Rottweilers Ate My Laptop

Overscheduled

kathi — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 04:47:35 +0000

With the Total Rottweiler Magazine deadline a week or so tighter than expected this quarter, I’m a little overscheduled for the next few days. And I don’t like it one bit.

Since there are not that many APDT trials close by, I’ll almost always enter a trial that is less than two hours away. Unfortunately, the trial this weekend means three straight trial weekends right in the thick of getting the magazine finished.

To add to the fun, despite the beautiful weather we’ve had all week, it’s supposed to snow this weekend.

We weren’t able to get to class, so Freya is a bit under-prepared. Not a crisis yet but it may be for next week’s trial because jumping and backwards heeling are still not pretty.

I’m sure we’ll get through it. The magazine will make it to the printer and Freya and I will get through March’s trials. We will NOT be doing any trials in April!

(NaBloPoMo | March ’10: 18 of 31)

Overscheduled is a post from: Rottweilers Ate My Laptop
Copyright © 2008-2010 K. Wilson except where otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

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I’m not wearing green

kathi — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 01:56:34 +0000

It’s St. Patrick’s Day. I’m not wearing green. I didn’t forget, it was intentional to not wear green. But if you even think about trying to pinch me, I will kick your ass. That is all.

(NaBloPoMo | March ’10: 17 of 31)

I’m not wearing green is a post from: Rottweilers Ate My Laptop
Copyright © 2008-2010 K. Wilson except where otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

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Life really is too short

kathi — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 03:58:36 +0000

Did I say something yesterday about life being too short? Well, it’s definitely too short to waste very much of it on doing things that have become more of a self-inflicted obligation than an interesting diversion. Definitely too short to waste any of it on people who simply take up time and space without making life more interesting or better in any way. Oh, and remind me that if I am ever lucky enough to live next door to a vacant house again, that I should not complain as long as the grass doesn’t get over about knee-high. Not having neighbors was actually something good that I just didn’t appreciate at the time. I know better now.

Life is definitely way, way, way too short to waste it on the freaking spammers who have been a little too active on the blog lately with their fake enthusiastic generic comments that don’t relate to the posts at all. The ones for self-proclaimed dog training blogs that are just scraping content from others, or worse yet, spreading misinformation poorly written by someone for whom English is apparently not a first language, annoy me the most. I might not be a dog training expert, but at least I am not spreading outdated and flat-out wrong information.

Life’s probably too short to complain this much. I’m sure I’ll be able to find the positive again after a good night’s sleep.

(NaBloPoMo | March ’10: 16 of 31)

Life really is too short is a post from: Rottweilers Ate My Laptop
Copyright © 2008-2010 K. Wilson except where otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

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Just a few more Freya title thoughts

kathi — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 03:19:55 +0000

After Freya failed to V-rate as an adult in German-style conformation shows, and also failed CERF with punctate cataracts in both eyes, I knew we would not be breeding her, and I didn’t think we’d be doing any further competition with her, either.

Obedience training has been a lifelong activity for all of our dogs to keep them alert and active in mind and body, and to keep them from destroying all of our stuff. (That part works great, give it a try! All of our dogs have had great house manners, even the ones with other glaring faults.) So when my friend Sharon suggested that we might want to try competing in rally obedience, it did seem like something we could do and maybe even enjoy. I say maybe, because I’m not much of a competitor; I probably get ring nerves worse than anyone alive. I have never actually puked on my own dog out of nerves, but there have been days that my stomach has had so many butterflies, I’m sure it was close. And I have tripped over my own dog, who was going in the correct direction while I was about to head off in the wrong one.

Rally obedience is more relaxed than traditional obedience. You can talk to your dog and give help throughout, rather than having to give just one command and hope the dog is listening. Because of this, we did have a fighting chance at success.

I figured I’d try to title Freya at the first level in one venue. That’s all done on-leash, with many exercises she’s practiced since puppyhood. I figured that trialing her off-leash would be totally out of the question, as I could never predict for sure when she’d get that wild look in her eyes and run off to have more fun than she would have following me around a rally course.

I am not sure what happened along the way to change that. We have now completed first level titles in two venues and a second level title in one. That second level title was done off-leash, something I did not think we’d be able to do. Now, we have a very real possibility of being able to complete first and second level titles in three venues, and third level titles in at least two of those venues.

I don’t know if we will go on to traditional obedience. I know we won’t go on to Schutzhund… although we might try a BH if I can get her past her dislike of bicycles and other wheeled human-propelled objects. We’ve already gone further than I ever expected to.

Is Freya rising to the occasion? Or am I?

There’s only one thing that I wish we’d done differently. Freya’s breeder Donna passed away early last summer, a couple of months before Freya’s first trial. I wish we’d started sooner, so Donna could have shared in celebrating at least our first title. She would have been even more proud of Freya than Dan and I are ourselves.

I have to remind myself more often: Life’s too short. Don’t wait.

(NaBloPoMo | March ’10: 15 of 31)

Just a few more Freya title thoughts is a post from: Rottweilers Ate My Laptop
Copyright © 2008-2010 K. Wilson except where otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

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Another new title for Freya!

kathi — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 19:19:05 +0000

We got it done. It was not pretty at all, but the lovely Freya is now…

URO2 Sciroco’s Freya vom Viersen, RL1 (AOE), CGC, TT!

She was a totally different dog today than she was yesterday. I sincerely hope that this version of Freya does not show up at too many future trials, as she was distracted and unfocused, and it took a good deal of effort (and silent prayer) to get her back at my side to focus on the task at hand.

But the main thing is that she did come back and our team did get through it. The main thing today was to qualify and earn that last leg, and that we did, though with a low score.

