Of course we are watching on television right now, and even more important (because the Working Group is tomorrow), tomorrow night!
In fact, I had been watching the breed judging videos as time permitted during the day. We do not block websites at my workplace, because we are all adults here and know when the work has to be done. But we all have our favorite sporting events that run during work hours, and we do abuse the streaming video as we gulp down the bandwidth. Westminster and pro surfing are my personal bandwidth suckers.
Axel is actually watching the show. He usually watches television shows featuring dogs or other animals, but he seems especially into it tonight. Maybe because he’s now been there, done that? Well, obviously not to a huge and prestigious show such as Westminster, but still, he has done the showdog thing.
I was going to write a post about how to watch a dog show. But it’s been done. And done, and done. Seems a little silly, too, now that we’re into the last hour of tonight’s broadcast. Play-by-play? Or results? Plenty of places for you to find that, too. So for now, I will give you Axel’s version:
Hi. I’m Axe. I was in some dog shows and I became a Champion. Here is what we do at the shows. We go kind of fast, and turn left. Sort of like NASCAR. But with paws and only once around. We also go up and back. Then we do the NASCAR thing again. Then someone wins. Sometimes me.
Although there was some progress made toward fixing crooked sits and sloppy turns, this was not one of our better pre-trial review sessions. This was the last run-through of the day, and you can see that Freya is beginning to shut down a bit.
Strangely enough, this less-than-stellar practice session was followed the next day by one of our best trial performances: a score of 208 and 1st place in the Level 1 “A” division. The next trial run later on Sunday resulted in a NQ, though, so I’m not quite sure what the moral of the story might be.
Maybe it’s just that I need to figure out the best way to do the last-minute practices and to handle the downtime between trials. Are the day-before last minute practices more helpful or stressful? So far, they seem to be more helpful, but maybe I should lessen the number of run-throughs. Should I do more or less warm-up between trials, and how soon before showtime for the second trial? That one isn’t quite so obvious.
As always, you can see more videos of Freya, her classmates, and other dogs-in-training on Allan’s YouTube channel.
Yes, that’s right, I said Tweets, not treats. Did I lose your interest? Of course I did, you are Rottweilers, so of course you would be way more interested in treats than Tweets.
Mattel’s Puppy Tweets, set to come out this fall, is kind of a cute idea. It consists of a USB receiver for your (or your dog’s) computer and a tag for your dog to wear. You need to load software for the receiver onto the computer and set up a Twitter account for your dog. Or maybe your dog is technically inclined and can do it himself (or herself). When the dog barks or moves, the tag sends a signal to the receiver, and one of 500 canned Tweets is sent out via the dog’s account. Kind of cute, huh?
But at $29.99, I doubt I’ll be doing it. The tag looks a bit too easy for a Rottweiler to destroy, and to leave one of the laptops on all day to get only faux communication with the dogs seems a little silly to me.
Besides. If Freya and Axel wanted to be on Twitter, they already would be. Or maybe they are, and just don’t want me to know. Look up there at the header. That’s Freya at age nine weeks, taking over my laptop when I got up to get a drink. She is six years old now. I am sure she has learned a lot since then. She is probably already managing multiple Twitter accounts with TweetDeck and cannot imagine how humans could be dumb enough to think that she needs something like Puppy Tweets.
I have not received compensation for this preview, and I have no connection to Mattel.
Because once again, you know I have to do this. And no, you don’t have to check the calendar. Groundhog Day was last week.
Yes! AKC has verified Axel’s Rally Novice title, giving him titles on both ends. See?
Now before someone calls me on it, I do agree with many others that the phrase “titles on both ends” would preferably mean a Champion with an advanced working title. I am using it anyway, because it still sort of amazes me that my wild child left home as an untitled dog after Christmas break and came back a little less than a month later as a Champion with a Rally Novice title and a Canine Good Citizen certificate.
Yes again! APDT has recorded all of Freya’s scores and her Level 1 title to their online database. They do not show the Award of Excellence in the online database, but the paper certificates do.
Now awaiting the paper certificates, and now you may officially leave Groundhog Day deja vu… for this time!
I had a few problems getting some of this week’s posts up for the world to see. All is well now, or so it seems. If this were November’s official NaBloPoMo challenge, I’d disqualify myself. But it’s February, and I was keeping up with the daily posts offline, so I’m staying in the game.
EDITED 2/15/10: So I was wrong. Not all was well. I think it is now, though. Cut, paste, update, catch up.
I told you that wasn’t it, didn’t I? It was not that bad, or at least it would not have been that bad, had the snowblower not given up the ghost yesterday afternoon.
Compare these to yesterday’s shots!
Although most days it’s really less than a joy living on a main road, there are some good things about living on a snow route, like usually having it cleared quite quickly after a snowfall.
Rottweilers can’t run through it too fast when it’s this deep.
Freya compares today’s snow depth to yesterday’s.
This corner isn’t affected much by blowing and drifting, so the amount accumulated on top of the a/c is probably pretty close to the actual amount that fell between yesterday’s photos and today’s.
The snow is supposedly done for now. At this depth and at the forecasted colder temperatures, the backyard piles and drifts will be around for a while for the Rottweiler wrecking crew to enjoy.
So, on a totally unrelated note, then… you know I had to do this, don’t you? As always, I have been keeping a close watch for online and offline proof of the dogs’ latest accomplishments. Freya’s first set of APDT Rally Obedience scores have just been posted online. See?
We’re still watching for online confirmation and physical certificate for Axel’s Rally Novice title, physical certificate for Axel’s Canine Good Citizen, online confirmation and physical certificate for Freya’s APDT Rally Level 1 title, and photos from Freya’s APDT trial at For Your Canine. So you’ll have to share a few more of these moments with me still!
Today’s commutes, both morning and evening, were not bad at all. Too bad it didn’t stop with this, though.
Our street is a snow route, meaning that our street should be cleared early on in the process, and that we can’t park on the street when snow is 2″ or deeper.
Here is the back yard before Rottweilers run through it.
Here is a Rottweiler (Axel) running through it.
Here is a Rottweiler (Freya) running past it.
Here is the back yard after Rottweilers run through it.
It’s been steadily snowing for most of the night, so I’m almost afraid to see what we end up with in the morning, although it won’t be as much as the East Coast was socked with. This storm is heading that way and I’m sure they are none too pleased about that.
