Questions for obedience folks

Sharon7

Sharon7

Moderator
Those of you very involved in obedience, I'd love some info/advice. My husband has been taking Elijah to obedience practice that our club has every week. It is not rally, at least, it doesn't have the signs set up, but is much the same exercises. They have to do a long stay, at both sit and down, heel, come around, come front, recall, stand for exam. (I don't go to these so I'm just going off what he's told me.)

Eli does pretty well, and my hubby surprised me by saying he's thinking about entering an obedience trial with him "to see where we're at". Someone mentioned he'd find beginner Rally easier than beginning obedience. Can someone explain the difference? We are completely new to competition in any dog sport but knowing there are folks here who have done it for years I was hoping to get some clarity.

Thanks!
 
Rally and formal obedience are considerably different at least here. Obedience is very strict…no talking other than when you first start doing whatever the exercise is. Rally allows you to talk to the dog all throughout. I’d suggest he do Rally or, even better if you have any fun matches in your area. A fun match allows you to practice in the ring with a ‘pretend’ judge doing whatever level you’d be competing in (I’d start with pre novice) and would give a better idea of how the dog is doing and what you need to work on. I’ll never forget as long as I live my first time in the ring with Piper…prenovice and he was horrible and second day he peed in the ring! Amazing I continued lol.
Good luck and tell him to have fun!
 
Sharon7 said:
Those of you very involved in obedience, I'd love some info/advice. My husband has been taking Elijah to obedience practice that our club has every week. It is not rally, at least, it doesn't have the signs set up, but is much the same exercises. They have to do a long stay, at both sit and down, heel, come around, come front, recall, stand for exam. (I don't go to these so I'm just going off what he's told me.)

Eli does pretty well, and my hubby surprised me by saying he's thinking about entering an obedience trial with him "to see where we're at". Someone mentioned he'd find beginner Rally easier than beginning obedience. Can someone explain the difference? We are completely new to competition in any dog sport but knowing there are folks here who have done it for years I was hoping to get some clarity.

Thanks!
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Hi Sharon, as I have never done Rally and only obedience I can at least speak to that! I got a novice CD title on my first Sheltie, Kelsey! I loved it! They do all the exercises on leash. Everything the did was geared to beginners training so the dogs already know all the commands! I felt totally comfortable with the whole process as did my dog.
Maybe you can go to Rally classes as well to see if it appeals to Elijah and your husband!
Many obedience facilities offer a run through for practice. I would take advantage of those as you can go different places to vary the environments and people! Good luck
 
Piper’s mom is correct that you can talk to your dog all through the course in rally. Rally novice and intermediate are on leash. You can only give commands once in obedience. What you described sounds like regular novice obedience which starts on leash but half the class is off leash. Destin just got his Beginner novice obedience title which is all on leash except for the recall.
I'd try a match or something similar before entering an actual trial but if your hubby thinks he wants to try obedience- he should go for it.
while AKC sorta designed rally as a step between getting a CGC and competing in regular obedience, it is easier to go from obedience to rally as when the dog is used to you talking to him/her during the rally course, it can be challenging for them to go into an obedience ring and you barely say anything to them. also, you will lose points in both for barking- just saying...........
 
Brodie has his Rally Novice and is working on Intermediate - we took a break for a bit and I am finding that he is better now that he is older. I think he got bored with it - compared to his agility. I have NOT done Obedience with Brodie but my take on it is that Obedience is a much more serious event where Rally is very interactive.... I am constantly engaged with Brodie. I did take Deacon to a class and he did very well although you could see his mind spinning.... 'why in the world do you want to me do this?' I have had young dogs in class with Brodie who eventually move up to obedience, the owners are less interactive and do stand when stopping instead of sit when stopping. I do think it would be confusing to flip back and forth... maybe watch some you-tube videos. Ann does Obedience with her girls I believe.
 
As others have mentioned it’s important to prepare the dog for obedience…this includes run throughs and cutting back on the talking when training. If your husband talks to Eli quite a bit I’d slowly phase it out otherwise going into the obedience ring will be quite the shock to him. I especially cut back on talking when they’re doing the stays, and I break it up a bit…I’ll leave them in a sit or down stay, walk 15 feet away(eg) and stand with my arms crossed (don’t want judge to think your giving the dog cues) then I’ll return and instead of stopping beside dog I’ll keep going, or throw a ball etc. Dogs anticipate and I’ll do whatever I can to keep them on their toes. Oh and cut out the rewards too! No treats in the ring.
 
Sandy in CT said:
Ann does Obedience with her girls I believe.
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I've only done beginner Obedience courses with mine for training purposes to prepare for the show ring. I've done Rally with some for fun...I found it much less rigid than Obedience, which I don't have the discipline for LOL. I love Rally; you can talk and interact with your dog. I'm in awe of people who successfully do Obedience. I talk to my dogs constantly even in the show ring and I know I'd slip! :muted:

It's great that your hubby wants to try a dog sport with Eli! Encourage him to try a few if he doesn't enjoy one. I keep threatening to put a leash in my husband's hand and push him into the show ring when he retires soon. Especially since he loves coming to shows and pointing out my mistakes! :sneaky:
 
Ann said:
I've only done beginner Obedience courses with mine for training purposes to prepare for the show ring. I've done Rally with some for fun...I found it much less rigid than Obedience, which I don't have the discipline for LOL. I love Rally; you can talk and interact with your dog. I'm in awe of people who successfully do Obedience. I talk to my dogs constantly even in the show ring and I know I'd slip! :muted:

It's great that your hubby wants to try a dog sport with Eli! Encourage him to try a few if he doesn't enjoy one. I keep threatening to put a leash in my husband's hand and push him into the show ring when he retires soon. Especially since he loves coming to shows and pointing out my mistakes! :sneaky:
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LOL, well, I dragged him to Nosework class 3 years ago and he got hooked. He did it with Brooke, then when we lost her, he started with Elijah. Obedience is something he's done on his own and they both seem to enjoy it!
 
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