This rally book is incredibly interesting. It’s written by someone who has been involved with rally since it’s early AKC days. The author was one of many people who attended rally trials on the very first night/day (very early morning!) that AKC was offering rally in 2005. I remember reading emails about the event and the author and her dogs.
10.5 year old Blaze with his Rally Level 1 title certificate and a third place ribbon!
I don’t think the book really displays how experienced and knowledgable the author is. Somehow the Nylabone company was involved in the publication of the book and there are many awkward moments throughout the book where it’s mentioned to reward the dog “with a treat, like a Nylabone TM“. And I know it had to be painful for the author to see those edits. It’s not that Nylabones are necessarily bad…but they aren’t a treat. A bone to chew on is a completely different thing than an easily-consumed-small-piece-of-food. I can’t imagine how confusing this could be for any beginner reading the book!
The book is fairly well laid out, showing each sign and explaining it. That section is a lot like the real rule book, but I suppose it would be much more user-friendly for beginners to read it in nicely laid out paragraphs with the accompanying photos than by flipping through a million page online rule book. The training chapters are fairly well laid out, mostly positive reinforcement training. It’s not the elegant training in other training resources. But it’s workable and definitely sufficient for rally.This is not likely a book I’ll read again and it is not something I’m likely to recommend. If I’m able to find a used copy I will keep it on hand for my 4-H’ers and/or to put in any gift baskets I make for 4-H raffles/events.