Rally Free Week Two
One of the attractive things about Rally FrEe is that obedience is less important than teamwork. Your dog does not have to perform the perfect military obedience moves at your command, but rather the judge is looking for happiness and pizazz. This is where free choice moves come in. Choose some free choice behaviours that your dog loves to do. Then when you get to perform them during a course, your dog will get happy again (if he wasn't before). Flow is also very important - think of the course as a dance, not as a series of stations at which certain behaviours are performed. Don't worry if your dog isn't straight or goes of to sniff something. Just incorporate it into your flow.
Homework for this week:
Work on heeling with your dog on both left and right sides while you (handler) turn to face forward for 5 steps and backward for 5 steps.
Play 101 things to do with ME. Be just as creative as your dog to encourage physical interaction. Pay attention to what your dog likes to do, what your dog does uniquely, what might become a signature free choice behaviour
Continue to work on the bow. If your dog already knows bow, then work it in different positions
Fill in your green-yellow-red chart for each of the novice behaviours. Please send a copy by to Katrina by email.