Rally Obedience Competition
Bailey & Ronda Murphy
American Kennel Club Rally Obedience competition is referred to as a Companion Event. AKC Companion Events include obedience, rally, tracking, and agility. These events are open to all dogs – pedigree and mixed breeds.
There are many levels that dogs can earn titles. Those include Novice, Intermediate, Advanced, Excellent, Master, Advanced Excellent and Rally Champion.
Rally Obedience is AKC’s newest sport and is fun for dogs!! It’s not traditional obedience and it’s not traditional agility. It’s something in between the two. In Rally obedience, the team of dog and handler navigate a course and must perform various obedience exercises as indicated at the different stations on the course. There are seven levels of rally competition: Novice, Intermediate, Advanced, Excellent, Advanced Excellent, Master and Rally Champion. (We will teach the Rally Intermediate and Advanced Class together.) Prerequisite: Canine Good Citizen. Classes will be 6 weeks and as requested.
Rally Novice:
In the RN Class, all signs are judged on leash. There will be between 10 and 15 signs with a minimum of three and a maximum of five stationary exercises. An example of a RN sign would be: Call Front, Finish Right Forward.
Rally Intermediate:
In the RI Class, all signs are judged on leash. RI must have between 12 and 17 signs, with a minimum of three and a maximum of seven stationary signs. An example of and Intermediate sign would be: Halt, Pivot 180 Degrees Left, Halt.
Rally Advanced:
In the RA Class, all signs are judged off leash. RA must have between 12 and 17 signs, with a minimum of three and a maximum of seven stationary signs. A dog is required to jump once in the RA level. An example of an RA sign would be: Left Turn, Dog Circles Right, Forward.
Rally Excellent:
In the RE Class, all signed are judged off leash. RE must have between 15 and 20 signs, with a minimum of three and a maximum of seven stationary signs. The dog is required to jump twice in the RE level. Courses will have a minimum of two Advanced level signs and a minimum of three Excellent level signs, plus the two required jumps and the Sit Stay sign. An example of an RE sign would be: Stand Dog, Leave Dog, Sit Dog, Call Front, Finish, Sit.
Rally Master:
In the RM Class, all signs are judged off leash. RM must have between 15 and 20 signs, with a minimum of three and a maximum of seven stationary signs. Courses will have a minimum of four Master level signs, plus the one required jump sign, a minimum of three Excellent level signs and a minimum of three Advanced level signs. There are no retries in the RM level. An example of a RM sign would be: While Heeling Immediately Back Up 3 Steps, Right Back Up 1 or 2 Steps, Forward. To get the master title, you need 10 qualifying scores.
Rally Advanced Excellent
In the RAE Class, all signs are judged off leash. In this class, you must show at the same event in both the Advanced B and Excellent B Classes and receive a qualifying score in both classes. That is your first “leg”. You need to get 10 “legs” in order to get your RAE title.
Rally Obedience Champion
To earn the RACH tile, dogs must achieve 300 championship points from the Excellent B and Master Classes, 20 triple qualifying scores obtained from the Advanced B, Excellent B and Master Classes. A minimum of 150 points must come from the Master Class. Points are calcuated from scores of 91 or better. Please see the points schedule in the AKC Rally Handbook for details on how points are calculated.