Rally Obedience
Photo by John Woolley Photography.
Rally obedience, or rally-o, is catching on as a fun way to work with your dog. It combines the obstacle-course navigation of agility with obedience exercises. Seamus LOOOOVES rally class. When he's excited, Seamus (AKC RN, APDT RL1 and RL1X) says "Rooooooo" — so when I mention "Rally-rooo" to him, he's always ready and waiting at the door. Dinah is in Staci Stanley's rally class with POC, and is doing pretty well as a rally-roo dog herself (AKC RN and RA, APDT RL1 with an Award of Excellence, plus RL1X and RL2). Badger hasn't tried it yet, but he ought to make a fine rally-roo dog as well.
Here are some rally-o links to help you get started:
- The BeardieMainiacs Rally Obedience Wiki page (includes Geoff Stern's introduction to rally)
- Rally Obedience
- AKC Rally Page
- APDT (Association of Pet Dog Trainers) Rally Obedience Info
- DOG -- Dog Owner's Guide to Rally-O (thanks again, Gail!)
- CARO (Canadian Association of Rally Obedience)
- Canadian Kennel Club
- Canine Fun and Games (C-WAGS), a new performance "league" with its own obedience and rally
- St. Hubert's CDSP
- ASCA rally welcomes dogs of all breeds to its performance events, and Rally is no different.
- UKC now has a Rally program! Scroll to the bottom of their Rules page for all of the Rally links.
Photo by Jerry Bergen.
Are You Ready to Rally?
Here are some places in Maine and NH that offer rally classes:
- Wag-It Training Center, Lincolnville, ME: (207) 789-5126.This is one of our favorite places to trial, and I'm only sorry that we live too far away to train there. Sumac Grant-Johnson and her staff of instructors offer everything from puppy classes and manners to competitive agility, obedience, and rally classes.
- DogSense, Gorham, ME: (207) 929-4482. Carolyn Ross offers all levels of APDT Rally as well as many other classes.
- Finish Forward Dogs Training Studio, Saco, ME: (207) 251-2296. We couldn't be more tickled about having a training facility open reasonably close to us! Shannan Hall-Nutting and her faculty of trainers offer rally and a host of other classes, both competition and non-competitive.
- It's a Dog's World, York, Maine, (207) 363-0099. IADW has started offering rally run-throughs. Seamus and I started out in rally there.
- Piscataqua Obedience Club, ME: (207) 363-2574. POC offers classes at the Kittery Rec Center on Cole Road in Kittery. Staci Stanley runs rally class on Wednesday nights, and Linda McKinnon offers a Thursday morning rally class. POC accepts drop-ins at $15 per session.
- Saccarappa Obedience Club, ME: (207) 854-3647. SOC holds puppy kindergarten, beginner, and pre-novice obedience at the Westbrook Armory in Westbrook. They also offer beginning rally and breed handling classes and feature "Super Sunday" obedience run-throughs and other special events.
- Paw-zn-Around, Saco, ME: (207) 283-6642. Sue Walsh now offers beginning rally classes at Paw-zn-Around.
- Casco Bay Dog Training Club, ME: (207) 615-WOOF. CBDTC holds a very popular local AKC obedience and rally trial in April. They currently have an Intro to Rally Obedience class as well as a number of obedience classes. You can contact the club by email, too.
- Telling Tails Training Center, Fryeburg, ME: (207) 642-3693. Telling Tails offers both competition and "just for fun" rally classes with Nanci Hayes.
- C&D Obedience, Augusta, ME: (207) 377-2436. Cindy Dunham and Donna Cassista offer private and group obedience training, rally-o, and agility in both Augusta and Manchester, ME.
- Tri-County Obedience Club, ME. Tri-County serves Kennebec, Somerset, and Franklin Counties in central and western Maine. They offer training in regular and rally obedience, CGC testing, and occasionally TDI (therapy dog) evaluations.
- Renaissance Dogs, Holden, ME: (207) 989-9977. Renaissance offers obedience, rally, and agility (and lots of other classes, too) just outside of Bangor.
- Bear Brook Kennels, Brewer, ME: (207) 989-7979. Email: info@bearbrookkennel.com. Instruction in APDT rally.
- Bo-Gee Agility, Raymond, NH: Yes, they do agility too, but Bo-Gee also offers classes in AKC and APDT rally with Barb Burri. They hold classes behind the Ben Franklin store in Raymond (Exit 5 off Route 101). Contact John and Laura Raymond at bo-gee@comcast.net.
- Carroll County Kennel Club, North Conway and Shelburne, NH and Fryeburg, ME: CCKC offers obedience and CGC classes, rally classes, and conformation handling classes at three locations in NH and ME.
- Monadnock Canine Academy, West Swanzey, NH: 603-352-9011. MCA is the training arm of the Monadnock Humane Society. This is where Seamus and I finished his RL1X title. They have a terrific facility for classes and trials, and the hospitality is the best at any trial I've been to.
- Essex County Dog Training Club, Salisbury, MA. ECDTC offers AKC and UKC competition obedience and rally classes as well as companion classes. Contact ECDTC through the handy form on their website, or call 978-463-DOGS.
- Old Colony Obedience Club, Ipswich, MA. OCOC offers all levels of obedience training from puppy-K through competition, plus rally. Email Beth Perron for information about classes, or call 978-356-4131.
- Back to Basics Obedience, Newport, ME: (207) 368-2442. Betsy Newman teaches agility, obedience, and rally in Pittsfield, Machias, Jonesport, and Hodgdon, ME.
