Engagement and Pivot Bowl
Both of these are very necessary for training! The ability of your dog to interact with you is super important whenever you train. Pivot bowls teach your dog rear end movement, which is arguably one of the most important skills when it comes to heeling. Understanding this important skill will improve crooked sits, sidesteps, crabbing, and so many more heeling issues.
Find Heel and Front
In level one, platforms are used to teach your dog heel position and front. This way the handler can stand naturally without a lot of extra body cues while the dog moves into position. I much prefer using props to teach these positions so the dog doesn't learn to rely on extraneous body movement. I find it much easier to fade a prop than to fade extra body cues.
Position Changes
Rally dogs need to understand how to do position changes in both heel and eventually in front of the handler. In TEAM 1 the dog learns to do position changes in front, and in TEAM 2 the dog learns how to do the position changes in heel.
Back Up
Another important skill for rally dogs! The dog will need to back up in heel in the upper levels of rally, but teaching the dog to back up really helps with body and rear end awareness, which is very important for heeling.
Send to Vertical Target
In the upper levels of rally, the dog will need to send to a cone and do a position change. The basic send from TEAM 1 is the foundation for these signs.
Jump
Starting in Advanced rally, the dog needs to jump.
Go Around an Object
This is a fun thing to teach dogs. Although there isn't a specific rally sign that uses this skill, it's super useful for training. Rather than leaving the dog in a stay to work fronts, I will send them around a cone. I send around a cone to get distance from jumps. This is a useful skill that I use often.
Stay with Distraction
Stay is a skill that is needed in rally. In TEAM 1, the dog will learn a foundation stay with a treat distraction.
If you've been playing around with the TEAM program and want to work on something else that will compliment TEAM, check out the sport of Rally! Rally classes are offered every term at FDSA.
Check out Nicole's February class, Get Ready to Rally - Foundation Skills, now open for registration!
Nicole Wiebusch 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. This realization started her on the journey to positive reinforcement training.
In 2008, Nicole started her own dog training business, Golden Paws Dog Training LLC, and teaches both pet owners and dog sports people dog-friendly training methods. She started taking classes with Fenzi Dog Sports Academy in 2013 and actively competes in a variety of performance events with her three golden retrievers.
Nicole’s golden retriever Toby UDX2 OM3 RAE was retired due to physical problems just 30 points shy of finishing his OTCH. Her current competition dog Strive has earned her UD and is working on her UDX. Toby and Strive both have multiple High in Trials in Obedience and High Combineds in both Obedience and Rally. Nicole’s dogs also hold advanced Agility and Rally titles, as well as hunting, dock diving, and TEAM titles.
In addition to operating Golden Paws Dog Training, Nicole is a field dog trainer for a service dog organization, a Canine Good Citizen and Trick Dog Evaluator, a Professional Member of the APDT, an instructor for the Fenzi Pet Professionals Program, a TEAM judge, and has earned the Obedience/Rally/Freestyle Trainer’s Certificate from FDSA.
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