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First article: UNDERSTANDING RALLY
Second article: CORRECTING PROBLEM HORSE BEHAVIOR

UNDERSTANDING RALLY
(from Click Your Way to Rally Obedience by Pamela S. Dennison)

The handler moves quickly, stepping to the right, the left, circling, halting, and then taking off again. Her dog, his eyes glued to her face, almost magically stays by her side, shadowing her every move. She is smiling widely; his tail wags constantly as his body quivers with excitement—clearly they are both having the time of their lives. Where are they? At a Rally trial.

Rally Obedience was initially developed in 2000 by Charles "Bud" Kramer, who was also the innovator of the first American Agility program back in 1984. Over the years, Kramer had watched interest in competition obedience decline. To attract new people to the sport of dogs, he came up with the idea for a sport with a "softer" climate than traditional competition obedience, one that more enhanced the human/dog bond. And so Rally was born. The sport has often been described as a mixture of agility and competition obedience. This is because some of the behaviors in Rally are similar to behaviors used in competition obedience, but as in agility, participants in Rally follow a numbered course—the judge doesn’t call a pattern.

When competing in Rally, you essentially follow a course of signs and perform the behavior(s) listed on each card. The judge does not follow you too closely, just near enough to score you. You are on your own once you say "Ready!" You complete the course at your own speed and you can talk to your dog the entire time if you wish.

Being originally a "snob" competition person, when Rally first came out I thought it was "stupid." That lasted right up until I actually went to a Rally seminar. Within ten minutes, I was completely and utterly hooked. Rally Obedience (whether the AKC (American Kennel Club) or APDT (Association of Pet Dog Trainers) venue) is a wonderful sport that utilizes many different behaviors. Some of these behaviors are used in competition obedience, and some are wonderful for just plain, day-to-day living with your dog. Passing other dogs or people on the road or trail, getting around a show site, even taking your dog to a flea market will all be easier, more enjoyable and safer if your dog knows the Rally moves outlined in this book.

REASONS TO COMPETE IN RALLY

Rally is all about having fun and interacting with your dog while competing for titles. If you enjoy training your dog and want to take that training past the basics or if you are wondering what a good next step would be after the Canine Good Citizen (CGC) certificate, Rally is a wonderful sport to train for. Although you don’t have to have your CGC to compete, it is important that your dog knows and is proficient at loose leash walking and ignoring other dogs and also that he is responsive to some basic cues such as come, sit, down, and stay. Even if your dog is just beginning to learn these things, you can start Rally training—this book is laid out in easy-to-follow, step-by-step exercises for the beginner on up.

Trialing can be scary for the new (and not-so-new) competitor. Rally is a fantastic way for both you and your dog to get used to the show scene and to take your training to new heights of proficiency. Once you have completed your Rally title(s), it is quite easy to segue into any other dog sport you may be interested in pursuing—be it competition obedience, agility, carting, or tracking, to name just a few.

The AKC and other venues are cracking down on unruly dogs that compete in agility and have been issuing non-qualifying scores to those dogs that are not under their handler’s control. So while you don’t need agility training to do Rally, you do need some of the basic training used in Rally to do agility.

HOW RALLY DIFFERS FROM COMPETITION OBEDIENCE

In competition obedience you are allowed to talk to your dog only between exercises. The patterns followed are very similar, if not identical, no matter which judge you show under. The judge follows at a very close distance and calls out instructions such as "right turn," "left turn," "about turn" and "halt." In AKC, ASCA (Australian Shepherd Club of America) and UKC (United Kennel Club) competition obedience (Novice), the heeling pattern is done on leash, then again off leash with a stand for exam in between (with direct contact between the judge and your dog). Once this is completed, there is an off leash recall. At the end are group stays with a one-minute sit stay in a group of approximately eleven other dogs and a three-minute down stay in that same group of dogs. Take a look at the chart below to see how competition obedience behaviors relate to Rally.

AKC Obedience (Novice) AKC Rally (Novice) APDT Rally (level 1)

Heel on leash       yes                              yes                              yes
Heel off leash       yes                               no                                no
Figure 8               yes                               no                                no
Stand for exam     yes                               no                                no
Recall                  yes                               no                                no
Group stays         yes                               no                                no

Of course, Rally requires many behaviors that competition obedience does not.