I hope that all Freya sees is my very real delight at accomplishing this with her. Working off-leash felt like a big leap of faith to me, and maybe I made it a bigger obstacle in my mind than it needs to be. We still have a lot of things to work on improving, and some new things to learn before we can advance to the next level. But now I definitely feel that we will get through that next level, too!

(NaBloPoMo | March ’10: 14 of 31)

Another new title for Freya! is a post from: Rottweilers Ate My Laptop
Copyright © 2008-2010 K. Wilson except where otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

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First Level 2 legs for Freya!

kathi — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 05:43:42 +0000

Even though we went into it with some doubts, or at least the human half of the team did, our first attempts at UKC Rally Obedience Level 2 went quite well today. Freya qualified and placed in both trials, earning two of the three legs needed for the URO2 title.

The original plan was to complete Novice/Level 1 titles in AKC, UKC, and APDT before attempting any Advanced/Level 2 titles. But due to the number and proximity of UKC trials during March, April, and May, we altered our game plan not too long ago and started practicing off-leash.

Off-leash? Why, yes. I am very proud of Freya for being A Very Good Dog today. Not perfect: she did veer off to sniff one of the food bowls on the Offset Figure 8 in Trial 1, and some unknown but very enticing thing/spot/whatever in Trial 2, but she came back to me and got back on track without too many commands. She did not try to escape the ring, nor create her own path around it, and for that I am very grateful!

Our scores were not particularly high, but on this day were good enough to place in RO2A: Trial 1 88 points and 2nd place, Trial 2 95 points and 2nd place.

I was not planning to trial tomorrow, especially since Daylight Savings Time is depriving me of an hour of sleep, but I’m now considering doing a day-of-show entry and hope we can keep it together for one more trial to finish the title. So I’m off to get at least some sleep. Check back to see what we actually end up doing!

(NaBloPoMo | March ’10: 13 of 31)

First Level 2 legs for Freya! is a post from: Rottweilers Ate My Laptop
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That look in her eyes

kathi — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 05:31:11 +0000

Sometimes you can just see trouble about to happen. I’m hoping not to see this wild look in Freya’s eyes at tomorrow’s trials. It will probably mean she is about to run wild, and have a little too much fun at my expense.

Photo by Karen Hollis, Sirius Pet Images

I love this picture, though… it’s so very, very Freya. It is from our second APDT trial. She did in fact blow off the recall, although since it was the bonus exercise, we still earned a qualifying score.

This will be our first attempt at an off-leash level (UKC Rally Obedience Level 2), meaning she really will have the opportunity to escape (shhhhh… don’t tell her that), so wish us luck!

(NaBloPoMo | March ’10: 12 of 31)

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Spring might actually be here

kathi — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 04:28:05 +0000

Remember this little guy?

We saw him this evening, just before darkness fell hard. And we heard him and another robin calling to each other. Spring might actually be here!

(NaBloPoMo | March ’10: 11 of 31)

Out like a lamb (31 of 31/66 of 274)

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Action!

kathi — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 05:37:15 +0000

Photo by: Chuck Currey, Currey Photo, Reddick, FL

During Axel’s journey to his AKC championship, I collected many, many photos of him stacked nicely, standing pretty with Julia and the judge.

What I didn’t have was action photos, either from conformation or rally obedience. I was very surprised to receive the proof of this photo in the mail. It was taken the very last time he was shown in AKC conformation. It was the last show of the second cluster of the Florida Winter Classic held in Brooksville. He went in the ring solely to hold the 3-point major; he had already finished his championship during the first cluster. So glad he did, as there were no action shots that I know of taken at any of his other shows. Axe moves nicely, and this photo really shows it. Yay for surprises, surprises like this one, anyway!

(NaBloPoMo | March ’10: 10 of 31)

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Space case

kathi — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 04:45:54 +0000

It’s a case of no space, as in my back yard is not big enough to lay out a full sized rally obedience course. This will not stop us from practicing the individual exercises, although the sogginess of the yard and the on-and-off rain might move us indoors to an even smaller space.

Although I usually don’t mind living in the city with all of its conveniences, sometimes I truly envy those of you who live in the ’ burbs or beyond. Your jagoff neighbors are separated from you by yards or even miles, not inches. Your basement is big enough to set up a full 40' x 50' AKC rally or obedience ring. Your yard is big enough to set up a full 50' x 80' APDT rally ring, or maybe even a 100' x 120' agility ring or 100m x 80m Schutzhund field. Space and distance, what a life! Or at least I say that until I need an open-24-hours grocery store or veterinarian or whatever within five miles or less. Tradeoffs, always those tradeoffs.

For the rest of the week, Freya and I will be practicing individual Level 2 exercises in whatever time and space we have available to prepare for Saturday’s trial. So the small size of the back yard won’t really matter. Heh, now that I look at our schedule, we have trials every weekend for the rest of the month, so it may not matter until March 29!

What I would like to try at that time, though, is to design some fun practice courses that will fit within a 20' x 20' space. Last summer, most of our back yard practices were done using the diagonal plus a square. I really had no idea what I was doing in terms of layout. Most of those practices took place after our very first trial in July and before our second trial in November, so I had been on only one trial course and a few practice courses. Oh, and learning whatever I could from downloads on the Internet. We did manage to learn and practice all of the novice level exercises for UKC and AKC, so my simple squares weren’t totally ineffective, but they were a little boring.

Now that I have a bit more trial experience, a few more classes, and a lot more reading to draw from, I’m hoping to come up with some better and more enjoyable practice ideas.

(NaBloPoMo | March ’10: 9 of 31)

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