New AKC Rally rules and non-regular classes

Devon in Rally Novice and Reece in Rally Excellent, April 2007 (photos: Dick Clark Photography)









I went to a seminar yesterday that went over the new AKC Rally rule changes and new non-regular classes. For those of you who do Rally, it's worth a look at the new rule changes. The most significant are changes fall into three categories:

1. Change in signs. There is a change in the performance of three signs, a change in a sign (but not the performance) and a new sign in Excellent. The "moving side step" and the "halt, side step, halt" are now done in front of the sign, moving off with the sign on your left. The "honor" is now done on a 6 ft. leash with the dog in a sit or down and you facing the dog at the end of the leash. The Novice "moving down" is now called the "stop and down." The performance has not changed, you are heeling, tell the dog to down, and you stop as the dog goes down. Finally there is a new sign in Excellent called the "moving down walk around your dog." This is a true moving down where you down the dog but keep moving; it's performed the same as the "moving stand walk around your dog."

2. All performances for signs have been defined. The "principle parts" of each sign have been defined, so judging criteria is more consistent. The principle parts of each sign are underlined, bolded, and italicized (they're hard to miss) in the rule book, so take a look.

3. New non-regular classes. There are five new non-regular classes. The Rally Pairs class is just like an obedience brace class with one handler and two dogs. It can be done as a Novice, Advanced or Excellent class. The Rally T Challenge incorporates time into the scoring. There is a standard course time and points are added or subtracted from your score for every full second under or over standard course time (sound familiar agility folks?). There is also a Rally T Challenge Team for a team of dogs. There is a Rally Team Competition, again similar to an obedience team. Finally, there is what I think is them most interesting, Rally Plus. This class is done off leash and includes traditional rally signs, then a period of silent heeling in a traditional L pattern with rally signs. This section is scored as obedience heeling. At another point in the class, you stand your dog and leave, and the judge goes over your dog as a Novice Obedience stand for exam, but you can talk to your dog as in rally. There is a place for an off leash Novice recall, and finally before you leave the ring, you do an on leash one minute stay as the dog after you runs the course (a blend of the Excellent honor and pre-novice stay).

I think the Rally Plus class would be a FANTASTIC class to enter before you put your dog in Novice Obedience. The club who hosted yesterday's seminar (Dayton Dog Training Club) is planning to offer this class at their July trial, so I think Devon and I might have to work on this!

Again, the bottom line is that if you do Rally you should read the new regulations! It will only take about 20 minutes or so, and most of the changes are self-explanatory if you're familiar with the performance of the exercises. The only thing that can be confusing are the non-regular classes, but I frankly doubt you see them very often.