Sunday, June 6, 2010

A Rally update

The Rally workshop yesterday was fabulous! For other dogs in attendance there were: a Pembroke corgi, a Lurcher, a Plott hound (I think), an Irish setter, 2 Australian shepherds (the mellowest ones I've ever seen!) and a Bernese mountain dog. It was a great group.
I feel much better about where I am in training with Jenny and the upcoming trial in July. I know what I need to work on more and feel good about what we've done so far. The instructor was Annette MacNair of Wag It!. Annette is ranked 9th in the USA in APDT Rally ARCHX level. (Impressive!) I loved her teaching style. It was relaxed and fun. We even got to do a few course run throughs which helps a lot. Not only do you get real practice but you can watch others and get tips from that as well. She recommended the following book which gives me an excuse to buy it. (Books are my kryptonite!)
It teaches about both venues, AKC and APDT rally. That is great news since I want to be able to compete in both. I already bought this DVD which was helpful for the APDT signs. It's currently at the prison for the K-9 Corrections handlers to watch.
It is very well done and clear. I highly recommend it for anyone considering the sport. Everyone did great yesterday. I can see myself getting very addicted to this because it is so much fun. Oh well, I suppose in the realm of addictions this one isn't so bad. VBG

2 comments:

Katie said...

Glad you had a good time!

I have that book and it's very helpful. Pam Dennison is one of my heroes, anyway ;)

Anonymous said...

Fun blog. I really enjoyed reading the posts. Rally isn't really my thing but its cool to see the different dog sports. I'll defiently be checking back from time to time.

Your welcome to check my blog out if you're feeling up to it.

-Ben
http://busydogs.wordpress.com