Starting Rally -- Video and Many Questions

So I've decided that I'd like to start working with Bo so that I can trial him in Rally. I'm getting ready to apply for his AKC ILP number. Meanwhile, I want to work and train with him to prepare him.

Keep in mind that I am EXTREMELY new to this, and have no idea what I am doing. So be gentle and keep that in mind when giving advice. And of course, constructive criticism is greatly appreciated, which is the point of the video, LOL.

First, this was the first time I've recorded me and Bo doing our heel and sit. He wasn't perfect (he screwed up during his 'stay' and got confused), and I'm sure tons of mistakes were made. So I'd like you guys to watch the video, and tell me what I am doing right, wrong, what needs to be improved, what else I need to do, and what I do not need to do.

I also have questions when doing a rally trial:

Does the heel have to be loose-leash?

Can you use command out loud such as "Heel", "Sit" and "Good boy".

Are treats allowed when the dog does a sit?

I'm sure there's other questions I'll have, but that'll get us started.

Here's the video:

YouTube - Bo Heeling and Sitting

Fluffy, you really need to go to a trial and watch, that will really help.

Heeling is done on the left side. When Bo sits, he should still be in heel position, sitting straight.

Loose leash. You're allowed to talk, but no food allowed. You're going to be doing whatever the sign tells you to do, so you really, really need to study those as well. Ideally, you should have a trainer or someone experienced show you what each sign looks like with a dog and other small details.

If you would like to do AKC, you'll need to read up on the rules and other formalities.

He looks like he's enjoying himself in the video

Thanks NRA, I was just told by 3 people I need to heel on left side. Oops! :lol-sign:

There's no rally trainers here, so I'm on my own. There is a rally trial going on in a couple weeks, and I might go sit in and watch (I can do that?)

YES!!! You can do that You'll get a much, much better idea of what's going on when you watch how it's judged, people's attitudes and what signs mean.

Thanks guys. I just went to the AKC site and found the Signs link. I'm going to study those.

Also, I just found an obedience club in the city that 'sometimes' offers rally included in their obedience classes. But said it only teaches sit, stay, come, and heel. And I've have to drive over an hour and a half, and the class starts at night, so I may not do that, and just work with him at home.

The rally trial that was kinda close to the house, was just last week, and I missed it. There are several upcoming ones a couple hours away. I may make the drive and watch one soon.

Depending on the judge they may nail you very very hard on the tight lead. As far as I can tell, and in my (admittedly limited - only three times in the ring/three judges) experience, "tight leash" is pretty much up to interpretation.
You also have to watch pulling the leash back to get him into a sit. They'll almost certainly nail you for that. I think you really just need to improve his focus on you. He's looking at the ground, looking around at other stuff, and he's not paying any attention to when you are stopping. When you've stopped, that should be his cue to also stop and look at you, in which case you can ask for the sit.

I honestly went into Rally completely unprepared. At our last trial it was sort of funny, because Auggie's breeder had entered his gramma and, though she had done formal OB, she wasn't really used to Rally either... so she was laughing about how she looked at the course maps, asked her friend how to do one or two signs that weren't obvious, then would run back to me and we'd go over how to do it, practice that sign, then go compete. We literally were both flying by the seat of our pants. But we both came home with the RN on our dogs, so hey. =>
The good news is, the rally ring is pretty darn forgiving as long as you aren't harsh with your dog. I think the only people I saw not Q'ing were people who were yanking on the leash (and I did see one woman excused from the ring because she was just TERRIBLE, yanking and pulling and snarling at her dog.)

DON'T overstress it and DON'T make it into anything more than it has to be. Rally should be fun. It's a great way to get used to trialing, for you AND the dog, so just take it easy. Have fun. Enjoy it. =>

In CARO rally.. it's a negative one for every time the leash becomes tight. It's a NQ TL (Non qualifying tight leash) if the judge decides it's tight for endless amounts of time.

APDT and CARO allow food rewards in lower levels. CKC and AKC do not. Every rally venue allows you to talk endlessly if you feel the need or want. Double commanding and stuff is venue dependent..

Watching a trial will help. I took classes and then trialled. Would have been nice to see a trial first..

