The Ultimate Guide to Rally-O: Rules, Strategies, and Skills for Successful Rally Obedience Competition

by Debra M. Eldredge

Combining elements of obedience and agility, rally-O (also known as rally or rally obedience) is the fast-growing new dog sport that is sweeping the nation. Navigate your dog through a series of stations, performing various exercises along the way. A fun activity for competitors at every level, rally-O emphasizes the positive interaction and close bond between handler and dog. With step-by-step instructions for a variety of rally skills and more than 150 instructional photographs and rally signs, The Ultimate Guide to Rally-O will help you gain the skills and confidence you need to succeed!

Genres: Dogs

240 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2011

Reviews

[Stellaluna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book, I used this to help me prepare for competitive rally obedience! Great explanations of the exercises, you just have to make sure to keep up to date on signs that have been added or changed since this book was published so you can find and learn them based on the most up-to-date AKC definition.

[Carolyn Milne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very helpful starter book on Rally-O. I’m a dog trainer and was asked to add an intro to rally in my advanced puppy and adult obedience classes. Having no experience with rally. I ordered the book. It is a solid beginning for knowledge of the signs, and along with taking a novice rally-o class with my dog, enabled me to feel secure adding a short rally course into one of my classes. The information and background in the book is enough to understand and feel knowledgeable teaching a short novice course to your dog. For those more advanced in rally, there is information to solidify and enhance working with the more expert signs and maneuvers. I do think that beyond the very basic, you will get the most out of this book combining it with taking a class.

[Anne Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good explanation of Rally and training for Novice signs, dome signs have been added but these basics make it easy to interpret them to help prepare. I'm glad I read this before my first trial and as I was going through a class.

[M.A. Kropp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rally Obedience, or Rally-o as it is often called, is a dog sport that combines elements of obedience with a bit of agility, is something I have been interested in for Lambeau for a while. Not that I want to compete, but he is still pretty energetic and needs some outlets for it. He tends to pick up new behaviors pretty quickly, so it can be a bit of a struggle to find new things to work with him.

Enter Rally. It's easy to start. You don't need any special equipment like you would in agility. All you need is your dog, a leash if he doesn't work well off, and a few simple props that can be, for home use, found almost anywhere. The book gives some general information about the sports, competing, and where to look for more resources if you want to go on to compete. It then goes through the exercises from beginner to advanced with samples of the signs used in competition, and explanations with tips on each exercise. The explanations are, for the most part, clear and easy to follow. I had to read through a few of them several times to get the idea (and here a good class would be helpful, and definitely necessary if you intend to compete). There is good emphasis on the teamwork between handler and dog, and the bond created when you do work together to accomplish the exercises.

Whether you are looking to compete in the sport, or are just looking for some fun stuff to do with your dog, this guide to Rally-O will give you a good start.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read! Encouraging and fun, can't wait to start doing more Rally training with my dog!