Six Cone Rally - Practice #1

I'll spare you the suspense - as originally implemented, my idea didn't work...

... at least not well.

The original idea was to set out six cones, in a cross-shape, so that I could utilize the space in my long, narrow backyard to practice Rally Novice exercises.

On our maiden voyage, I drafted a "course" that used just the 8 Rally exercises I'm working on this week (see the picture on the right - click on it to see it larger.)

"Stationary Exercises" are displayed in blue in the list on the right, the little orange cones show where you will be performing the exercise (list on the left) and the cone picture with all the numbers diagrams the pattern you should be walking.

Seemed like a good idea.

I printed it out, folded it in half lengthwise, folded it again (so I could just see #1-7), laid out the cones, grabbed a dog (Beau) some cookies (Zukes) and I was ready.

Lesson #1: My yard is not wide enough. Even with the cones spaced 6-7 feet apart, there still wasn't room to maneuver the big dog around without knocking cones over - and having already earned his RN title, he is familiar with both the exercises and cones. When I trotted Zachary out there, it got even worse. While he is quite flexible and nimble, he is also more likely to jump around, and therefore he knocked over even more cones than Beau did.

Lesson #2: Pick up the playing field before you begin to play, if you catch my meaning.

Lesson #3: Try to have an even surface to work on, or at least heavier cones to work with. The breeze from Beau's tail was enough to topple my wimpy soccer cones on lumpy grass (next time I'm breaking out the heavy-duty CalTrans cones!) It was also no good to have to go from grass to brick to grass, but as hubby would frown on major yard demolition just for an experiment, we had to make do.

Final Analysis:

Actually, despite the doom and gloom above, I think it still might work.

It's not going to work in my backyard, but if I move it to the front yard, I can increase cone spacing to 8-9' (at least for most cones) and that just might be far enough apart.

I think the layout of my "map" was actually pretty good, I didn't have any problems following it, nor did I have an problems holding it, the cookies, and the clicker. Unfortunately, moving to the front yard will mean the addition of a leash, but as a leash is required for Rally Novice, that was going to have to happen at some point anyway.

The biggest down side is that my neighbors will look at me even more strangely than they already do, but some things just can't be helped.

Rally Syllabus

OK… here it is… my summer battle plan for Rally Novice - a Homeschooling program designed to span 6 weeks (much like a "traditional" class would do.)

On the left, you should see a checklist of all Rally Novice exercises, grouped by exercise type (click on it see it larger.)

Of course, there are many ways one can group things, and this may or may not be the best way, but it’s good enough for me.

For now.

Subject to change without notice.

The next step was to decide what order to teach things in. I quickly eliminated going by groups. How dull would that be? A week of nothing but sit… woo-hoo (not!)

So after shuffling my Rally Business Cards around a bit, trying to spread out like items over the weeks and avoid multiple left or right turns in a week (accept for Week #1) this is what I came up with:

Week 1 (this week):

• 3. HALT-Sit
• 4. HALT-Down Dog
• 5. Right Turn
• 6. Left Turn
• 7. About Turn-Right
• 9. 270 Right Turn
• 10. 270 Left Turn
• 19. Normal Pace

Week 2:

• 8. About “U” Turn
• 18. Fast Pace
• 24. Serpentine Weave Once
• 26. HALT-1, 2, and 3 Steps Backward
• 30. HALT and Walk Around Dog

Week 3:

• 13. Call Dog Front-Finish Right-Forward
• 25. HALT-1, 2, and 3 Steps Forward
• 29. Left About Turn
• 31. HALT-Down-Walk Around Down

Week 4:

• 14. Call Dog Front-Finish Left-Forward
• 17. Slow Pace
• 21. Spiral Right-Dog Outside
• 23. Straight Figure 8 Weave Twice

Week 5:

• 11. 360 Right Turn
• 15. Call Dog Front-Finish Right-HALT
• 22. Spiral Left-Dog Inside
• 28. HALT-Fast-Forward from Sit

Week 6:

• 12. 360 Left Turn
• 16. Call Dog Front-Finish Left-HALT
• 20. Moving Sidestep Right
• 27. Stop and Down

… you may notice that Week #1 has a lot more stuff in it, but just about everything except the two 270 turns should be very familiar.

I'm hoping to get out to a local park a couple times a week to make it more like a "real class" - we'll see what I can come up.

What's Next?

It’s just so cool.

With Zachary passing his Canine Good Citizen test on Wednesday, I have now, finally, at long last, completed an item on my list of Goals for 2010.

Yup. One.

(wait… wait… give me a moment to savor it… Ahhhh….)

Ok – moment’s past. No time to rest on our laurels - do you realize how far behind I am this year? Training Levels has taken the biggest hit in our quest for the CGC certificate, and Training Levels should be where my focus is. By the end of this year I had resolved to finish Level Three + OTR 1 (On The Road) for both dogs, Level 4 (OTR 2 for Zachary only) and Level 5 (no OTR for either.)

And where are we now (CLICK HERE)?

We are still stuck in Level Three, that’s where we are. And while we have made major inroads into Level Four, there is still much left undone. To make matters worse, at the moment, all the easy stuff is behind us and the more time consuming things (like scenting and retrieve and that !@#$ Sit-Stay…) lie before.

So, what am I going to do about it?

I’m going to start working on Rally!!!

(I never said was the clever one in the family)

You see, the other “undone” on my 2010 goals list is AKC Rally Novice (RN) for Zachary – not the title, just enter a match by the end of the year – and Rally Novice is filled with relatively easy things to work on - things we worked on in earlier Training Levels (sits and downs and such) plus things required but unfinished for Training Levels future (Heeling, Fronts, and Finishes.)

Alas, there are no Rally classes that work with my schedule, so it looks like Zachary and I will have to go it alone. Oh well, no matter. Homeschooling is the name of the game around here!

To that end, I whipped up an Excel spreadsheet last night with all the Rally Novice signs and descriptions, and printed them out on Business Cards (see photo above - click to see larger) with the sign pictured on one side and the exercise description (abridged as necessary) on the back. These will make handy flash cards for re-familiarization, as a few things have changed since Beau got his RN title (pre-2008.)

And then I started thinking about how I was going to set up practice courses in my rather long, narrow, sloping yard. (Short answer? I can’t.)

After much thought, I finally decided I might be able to do a substantial amount of practicing using just 6 cones. Each cone will be 6-8’ from it’s horizontal and vertical neighbors, making the 4 in a row just right for the Serpentine, Weave, and the change of pace exercises, while any 3 in a row would work for the spirals. The idea is to shuffle my cards and go stand by an outside cone (say, ‘F’.) I read the card and then perform whatever it says at cone ‘C’ (except those Serpentine and Weaves) and then move on the logical cone after that. So if I start at ‘F’, pull the Right Turn card, I’ll heel to ‘C’, turn right, and end up at ‘D’. From there I can stop, turn around, and then pull another card. If I want to do longer heeling, I can do so by skipping the center cone for the U-Turn exercises and heel all the way to the furthest cone.

I figure, using this method, I can get a lot of practice in using a pretty small footprint. If I don’t plan on working the Serpentine/Weave I can eliminate cone ‘A’ and need just 16x16 or less, depending on how much space Zachary needs to get turned around in.

(Will it work? I have no idea. I'll let you know once I've tried it.)

As one story ends so another begins. I can’t wait to get started!