Although the results may not yet be visible to the naked eye, I am still making my way slowly through 31DBBB. I haven’t been able to keep up with the one-task-per-day pace during the week, and I’m not caught up as far as I want to be, but I am still getting a lot out of the project. You can sign up at any time, and I suggest it for anyone who wants to improve their blogging. Even if you don’t join the project, check out some of the 31DBBB posts at ProBlogger!
One change that is probably visible, even to the naked eye, is the header on the blog. Back near the beginning of April, the first task of 31DBBB was to write an “elevator pitch” for our blogs. Mine is here, and I’ve finally made some of the changes and additions outlined in that post. I hope you like the new header, which features my favorite puppy picture of the lovely Freya!
I’m currently bogged down a bit on Day 8, where I need to interlink my post with other related posts within the blog. Yes, there’s a plugin for that. But as I started to work on this task, I realized that my categories and tags needed a major overhaul in order to work properly with plugins, and for that matter, to make it easier should I end up choosing to do my related links manually. So that’s a project to complete this coming week. I hope.
Freya’s first rally obedience training session went very well. We didn’t even trip over any of the signs. Our team’s biggest problem is, as usual, me. My leash handling needs work. Rally Novice is done entirely on leash, and keeping a loose leash is very important to avoid point deductions. I also need to get accustomed to using as much body language and verbal encouragement as needed. Extra help like that is not allowed in conventional obedience competition nor in Schutzhund obedience, so most handlers will phase it out during training as early as possible.
It’s not that I don’t want to continue on to conventional obedience competition or a Schutzhund BH, but realistically, I don’t know if I ever will. So it makes the most sense at this point to get through the Rally titles using every legal command and motivator that I am able to, and then worry about phasing out the extra commands and encouragement later.
Masha says
I really like this look. I don’t know what your header image used to look like, but it looks great now!
I’ve been picking and choosing which of the 31days things I do – you cant possibly do them all. But its been a great motivator for getting energised about blogging again.
I also used to do dog training – Obedience and Agility. I had to stop going to the classes and I really regret it. My job is eating my life 🙁
I used to find the difference in training styles between Obedience and Agility quite difficult to deal with.
kathi says
Thank you! I’m still doing a bit of tweaking (my Photoshop skills need work LOL) but I’m pretty happy with it. I’m determined to get through all of the 31DBBB tasks, but it is going to definitely take a LOT longer than 31 days!
I’ve never done Agility with my dogs, but one of the women I am training with in Obedience often has her Rottweilers in the top 10 for agility within the breed. I wish I had more time for dog sports in general, too!
Denora says
I love the new header! That picture has always been a favorite of mine and it looks good as your masthead. I signed up for 31DBBB but haven’t even had time to start Day 1, with everything that’s been going on. I have, however, been reading the instructions and advice, and once I get things settled, will probably start implementing certain things in my blog. Of course, that means I have to finally finish setting up the WP for it…
kathi says
The lovely Freya thanks you, as it is all about her. Heh, and I was just wondering how your WP migration was coming along! I figured the move kind of got in the way.
I am loving 31DBBB, but it is going to definitely take more than 31 days for me to get through it all. Did you see the task for Day 9? If you did, or when you do, I’m sure you can picture my reaction to it 🙂
Kristin says
Love it!
kathi says
The lovely Freya and I both thank you 🙂