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Activities for Dogs: Rally
Dogs turning 3 years of age
Weighing up the Dogslife Cohort!
Prize winners!
Activities for Dogs: Rally
If you haven’t heard of the new activity for dogs called Rally, you may be interested in finding out more!
Rally is becoming more well-known in the UK having proved a popular sport in the USA (also known as ‘Rally-O’). Rally is often described as a combination of Agility and the heelwork part of Obedience: the handler and dog work together as a team to negotiate an obstacle course using obedience exercises. A judge or trainer will set a course to include a mix of heelwork, recall, and control exercises for example, serpentines, jumps, turns, sit down, spirals, and straight figure of eights. A numbered marker is used to show where to begin each different exercise around the course. These exercises have to be completed at a quick pace, without any pauses in between (a round of Rally usually takes approximately three minutes to complete). Handlers cannot be aided by the judge (they must learn the course by walking it beforehand without the dog) but can talk to their dog and are encouraged to praise them throughout the routine.
Rally is a fun activity in which dogs and handlers of any level can participate (although to compete, dogs have to be registered with the Kennel Club Breed Register or Activity Register). There are three levels at which dogs and handlers can compete at Rally, and all three levels are split into two classes: Class A for those who have yet to qualify at that level; and Class B for those who have already qualified at that level. Those that are new to Rally compete at Level 1 in Class A which comprises of 10 to 15 different exercises. Competitors at this level have their dog on a loose lead. As competitors become more experienced (e.g. Level 3), dogs are required to compete off the lead, and will be asked to do a more difficult range of exercises and a greater number of them (15 to 17). The most advanced Rally class is Level 3 Class B.
Competitors start a round of Rally with 200 points. Points are deducted by the judge during the round for any incorrect manoeuvres. Places are awarded during the competition but regardless of winning or being placed, competitors with three scores of 170 or more (marked by two different judges) will receive a title for that level and are eligible to advance to the next level. The table below gives more details of the Levels, Classes and Titles.
For more information on Rally please click here.
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Dogs turning 3 years of age
This year, some dogs taking part in the Dogslife project will be having their third birthday. When dogs turn three years of age, we will be asking members to upload four photos of their dog. The images we are looking for are the same ones we asked for at one year of age: their teeth and gums, inside their ear, their body from the side, and body from the top (but without the A4 paper in the picture this time).
In the following article (Weighing up the Dogslife Cohort!) we report on some of the initial findings we’ve made about the size of dogs participating in Dogslife from analysing the photos taken at one year of age. In next month’s newsletter, we will be reporting on the oral health of dogs participating in Dogslife from analysing the photos of their teeth and gums taken at one year of age.
By repeating these photos when dogs turn three years of age, we will be able to see how dogs’ oral and aural health, and bodily appearance changes over time (don’t worry if you did not manage to upload any photos when your dog was one year of age, any pictures you take at three years of age will still help the study enormously!).
To help us analyse the photos, we will be asking members to confirm their dogs’ height. We have therefore included the height question in the questionnaire for dogs around the age of three (it will only be asked once at this time).
Thank you to all our members who continue to provide Dogslife with valuable information on their dog’s health and lifestyle.
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Weighing up the Dogslife Cohort!
Thanks to the information provided by owners participating in the Dogslife project, we have recently undertaken a study to look at weight and obesity of dogs participating in the project.
A final year student at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, Kirsty Clayton, reviewed the photographs of over 200 dogs which owners had uploaded to the website on their dog’s first birthday. She assessed each dog by looking at their picture and giving them a "body condition score", which is a well-recognised measure of the "thinness" or "fatness" of dogs. She then used the height and weight data recorded for each dog to look at the relationship between the body condition score assessed in the photographs, and their height and weight. She also estimated their body mass index (BMI), which is a common measure of "fatness" and "thinness" in people (which is calculated by dividing their weight by their height squared).
Kirsty found that the vast majority of dogs for which photos were submitted were regarded as having a normal appearance; i.e. they were an optimal size (neither thin nor fat). Only 14% of the cohort was perceived to be overweight, which is considerably less than the 35% of dogs recently reported as being overweight in a study by the PDSA (http://www.pdsa.org.uk/paw-report-pageturn/pageflip.html). These results were not a surprise; we would expect owners of dogs participating in Dogslife to be very attentive to their dogs health, and the dogs taking part in Dogslife are young so some may still go on to put more weight on as they get to middle or older age.
Kirsty also found that the relationship between height and weight was limited, as we might expect because Labradors are a variety of sizes and shapes, as are people. However when she looked at BMI, she could identify a better relationship with body condition score (i.e. the body condition score was more closely related to the BMI of the dog), which means we may be able to gauge the fatness or thinness of dogs without having to directly observe them, if we have accurate height and weight records. This is fantastic news, because it allows us the possibility to look for potential links between obesity and the many other pieces of information you relay to us about your dog.
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Prize winners!
Congratulations to our latest prize winners! The following members have all won £10 of Pets at Home vouchers: Mr C from Nottinghamshire, Ms S from Cheshire, Mrs S from Essex, Mrs H from Gloucestershire, Miss F from Middlesex, Mr C from Greater Manchester, Mrs G from Cheshire, Mr S from Lancashire, and Mrs W from Wiltshire. We hope you enjoy spending the vouchers on your pet!
Our next prize draw will be in March. To be in with the best chance of winning, keep your dog’s record up to date (by logging in at www.dogslife.ac.uk and clicking on ‘Enter your dog’s monthly results’) and you will be automatically entered into the draw – good luck!
Thank you to everyone who continues to help and support the Dogslife project. We wish you all the best for 2013!
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Don't forget to come back to Dogslife to update your dog's record www.dogslife.ac.uk
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