AKC Rally Nationals- anyone been?

[Knubbsy]

I know it’s pretty new, so I’m having trouble finding anyone with experience.

My sheltie qualified last weekend in her third trial. DH is voting we go since I have a long weekend then and she’s proven very competitive. But I’m not sure if it’s worth going. It’d be an easier decision if this year was at Harrisburg but Tulsa is a looooong haul.

[Bicoastal]

I’ve been to the combined event. Is that Invitationals or Nationals? What level are you at? Do you KNOW you’ve qualified? Shelties are a fairly competitive breed.

I’ve been to Harrisburg. The air quality was terrible and several handlers were sick after the event. Crating was on concrete, crowded, and loud. It is a very, very long day for the dogs -and the humans but it was their choice ;).

Would you fly or drive? Do you have a budget? How does your dog handle travel? Hotel stays? Trials?

For me, I would take a very unique dog who has lots of trial experience, confidence, resiliency, and stamina. I think it’s really hard on them physically and mentally.

[bdj]

I’ve qualified for it several times, and competed when it was in Harrisburg.

What level are you competing at?
When you say you’re “very competitive” - in Rally, keep in mind that that’s very subjective. The qualification requirements for Nationals aren’t particularly taxing, especially at the Novice-Excellent levels.

Where are you located? It’s basically a one-day trial - I qualified a dog for the first three years, and only went the year it was in Harrisburg - because I couldn’t justify that much travel for one day (in H’burg, I took my Rally dog, only because I’d already entered in Agility with another dog, so Rally was kind of an afterthought).

If you aren’t already working RAE legs, how does your dog handle multiple runs in a day? My girl wasn’t thrilled about the second run.
Judging (in my experience) was really odd - one judge was pretty easy going, the other was punitive as all get out, and took a lunch break in the middle of the class.

Keep in mind that (just like in regular Rally), you’re up against dogs of all jump heights, so in the case of a tie, the faster (and that often means bigger) dog wins.

If it’s a long trip, how would you feel if you had a bad day? (Keep in mind that the competition is likely to be VERY tough) - would you feel like you’d wasted the trip or be glad you went for the experience?

As I read this back, it sounds pretty negative - I don’t mean it to be that way. It was a pretty cool experience and I’m glad I did it, but it’s not something I feel like I need to do again. (Agility, on the other hand? I can’t wait till it comes back East!)

I’d be happy to answer any questions I can for you - in thread or by PM, whatever you’d rather. I know vtdobes was in Harrisburg, too, so she might want to weigh in as well.

[vtdobes]

I pretty much agree with everything bdj wrote. Except I went soley to compete in rally.

It was a great experience but I probably wouldn’t have gone if it wasn’t in Harrisburg (roughly 8 hr drive for me). Anything farther and I wouldn’t have gone. My other dog qualified the year before but it was in Tulsa so we didn’t go.

I am glad I went though as it was a great experience If you have the time/money go for it!!!

We are headed back to PA this week for the DPCA nationals…IPO trial this time

[bdj]

[QUOTE=vtdobes;8335731]

We are headed back to PA this week for the DPCA nationals…IPO trial this time :)[/QUOTE]

Oooo - good luck!
(This must be a traveling kind of weekend - I’m headed to NJ to try lure coursing with a couple of the beasties!)

[Knubbsy]

Thanks everyone, this is exactly the type of feedback I want. A lot of what I’ve been hearing is we might as well go since she qualified but like you all have said, there aren’t high standards for qualifying and we’re both new to this.

She got a 98 in our first rally novice because I didn’t give her enough space on the 8 and then two 100s to finish up. We’re consistently ~6-7 seconds faster than everyone else (I think except for one toy poodle, we were the smallest each time.)

[vtdobes]

I have a couple photos from last years rally nationals on Beckham’s page…

http://bobcatmorgans.com/beck.html