Kerri has good posts for heeling around here I'll try to dig up. Teaching Cider to heel even with classes was an adventure. I had the only small dog they couldn't seemingly help me.. but at least I learned the rules, the signs, etc. I met Kerri later on and she helped Smudge learn how to heel.. was a quick and easy process. Knowing more helped btu her method was just easier.

Here is a vid of heeling.. We will try to get a vid tomorrow of some rally moves to help you! but for now this is all I have uploaded.

YouTube - Jack Russell heeling.

(I was going to do pickle surprise.. but that might scare you off rally if you inadvertently create an association between the two)

Smudge heeling nicely


Smudge focusing nicely on me while heeling


Cider slightly crooked in a sit - though I'm on an angle too but it's hard to tell from my shoes/pants/floor.. wasn't severe enough that we got points deducted for it


Cider coming front


Cider heeling

Dekka and Mafia, thanks for the pics and video. Dekka, I love that video, now I have something to aim for, LOL. Great visual of what a good heel is too.

Here's some video of us today, this time heeling on the correct side, LOL. I also tried to do the heel, with a sit in the heeling location WITHOUT telling him to "sit" everytime. I want him to pay attention, and sit when I stop.

There's 2 videos of him doing it on leash, the second one is shorter in length, but more close-up. Mom's not home today, so I had to set the camera on a chair and have it record us. Both of these videos were recorded using treats.

Here's those two videos:

YouTube - Bo practicing his heel and sits

YouTube - More of Bo practicing his heel and sit commands

And then I tried to get him to heel and sit, off leash, with NO treats. I want him to pay attention to *me*, not the treat, so I tried it without treats and it went pretty well. Didn't go quite as planned, but we're working on it. He lags behind, and the mosquitos are something awful. He kept stopping to shake and scratch his ears, I think one must've buzzed in his ear. Anyways, he did do his heel and sit rather well for his first try off leash and with no treats. So I'm proud so far.

YouTube - Bo practicing his heel and sits off leash

Don't stop with the rewards yet!!! The vid looks good.. Reward more when not sitting! Keep the treats in the right pocket once he's good.. but still reward frequently. Not rewarding enough will cause lagging, sniffing and other not so fun behaviours... Even now I will still treat Dekka for some particularly awesome bit of heeling.

I agree with nor stopping the rewards!!

Also, you should work more on his attention before even doing any heeling. And work on his sits separately.

Endlessly heeling in a circle is going to bore most dogs. When I practice, I heel a little, do some sits and downs, some more heeling, a stand, a stay or two, some heel seeking and pivots, a recall, more sits and downs and stands, heel again...

How is the heeling going?

We have some videos of Smudge, Dekka, Cider and Kaiden doing some rally moves to post for you later.

Fluffy.... any news?

We have vids for you..

These ones are my kids. Cider~ YouTube - Cider Rally Obedience

Smudge~ YouTube - Smudge Heelwork

Oops, sorry, didn't see this yesterday! I've been working with him, the heeling is going great! His sitting is doing wonderfully too, just need to work on that concentration a bit.

Great videos! That one of Cider is really exceptional, I hope I can get Bo to that point.

Yay update! Awesome

Bo's doing *great*! I have two new videos from this morning. First is on leash, second is off leash. His concentration is really improving, as is his sitting immediately when I stop, without me having to use the sit command every single time.

No one was holding the camera, mom's gone for the day. So I had to set it in a chair, and I do dissapear to the right side of the screen for a few seconds. Don't worry though, you're not missing nothing there, LOL.

On Leash:

YouTube - Bo, heel and sit practice 6-8-09

Off Leash:

YouTube - Bo, heel and sit practice off leash 6-8-09

hes looking great! and sitting like a little gentleman

but your backyard makes me wanna cry IM SO JEALOUS!

Very noticeable improvement!

A couple things for you to think about - you tend to start walking and then say heel. He does a good job of sitting until he's told to heel, and there are benefits to calling them to heel while you're walking, but be aware that you're doing it and that in the ring, unless the exercise tells you to do that, it's incorrect.

Also when he sits a little away from you to the side or a little behind you, you're stepping to him to deliver the treat. It's a habit that many people fall into doing easily. You should get him to move closer to you instead.

And BTW, you get really small and far away. Mwahahahaha