A sheltie family story
When I first heard about Rally I was excited that we had a “new” game to play with our dogs. When I finally got to read about it and see the first match, I was thrilled. When I read the instructions for each sign it was apparent that I had been doing these exercises for years in agility and obedience training, heck even in training for conformation. I had the opportunity to start teaching basic obedience last spring and immediately started incorporating rally into my classes. 
I printed and read the instructions over and over and as I taught them to my students, I constantly reminded them that we were “learning” together and could have to change procedures when we got to trials and workshops and found the right way. I had not done obedience for years so felt quite handicapped but we set out on our new venture.
Interestingly enough, we have placed several puppies over the past few years who have been doing agility, herding, and other performance events…but their owners thought I was a fanatic talking about all of this Rally stuff. Many of them got tired of hearing me talk about Rally and finally had to try it. We have really kept it all in the family in 2005. We know that never again will we have so many “family” members ready to compete and title at one time so we just had to tell their story.
The first dog I entered was Suzy, Leodens Black Eyed Susan RN PT JHDd JHDs CGC. She was 14 months old, still puppy, and we had fun in the ring though our scores were not HIGH. Sheltie friends were there when Suzy got her first leg and their interest was perked.
Next I entered the mother of the puppies - 9 year old Wendy, AKC / INT Ch Leodens Wishful Thinking PT HCT RN CGC and in October she earned her RN along with two of her offspring. Not bad for an old dog.
The father of the puppies – Ethan, Kambria Musical Movado 5 AKC POINTS, 1 MAJOR, NA NAJ OA HT RE CGC CL1-F CL1 - R CL-1H has got his RE title with a 1st place at the 2007 ASSA National.
Pat O’Connor got Leodens Rythym N Blues RN RE RA RAE HCT CGC – rally titled. Danny is our Rally/Obedience star. He got his RAE in 10 shows and has his ASCA CD. He is consistantly getting 1st place wins in Pre-Novice and has 2 CD legs in AKC.
In October Cathy and John Kreutzer entered Annie, Leodens Dreamboat Annie RN HCT CGC she became the third littermate to get the RN before these puppies were 18 months old. Annie placed third in her class the day she earned her final leg.
On the way to Rally titles these three littermates all got their CGC the same day at trials in Woodland California.
Toby owned by John and Cathy Kreutzer got RN title in Rosevill along with Mom Wendy and Ethan.
Kaylee – Wendy daughter owned by Sherrie Hallenbeck got her RN in November. Kaylee is one of our Agility stars so she is a very busy dog.
All in all, the Leoden “children” are having a great time in Rally and Rally is good for them.