Rally: News and Updates

August 2022

At the August 2022 meeting, the Board voted to make the following COVID provisions permanent:

Qualifying Scores for Obedience & Rally Titles:

• In all Obedience and Rally classes that require three qualifying scores to earn a title, the three scores may be earned under the same judge.

Assignment Limitations:

• There are no mileage restrictions for judging Obedience or Rally trials.
• There are no restrictions on the number of times an individual can judge a class at Obedience or Rally trials in a cluster.

February 2022

Board Policy Provisions Extended for Obedience and Rally through December 31, 2022

At their February 2022 meeting, the AKC Board of Directors reviewed the temporary provisions that have been put in place to assist clubs during the pandemic. The Board decided to extend or make permanent several of the provisions for the sports. Specifically, for obedience and rally the following have been extended.

Two-judge requirement to title
The Board policy requires a dog to receive three passes under two different judges for a title. This is temporarily suspended for lower-level classes in obedience (10 titles), rally (four titles) and agility (18 titles). This provision was extended and is set to expire on December 31, 2022.

Date and mileage restrictions for Companion Event judges
The Board policy restricts judges in the acceptance of their assignments – 30 days and 100 miles for obedience/rally, 30 days and 200 miles for agility. This provision was extended and is set to expire on December 31, 2022.

Number of judge assignments during a cluster
The Board policy limits an individual from judging the same classes at more than two obedience/rally trials over the course of a cluster of no more than five (5) consecutive days at the same site or within a local geographical area. The provision was extended and is set to expire on December 31, 2022.

October 19, 2021

At their October 2021 meeting the AKC Board voted on the following Regulations:

These three temporarily suspended or modified Regulations have been extended for events occurring on or before Thursday, June 30, 2022.
(1) Rally – Two-Judge Requirement to Title – The Board extended the temporary modification for obedience, rally, and agility lower level classes and will allow titles to be earned under a single judge through June 30, 2022.
(2) Rally – The waiver of date and mileage restrictions for judges – The Board extended the temporary modification for obedience, rally and agility judges and waived the date/location restrictions of 30 days and 100 miles for obedience/rally judges; and 30 days and 200 miles for agility judges, allowing them to accept assignments without a conflict through June 30, 2022.
(3) Rally – The judge’s assignment limitation to judge the same classes – The Board extended the temporary modification for obedience and rally trials and will allow a judge to judge the same classes at more than two trials over the course of a cluster of no more than five days through June 30, 2022.

Rally Regulations temporarily modified through December 31, 2021

1. The two-judge requirement to title in the obedience and rally lower level classes was temporarily suspended as of July 1, 2020 through December 30, 2020. The list of effected titles is provided at the end of this memo. These titles per the obedience and rally regulations require three passes under at least two different judges. The coronavirus has made many judges reluctant to travel even well into 2021. Clubs are finding it difficult to attract judges from outside the local area, thus limiting the pool of judges available for their events. In some cases, exhibitors were experiencing difficulty achieving their titles. For all the classes impacted, a dog must earn a lower title before it is eligible to enter higher-level classes. When this concept was published, the department received positive feedback. By allowing a single judge to award qualifying scores toward titles during the pilot period, there has been no negative impact or favoritism reported at this time.This recommendation was approved to continue the waiver through December 31, 2021. This waiver will be reevaluated prior to December 31, 2021.
2. The Waiver of 30 days and 100 Miles Restriction for Judges and judging the same classes at two obedience/rally trials over the course of a cluster was instituted to help clubs hire judges that did not need to fly or in some cases even stay in hotel rooms. Some states still have quarantine or testing restrictions and many judges still do not want to fly or stay in hotels. This waiver is due to expire on December 30, 2020.This recommendation was approved to continue the waiver through December 31, 2021. This waiver will be reevaluated prior to December 31, 2021.

November 23, 2020

At the November 2020 AKC Board Meeting the following items were approved:

Assisting the Sports – Making Permanent Obedience, Rally and Tracking Modifications That Expire at Year-End. The AKC Rally Regulations that were previously temporarily suspended or modified in 2020 to provide clubs and exhibitors flexibility due to COVID-19 have been permanently changed as follows:

1. Closing Dates – The Regulations to allow clubs holding obedience and rally trials, at their option, to close the events at a specified closing date and time no later than 11:59PM seven (7) days prior to the event. This change is effective for all trials held on or after January 1, 2021.
   
