Suggested use for Rally Task Packs...

I just love talking with my Tasks Customers because they show me new and cool ways to use my products that I haven't thought of. I get to hear about great ideas from various sources. When someone purchases anything from Train 'Em Tasks, they get an invite to our Tasks Customer Community Group on Facebook. The Tasks Customers group is a great place to bounce ideas off of other Tasks users and they come from all different walks of dog training: Obedience, Rally, Agility, IPO, French Ring, Herding, Mondioring, and etc. I get Facebook messages and emails from past customers where they share how Tasks have changed their training sessions. Lastly, past customers find me at trials, run thus, and when I'm out and about training my own dogs and we chat about how we are using Tasks stuff. I think sharing info between trainers is so valuable. Sometimes having someone's different perspective on something you have been working on or through can help us see it on a much different angle.

One awesome idea that was passed on was for the different rally task packs we offer. This customer has the Train 'Em Tasks AKC Rally Novice Task Card Pack, a small Train' Em! grab bag, and the Full Sized AKC Rally Novice Sign Packs from us.

They were using the AKC Rally Novice Task Pack and grab bag to pull different task card signs so they could build their own course at home. Once they had enough cards that they could have a full sized AKC Rally Novice Course (10 - 15 signs,) they would arrange them on a table like they would be on a map you would get at a trial. They took a photo of what they pulled and built with their phone and then headed outside with their full sized signs. Using their phone pic of the tasks, they can build a rally course on their own.

This is brilliant and I love it. The more I do Train 'Em Tasks, I find that people do not have regular access too classes and run thrus like we do here in New England. A lot of people are going forth and learning rally on their own because they are in remote areas or in places where competitive dog sports is not popular. Using our rally task packs and our full sized signs with the exercise descriptions on the back can totally work for someone who doesn't have access to rally maps because they are new to the sport. It can also work for someone who may have a limited amount of rally maps or outdated (pre 2012) rally maps from past trials. I have blogged in the past about using Tasks in the classroom. This method of using rally tasks and signs could absolutely work there too. The students could pull the task cards and arrange them into a course they want to work on. For anyone who is in levels higher than AKC Rally Novice can do this same method of pulling cards with the AKC Rally Taskmaster Collection (Novice - Excellent and a large grab bag) and our Full Sized Complete AKC Rally Sign set.

Right now we have task card packs and full sized sign packs for WCRL (formerly known as APDT) rally and using them this way would totally work too. I'm hoping to finalize the task packs and full sized sign packs for the other venues of rally we carry in Prep Pack form this fall.