Midas, Rally Round II, Class #1
We had the beginning of our second rally class tonight. Only one lady, plus us, were there form the time before. But, she brought a new dog and her friend brought her Portuguese Water Dog to class. That dog was amazing.
Midas did really well tonight. We were just on. His worst problem was sniffing the ground but we’re working on that. This was an Advanced level course and so there were several new signs that we had not used before.
My favorite were these:
This was the description: “Left About Turn. While moving with the dog in the heel position, the handler makes an about turn to the left while at the same time the dog must move around the handler to the right and to the heel position. The dog does not sit before moving forward in heel position with the handler.”
This was pretty self-explanatory, and he did great (because it’s just like agility). There were two other signs that were very new and I didn’t have very high expectations because his tight heel is pretty…loose. But, he did both of them fantastically, like he’d known them the whole time!
Description: “HALT - Turn Right One Step - Call to Heel. With the dog sitting in heel position, the handler commands the dog to wait or stay. The handler then turns to the right while taking one step in that direction and halts. The dog is called to heel position in the new location before moving forward to the next station. (Stationary exercise)”
Description: “HALT - 90 degree - Pivot Left - HALT and Forward. With the dog sitting in heel position, the team pivots 90 degrees to the left in place, halts, and then moves forward. (Stationary)”
There was one that we had to practice off-course before we could even remotely attempt to do it on the course. I should’ve expected that since we had the same problem with walking around him in a lay down/stay.
Description: “HALT - Stand Dog - Walk Around.With the dog sitting in heel position, the handler will stand the dog, command the dog to stay and walk around the dog to the left, returning to heel position. The handler must pause in heel position before moving forward to the next station. In the Advanced Class, the handler may touch the dog, move forward to stand the dog and may pose the dog as in the show ring. (Stationary)”
We got a plastic lid with peanut butter on it and held it in front of his face while I walked around him. It worked but I would still like to teach him the command “Stand” just for general use.
The class was a blast, as usual. We were really challenged and he did great! It’s also a great bonding experience as well! 