PERFORMANCE SPORTS WITH A PEKINGESE by Sharon Sipple
I wanted to do something with my dog that was fun for both of us and would strengthen our bond. Show- ing in conformation did not inter- est me. We registered for a puppy class right after I got Reese (Jen Mei’s You’ll be in my Heart). During that class, we were introduced to the
What is Rally? A course is set up with various skills you must per- form. You work together as a team to navigate the course. A judge assesses your performance. You begin with 100 points, and the judge will deduct anywhere from 1-10 points for not performing a sign correctly, or for other various faults, such as your dog lagging. A qualifying score is 70 or better. There are five levels of in- dividual titles (novice, intermedi- ate, advanced, excellent, and mas- ters). Novice and intermediate are performed on-lead, while the rest are off-lead. Novice through excel- lent require three qualifying scores to obtain a title. Masters requires ten qualifying scores.
sport of Rally. I learned that it was an AKC companion sport and you could participate in trials and earn various titles. Reese seemed to enjoy it and he was pretty good at it, so I decided we would go to Rally classes and see if we could possibly get a Novice title.
64 • T op N otch T oys , A ugust 2019
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