APDT THINK TANK TASK FORCE

APDT THINK TANK SUMMARY

On August 11, 2007 the APDT think tank started new with 47 members. The first question posed to the group was the following:

SUBMIT YOUR TOP TEN TRAINING BOOKS GEARED TOWARD PET OWNERS/PARENTS.

We had a 75% response from the group to this question. The top ten books submitted were:

Question two was presented to the group on August 23, 2007.

THE THINK TANK TO IDENTIFY SIX (6) CRITERIA THAT WILL BE INCLUDED IN THE ENHANCED TRAINER SEARCH.

We had a 71% response on this question. These were the top six responses.

Question three was presented on September 21, 2007. It was part one of two part Rally Obedience Question. We received a 56% response to this question. It dropped because several members did not participate in Rally O and felt they could not answer the questions.

Question 3, Part 2 was posted on September 30, 2007. We only received a 36% response on this question. Here are the responses to part two.

1. What is your impression of the Rally materials on the website?

The Rally materials on the website are useful, as long as you know what you are looking for, I particularly like the printable signs and the class outline

Very detailed and informative.

The info available seems to cover most of the relevant issues. It is well laid out.

Since I have been doing AKC Rally for about a year and APDT Rally is new to me, I was very interested in the contents on the website. I really like it. It is easy to navigate through the information.

Easy to navigate and very informative.

..Informative

The material is helpful for a person already familiar with Rally. The information does not provide enough detail for a person new to Rally or just curious about it.

I think it is really well done. It seems to have covered everything that I would need to know.

It looks like a blast. I never knew much about Rally- what fun! Very informative site.

The materials are very well laid out!

The materials are thorough and cover the basics of what one would need to begin teaching it. However, someone with absolutely no knowledge of Rally, either ACK or APDT, might find the whole thing rather confusing and intimidating
after seeing all that needs to be learned. I think it would be helpful is someone could download, or order a hard copy of, all files at once as a booklet instead of all the individual files on the site. I, for one, would like a book to carry at first as I learn.

I think the Rally Section is quite comprehensive.

The website was very informative and the materials make it very easy to help answer any questions one could have.

Pretty good, but there are typos which create questions and issues for students who review the rules etc.

Interesting, but they lack detail

1. If you are teaching Rally classes was the information on the website
   helpful?

The information is helpful to me, as we incorporate Rally into a lot of our Shy and Growly dog classes, but the chances of us having an APDT rally trial here in St. Louis are probably about 0, since there are no judges anywhere closer than Chicago or Kansas City.

I really like the curriculum sample – complete with sample courses. For me, designing appropriate courses was the biggest hurdle in setting up my class. It's much easier to make options to an existing course if needed, than come up with one from scratch the first few classes you teach.

I have decided to begin using the APDT signs in the classes I teach to autistic students. I see that they seem to identify these signs more easily. It was also very easy to print out the rules and regs. (More easily than the AKC website!)

I don't teach Rally classes

Overall the information has been helpful yet incomplete

Yes very helpful

I'm working with puppy training so far, very newbie here.

Do not teach it, but if I did, I am sure the information would be helpful.

I would become familiar with the rules and requirements print out the signs and then design my teaching around the teams in my class - so a lot of the information would not be relevant to how I instruct.

1. If you plan on teaching Rally classes is the information on the
   website enough to get you started?

This website could get a person with some experience started

It is a start but I would most likely seek additional info

Yes I think so. The signs are very helpful

I would love to get into Rally and teach it someday & I found the charts helpful. I don't know enough to know if this is all I would need to get started with regard to instruction.

Yes, although I would need to do some reading about Rally before I began teaching it. In addition, I would like to attend seminars for some hands on work. I found the curriculum sample to be very helpful.

I have no plans to teach Rally, but if I were going to do so, there is enough info to begin, but certainly not to teach it as a competitive sport. I think, like any sport, only personal experience in competing would provide what is needed there.

If I had not taught before, or if I was strictly interested in APDT Rally, then the answer is "yes."

I believe that the information would be enough to get some classes started.

yes, in addition to Bud Kramer's book.

YES - 3

1. What other information about Rally should be on the website

I don't know what else should be on the website, it's just kind of discouraging to those of us who live in areas where there are no trials or judges, there doesn't seem to be any point to teaching APDT Rally-O when we can only get our students to AKC trials.

Since I don't know enough about Rally yet, it is hard to determine what else is needed until I get started training. A link to a video of an actual competition might be nice.

I was not able to find Rally Signs on the site (perhaps I missed them?) but I would like them to be available in an easily printed format (PDF or Word). When I ran my class I ended up using AKC Rally-O signs because they were all I could find online. Also, I would like to see more sample courses.

I would like a link to miniature signs to use in creating rally course maps. I make maps for my students so they can practice the course at home after class.

Difficult to determine what else I would need being so unfamiliar with it

Videos, recommend references

There should be a lot more detail defining Rally. Pictures of courses, stations, and people doing a course could greatly enhance the understanding of the sport. A mixture of beginners and advanced, young and old, puppies, adults, and seniors would help to emphasize the all are welcome spirit of the sport.

For instructors, a library of sample courses would be very helpful. As noted in part 1, my classes primarily focus on AKC Rally. One of the reasons is there are more AKC trials in my area. Another reason is there is a lot more information available for instructors. In addition to my own courses, there are hundreds of AKC sample courses available online and in course books. There are few APDT materials available. Designing courses is one of the most time consuming parts
of prepping for this class. It has been extremely helpful to have some ready-made courses available. In addition to saving time, they provide new ideas and in some cases allow for practice of courses actually used in trials.

I can't think of anything I'd add.

Too new to know.

I wish more seminars were offered - but the actual info on the site is quite informative.

I think links to videos, as suggested by others here, is an excellent idea. For some, seeing actual competitions and examples of the exercises would be preferable to just reading about them.

It would be helpful to have a section of actual courses from all the levels. I believe it is important to have a complete picture.

The only thing that I find confusing about any rally situation is that some of the signs can be difficult to interpret. Maybe have some sort of explanation for them on another site??

I think the rules need to be clearer; some of the definitions are cut off/unfinished sentences, and there are gaps in the scoring rules that leave some of us wondering what the rules REALLY are.

Score sheets, rules, and downloadable/printable signs should be easily accessible-- perhaps from their own navigation bars

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Same response as to the first questions....I don't have any interest in Rally whatsoever. Competition is not in my agenda of work. I deal only with problem dogs and family situations. Occasionally I help someone who is competing solve a problem, but it is usually due to the fact that the dog has become afraid or bored with work. The solutions have nothing to do with the actually exercises except on how to make them work for the dog.

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