Rottweilers Ate My Laptop

I was so happy to get this in the mail today…

You’ll recall the small panic over Freya’s scores being recorded incorrectly, as well as my happiness at the speed with which Beth at UKC rectified the error.

Even considering my usual obsession with getting the online and physical proof of our accomplishments in hand, this one is a slightly bigger relief to actually have in my hands!

(NaBloPoMo | April ’10: 12 of 30)

Remember our one, count ‘em, just one, lonely point earned towards our APDT ARCH last month? Well, here it is!

When we started doing rally obedience, my only goal for Freya was to earn a novice level title, and maybe, just maybe, an advanced title. I’m really not sure we’ll be able to get the consistently high scores needed, especially in the off-leash levels, to earn the ARCH, UROC or any combined-level titles other than RAE, which requires qualifying scores but not high scores.

I’ll give it a try, even if just to make sure that one lonely point isn’t so lonely after our next trial!

(NaBloPoMo | April ’10: 11 of 30)

This was Freya’s first class in quite a while. Weekend trials and a minor injury in March kept her away from her usual Saturday classes, and weather and work kept her away from any weeknight classes or lessons. April is supposed to be a serious training month to prepare for trials in May and June.

Today wasn’t a great start, but it wasn’t horrible either. Our practice course today was an APDT Level 2 course designed by one of the judges some of us will be trialing under the weekend of May 1-2. This course used Send Over Jumps – Handler Runs By, so we got some much-needed jump practice. Freya’s jump height is 16″ but today’s jumps were done at 8″ and 12″ to keep it easier and more fun, for her, anyway.

For APDT, the handler must pass by 6 feet to the right of the jump. For UKC, the distance is 2-3 feet and for AKC, it is not explicitly specified (not that I could find in the rules). When I was farther away from the jump, it seemed that Freya was more likely to try to go around it. My plan right now is to get to where she will take a lower jump every time with me passing by 2-3 feet away, and then work on moving up to her full jump height. Then we will work on adding distance between me and the jump. In APDT, if the dog refuses the jump by going around, it is an automatic NQ with no retry allowed; there is a 3-point deduction if the handler passes by less than 6 feet away from the jump. So it’s obviously way more important to make sure she never refuses the jump.

I’m also finding myself at a point where I have to really do a better job of remembering the differences in rules and performance of certain exercises between UKC, APDT and AKC. Even though there are way more similarities than differences, there are enough important differences that could mean the difference between qualifying and failing at any specific trial.

We have a lot to do this month!

(NaBloPoMo | April ’10: 10 of 30)

Production for Issue 1 2010 of The Total Rottweiler Magazine wrapped up earlier this week, but this was still not a good dog training week for me with missed classes and limited practice time.

So it’s zero hour and I’m still trying to decide whether it makes more sense to skip this weekend’s UKC rally obedience trials, or give it our best shot, knowing we are probably not going to qualify. I know, I know. There have been other times when I thought our chances for qualifying were poor, and we got through it anyway. This time, however, there are two exercises that we truly have not yet mastered, and that are very likely to be included.

One is Halt – Stand – Heel Backwards 3 Steps – Halt. This was easier to teach than I expected, but results are still not totally reliable unless we’re up against a wall or fence.

This is also the first time for us to trial in a level (UKC Level 3) that has a jump. Dan built us a practice jump, so at least we were still able to work at home. Freya still wants to go around the jump as often as she chooses to go over it. We’re working on it with the usual strategies of repositioning the jump against a wall or in a doorway. Check out our very portable jump, by the way:

Dan built it using instructions found at http://sotcdogtraining.com/pdf/Jumps_Targetwork.pdf. This is actually an agility jump (there is a second crossbar which I am not using), but works fine as a practice bar jump for us. Not sure how old these instructions are, but the cost has gone up from their estimated $15. Our total was around $25 so it still isn’t even close to being a hardship.

Right now, I’m leaning towards giving it our best shot tomorrow. I am trying to think positive, and really, I should be. Although it feels like we are behind on training, and in some ways we are since we’ve missed more than a few classes and practice sessions, we are actually slightly ahead of the game. The original plan for this weekend was to get at least one leg towards our Level 2 title. I did not think there was any way we’d be done with Level 2 by now. And here we are, done with Level 2 two weeks ago, and not quite ready for Level 3. We’re actually two weeks ahead of schedule, not two exercises behind schedule.

Hopefully that thought will help me relax! Freya is already snoring on “her” couch. Maybe I should take some relaxation lessons from her.

(NaBloPoMo | March ’10: 26 of 31)

This was not one of the more successful rally obedience trial weekends for Freya and me. But even though it was disastrous in many ways, we did not completely fail. While we did NQ twice, we also Q’d twice albeit with some very lackluster scores, and earned two legs toward the ten we need for the APDT Level 1 RL1X title.

Oh, and ONE point toward the ARCH Rally Champion title. I will absolutely have to remember to get a screenshot including our ONE lonely point once the scores are posted online for this trial.

Most of what went wrong for us can be attributed to training issues, and if you recall, being overscheduled and thus underprepared. I have only myself to blame for not making some time to practice on what was a totally new thing for us, artificial soccer turf, something that was a much bigger problem for us than I had expected. I also know I don’t put as much time into training for heavy distractions as I should, and that is on the priority to-do list as well.

However, I do think that the heavy distractions we faced at this trial were out of the ordinary: ongoing light construction and setup, erecting a swimming pool, and agility lessons and practice going on in the same room with only a tall mesh fence separating it from the rally trial. Kudos to those of you who successfully train your dogs to work through stuff like this. Although it is obviously what we should work toward, it is a little beyond what Freya and I can handle consistently at this point.

As a small business owner myself, I can understand why the facility owner may not have wanted to cancel scheduled classes, especially in the current economic climate. As a competitor, I wish I had a more accurate picture beforehand of what the trial site would be like. Again, I am not saying that I should not have trained harder. What I am saying is that in general, I would like to have enough information to make a good decision about whether a particular trial venue is right for us.

Winter is just ending in northern Illinois, so I would choose to avoid outdoor trials until we have some opportunity to train on grass again. I can choose obedience- and rally-only trials, rather than trials held in conjunction with large all-breed shows. I can choose venues that run a single ring rather than several rings concurrently. And at this point in our training, I would have chosen to skip a trial held with agility lessons, or an agility trial, going on in the same building… that is, had I known about it.

That’s enough whine to go with our string cheese (best training treat ever, loved by dogs and people alike). On to the next trial weekend, which will be our last for about a month. We’ll take a break, and now that we’ve identified some more definite issues, we can get back to training.

(NaBloPoMo | March ’10: 21 of 31)

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)

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)