2. Eligibility Restrictions for Exhibitors – The obedience, rally and tracking Regulations effecting an exhibitor’s eligibility was changed from thirty days to ten days prior to an event. This change is effective for all trials held on or after January 1, 2021.
3. Eligibility Restrictions for Dogs – The obedience and rally Regulations effecting a dog’s eligibility was changed from thirty days to ten days prior to an event. This change is effective for all trials held on or after January 1, 2021.
4. Eligibility Restrictions During Emergency Judge Changes – When a club has an emergency judge change for obedience and rally trials (an emergency judge change is defined as a change to the judging panel within 72 hours of the event) the eligibility restrictions on exhibitors and dogs is waived. This change is effective for all trials held on or after January 1, 2021.
5. Publishing the Rally Course Maps – The Rally Regulations have been amended to allow a club to distribute the rally course maps by email and to post them electronically online no earlier than 6PM the evening before each trial. This change is effective for all trials held on or after January 1, 2021.

AKC RALLY® REGULATIONS
CHAPTER 1
GENERAL REGULATIONS

Section 2. Premium Lists, Entries, Closing of Entries and Catalog Order. (Paragraph 2)
The premium list shall specify the name and address of the Superintendent or Trial Secretary who is to receive the entries.
Opening and Closing Dates. In order to provide fair opportunity for all exhibitors to enter upcoming events, premium lists are required to be published at least 72-hours prior to the acceptance of entries. Events whose entries are limited must have a defined date and time for the opening of entries which must be prominently displayed on the cover page of the premium list. In addition, every premium list shall specify the date and time at which entries for a trial shall close. For all trials the specified closing date and time must be no later than 11:59PM seven (7) days prior to the trial.
Whenever the closing day falls on a postal holiday, entries received in any form up to 24 hours from the published closing date and time may be accepted.

Section 13. Dogs that May Not Compete. (Paragraphs 8 & 9)
No exhibitor may show a dog under a judge at a rally trial if the exhibitor has participated in a training session taught by that judge within ten (10) days prior to the date of the event.
No dog may be entered or shown under a judge at a rally trial if the dog is owned or handled by any person who has regularly served as a trainer or instructor of that judge, either individually or through classes, or if the dog has been has been regularly trained or instructed by the judge within ten (10) days prior to the date of the rally trial. “Trained or instructed” applies equally to judges who train professionally or as amateurs and to judges who train individual dogs or train or instruct dogs in classes with or through their handlers (see “Glossary of Terms”).
In either case above, the ten (10) day period is not in effect when a judge has been assigned on an emergency basis within 72-hours of an event.

AKC RALLY® REGULATIONS
CHAPTER 2
REGULATIONS FOR PERORMANCE AND JUDGING
JUDGING STANDARDS, PROCEDURES AND SCORING

Section 25. Walkthrough Time. The course for each class will be posted at the ring when the judge arrives. The Trial Secretary may send copies of the course to exhibitors by email no earlier than 6PM on the evening preceding each trial and the courses may be published online electronically by the Trial Secretary at the same time, if available. The club should have a few printed course copies available for those that cannot take photos of the posted courses or the ability to access the website.
When there are not more than 20 dogs entered, and the same start time is listed for the A and B classes of the same title level the judge will combine the walkthrough. At the listed start time for the class, a walkthrough of up to 10 minutes will be allowed for handlers without their dogs and judging of the class will follow. The judge must remain in the ring during the walkthrough but will not brief the handlers.
For classes with 40 or more dogs entered an additional walkthrough time of up to 10 minutes will be provided.
An additional 10 minutes must be added into the first hour of judging for the first walkthrough.

AKC VIRTUAL PILOT PROGRAMS:

2020 AKC Virtual Pilot Programs Extended through 2021

AKC launched several virtual pilot programs in 2020 – Virtual Rally Novice and Intermediate classes, Virtual Agility ACT1 and ACT2 classes, and Virtual Water Test for Pointing Breeds. These three programs have been extended through 2021 and will be reviewed again toward the end of the year.

