# What the youngest age for dog you have seen at Obedience/Rally Competition?



## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

What venue is this for? You have to be at least six months old to compete in AKC obedience or rally.


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

Hank and Oriana earned their CD at like -- 7 months old, or something like that. 

Dogs must be 6 months old to compete in any AKC licensed event.

It may be flattering but don't think you'll get any special award for competing the earliest. What you'll really probably get is a naughty puppy in the ring and a lot of bad habits.


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## Eclipse (Apr 21, 2014)

I entered Penny in a fun match when she was five months old. It wasn't an official Rally trial, and I also had no clue what it was until I was told to enter it that day. We did pretty well. I did use treats since we'd never done it before, so I guess we cheated a little.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

I honestly haven't paid attention to rally... I know a ton of people who do it was young dogs though. Between 6 and 12 months or so....

Youngest golden I ever saw do regular novice was 11 months old. And that dog basically was the most gorgeous worker you ever saw. Did not lose many points with a pencil scratcher judge.  

Bertie was about 12 weeks old when we did our first fun match for fun. Just me in an empty ring and doing a little bit of odds and ends. He was about 4 months old when we did a real fun match which was novice broken down to what I wanted to do with him. 

I don't see a reason to rush into the obedience ring. Girls may be different, but I think a lot of boys really just mature between 2 and 3 - so taking a little extra time means you don't have to go back and fix everything that was nearly solid before.


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## GoldenLove88 (Jul 25, 2014)

Sophie is 6 month old in case if you didn't read my post. I wasn't aware it must be at least 6 month old. Oh well it looks like I couldn't edit the poll haha. Now I know some dogs are in same age as Sophie for intermediate Obedience competition.


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## GoldenLove88 (Jul 25, 2014)

I found pretty benefit if you do well in Rally, you will do well in Obedience because they are both quite similar except Rally is more of communication which that would be easier for Obedience.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

There are lots of dogs around 6 months old in rally in this area, it's good trial/ring experience if you plan to do regular obedience. Gets them used to being at a trial environment with the crowds and noise and so on while participating in something that's easy and not stressful. 
See quite a few dogs showing for their CD right around 1 year old. Really just depends on the dog and the handler. Some dogs are pretty much born mature, others aren't mature until closer to 3 years old. Mostly you see people in the ring with really young dogs if it's their first dog. People who've titled several dogs tend to wait a bit longer.


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

GoldenLove88 said:


> I found pretty benefit if you do well in Rally, you will do well in Obedience because they are both quite similar except Rally is more of communication which that would be easier for Obedience.


Not really, I find if you do well in obedience, you will likely do well in rally, but it does not automatically work the other way around.


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

hotel4dogs said:


> Really just depends on the dog and the handler. Some dogs are pretty much born mature, others aren't mature until closer to 3 years old. Mostly you see people in the ring with really young dogs if it's their first dog. People who've titled several dogs tend to wait a bit longer.


Agree with all this. Phoenix at 1 years old was more mature than Flip at 2 years old. I still don't plan to put him in novice obedience until after he is two though. My first dog I had "let's get her in the ring as soon as I think she's capable" syndrome. By my second dog I had learned it's usually better to wait until they are older, that successful showing is a lot more than just knowing exercises.

It's still beyond me how Phoenix's litter sister had two legs toward her Canadian CD, both with high in trials, at just six months of age. And since she followed it up with two more high in trials at her next show months later, it wasn't just a fluke. That is definitely not the norm. At six months I would have been concerned about him knowing not to pee in the ring!


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

Everyone has their own priorities and reasons for showing. For some people they love doing lots of sports and trials and getting a green ribbon is a high and a payoff for their work. For others it's the learning process and training development and getting a complete picture and approaching that 100% reliable and "perfect picture" before ever getting in the ring. When I first started I was in the first camp and now I'm in the second.


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## Tayla's Mom (Apr 20, 2012)

I will compete with Lily in Rally for no other reason than it looks fun and I think it will help on her focus which isn't always the best. She isn't even in your poll age group because she will be almost 6 when we have our first competition. We have only had her a year and she has come a long way from not knowing her name to passing basic and advanced manners, getting her CGC and becoming a therapy dog. She just sometimes zones out so we are working on focusing and rally is a fun way to do that.


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## Laurie (Sep 20, 2009)

GoldenLove88 said:


> I found pretty benefit if you do well in Rally, you will do well in Obedience because they are both quite similar except Rally is more of communication which that would be easier for Obedience.


Not necessarily!!! If anything, it's the other way around. I would have never entered Lexx in rally if he hadn't been to obedience classes and knew the commands. He did well in rally novice but our saving grace was that I could communicate with him and he likes encouragement. 

Lexx will be 3 in May and I'm just noticing now that he is beginning to mature. I rushed him once into an obedience trial and it wasn't pretty....I won't make that mistake again!!!


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## GoldenLove88 (Jul 25, 2014)

Interesting and yeah every dog are different. I start Sophie on Rally instead of Obedience when she was 4 and half month old because she not 6 month yet. While she was training in Rally for fun in any levels, she made alot of improvement on communications and commands until she finally 6 months to be able to start Obedience class which it a easy start for her.


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