Saturday, August 21, 2010

APDT Rally

 


A few months ago, Beckett and I tried out Rally. With a APDT Rally competition so geographically close.. I thought, well maybe we would try. I managed to get my Rally number before hand (I may have waited until the last minute) and entered Beckett and myself for two novice level something-or-others. The first went awesome, (see above ribbon). But on the second round the course had simply a million (I'm exaggerating, but not by much) sits and by the second to last sign Beckett had no interest in "sitting" anymore. Beckett like many, if not all greyhounds, just isn't built for a sit the way other dogs are. So not sitting was fine by me. We just walked out on the last sign, which sort of disqualified us. Still a ribbon! YAY!

I'm not sure if Rally is for me, it was a serious (but pleasant) atmosphere. I also got nervous, really nervous heart pounding take deep breathes nervous. I don't know why, I mean I don't really care, I know my dog is pretty awesome, I don't need a ribbon to let me know (not when I have my own blog to remind me). Still, I see the pull of the competition - seeing your dog and you getting better, having an outside validation of your work together. And of course who doesn't likes ribbons.

Before the competition my friend Crystal (the awesome) walked me through everything the rules, signs, tips,and common places you can go wrong. It isn't as though I didn't read the rules, I did, but there are a good amount of those rules and some of the signs seem a little complicated. Signs are lingo for signs. Since I'm primarily gloating here, you can check out the link if your looking for more info on the level one signs and rules.

The day of the competition the judge was quite patient, explaining any questions I had before things started and even moving a sign so that maybe a large dog like Beckett could fit through. The Judge lady seemed to be focused primarily on having a loose leash and having fun with your dog. By seems I mean that is pretty much what she said. I myself have no idea because lacking any highly competitive bone in my body, I actually didn't even bother to get my score sheet. So all I know is my total score, which was posted.

To the moment of competition itself. Here is the strange part. As you may recall I was pretty indifferent to whole the experience (see above deep breathing and heart pounding, not to mention excited and proud). However, Beckett loved it. Sure he got tired after the first course, but on the first course he pranced around that ring, he executed every command faster then ever before, he never strayed far from my hip, and was so happy. Weird. Maybe it is his competitive nature.

I'm still pretty proud of him.
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4 comments:

  1. It sounds like it was a pretty rewarding experience for the two of you. Rally is one of those things that I think you have to try a few times before you can get comfortable enough to know whether you like it or not. Congrats on the ribbon!

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  2. Beckett was pretty cute during that run. The prancing! Adorable!!!

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  3. You should be very proud of both of you. Becket did wonderfully and so did you. The thing with dogsports in general, they dont have to be competitve. Its doesnt have to be about winning. It can be and yet, some poeple are very competetive, but there are other out there who are out there having fun with their dog, trying to better thier own goals and skills. Like Magic and I, we dont do it to win. We do it to play together and even though Magic was not as on as he has been in the past, we had a great time. Come to the next APDT and play with us.

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  4. You're very brave competing! Beryl has just started doing Rally O and loves it. She does a lot of prancing and bucking too. It's great to see them enjoying something like this. I doubt she'd see any point in formal obedience, lol. We're a long way from competing yet though. Great work:-)

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