Rally-O: Class 1

We started Rally-O classes this week with DGOTC. I've never done Rally-O, or even watched it so I went in having no idea what to expect at all. When we arrived, Penny had set up a course of signs (Right Turn, Left Turn, Serpentine, 270* Left and Right, Halt and Sit, Paperclip, etc). Penny explained a little bit about Rally, since only one or two of us in the class had ever done Rally before. She also went through explaining the course to us and what each of the signs mean. Next, we had the opportunity to walk the course (as a group). This was really helpful and sort of reminded me of agility. After we walked the course, we went one by one on the course to complete it. Bailey actually did a GREAT job. It's much easier because you can talk to the dog and encourage him the entire time. You can also repeat commands or use as many different commands as you need to get your dog to complete the exercise. Our hardest exercise is the 1 step, halt, 2 step, halt, 3 step, halt sign. We had been introduced to this exercise back in our Basic class and since then, I practice it to get Bailey's attention on me during walks. I think all that practice really helped, because he knew exactly how to do it on the first try! After everyone went, Penny changed out a few of the signs for new ones and we repeated the course again with the new signs. This course had a section where there were like 4 circling exercises in a row (paperclip, come front and finish right, 360* left, and 270* right), so we got a little bit dizzy! It was a lot of fun and made me feel really confident in my dog's training levels!

Eric also told me that I need to sign up for Novice Obedience again and wouldn't really take no for an answer. I couldn't stay on Thursday night because I had WAY too many boxes to pack before Friday morning, but I told him I'd start the following week. So starting next week, we take 4+ hours of dog classes every week! Whew!