Course Details
Welcome to the world of Rally! In this course we will break down and teach the skills for each Novice sign, including halts and sits, fronts, finishes, turns, short heeling segments, and more! During the course, we will discuss the mechanics of teaching these skills, how placement of reward can help with your dog’s accurate performance of obedience skills, and how using props can assist with your dog’s understanding of the positions. By the end of the course, you will have the knowledge to teach all the skills needed for the 40 AKC Rally Novice signs, but don’t get overwhelmed! Many of the signs are very similar and build on each other. We will break down each set of skills into manageable chunks so you and your dog can be successful!
For those of you working through the TEAM program or who want to work on your obedience foundation, Rally is the perfect game to play with your dog, and is especially good if you’re thinking about entering the competition ring for the first time.
The AKC rally skills can be broken down into following categories: short heeling segments, halts, turns, positions (sit, down, stand), fronts, finishes, pace changes, and short stays. Students are not expected to master all of these skills, but will be provided the resources for teaching all of these categories. Each week several skills will be released and students will have the option of working on any skills from the current week or previous weeks.
Get Ready to Rally! is an introductory class. Dogs will be expected to have a basic understanding of sit, down, and heel, but these skills do not need to be refined. Please note that this class will not cover how to execute the specific signs, but will give you and your dog a solid foundation in the skills needed to complete each sign.
If you'd like to see what Rally is all about, check out a recent show with Strive.
Here are the trailers for this class.
Teaching Approach
This is a skill-based class. Lectures are released once weekly. Each week there will be a variety of short skill lectures which contain step by step instructions that are written out followed by video examples. Most videos are short but some may be up to a couple minutes. The videos do not require the ability to hear them in order to understand what’s going on. For each skill lecture, the suggested homework is listed on the bottom of the lecture. This class will work best for students who enjoy reading text lectures and watching videos that demonstrate the steps detailed in the written portion of the lecture. The steps for teaching each skill are broken down and laid out in a structured way.
This class will have a Teacher's Assistant (TA) available in the Facebook study group to help the bronze and silver students! Directions for joining will be in the classroom after you register.

Nicole Wiebusch (she/her) started competing in dog sports as a teenager in the 90’s and quickly became addicted to the sport of obedience. In 2001, she acquired a golden retriever named Tucker who taught her that traditional methods weren’t the best way to a happy confident dog. (Click here for full bio and to view Nicole's upcoming courses)