finish R/L

I got some good feedback. And I liked getting another opinion. Click when Tom starts heeling to get faster reaction time. Not "heel" pause, Tom moves forward. Also, don't step back to cue the finishes. That's a 4-H obedience leftover. More treats in the ring since he can get them for stationary exercises. I think it's because I learned obedience with no treats that I'm so stingy. Lots of treats in practice though not as many as tricks or agility, and then in the ring it feels like cheating. Plus, I'm still grasping the idea that yes tricks are allowed in the ring. I felt like giving treats might disrupt the good pace we had. That's kind of silly really, if he's doing it right give him treats! And then I won't fall into the trap that he'll mess it up because he knows treats come out when he does it wrong. I didn't get a point score which I thought I would. But if Rally is less of a perfection sport than I could see myself competing. I'm really not interested in training to perfection. If slightly crooked sits and other idiosyncrasies are allowed then it can work for me.

Overall, I'm quite glad I went and it was quite cheap. I wonder about taking more of a rally training class. Jennie runs her class like a run-thru where you do a course and work on what you need to and get training tips. But since I haven't trained all the rally behaviors officially it might be good to learn the steps to training really nice finishes and the like.

After rally we went to lunch at the house of friends in Providence. They have a very friendly lab mix. I now have a good amount of white fur on me and it was funny because Tom also got covered in white fur. They were really good together and played really nicely. They were playing inside which wasn't the best, but both very polite to each other.