July 14, 2020

The AKC Board of Directors approved a changes to the Agility Regulations, Obedience Regulations and AKC Rally Regulations at the July 14, 2020 meeting, to waive the “two-judge” requirement on some titles for the remainder 2020. Many titles in these sports require three passes under at least two different judges. The coronavirus has made many judges reluctant to travel. Clubs are finding it difficult to attract judges from outside the area, thus limiting the pool of judges available for their events. The recommendation provides exhibitors more opportunities to earn their titles, enabling them to continue their growth in the sport by moving up to the next higher level. These changes will apply for the remainder of 2020. They will be revisited toward year-end to determine their impact on the sport. Below is a list of titles by sport where the two-judge requirement will be waived for the remainder of 2020:

Agility – 18 titles

Obedience – 10 titles

Rally – 4 titles

July 19, 2019

EXCITING NEWS – NEW AKC TOP DOG – AKC® RALLY REPORT!
The AKC Rally team is excited to announce the new AKC Top Dog – AKC® Rally Report. An AKC Top Dogs report ranks the top dogs in Rally events and is based on the total number of points and triple Q’s dogs have earned from the Rally Master, Rally Excellent B, and Rally Advanced B classes. Dogs must have qualified and earned points in one of these classes to be eligible to be included on these reports; or must have earned at least one triple Q. Dogs will begin to earn RACH points after they have earned the Rally Excellent (RE) title when scores of 91 or better are earned. Click here for complete instructions.

February 14, 2019

The Rally Champion title (RACH) was established on November 1, 2017. After approximately one year in the titling progression, the title requirements were revised effective 2/1/19 and the new title requirements will be grandfathered back to November 1, 2017.

With the requirements changing while the RACH title was in its infancy, it was the right thing to do to backdate the title requirements to the beginning of the titling program. However, AKC will recognize those that have been working so hard to achieve the title as it was originally established.

As of February 13, 2019, all dog’s records have been recalculated using the new title requirements. AKC has published a list of dogs who have achieved the RACH title from November 1, 2017 through and including January 31, 2019. The list may be found here.

Now that the records have been recalculated, any dogs that have achieved the title under the new RACH title requirements will receive a title certificate automatically by mail in the coming days.

For the AKC Rally Champion (RACH) Title

December 5, 2018

AKC Rally Champion (RACH) Title

The Rally Champion title (RACH) was established on November 1, 2017. After approximately one year in the titling progression, the title requirements were revised effective 2/1/19 and the new title requirements will be grandfathered back to November 1, 2017.

With the requirements changing while the RACH title was in its infancy, it was the right thing to do to backdate the title requirements to the beginning of the titling program. However, AKC will recognize those that have been working so hard to achieve the title as it was originally established.

In February 2019, all dog’s records will be recalculated using the new title requirements. Prior to recalculating the records, AKC will publish a list of dogs who have achieved the RACH title from November 1, 2017 through and including January 31, 2019. The list will include the dog’s name, breed, owner’s name with their state, and the date they earned the RACH title under the original requirements.

Any dog that earned the RACH title under the original requirements will receive a title certificate acknowledging their achievement. Once the records have been recalculated a new title certificate will be generated for any dogs that have achieved the title under the new RACH title requirements.

AKC Rally event results processing normally takes 3-4 weeks from the date of the trial; and the trials are processed in date order. All event results are normally completed by the 15th of each month from the month prior. This means that in the middle to the third week of February 2019, the RACH title holders list will be published on the AKC website and then all dog’s records will be recalculated for the new RACH requirements. New title certificates will be mailed to any dog that achieves the RACH title under the new requirements.

November 16, 2018

Rules Applying to Dog Shows definition of “Immediate Family” – Effective 12/1/2018

At the October 2018 AKC Board meeting, the Board of Directors approved a change to the language in the Rules Applying to Dog Shows for the definition of “Immediate Family” which becomes effective on December 1, 2018.

