Obedience & Rally Obedience
Obedience has long been a favorite activity of dog owners.
Every responsible dog owner has taught their dog to respond to
basic, fundamental obedience commands. Often through their basic
obedience class they have found the world of competing in dog
events. More training facilities around the country are offering
classes beyond the basic obedience class. One class that has
become popular is the rally obedience or rally-o class.
Obedience
UKC currently offers obedience titling events for Boykin
Spaniels.
The rules and regulations can be found at:
http://www.ukcdogs.com/dogevents/rules/o-index.shtml
Australian Shepherd
Club of America ( www.asca.org)
also sanctions Obedience Trials. These are open to all breeds
except when designated for only Australian Shepherds.
Schutzhund organizations have a portion of their tests
dedicated to obedience. According to Selina Skipper,
kennel manager for Blue Sky German Shepherd Dogs "There are two
Schutzhund groups in the US; DVG
Landesverband DVG America and USA
United Schutzhund
Clubs of America. With DVG you
have to be committed to doing all three disciplines; protection,
ob, and tracking. USA is set up so you can earn individual
titles in Ob and Tracking. They, also, have higher levels of
tracking in which you can title. ... You have to register with
USA and get your scorebook. However, your dog doesn't have to
have papers or be recognized by AKC."
AKC also offers obedience events and we look forward to
Boykin Spaniels participating in them soon! AKC began obedience
competitions June 13, 1936 at the North Westchester KC show in
Mount Kisco, NY with twelve entries. Tracking was originally a
portion of the Utility Obedience level, but was separated into
it's own event on November 10, 1936. Tracking was moved to a
separate event, but passing a tracking test was still part of
the requirements for the UD. The advisory council in 1946
developed the tracking dog title (TD) and dropped the tracking
requirement for the UD. AKC holds a yearly
National Obedience Invitational Championship and also
sponsors a team to travel to England and compete in the
World Cup at Crufts dog show. More information on the AKC program can
be found at:
http://www.akc.org/events/obedience/index.cfm
 Rally Obedience
"Bud" Charles L. Kramer is
the father of rally obedience. The popularity of traditional
obedience had begun to wane and Bud Kramer conceived of the new
event of rally, publishing an article about the concept
in the February 2000 issue of Front and Finish. Soon after, the
American Pet Dog Trainers (http://www.apdt.com/rallyo/index.htm)
adopted the event in their organization. In August 2000, Bob
Self presented the format of Rally Style Obedience to the
American Kennel Club Obedience Advisory Committee. AKC adopted
Rally as a non-regular class in 2003 and a regular event held
alongside traditional obedience in in January 2005 (http://www.akc.org/events/rally/index.cfm).
UKC had made an announcement that it would be a new events in
Spring 2005, but later retracted that comment indefinitely.
Rally
is a sport in which the dog and handler team completes a course
at their own pace by following signs that provide instructions
on what obedience exercise to perform. Named after rally car
racing, the exercises in rally were patterned after practice
obedience exercises called "doodling". The rally sport was
conceived as a bridge between basic obedience classes and
traditional obedience but has surpassed that expectation into
becoming much enjoyed activity on it's own.
 Unlimited communication from the handler to the dog is to be
encouraged and not penalized; you
are allowed to talk to and
praise your dog while completing the course. Unless
otherwise specified in the organization rules & regulations,
handlers are permitted to talk, praise, encourage, clap their
hands, pat their legs, or use any verbal means of encouragement.
Loud or harsh commands or intimidating signals will be
penalized. Handlers may not touch their dog or make physical
corrections. |
