# Rally vs. Obedience?



## GoldenSail (Dec 30, 2008)

Go for obedience, and it will definitely help with his Rally skills! Rally is more loose and fun, but it incorporates a lot of your basic obedience


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

Cute pup!
Go for the novice obedience class. Seriously, any dog who can do novice level obedience can do rally at the Excellent level, with a few little tricks thrown in (that I've NEVER used in advanced obedience).
Train for obedience and you will be able to do rally too. Rally is all about the owner knowing the signs, not the dog knowing new skills.
Best of luck,


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## Jersey's Mom (Nov 25, 2007)

I second Anney's suggestion for Novice Obedience. I agree with her reasoning as well... but honestly the first thing that came to mind for me is that a dog who passed his CGC is likely above the Beginner level and may find the class a little boring. If the school is currently running classes, I would suggest you go sit in on both a Beginner's and Novice class... speak to both instructors about what skills are covered in the class, what your dog does/does not know, and see which one would fit best.

Julie and Jersey


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## kgiff (Jul 21, 2008)

Rally is a lot of fun. My youngest got his Rally Novice title at 10 months and had never had a rally class. He's taken and will take in the future obedience classes as they cover most of what needs to be done in rally. I found someone to give me a couple of private lessons so I understood exactly what the rally signs meant and what it felt like to walk a course before we started trialing. 

I really think that Rally is a fun introduction to the ring and the stress of trailing for you and the dogs. Have fun!


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## gabbys mom (Apr 23, 2008)

rally is awesome fun way to get introduced to dog sports- it's more laid back, etc. 

But once you get through that novice obedience class, you will be set up for rally through most of the levels, like Anney said. You'll just have to learn the signs!


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## LibertyME (Jan 6, 2007)

I would take the Novice Obed class then take a Rally class if you choose ...
Should you decide to go on and compete in Obedience you will have a much clearer picture of what is expected...and will see the bigger picture of how Rally feeds into Obedience...you will also, most likely, save some yourself some training mistakes by taking the Novice class first.


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## Selli-Belle (Jan 28, 2009)

The obedience class sounds like the ticket, but remember to pay attention to Ranger during class. If he seems to be getting bored or anxious, take a break and play with him to relax, then go back to training. I know Selli did not enjoy her first obedience class, too serious for her, so we took a break and did agility. When we went back to obedience classes, I did it at my own speed and spent a lot of time on the floor playing with her.


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## AmbikaGR (Dec 31, 2007)

Either rally or obedience are great. However if your trainer recommended rally they may have done this for a reason. If the handler is very nervous and feels un-natural doing the excercises with the dog rally is a good choice. You can redo some excercises, you can talk to your dog and the judging is much more lenient. However these exact reasons are the same ones that starting in obedience is good, you and your dog do not pick up "bad" habits that later are tough to break. 
Ideally in my eyes rally is best over obedience for one of these three reasons
1 - very green handler can not handle the more rigid format of obedience
2 - a dog that is really stressing or lack confidence in obedience can be helped in their obedience career by occasionally showing in rally so the handler can reassure the dog throughout the course.
3 - a veteran dog that is being retired from obedience that really enjoys still showing but no need to prove anything more. I did this with my Keeper and she LOVED it. We got to go in the ring together and she would have a ball. I never moved her out of Novice though just so she could compete there for as long as she was physically able and not have to jump.


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

Well I agree there are some benefits to rally but for someone who has not trained a dog formally OR a young dog without the skill set of basic obedience, I don't think rally is a good first choice. It's like, trying to speak a foreign language by parroting someone, rather than actually learning the language from the ground up. Does that make sense?


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

Obedience classes should be a fun way to start. I use rally to get my dog's more used to the ring in preparation for obedience showing and as a tool to rebuild confidence since I can talk with my dog in the Rally ring. ANd it is just plain fun.

The rally exercises are actually the 'doodling' exercises used for many years to perfect heeling, fronts and finishes. These same exercises are frequently used in competetive obedience classes since they really do help the dog learn heeling and precsion work.

Have fun either way


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## MurphyTeller (Sep 28, 2008)

If obedience is where you ultimately want to go, take the novice O class and then learn the signs separately...as far as a titling path I'd suggest going for the RN first (get everyone's feet wet where you're totally on-leash and you can talk to your dog if you need to). Then go for the CD and then if you're so inclined work on RA/RE/RAE and then Open...I won't trial my youngest for the RA/RE because I want to be able to put him in rally novice again if there's stuff I need to work on for the obedience ring on-leash and short ring duration). 
Erica


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## windfair (Jul 19, 2008)

Thank you all for your insightful responses! I'm looking forward to trying obedience, it sounds like that will give me a good foundation and I will learn the correct way to do things. As I said, I think Ranger will be fine...it is me who has trouble with my right from my left and walking and chewing gum at the same time! Ranger seems to pick up on things pretty fast and just seems to "know" when he is supposed to be "on".


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