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!
As most of you know, Freya earned the first two legs towards her APDT Rally Obedience Level 1 title on January 24. I am very proud to announce that we completed the title at today’s first trial at Flying Paws Dog Training Club… with a score of 208 points (out of 210 possible points, 200 plus a 10-point optional bonus exercise) and first place in Level 1A! Since all three of our Level 1A scores were 190 points or better, we will also receive an Award of Excellence.
So Freya is now URO1 Sciroco’s Freya vom Viersen RL1 (AOE), CGC, TT!
Although we brought our “A” game to Trial 1, we did not fare so well at Trial 2 and NQ’d when Freya got up from a Down on the Halt-Sit-Down-Walk Around. Even though she was very distracted during this run, she is usually very solid on the stays for the Walk Around exercises so it was not only a disappointment, but an unwelcome surprise. The run was not great, but it would have otherwise given us a qualifying score. So, sadly, we do not yet have any of the 10 legs needed for the RL1X title.
The next APDT trial within easy driving distance won’t be until the beginning of May. There are some UKC trials coming up in March and April, so we need to learn the rest of the Level 2 exercises and get more practice working off leash. The other option would be to work on the AKC Rally Novice title. But since AKC trials are plentiful as compared to APDT and UKC trials, it seems to make more sense to work on the RN during the months that no APDT and UKC trials are available. Decisions, decisions!
Note to self: If you do “Save Draft” and not “Publish,” then no one gets to see what you write. Not that it would always be a bad thing, but, yeah.
I was deciding whether to post Freya’s Saturday class video and commentary, or write a little more about Sunday’s trial. But for some reason I am thinking about Jake, mostly because APDT Rally Obedience encourages disabled dogs and handlers to participate and goes as far as allowing certain exercise modifications so that they may do so safely and successfully. I think this is absolutely wonderful.
Jake has been gone for over seven years now, but he was one of my heart dogs so he is never far from my thoughts. He was an amputee due to accident, which is what took my post in this direction. Only a few of you who visit me here probably remember him in real life, but you can read what I wrote about him about a year ago.
Although the APDT and rally obedience were both in existence during Jake’s lifetime, I didn’t know much about either one until later. After he had recovered fully from the amputation surgery, my challenge was to keep this active dog busy and happy, or at least out of trouble. Since Schutzhund competition involves a 1-meter jump and an A-frame, it was not something we could easily return to. So I just started to look around for things we could do, and titles we could achieve.
All AKC titles were then, and still are now, off the table for disabled dogs. The Canine Good Citizen test was a possibility. In 1998, the CGC guidelines which encouraged participation for disabled handlers were already in existence. The guidelines that now exist, welcoming disabled dogs to participate, did not exist at that time. There were more than a few clubs that chose to defer to the AKC show rules which referred to disqualification of dogs who appeared lame. It took way more phone calls and emails than I ever imagined to get a club to allow Jake to test. And then he failed his first attempt. He did pass on a later attempt, even though at heart he was more outlaw than good citizen.
I don’t even have to look up the names of the people who helped me in my quest: Mary Burch from the AKC, and Tammy Dean from Glenbard All Breed Obedience Club. I like to think we are all part of the reason that the CGC evaluator guidelines now specifically state:
Dogs with disabilities such as the loss of a leg, deafness, or blindness in one eye are welcome in the Canine Good Citizen Test. Dogs must perform all of the 10 items to pass the test, however, handlers may use hand signals, gestures, or other cues to which the dog has been trained to respond.
Anyway. He also got a doctor’s note to be allowed to take ATTS’s Temperament Test, which he passed with flying colors despite his outlaw leanings. I was not even their volunteer webmaster yet at the time.
Back then, UKC specifically allowed disabled dogs to participate in obedience competitions. I went so far as to register him with UKC, but since their CD, unlike the AKC CD, involved a jump, I decided not to put him through it. For the rest of his life, we got out to club and as much obedience and protection training as he could handle.
Titles aren’t important… yet, they are. I would have so loved to do Rally with him. He was truly my best working partner and we would have had a lot of fun with it. Miss you, Jakey. I hope you are proud of me and Freya.
