# Would like to start competing soon...



## JayBen (Aug 30, 2012)

Hi all.
I would like to start working on getting some titles on Lucy. We've done a couple beginner obedience classes and we are now in an advanced beginners class. It's somewhat of a CGC prep class (we will test at the end) but we also do a lot of obedience work like heeling patterns, hand signals, ect. She just loves going to class and learning and I just love working with her. She is extremely smart and learns things very fast. The 2 trainers we've worked with so far, have really encouraged us to further our training and keep going...which I plan on doing. I have been considering doing rally next but I think I would like to work on her CD title and go from there. I believe the next class for competitive obedience starts in september. 

Now; having not taken an actual competitive obedience class yet, would I be crazy for entering her in a trial soon? From what I've read about the requirements on the AKC website I think we would be fine. 

I've checked out raudogshows.com for local events. There is quite a few but a lot of them are breed specific clubs. Does this just mean that they are the ones hosting the event and anyone can go? Or is it breed specific if it says for example, "Delaware Valley Yorkshire Terrier Club?" Am I looking in the right spot to find events?

When I do enter, what do I enter? What is Novice A and Novice B. I also see 
"Pre Novice"? 

Any help you can give me is greatly appreciated.


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## KeaColorado (Jan 2, 2013)

Rally is great and much less stressful than regular obedience, IMO. I tend to get nervous in the ring, and my nerves transfer through the leash. The great thing about Rally is that you can talk to your dog in the ring, and Kea responds so well to that. The hardest part is knowing what all the signs mean and not making a mistake - I've watched many folks have an otherwise good run and not qualify because they missed a sign. If you go to the AKC website, you can download a pdf of all the signs and directions. Then, you can practice on your own or find a drop in class. Most of the "moves" are probably things you already know how to do! Good luck to you and Lucy!


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

I would suggest you try some matches first - matches are less expensive and while you cannot earn titles, you and your dog will gain valuable experience 

A place to find matches might be the Match Show Bulletin Match Show Bulletin - Home

Also try to watch a few obedience trials and perhaps volunteer to steward (help the judge in running the ring) to get a feel for what is involved - it is more involved than it looks typically.

If you have never titled a dog before, you would enter Novice A. Pre Novice is a more basic level of performance that might be useful 

Good luck to you  I would suggest you take a few competition obedience classes before entering a trial so you will be more comfortable with the routines and what can cost you points off.


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## Gwen_Dandridge (Jul 14, 2012)

There's a bunch of rules that you might not get. I did some competition obedience training with Maddie and I learned a bunch. Maddie hated it.

The placement of your hands and how you signal your dog and where you stand was instructive. Maddie disliked the repetition no matter how many treats were involved. She does great outside of that structured situation, so I don't have any complaints about her.

I won't attempt a real trial until she/I can do a match without a problem. I've been working with toys as rewards and that makes all the difference to her.


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

I'm another vote for waiting. Take the class to get a better idea of just what is expected, go watch a trial if you can.


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## JayBen (Aug 30, 2012)

Thanks for the advice. Sometimes I get a little ahead of myself lol. I will wait to take the class first. I guess I'm still a little up in the air about whether to do rally or obedience. I have watched both trials before and they both look like fun. I will talk to our trainer more about it.


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## OnMyWay2MyDreams (Feb 13, 2011)

Before I entered a trial I took basic obedience and an advanced class with my first trainer. She does obedience shows and had the first german shepherd to get one of those really high obedience titles. Cant remember the exact title. So she runs her classes very much geared toward that goal. The I took a Rally class with a different trainer and started using the clicker. Well, after that class I decided we were ready to start trying for the Rally Novice as that is all on-leash and you can talk to dog and do the course a your own pace. I also did attend a match show before hand to get a feel for it. Well I am glad I started off like that because we did pretty good! We got our Rally title in three shows.
Then we went on to do the CD as rally advanced has alot of off-leash and I knew we couldnt do that just yet. So we just completed our CD title and am taking a break to really refine our off-leash and work on jumps. Will head back to Rally to do the Advanced once I think we are ready. I am planning to do some match shows for that as well for practice too. 
Basically practice, do classes, Try rally if their is a class available, do match shows and then go for it! Lol and like everyone says..Have Fun!


