Walk The Course

Walking the course is an important part of every rally trial. It allows you to familiarize yourself with the layout of the course. It serves a “dress rehearsal” but without your dog. Once the course has been set up for each class, the judge will invite the handlers in for the class walk-through. Typically, 10-15 minutes is allotted but it can run longer if the class is large or has to be split into multiple groups. Walk the course as many times as you need, making sure you feel comfortable with the signs, the layout and with how you expect to perform and navigate the course.

It’s a good practice to carry your map on your walk-through so you can “inventory” signs as you go. Occasionally, you might find a different sign on the course than you found on the map, (rare but it happens). Additionally, sometimes a sign is offset a bit and becomes easy to walk right past without noticing. If you inventory during your walkthrough, hopefully it'll prevent you from missing it during your run. If you miss a sign during your run, it’s an automatic NQ!

Walk-through and run order – If you are one of the first dogs in the run order of your class, it’s not a good idea to be the last one walking the course. When the judge says walk-through is over, they want the first dog ready to step to the start sign. If that’s you and you’re still walking the course, you’re going to panic. Pay careful attention to where you are in the run order and always be ready when it’s your turn!

The pre-walkthrough walkthrough routine:

Because I’ve been among the first teams in the run order of my classes, I’ve made the “pre-walkthrough walkthrough” one of the most important parts of my routine at every trial. When the judge invites my class into the ring to walk the course, I've already walked the course numerous times. Not the actual course in the ring, but I always find an area where I walk the course. With map in hand, I do it over and over until the course is committed to memory, or at least most of it — but always to the point of feeling confident. I Walk 100* every time, visualizing my perfect dog and my perfect routine. I never do this with my dog, this is 100% for me. I do this to get my mechanics, signals and dialogue dialed in for the course. Now when I’m invited to walk the actual course, I’m merely taking inventory and finding the orientation and flow. I still walk 100, but it's more difficult to get in a rhythm because now there are other handlers walking at the same time. Whether I’m the first team to run or the last team to run, the pre-walkthrough walkthrough is always part of my routine.

How you fit this into your routine is up to you, but fit it in! When you receive your course map at a trial, look it over and make sure you understand how to perform each sign on the course. If something is unclear, go the signs section and read the sign description to make sure you do understand. Once you’re clear on all signs, let the walking begin.

Caution — don’t blindly follow others on the walkthrough, they could be walking the course or performing signs incorrectly.

*Walk 100!! Because 100 is a perfect score in Rally, whenever you walk/rehearse a course — walk a perfect score! Walk the course as if your dog is with you and the two of you are performing every sign perfectly. If you can’t walk a perfect score of 100 without your dog, you will never score 100 with your dog. Use every word and signal just as you expect to when your dog is present. If the sign says walk around your dog, pretend your dog is there and walk around your dog — and don’t forget to PAUSE when you return to heel. Don’t leave anything out. Practice makes permanent!