Rally With Your Rottweiler
AKC Rally is the latest and greatest in dog sports! Rally became an AKC titling event in 2005. That year 363 Rottweilers earned a Rally Novice title, 125 Advance titles, and 46 Excellent titles. Rottweilers have excelled in Rally right from the start.
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Rally is a wonderful stepping stone for dog and handler teams that have completed a CGC, but are not yet ready for Novice Obedience or Agility. Dogs must be AKC registered and at least six months old to participate in AKC Rally trials. Links:
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Rally has 3 skill levels - Novice, Advanced, and Excellent. At the Novice level the skills are performed with the dog on leash. In Advanced and Excellent the dog is off leash. There are no jumps in Novice, but one jump is incorporated into Advance courses and two jumps are required for Excellent courses. The jumps used are obedience jumps including the broad jump, high jump, and bar jump. The maximum jump height is 16 inches, with smaller heights for smaller dogs.
The Rally course has numbered stations similar to an Agility course, but the exercises are Obedience skills. A sign at each station provides instructions for the skill to be performed. Once the judge says "forward" the handler and dog are on their own to complete the course.
Handlers can talk to their dog and give verbal encouragement throughout the course. Handlers can also use physical direction such as moving their arms to help the dog come to front or do a finish. In Novice the handler may pat their leg or clap their hands to help their dog along. In Excellent handlers may only use verbal encouragement. As in both agility and obedience, handlers may not touch their dog or give corrections.
The signs on a Rally course are generally to the right of the handler. Novice signs include right and left turns, changes of pace, pivots, full circles to the right or left, and several different about turns. In Advanced and Excellent the skills get progressively more difficult, including a moving stand and heeling the dog backward. There are 50 different Rally exercises if you count both start and finish. Novice courses have 10-15 stations, Advance courses have 12-17, and Excellent courses have 15-20 stations.
Handlers are allowed to walk the course and become familiar with the path and exercises before the class begins. Rally has at least one big advantage, the "do over". This is referred to as a "retry". A retry costs the dog and handler only 3 points, rather than a 10 point deduction for an incorrect performance as long as they get it right the second time.
As in Agility, placements are determined by highest score with time used to break any tied scores. Rally is scored on a 100 point scale, with 70 points required for a qualifying score. The scoring in Rally is less stringent than in traditional obedience.
There are 4 Rally Titles. The dogs must earn three qualifying scores under two different judges in order to receive a rally title. The titles that can be earned are: Rally Novice (RN), Rally Advanced (RA), Rally Excellent (RE), and Rally Advanced Excellent (RAE). The requirement for the RAE title is that the dog must qualify ten times in both the Advanced B class and the Excellent B class at the same trial.
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The challenge in Rally is to work as a team, complete all the stations correctly, to display smooth transitions throughout the course, and to have FUN working with your dog. Rally is a wonderful way to bond with your dog. So, Rally On!!!! Submitted by: Lynette Nehmer
Of 1303 rally titles were earned by Rottweilers |
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