Heel, Sit, Ready, Forward! With Rally Obedience

What is it: Rally Obedience is a great sport to build a working relationship between you and your dog, and is based on a foundation of everyday life skills. This sport involves you and your dog navigating a course that consists of a number of signs. Each sign has instructions based on the level you are training/competing in. As a team, you and your dog move through the course, with the dog under control and on your left side, completing each sign as you come to it. At the lower levels (level 1 for UKC, Novice/Intermediate for AKC, Intro/Level 1 in WCRL) your dog is on leash. As you move up, you will complete the course with your dog off leash. 

Venues and Rules

Venues and Rules: Some of the main venues for competing in rally obedience include the following:

Tools and Training

For the most part, you will just need a collar (usually a thin flat collar or a show chain), a 6 foot leash, and treats.

Rally Obedience is a sport that can honestly be self taught. There are many YouTube videos that break down each sign and show you how to navigate them. If you have classes around you, even better! But don’t worry if you don’t. Practice with your dog in your house, in your driveway, at the park nearby. Getting both you and your dog comfortable with each sign is what is most important. The additional bonus is that you can talk to your dog the entire time you are working the course, and if needed, you can redo a sign or two.

The skills required for Rally Obedience 1 (UKC) or Rally Novice (AKC) are really no different than what you are learning in your puppy classes. Your dog should be able to loose leash walk, sit, down, stay/wait as you move around them in a circle, walk faster, walk slower, and other basics. A majority of our puppy homes, even those that are not competitive, could pass the lower levels. AKC even offers virtual titling options!

As the level of difficulty increases, the bond built with your dog will also shine through. After observing many talented teams, it almost looks like a seamless dance as they navigate their way through the signs.

Benefits for you and your dog:

  • Builds Connection - Rally builds on foundation behaviors that help dog and handler become a great team together. It encourages verbal communication, eye contact, connection and communication, and teamwork.

  • Mental Stimulation - the sport requires that your dog be focused on you and the directions that you provide. It is a great brain workout for your dog, and improves their focus and obedience.

  • Increase Confidence - Rally can give a fearful or cautious dog the confidence to trust that you to hold their best interests at heart. Uses Your Basics - as mentioned previously, rally builds on the foundation behaviors used during puppy classes. With each practice and improvement, it's a great way to help your dog learn to generalize these common behaviors wherever your life adventures take the two of you

Thurisia Dog’s Do It All!

Thurisia’s Involvement:  Rally Obedience is one of the first sports that Thursia was involved with. Alaskan Klee Kai are incredibly capable of learning and navigating this sport, and it is incredibly rewarding to watch. Because we have quite a number of teams participating, we may not be able to list them all! However, some of our more accomplished teams include:

  • Maera

  • Potion

  • Maya

  • Lyra

  • Isla