I’m happy to report that Freya qualified and placed in both trials at For Your Canine today to earn the first two legs towards her APDT Rally Obedience Level 1 title!
Freya’s score for the first trial was 201 points (out of 210 possible points, 200 plus a 10-point optional bonus exercise) for third place. Her score for the second trial was 192 points (we totally blew the bonus exercise) for fourth place. We need one more leg to earn the title, and our next trial is in two weeks. It’s possible that we could even earn the title with an Award of Excellence if we can get that third leg with a score of 190 points or better. I just hope we both bring our “A” games to the next trial!
We are both way more tired than we should be, considering that total time in the ring is approximately two minutes per trial. In our defense, the day did start very early, especially since I stupidly didn’t set up the van and crates last night, but I think we are just getting old!
More details sometime in the next few days and possibly video, too!
I normally attend a group obedience class with Freya on Saturday mornings. We are still on break for the holidays, though. Since we skipped the last class of the previous session so I could watch Axel from afar as he competed in Rally Obedience at the Christmas Cluster, we have been off for three weeks.
Class starts up again next Saturday and it’s not a moment too soon! Three weeks off in winter is just a little too much downtime, since we don’t have as many opportunities to play or train outdoors. Rottweilers don’t seem to mind the cold, or at least my Rottweilers don’t mind it. This week’s single-digit temperatures don’t seem to faze them at all, except that they can’t pick up frozen Jolly Balls. I’m fearing frostbite and hypothermia because they don’t want to come in, and I’m the only one that seems to be suffering any ill effects from the extreme cold!
I’m still hoping that we will be ready for an APDT Rally Obedience trial on January 23-24. Freya’s attitude and performance in our first class back from break will give me some idea of whether we should shoot for that trial, or for one on February 6-7 instead. Both are at locations where we’ve trialed and/or trained before so at least the grounds won’t be unfamiliar to either Freya or me.
I haven’t been doing any training to speak of during the break. We have done some quick reviews of stationary rally exercises in the kitchen before meals, but not every day. On the days that weren’t too frigid, we did some heeling practice on the back walk before and after potty breaks. I should have done a little more with Axel since he will be trialing again next weekend, and I will do a “real” training session with him tomorrow. On Monday, we’ll go on a brief road trip to get him back to Julia, and then he’s off to shows in Texas and Florida. It is nice that at least one family member will get a vacation in some hopefully warmer spots of the country!
“Saturday Freya” just doesn’t work like “Friday Freya” so we’ll have to come up with a better name for Freya’s obedience class posts. The newly forming Rally Obedience classes are probably going to be on Wednesday evenings, so maybe we can have “Freya’s Midweek Mischief” instead.
We often have potential students visiting our class to observe. This is a great idea and I think everyone who is considering a dog obedience class should do this. It’s very frustrating being faced with six to eight weeks in a class with an instructor whose methods you are uncomfortable with, and an hour out of your life to observe a class before signing up is well worth the time. Our visitors today included a young family of four with two elementary school age daughters. Mom was very impressed with Freya, and I appreciated that she took the time to tell us. Freya was on her best behavior today and she really was working nicely. In the interest of truth, I did mention that Freya is almost six and that her younger, wilder days were not quite as impressive.
There were no private lessons scheduled for the hour after class, so we set up a simple Rally course for those who were interested in the upcoming Rally class. There are three of us who are planning and training for November trials, so the opportunity to do run-throughs and “spot” each other’s runs was great. Freya and I are hoping to earn the remaining two legs for UKC RO1 the weekend of November 14-15. Sue and Onslow, and Cathy and Jazzie and Lefty are planning for an APDT trial the following week. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to attend their trial since we will be leaving for vacation a couple of days earlier.
I hope I don’t confuse myself with the differences between the rules of the various organizations! As you know, I’m also practicing AKC Rally at home with Axel since he will be entered in Rally Novice whenever he is at a show where it is offered and does not conflict with the show ring times. Fortunately the similarities are greater than the differences so hopefully everything will be fine.
(NaBloPoMo | October ’09: 10 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 232 of 274)
