Here’s a video of Photon and me doing our practice rally-o trial at our last class yesterday.

I’ve annotated all the stations so you can see what we’re supposed to be doing. Halfway through at the Halt — Call Front — Finish Left station Photon immediately started going right instead of left, so we redid that move. Near the end where Photon was supposed to lie down she didn’t quite do it—and popped up early as well—so we redid that move as well. If this had been a real trial, redoing a move would only cost us 3 points or so (out of a total possible score of 200), whereas going on without properly completing a station would’ve disqualified us.

Please note that I’m leading Photon’s nose with my left hand a lot; I never had food in my hand during moves. In rally-o you’re only allowed to use food for rewards after each station is completed; you’re not allowed to use food to lure the dog into position. However, because of Photon’s behaviour during the previous week’s class (totally ignored me in favour of licking crumbs on the floor) I used the ne plus ultra of dog treats: smoked salmon! And can I help it if my hand was (as far as Photon was concerned) delightfully smelly?

In his May 22 post Jon mentioned that Photon was going to yet another “doggy class”. Indeed she is, and looking over her academic career, I realized that after this one she’ll have completed five courses. Not bad for a year-and-a-half old! What are all these courses, you ask, and what on earth is Miss Photon learning? Here’s a list, with links to our previous posts on them.

Puppy Pre-School taught basic obedience commands (Sit, Down, etc.), but the focus was really puppy socialization—get them used to other dogs, people and objects.

Family Dog covered basic obedience a bit more formally: Sit, Down, Stay, Heel, Leave it, and the biggie, Come. The last class featured doggie games to test the dogs’ training, which were an absolute riot as many of the dogs (and owners) totally forgot what training they had!

Step Ahead was the intermediate-level obedience course, refining the previously-learned commands, and heavily working on heeling skills.

I figured Photon would be a natural at Agility, so we took the beginner Agility class. Yup, she’s a natural, but I am not!

The course we’re currently taking is Rally Obedience, which is a dog sport featuring heeling and obedience commands, but isn’t nearly as stuffy as formal obedience trials. Unlike formal obedience, in Rally-O you can talk to your dog at any time, and at beginner level you can give treats, as well as keep the dog on leash. Like agility, a Rally-O trial consists of a course comprised of a dozen or so stations where you have to complete a given task. The course takes about 2 minutes to finish, and the emphasis is on enthusiasm rather than precision. (Here’s a video of a typical novice course. Edit: Here’s a video of Photon and me doing a practice course. Not quite as smooth.)

Will Photon ever compete in a Rally-O trial? I’m not ruling it out!