Rally Sign question

[LuvourGSDs]

Came up at class tonight & no one was 100% on it. Without going on the net & trying to find, thought I would ask ya all here.

You know how the signs are always on your right ? If you come to the sing where you make a right turn/left turn, is it proper to turn as you head on the sign OR should you go past it & turn in behind it ? I have always been doing the 1st way & have never been told at a trial for doing wrong, but darn judges don't tell ya them things anyway.

~Thanks~

[selzer]

Uhm, I never pass up the sign if it says right or left turn. I keep it in front of me and make my turn.

But if you have any questions, ask the judge during the walk through. Most are very helpful, and I think that asking good questions makes a good impression.

[dogmama]

The regulations say:
Section 6. Location of Performance in Relation to Signs. Except
for exercises requiring entry with the sign on the left, exercises are performed near the designated signs, either directly in front or in front and
to the left of the signs. For stations where the handler and dog are
required to make a sidestep to the right, the sign shall be placed in the
initial path of the handler and dog, thus requiring the team to make a sufficient size sidestep to the right in order to pass the sign on the right.

Exercises that require entry to the left would be the spirals & weaves.

HTH

[LuvourGSDs]

Originally Posted by dogmama

The regulations say:
Section 6. Location of Performance in Relation to Signs. Except
for exercises requiring entry with the sign on the left, exercises are performed near the designated signs, either directly in front or in front and
to the left of the signs. For stations where the handler and dog are
required to make a sidestep to the right, the sign shall be placed in the
initial path of the handler and dog, thus requiring the team to make a sufficient size sidestep to the right in order to pass the sign on the right.

Exercises that require entry to the left would be the spirals & weaves.

HTH

K, TY for posting this. That's what I have been doing, glad I have been doing right ! We just caught another member from class going around the sign, like right turn sign on her right, walking passed the sign, & then doing the station. Thought that looked odd, but she brought up a good point, I thought the sign was to always be on your right & you walk past it ?

~Thanks again~

[Liesje]

Signs for turns are directly in front of you, so you turn at the sign (just before it, with enough room for the dog to pass it between you and the sign). The only sign I've ever walked past before completing that exercise would be something like the sign at the weave/serpentine entry. Signs for things other than turns are on your right, again except for entering a weave/serpentine depending on where the judge placed the sign. If it's on the first cone, it's going to be on your left, but some will offset the sign so it is on your right and you enter between the sign and the first cone.

For example, here's a friend of mine, watch the left turn at 0:15, the about turn at 0:23, the halt-step right-halt at 0:38, the 270 left at 0:46, the 270 right at 0:50, the halt-right pivot-halt at 0:59, the about turn at 1:05 - these are all exercises with turns, all performed with the sign directly in front of the handler.

http://www.youtube.com/v/Vl7QB0OxvLU&hl=en_US&fs=1&

[Liesje]

Originally Posted by selzer

But if you have any questions, ask the judge during the walk through. Most are very helpful, and I think that asking good questions makes a good impression.

LOL, I agree, I try to think of something to ask. And yes, the judges can use their own discretion with the placement of certain signs, but they should be very clear in their walk-through.

This judge put the sign on the first cone, so we have no choice but to pass it on the left because the weave/serpentine entry *must* have the first cone pass on the left (same as agility).

[LuvourGSDs]

Thanks Lies.................... I have been doing all correct TG !

Not sure I agree on the judge thing........ LOL Me & another gal from our dog group called a judge out on 2 signs he was telling us how to do wrong & that's by far the worse score I have EVER got in rally. We were right after he went & checked the info/rules. Me & other gal both scored bad & we said, we would never show under him again. Go figure, months later coming up this May, 2 day trial & I think I will only enter 1 day b/c he is the judge.

[selzer]

Showing is a sport that has a real human element. If I asked a judge how to do something, I would do it how he wanted it done. I would not argue with him, he is ticking off the scorecard.

I have not really ran into a problem like this though. Well, there was the lady that knocked the vast majority off because of the one step, two step three steps back. I think she did not count right. I mean, I showed two dogs, and did two steps back twice with BOTH dogs??? But anyway, she was knocking off points on a goodly percentage of us, so....

It is funny, a judge that I showed under, was entered in a class I was in (he was in B, I was in A, but the walk-throughs were at the same time). He said to me that since I had a long dog, I should ask the judge to widen the serpentine. I did not. (I was used to pretty tight serpentines in our training class).

My girl took the class and he came up to me and said, he still would have asked her to widen it. I told him that I was pretty used to them being tight, but was nice about it.

I mentioned it to my instructor, and she said she was surprised because someone asked him to move a sign to accomadate his dog, and he told him that if his Briard could do it, any dog should be able to.

So, there are judges and judges. I do not think he was steering me wrong, but I prefer to ask questions about how a judge would like for me to perform a sign, where, etc. And then just take the judge's word as gospel and do my best to perform it as they want. And I get pretty good scores (most of the time).

Judges are kind of like moderators, you cannot have the sport without them, but they have to decide who gets charged with penalty points and who does not. Some have different opinions of how things ought to be and sometimes it does not feel fair. But for the most part, it is a crazy job that is not well compensated for.

[mjbgsd]

One thing that is good, every judge I've been under for Rally always does a talk to in the beginning so we know what they are looking for and aren't. That is a good time to ask about things you're not certain on.