Rally Events at BACM
Upcoming Rally Events
Check back for information about our 2025 season of Rally events, or follow our Facebook group.
Our Rally events will be open at half price to Junior Handlers who have a Junior Handler Certification.
These events take place indoors on our agility turf. We ask that you read and follow our Shoe Policy for the new turf.
Trial Secretary
Catherine LeCours
7130 Sagebrush Drive, Helena MT 59602
[email protected]
406-227-1131
Judges
Our judges in August 2024 were Bonnie Lee (Judge’s number 17781) and Susie Osburn (Judge’s number 18649), from Las Vegas, Nevada.
Rally Classes Offered
RALLY NOVICE A, RALLY NOVICE B, RALLY INTERMEDIATE, RALLY ADVANCED A, RALLY ADVANCED B, RALLY EXCELLENT A, RALLY EXCELLENT B, RALLY MASTER, RALLY CHOICE
New Exhibitor Orientation
Mark “new exhibitor” on your entry form, then watch your email. We will be happy to help you prepare and know what to expect at our trial. We want you to feel welcomed and not overwhelmed.
Practice Opportunities
Members of the Beartooth Agility Club of Montana generously offer peer-guided practice sessions in Rally several times a year during the off-season in winter and early spring. This can be a wonderfully informal way to become acquainted with the sport and get to know some club members. Follow our Facebook group for announcements.
Practice Sessions
Please check back or follow our Facebook group for information on peer-guided practice sessions.
About AKC Rally®
AKC Rally is for you if you are looking for a fun activity that builds teamwork with your dog and sharpens your dog’s obedience skills. Training for Rally is an excellent introduction to all AKC Companion Events.
Good for Starters
Rally builds skills that help with real-life manners. Certainly, the control and engagement involved in training carry over to the day-to-day world. The main elements of Rally are focus and listening.
Training can begin at home. Teaching your dog to heel closely is best accomplished with plenty of practice with a few careful steps in any direction. Minimal props are required. So, you’ll only need signs and holders, a few cones, and maybe a makeshift jump.
Competition is physically accessible. A Rally course is short. You and your dog navigate a course together, mostly at your own pace. Neither the handler nor the dog needs to move at anything more than a “fast” pace. At the higher levels of competition, the dog may have to jump, but only over a single jump.
Variations are fun. Unlike Obedience, where the dog and handler complete a set course each time at each level, the Rally team proceeds through courses made up of a different combination of signs placed in a different order each time.
The rules are friendly to beginners. While precision is important, the rules for handling are lenient. You can communicate with your dog verbally and nonverbally throughout the course, so long as you don’t touch him. Your dog is on a leash for the entire trial at the early levels. Since new competitors may lack confidence in their dog’s skill in performing off-leash, they may find it a comfort to work on a leash.
Rally History
In contrast to its sister sport, Obedience, Rally is one of the newest AKC sports. Started in 2005, Rally is similar to its sister sport in that it is all about teamwork. You and your dog navigate a course of 10–20 signs that instruct the team about what to do. The team moves side-by-side with the dog at the handler’s left side and under control.
Get Ready for AKC Rally
Currently, there are five levels of Classes in AKC Rally, with two divisions: Novice, Intermediate, Advanced, Excellent, and Master. But, effective June 29, 2023, the regulations will recognize a sixth Class: Choice. Each level offers more challenging exercises. Novice and Intermediate are performed on leash. Advanced Classes and above are performed off-leash. While the dog is required to jump once in Advanced, Excellent, and Master level competition, no jumps are required at the Novice, Intermediate, or Choice levels.
There are three higher titles. The Rally Advanced Excellent (RAE) title requires that the team qualifies in both Advanced and Excellent in 10 trials. Lastly, the highest level is the Rally Championship title (RACH).
Most Rally skills are performed with the dog in a heel position. Courses involve commands such as sit, down, come, and stay. Further, they may include various turns ranging in complexity from a simple 90° turn to elaborate ones.
All dogs six months or older with an AKC registration may compete in Rally. Presently, this includes AKC full registration, AKC Canine Partners, Purebred Alternative Listing program, or Foundation Stock Services. Dogs can range from small to large. The dogs must be physically sound and may not compete if either they are blind or have anything attached for medical purposes (including bandages or tape). For obvious reasons, females may not compete when they are in season. Deaf dogs may participate in Rally.
Juniors, as well as adult handlers, may participate in his sport. Junior Showmanship offers youth 9 to 18 a chance to develop their handling skills and learn about the world of dog sports.
Opportunities for Volunteers
Indeed, there is nearly always a way for volunteers to help. Courses of 10–20 signs are reset several times daily, and those signs don’t move by themselves. We may need Stewards (Gate, Table, Ring, or Time). Moreover, dozens of little things must happen to make a successful Rally event, tasks ideal for volunteers. If you would like to pitch in, even if you are quite new to the scene, please let the Trial Committee Chair know.
Our Venue
Yellowstone Dog Sports
(8 miles south of Roberts, Montana)
7753 Hwy 212, Roberts, MT 59070
Contact: [email protected]
The BACM Obedience events take place indoors on rubber mats. Our Agility and Rally events also take place indoors on artificial turf with rubber infill. Please remember to wear indoor shoes, socks, or bare feet when on the indoor turf.
This spacious facility is pleasant, well-maintained, and newly renovated. We ask that you bring indoor shoes, separate from your normal shoes, to wear whenever you are on the turf. Wearing covers on your shoes when outside is an alternative, as is walking barefoot or in socks on the indoor turf. We want this flooring to last a long, long time. You can help by not tracking in dirt, sand, gravel, snow, mud, or grit.
The building will open for exhibitors at 6:30 on Friday morning. Indoor crating is available; ex-pens may be used with two or more dogs. Crates or ex-pens — not dogs — may be left in the building overnight during an event at the owner’s risk. A warm-up area, consisting of a regulation agility jump, is to be used exclusively for warming up the dog, never for training or relieving the dog. All dogs must be on a leash, crated, or in an ex-pen at all times when on trial grounds except when in the designated warm-up area or competing on the course.
For those competing in the Rally Ring and those crating their dogs on the agility turf, please read the following information carefully.
- No muddy, wet, or dirty shoes are allowed on the turf. We suggest you have a set of clean and dry shoes set aside for wearing on the turf and in the Rally Ring. When you are going outside, please wear your outside shoes. You do not need to remove or change your shoes as soon as you enter the building. The entry mats and black mats are there to collect most of the outside dirt and mud. However, we do ask that you change into dry and clean shoes before walking on the turf both inside the Rally Ring and outside it.
- Most judges do not allow you to compete in socks, so having a clean pair of shoes is important if you compete in Rally.
- Some people wear overshoes or boots when they go outside to potty their dogs. Then they can slip off the overshoes when they enter the turf area. YDS has paper booties also; however, these booties wear out after one or two outings in mud or snow.
- The new turf is very nice, and we want to keep it that way for a long time. YDS appreciates your cooperation in wearing only clean and dry shoes on the turf.
One last thing: Please potty your dog before you enter the Competition Ring. A $10 “accident fee” will apply to the turfed area.
Previous Rally Events at BACM
2023 April Obedience and Rally Premium (for reference only)
2023 August Obedience and Rally Premium (for reference only)
2024 April Obedience and Rally Premium (for reference only)
2024 August Obedience and Rally Premium (for reference only)