One of the major objectives of the sport of Rally is that the dog and handler team be just that, a team working together in a happy and joyful manner, showing off the bond and training between them. That lighthearted relationship can only be present in the ring when it exists at home. I firmly believe in using only positive methods when working with a dog. Training Rally behaviors to precision using positive reinforcement will not only result in a better relationship with your dog and a dog that loves to compete, but also will yield you the same high scores as traditional training methods.

CORRECTING PROBLEM HORSE BEHAVIOR

LOOK FOR THE CAUSE

It often seems that bad behavior is easier to establish in a horse than good behavior. There are a couple of reasons. First, a horse will act in a way that is more comfortable for him, and second, he may feel that he has accomplished what he wanted to do rather than what you wanted to do. In the first example, many horses are lazy and would rather not exert themselves. They choose to perform a maneuver so that it is easiest for them. It’s also possible that you are pushing the horse past what he is capable of giving at that point in time, thus causing him to become frustrated. He may toss his head, stop, stand in place and refuse to move, or even begin to rear. These are signals that you need to back up a step and prepare your horse more slowly for the new maneuver before you ask again.

If a horse begins to resent a maneuver that he has performed well in the past, check for a physical problem. Has he lost a shoe? Does he have a stone bruise? Is he muscle sore? Does he have sharp edges or wolf teeth that need to be filed or removed? Check for physical reasons first, because asking a horse to work when something is hurting him is not fair.

If the horse checks out physically, look for a mental reason. Have you drilled and drilled on a maneuver until the horse is bored with it? Horses need some variety and the occasional easy day to stay fresh in mind. They can have an off day, just as you do. Sometimes it is best to ask again tomorrow for that maneuver and see if the horse behaves better. Perhaps you did not “explain” exactly what it was that you wanted him to do. Your horse can get frustrated or confused, just as you would, with unclear directions. He may react badly, almost in self-defense. Some horses will choose to test you now and then. These horses need the occasional reminder of who is boss in the relationship. Other horses will misbehave to get you off their back sooner so that they can go back to the stall or pasture to eat or rest.

A horse that is trying to rush through a lesson to return to the barn can be helped by leaving him fully tacked with the saddle tightened and tying him in his stall or to a tree or post outside. Leave him tied for thirty minutes to an hour. Do this every day after you ride and see if it helps his behavior. Be sure to end the lesson on a good note so that the horse learns the lesson doesn’t end until he behaves.

FIX IT SOONER

As with most equine training problems, the sooner a horse is corrected for misbehavior, the easier it is to fix and the less likely it will become a habit. A horse can learn a habit after as few as three repetitions of a given behavior. Correcting a horse the first time that he misbehaves is best. If, for example, your horse stops at the gate and refuses to go forward and you dismount, you are rewarding him for misbehaving. You must think about what each and every action on your part is telling the horse. Learn to think like a horse and try to determine how he may interpret your cues or actions.

If your horse refuses to take a certain lead and you stop him and sit on his back in frustration, you are rewarding the horse. You are telling him that he has behaved correctly. What is his incentive for taking the correct lead when he gets rewarded for taking an incorrect lead? Why should he take a correct lead and have to work when you let him rest when he is “bad”?

If your horse bucks every time that you ask him to lope and you do not show or tell him that bucking is unacceptable, he will continue to buck to show his displeasure at being made to work. However, be very sure that you have not popped the horse in the mouth with the bit every time you asked him to lope. In that instance the horse might be bucking in self-defense. He knows that loping those first few strides will cause him to get jerked in the mouth and he wants to to avoid the pain in his mouth. Watch your equitation.

CORRECT EVERY TIME

Correcting a horse every time he makes a mistake will show him that it is to his advantage to obey your original cue. The correction that I use most often is pulling a horse into two or three tight little circles, always in the opposite direction of that which the horse has chosen. For example, if the horse tries to run out the gate to the left, I pull him into three small circles to right. If he cuts into the center of the ring to the right, I pull him to the outside of the ring or to the left. If the horse begins to buck, I pull him in three tight little circles in either direction.

This is not an extremely harsh correction. I see no sense in spurring or in beating a horse with a whip. Either of those corrections will generally make the horse bolt forward, and then you have to pull on his mouth to make him stop. You have just taught the horse to bolt, which is unacceptable, and you have pulled on his mouth, making it tougher.

