GAP owner and foster carer, Rebecca Conole, sent in this post on a recent RallyO contest she and her hounds took part in.
On Saturday morning Tristan and I packed our bags and the hounds into the car and headed to the NZARO Expo held at Fielding RDA.
RallyO is kind of like Obedience but you follow signs around a course doing various movements. There are three types of classes, Rally, Zoom and Handy Dog. Rally has sits and downs and stays etc as well as other movements. Zoom, like its name suggests is faster, there are no sits or downs, just turns, weaving through cones and more. Handy dog brings in some agility equipment so there are planks & ladders to walk over and jumps and tunnels when you get up the levels.
The aim is to get round the course without losing any points. The rounds are marked out of 100 points and a qualifying round is scoring over 90 points. If it is a competition tied scores on points are then decided by who has the fastest time. You lose points for things like tight leads, repeating a station, knocking over equipment, inconsistent pace etc. So the focus is on team work. The dog needs to be beside you with a loose leash throughout the course as you negotiate each station.
I have done a bit of Rally with Blondie (Fancy Kate) and as we were trekking to Fielding for the weekend I decided to enter Priceless (Fancy Freda) and Lola (Kinetic Flyer - our foster hound) in the zoom classes.
On day one Blondie had three classes and Priceless and Lola one each. Blondie was amazing and qualified in all her classes, won her Zoom class on 100 points and was 2nd in her Rally class on 99 points. It was quite challenging for me to go into the ring with Priceless as she hadn't done any rally or obedience and compared to Blondie... well let's just say it was like going from driving a Ferrari to a scooter! She was very good, SLOW but good and managed to get 2nd in the class on a score of 99. Lola was a bit exuberant and came away with a Merit certificate on 89 points.
They did have a training ring up for Handy Dog with the Agility equipment so I was able to get Priceless into that ring for a run around. Priceless has been doing agility training for about 6 months so I was keen to see how she would react at a different venue. Well she had a blast whizzing through the tunnel, over the jump and then trotting over the plank - a completely different dog. Funny things they are!
Day two was just as successful with Blondie again qualifying in all her classes. She was 2nd again in her Rally class on 99 points (she was docked a mark as she got so excited a whizzing circle was needed, though there was no tight leash it was a bit excessive!) and she won her Handy Dog class on 100 points which I was absolutely stoked with as she has had very little exposure to the ladder and plank. Priceless and Lola had two Zoom classes each. Priceless again was SLOW! You could almost see her going yeah yeah I'm coming but this is so pointless - where are the jumps and the tunnel and the things that are actually fun? She managed to get a qualifying score of 98 in one class but I think we'll stick to agility as at least she has fun with that. Lola was amazing and got a 97 in one class and 99 in her other one which resulted in winning the class!
So all in all it was a very successful weekend, with everyone coming home with a ribbon. Also there were other greyhound's competing which is fabulous!! AND Melanie from the Kotuku Foundation made the trip out to visit us on Sunday. It was just awesome to meet her and find out a bit more what's in store for Lola when she graduates into her new job. Not to mention she was lovely and came armed with lunch and treats for the pooches - thanks so much for visiting Mel!
We stayed at a motel in Palmerston North Saturday and Sunday night that allows dogs inside. (www.bigfivemotel.co.nz - they were awesome! Even upgraded us so we had enough floor space for the hounds) Lola was a dream and Priceless and Blondie were good, but a little miffed that they weren't allowed on the furniture!
It was a great weekend and in my experience Rally (especially Zoom when starting out) is a great activity for hounds. It is positive and fun and NZARO really sets you up to succeed. If you are keen to know more check out the website or contact your local Dog Obedience Club as the Kennel Club also run Rally events.
Bec, Priceless, Blondie and Lola