Rottweilers Ate My Laptop

Rottweilers. Computers. Cameras. World Domination. Not necessarily in that order.

Rottweilers.
Computers. Cameras.
World Domination.
Not necessarily in that order.

Another new title for Freya!

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We got it done. It was not pretty at all, but the lovely Freya is now…

URO2 Sciroco’s Freya vom Viersen, RL1 (AOE), CGC, TT!

She was a totally different dog today than she was yesterday. I sincerely hope that this version of Freya does not show up at too many future trials, as she was distracted and unfocused, and it took a good deal of effort (and silent prayer) to get her back at my side to focus on the task at hand.

But the main thing is that she did come back and our team did get through it. The main thing today was to qualify and earn that last leg, and that we did, though with a low score.

I hope that all Freya sees is my very real delight at accomplishing this with her. Working off-leash felt like a big leap of faith to me, and maybe I made it a bigger obstacle in my mind than it needs to be. We still have a lot of things to work on improving, and some new things to learn before we can advance to the next level. But now I definitely feel that we will get through that next level, too!

(NaBloPoMo | March ’10: 14 of 31)

First Level 2 legs for Freya!

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Even though we went into it with some doubts, or at least the human half of the team did, our first attempts at UKC Rally Obedience Level 2 went quite well today. Freya qualified and placed in both trials, earning two of the three legs needed for the URO2 title.

The original plan was to complete Novice/Level 1 titles in AKC, UKC, and APDT before attempting any Advanced/Level 2 titles. But due to the number and proximity of UKC trials during March, April, and May, we altered our game plan not too long ago and started practicing off-leash.

Off-leash? Why, yes. I am very proud of Freya for being A Very Good Dog today. Not perfect: she did veer off to sniff one of the food bowls on the Offset Figure 8 in Trial 1, and some unknown but very enticing thing/spot/whatever in Trial 2, but she came back to me and got back on track without too many commands. She did not try to escape the ring, nor create her own path around it, and for that I am very grateful!

Our scores were not particularly high, but on this day were good enough to place in RO2A: Trial 1 88 points and 2nd place, Trial 2 95 points and 2nd place.

I was not planning to trial tomorrow, especially since Daylight Savings Time is depriving me of an hour of sleep, but I’m now considering doing a day-of-show entry and hope we can keep it together for one more trial to finish the title. So I’m off to get at least some sleep. Check back to see what we actually end up doing!

(NaBloPoMo | March ’10: 13 of 31)

That look in her eyes

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Sometimes you can just see trouble about to happen. I’m hoping not to see this wild look in Freya’s eyes at tomorrow’s trials. It will probably mean she is about to run wild, and have a little too much fun at my expense.

Photo by Karen Hollis, Sirius Pet Images

I love this picture, though… it’s so very, very Freya. It is from our second APDT trial. She did in fact blow off the recall, although since it was the bonus exercise, we still earned a qualifying score.

This will be our first attempt at an off-leash level (UKC Rally Obedience Level 2), meaning she really will have the opportunity to escape (shhhhh… don’t tell her that), so wish us luck!

(NaBloPoMo | March ’10: 12 of 31)

Action!

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Photo by: Chuck Currey, Currey Photo, Reddick, FL

During Axel’s journey to his AKC championship, I collected many, many photos of him stacked nicely, standing pretty with Julia and the judge.

What I didn’t have was action photos, either from conformation or rally obedience. I was very surprised to receive the proof of this photo in the mail. It was taken the very last time he was shown in AKC conformation. It was the last show of the second cluster of the Florida Winter Classic held in Brooksville. He went in the ring solely to hold the 3-point major; he had already finished his championship during the first cluster. So glad he did, as there were no action shots that I know of taken at any of his other shows. Axe moves nicely, and this photo really shows it. Yay for surprises, surprises like this one, anyway!

(NaBloPoMo | March ’10: 10 of 31)

Space case

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It’s a case of no space, as in my back yard is not big enough to lay out a full sized rally obedience course. This will not stop us from practicing the individual exercises, although the sogginess of the yard and the on-and-off rain might move us indoors to an even smaller space.

Although I usually don’t mind living in the city with all of its conveniences, sometimes I truly envy those of you who live in the ’ burbs or beyond. Your jagoff neighbors are separated from you by yards or even miles, not inches. Your basement is big enough to set up a full 40' x 50' AKC rally or obedience ring. Your yard is big enough to set up a full 50' x 80' APDT rally ring, or maybe even a 100' x 120' agility ring or 100m x 80m Schutzhund field. Space and distance, what a life! Or at least I say that until I need an open-24-hours grocery store or veterinarian or whatever within five miles or less. Tradeoffs, always those tradeoffs.

For the rest of the week, Freya and I will be practicing individual Level 2 exercises in whatever time and space we have available to prepare for Saturday’s trial. So the small size of the back yard won’t really matter. Heh, now that I look at our schedule, we have trials every weekend for the rest of the month, so it may not matter until March 29!

What I would like to try at that time, though, is to design some fun practice courses that will fit within a 20&#39 x 20&#39 space. Last summer, most of our back yard practices were done using the diagonal plus a square. I really had no idea what I was doing in terms of layout. Most of those practices took place after our very first trial in July and before our second trial in November, so I had been on only one trial course and a few practice courses. Oh, and learning whatever I could from downloads on the Internet. We did manage to learn and practice all of the novice level exercises for UKC and AKC, so my simple squares weren’t totally ineffective, but they were a little boring.

Now that I have a bit more trial experience, a few more classes, and a lot more reading to draw from, I’m hoping to come up with some better and more enjoyable practice ideas.

(NaBloPoMo | March ’10: 9 of 31)