The only time I will strike a horse with a crop or bat is when he tries to bite or kick. In this case you are justified in making a severe correction because your safety is at stake. Don’t play around—let the horse know that this type of behavior is totally unacceptable under any circumstances and that he will be corrected severely (within reason, of course).

Correcting a horse by using small circles can be increased in severity if you take your outside leg and bump him hard with your heel as he is circling. Yelling in a low tone of voice or “growling” at him will also help to show your displeasure. Horses learn quickly that a soothing “good boy” means that they are performing correctly and that a sharp “quit” or other verbal correction means that they are not. Once a horse learns these verbal cues, you can sometimes use them alone without an accompanying physical correction. You will have to read your horse to see if a verbal cue is effective or if he needs a stronger correction. I always try the lightest correction first and work my way up from there.

GIVE HIM TIME TO UNDERSTAND

In order for a horse to understand a correction, a horse must be corrected every time he performs a bad behavior. After enough corrections, he will eventually think that the crime is not worth the punishment and that it is to his benefit to obey the original request. You must be consistent and follow through with your corrections no matter how long it takes, if you expect your horse to understand. Horses do not learn or unlearn a behavior in a day. Training takes time.

One of the biggest advantages in sending a horse to a trainer is that the trainer will ride your horse daily—day after day after day. You do not have to find the time to ride after work, after the kids are in school, or after the housework is done. Riding is a trainer’s job, often involving six days a week, eight to twelve hours a day. A trainer must find the time to do other chores after the horses are ridden. A horse with a trainer will learn, or unlearn a bad behavior, more quickly because he is consistently ridden five or six days a week.

Don’t get discouraged if your horse does not learn or unlearn a behavior in one lesson or one day. Training a horse takes a large commitment of time, a large dose of patience, and much perseverance. I see many students that are ready to give up on a horse, when in fact they have just begun.

If you correct your horse only every second or third time he misbehaves, he will try again and again to misbehave. He will wonder, “Is today a day I get corrected? Or is it a day that I can get away with it?” Don’t confuse a horse by letting him act a certain way one day, then correcting him for that same behavior the next day. Consistency is the key to good training, no matter how monotonous it may become to you.

TIME YOUR CORRECTIONS

Timing is also extremely important. If you want your horse to understand a correction, you must give it within three seconds of the misbehavior. Otherwise, too much time has passed and the horse will think that you are correcting him for something totally unrelated. Correcting a horse as soon as he begins a bad behavior is the only way that he will understand. Using the example of a horse that tries to cut into the center of the arena, or to cut a circle short to head toward the gate, you must, as soon as the horse heads in that direction, take hold of the reins (gently—no snatching or jerking on the reins) and pull him into tight circles in the opposite direction. A horse does not like this. It is uncomfortable for him to bend in a tight, small circle.

When you begin to pull a horse into small circles, you must be sure to loosen the outside rein so that he has room to turn his head in the pulling direction. If your horse is strong, hold or lock your pulling hand on your hip. This gives you a little extra power that can keep the horse from pulling the rein out of your hand or from pulling your hand forward, in effect, rewarding himself by release of pressure.

If you know that your horse may try to misbehave in a certain section of the arena and that you might have to correct him, be prepared. Think ahead, and be prepared. Training is all about out-thinking a horse.

ASK AGAIN AND AGAIN

Correct the horse and then ask the horse to perform that same maneuver again. Allow him to begin to make the mistake. Correct him again, and then repeat this sequence. After a few series of corrections, you should begin to see results, although with some horses it may take a few days or even a few weeks or months. This will depend upon the nature of the problem, the length of time the horse has been acting this way, and your own perseverance and consistency.

DON’T WAIT

You cannot wait two or three minutes to see if the horse will behave on his own. Every time you do that, the horse thinks that it is acceptable to act in the way he chooses. Repeating the correction consistently, within three seconds, will communicate to your horse that he will get corrected every time he begins to make that mistake. Be fair to him by being consistent. Let him learn the rules.

TRAIN TO FIT THE HORSE

Horses have different personalities, temperaments, and levels of ease or difficulty in training. Some horses give in easily, while others need to be “convinced”