First Time to Trial Rally and Obedience

[Lisa & Eli, The Weimardoodle]

Eli, the weimardoodle, and I will be competing in our first trial this weekend.  We will be in Rally Novice A and Beginning Novice A. We have one more class before the trial.  I plan on doing a OC Match on Friday, before competing on both Saturday and Sunday.   Any words of wisdom or tips, especially how to keep me calm?

[Adina P]

Consider posting in the Training Experiences group too! I have no words of wisdom, but best of luck!

[Connie]

Have fun and relax it is a sport.  I don't have any experience other than show and gos or mini match.  My 2 year old goldendoodle will be in her 1st Novice A trial in 2 1/2 weeks.  I don't expect much but this trial is only 10 miles from my house and I have done some training where it is at so I thought it was too good to pass up.  She had a rock solid sit for months and started breaking them 2 months ago.  I have 2 days of no broken sits so I'm happy.  Good luck and post how you did.  Connie and Soba

[Lisa & Eli, The Weimardoodle]

Connie like you, Eli (2 years) has had a solid down, but in the last 2 weeks he has been refusing (except for food). At first he would go down, then pop right back up.  Now, he will not go down during our "put thru sessions" at our training club.  In trying to fix the stay down, I broke the down all together.   This will not be a problem in Beg Novice, but the Rally Novice.  I've been working short sessions and then giving a "Jackpot" after several good downs.  This seems to be working right now, just hope its enough.  Pray down is not in the rally signs. 

[Leslie and Halas]

Eli will be able to feel your nervousness, so staying calm will help.  My suggestion is to just keep reminding yourself that this is for fun.  It's about you and Eli going out and having some fun together.  Rally is more relaxed than traditional obedience, and you can talk to your dog while you're doing the course, so I always try to do that.  Be sure to do the course walk-through, too.  As long as you do the right exercises, even if they aren't perfect, you'll be ok, and the walk-through really helps with that.  You don't have to memorize the course, but it's easy to misread signs when you're out there, so if you can study the course, you can make sure you know what's expected.  And if you or Eli do mess up, don't worry about it.  Still celebrate when you're done!  Remember, it's supposed to be fun!!  Good luck!

[Lisa & Eli, The Weimardoodle]

I wanted to give an update on our !st Trial. 

As you can see Eli got 2 green ribbons yesterday, with one on those a Blue Ribbon.  Our score for Beginner Novice was 186.5.  Our Rally Novice was not pretty, but qualified at 76.    Now, today...that's a different story.  The course for Rally Novice had three versions of downs.  He would not down the entire weekend.  I don't know, what it was, but he would not down.  That's what I was worried about in Rally.  In, Begiinner Novice, today, be started scratching during the sit stay and then forgot what he was doing and stood up.  He hasn't done that in months. So today no ribbons, just NQs!   Oh, well, we did have fun and learned a whole lot.  Thank you for your kind words of encouragement.  We'll get'em next time. 

[Connie]

That's awesome, I'm just figuring out this site and didn't know the thread continued.  I have had my dog in a trial also last month and she NQed by pooping in the ring.  I thought we were doing great until then but apparently we hadn't qualified in off or on leash heeling.  I won't have her in another trial until she is ready and I dont' know when that will be... Your dog is really cute too!