As a result of that change, at the November Board meeting, the AKC Board of Directors approved the same definition of immediate family in the Obedience Regulations, Rally Regulations, Tracking Regulations and Regulations for Agility Trials and Agility Course Test (ACT) to be consistent, as all four sports reference the definition of “Immediate Family” based on what is written in the Rules Applying to Dog Shows. This change to these Regulations becomes effective December 1, 2018.

AKC Rally Regulations – Chapter 1 will be amended as follows:

General Regulations
Section 11. Immediate Family. As used in these regulations, “immediate family” means one’s spouse, domestic partner, parents, grandparents, children, grandchildren, siblings, mother-in-law, father-in-law, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, daughters-in-law, and sons-in-law; adopted, half, and step members are also included in immediate family.

October 17, 2018

AKC Rally – Enhancements to the Rally Champion Title – Effective 02/01/2019

The AKC Board of Directors approved modifications to the requirements to earn the Rally Champion title (RACH). The following changes were approved: (1) earn RACH points from the Advanced B class, (2) amend the Point Schedule to award a greater number of points by score, (3) calculate points toward the RACH title after a dog earns the Rally Excellent (RE) title, and (4) reduce the minimum number of RACH points that must be earned from the Master class.

These changes will be effective February 1, 2019 and on/after that date, AKC will recalculate the RACH points on all dogs’ records using the new point schedule. The recalculation of the records will be backdated to the inception of the RACH title, which was November 1, 2017.

AKC Rally Regulations – Chapter 4 will be amended as follows:

April 9, 2018

Revisions to the AKC Rally Intermediate Class Eligibility:

The AKC Board of Directors passed a recommendation to change the eligibility requirements for the Rally Intermediate class to allow dogs that have earned a qualifying score in the Advanced class to enter the Intermediate class. Once a dog has earned the Advanced level title, it is no longer eligible to participate in the Intermediate class unless entries have closed. The purpose is to remove eligibility barriers to exhibitors competing in the optional Rally Intermediate class.

This recommendation is a change to Regulations (see below) and becomes effective for trials held on or after August 1, 2018.

Revisions to the AKC Rally Regulations Effective August 1, 2018
Issued as a supplement to the AKC Rally Regulations amended to November 1, 2017

Chapter 1. General Regulations
Section 16. Entry Eligibility, Change of Entry.

• After a dog earns a title from an “A” class, it may continue showing in that “A” class for 60 days. After 60 days, it may compete in that level “B” class.
• A dog may continue to compete in Novice B until it receives a qualifying score in the Rally Advanced class.
• A dog may compete in the Novice B and Intermediate class at the same trial.
• A dog may compete in the Intermediate and Advanced class at the same trial.
• After a dog earns a qualifying score in Advanced, they are no longer eligible for the Novice class.
  • Once a dog earns a qualifying score in Advanced, the dog may be shown in the Novice class at trials for which entries have closed; if entries have not closed they must be changed.
• After a dog earns the Rally Advanced (RA) title it is no longer eligible for the Rally Intermediate class.
  • Once a dog earns the Rally Advanced title, the dog may be shown in the Rally Intermediate class at trials for which entries have closed; if entries have not closed they must be changed.

Chapter 3. Classes and Titles.
Section 5. Rally Intermediate Class. To be eligible for entry in this class dogs must have won the Rally Novice (RN) title but may not have won the Rally Advanced (RA) title prior to the close of entries.
All dogs are judged on leash. Rally Intermediate must have 12 to 17 signs (Start and Finish not included) with a minimum of three and a maximum of seven stationary signs. Intermediate courses will have a minimum of three advanced level signs. There are no jumps in this class.

A “Green Insert” will be added to the regulation books
Issued: April 18, 2018
ROR001 (12/17) (Lime Green Book)

August 14, 2017

AKC Rally Videos on You Tube

The AKC Rally Videos, effective November 1, 2017, are available on the AKC Obedience & Rally You Tube Channel here

DISCLAIMER:  The AKC Rally videos on this You Tube channel demonstrate correctly performed rally signs as of November 1, 2017.  Although the principal parts of the rally signs are properly demonstrated, please note that these videos are for purposes of illustration only and should not be considered the only correct way to execute the signs.  The principal parts are not bold or underlined on this media.