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!
(NaBloPoMo | January ’10: 2 of 31)