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

JayBen said:


> Thanks for the advice. Sometimes I get a little ahead of myself lol. I will wait to take the class first. I guess I'm still a little up in the air about whether to do rally or obedience. I have watched both trials before and they both look like fun. I will talk to our trainer more about it.


I'd train for obedience, then you can easily go learn the rally signs and be successful in both venues.


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

LOL - okay showing my age here  When I started in obedience back in the 80's, the exercises now used in Rally were called doodling exercises and how we worked and trained most of the time. 



Loisiana said:


> I'd train for obedience, then you can easily go learn the rally signs and be successful in both venues.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

I volunteered to be a ring steward at an obedience trial this summer. Since I had only viewed a couple of trials I didn't really understand how it all went. So they paired me with an experienced person. I learned so much! You might want to find some clubs in your area and offer to help out. You'll learn the rules and also the requirements for each level obedience. Then you can decide where you are at.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Take the novice competition classes first... then rally. Show in rally first and then novice obedience. 

Good luck.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

I think the biggest thing in being ready to enter Novice obedience is whether or not your dog is 100% reliable heeling off leash with major distractions going on. The last thing you want is for the dog to decide to wander (or zoom) around the ring, and they quickly learn that there isn't a darned thing you can do about it in a show!


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## JayBen (Aug 30, 2012)

Loisiana said:


> I'd train for obedience, then you can easily go learn the rally signs and be successful in both venues.


I really like this idea. I did talk with the trainer we're working with at our local club about this. They aren't having a class right now for competition obedience but they are starting rally in Sept. So I'm going to sign up for that and when the novice competition class opens up I will sign up for that as well. Our trainer set up a small rally course for us to try out. It was heel forward....halt...heel forward...stand stay (walk around dog)...heel figure 8's around the cones. She went through without a hiccup....it was pretty cool.


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

The important thing to remember is that rally allows lots of extra verbal encouragement, body language, and repeat commands that obedience doesn't allow. The mistake people make is they train to be successful in rally, and then when they get over to the obedience ring they can't give the dog all the extra help and the dog falls apart because he doesn't understand why his person has suddenly become all quiet and still. If you train from the beginning like you are training to do obedience, and learn how to work the dog without all the extra chatter and stuff, then rally will seem easy to the dog and they won't have such a hard time transitioning to obedience.


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## JayBen (Aug 30, 2012)

Loisiana said:


> The important thing to remember is that rally allows lots of extra verbal encouragement, body language, and repeat commands that obedience doesn't allow. The mistake people make is they train to be successful in rally, and then when they get over to the obedience ring they can't give the dog all the extra help and the dog falls apart because he doesn't understand why his person has suddenly become all quiet and still. If you train from the beginning like you are training to do obedience, and learn how to work the dog without all the extra chatter and stuff, then rally will seem easy to the dog and they won't have such a hard time transitioning to obedience.


This makes a lot on sense. I really have to think about this because I DO want to compete in obedience and don't want rally training to mess this up for us. I would _much rather_ train for something much harder and then compete in rally. Do you feel that even at her young age (1 year) that the encouragement and help of rally training would be bad? I can see how it might be hard to transition to strict non verbal obedience training...Now I just don't know what I should do. Should I look elsewhere for now to start obedience training instead of rally? 
Thank you all so much I really value your input


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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

What Louisiana says.


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## MaureenM (Sep 20, 2011)

We are training for obedience, but in the spring we did a 6 week rally class in addition to our regular class. ( I took the class to give her additional distractions to work, not planning to do rally beyond the class). By training for obedience, the rally was a snap. There was one sign that had me going in one direction, and her in anther which was a new step for us, but other than that everything was easily transferred from one to the other. I think it would be good to find an on-going class if available and start with Obedience. Good luck, it's so much fun!


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