Rottweilers Ate My Laptop

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

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

Freya: setting a new target date

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We’ll have to set a new target date for Freya’s first Rally Obedience trial. The original plan was for NSDTC’s trial on June 14. Thanks, or should that be no thanks, to a large project at work that encroached into evening and weekend hours throughout much of the month, that trial date is no longer feasible (not to mention that the closing date for entries was last Wednesday, at which time it was obvious that we weren’t ready). Without a few more fun matches and run-throughs under our belts, it would have been way too ugly.

We were able to do some practice at home. I made rally sign holders from wire garden edging fences, using the tips from GraceGift’s rally site. For a total of $10 (2 folding fences and a package of clothespins), I got 16 sign holders. If I didn’t mention it before, I printed out the downloadable signs (from AKC’s site, and also on GraceGift’s site) on the Canon CLC Color Copier at work on 67# vellum card stock. 90# or 110# (slightly heavier card stock) would have probably been better, but I know that 67# almost never causes paper jams in that particular machine.

There is an AKC trial in DeKalb early in July, an AKC trial in Waukesha late in July, a UKC trial in Cary also late in July, and an APDT trial at the beginning of August. So those will be our next target dates. Hopefully June will be a better dog training month!

(NaBloPoMo | May ‘09: 30 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 126 of 274)

Sunshiny happy Rottweilers

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Finally, an actual nice day with sun and warmth and stuff. Axel and Freya show off the Rottweiler Swirly Sphere that was a Christmas gift from Aunty Linda (in Mom’s favorite shade of dark red, no less)!

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(NaBloPoMo | May ‘09: 21 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 117 of 274)

Dog dancing

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Axel dances like nobody’s watching. But he stops cold if there is even a slight chance I could grab a camera of any kind.

Ever since Axe was little, he has done something that we call “poodle-paws.” It’s sort of like “sit pretty” or “sit up and beg.” He is sitting up on his hind legs and moving his paws like a cat would paw at something. Axe pounces on a ball like a cat would, too. I am sure this was taught to him by kittyweiler Oliver.

I have been trying on and off over the last few days to get some video of Axel poodle-pawing for a project I am trying to do. He has poodle-pawed quite often during this time. He poodle-pawed to greet me a few times when I came home. He poodle-pawed at that weird-looking robin with the white patches. He poodle-pawed and howled when an ambulance went by. With all that poodle-pawing… I have a total of maybe five seconds of usable video.

I guess I’ll keep trying. He’s a dog, I’m the person, I should be able to trick him into not noticing such a small video camera as a Flip Mino, right?

(NaBloPoMo | May ‘09: 19 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 115 of 274)

Search and you shall find

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I didn’t have this blog visible on search engines until about a month or two ago. Not surprisingly, many of the searches that lead here have “Rottweiler” in the phrase or question.

I was distressed to see that my blog did not in fact provide the answers to some of those questions. I know it might not help much after the fact, but these question cannot go unanswered forever.

Rottweilers watch television: Why, yes, they do. Freya and Axel were not happy when last year’s New Amsterdam was canceled. Main character John Amsterdam was immortal, and his dog breed of choice throughout his 400-year-life was the Rottweiler. His current dog was named “Thirty-Six” (a 1940s flashback shows him with his then-Rottweiler, “Twenty-Nine”). While watching the show, Freya and Axel referred to themselves as “Five” and “Six.” All right, I don’t know for sure whether they did that, but if they thought of it, they would have. In real life, “Thirty-Six” is “Missy,” an AKC Obedience Trial Champion: Nordike’s Misty Meadows Mischief owned by Barb Doering. The obedience trial championship, OTCh, is the highest obedience honor a dog can receive and it is not a trivial undertaking.

Rottweilers also like Entourage and “Arnold” and Kath and Kim and “Cujo.”

A favorite Rottweiler movie is the 1996 version of The Island of Dr. Moreau. Actually, I don’t know if all Rottweilers like this movie. Our dear departed Oscar loved it, though, as did the rest of the original crew. The whole idea of using human DNA in animals is kind of creepy, but the human/beasts really held Oscar’s attention.

I bet you thought they were going to say they liked The Omen, huh? They do, but they thought that answer was too obvious. Of course they’ve seen it. What Rottweiler hasn’t?

Similar animals to Rottweilers: There is nothing like a Rottweiler. No animal that will bring you so much love and joy, along with so much frustration during their “teenager” time. No animal so devoted to their people. No animal that is so very special, in every sense of the word!

(NaBloPoMo | May ‘09: 18 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 114 of 274)

Temperament test: one pass, one fail

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With 53 dogs entered in today’s ATTS temperament test held by the Northeastern Illinois Bouvier des Flandres Club, it was quite a long day. Eleven of the 12 dogs in our group (seven of the eight Rottweilers) passed. Unfortunately, it was my Axe who failed.

There are 10 subtests in the TT, and Axe passed nine of them easily. His downfall was the friendly stranger. Axe is not a particularly friendly dog. He’s very affectionate to his favorite people, but he just tolerates other people. He is also overly possessive of me, which is why I wasn’t handling him myself. He still wanted nothing to do with the friendly stranger and made it abundantly clear by growling at her, which failed him. Had he remained silent, he may have passed with a low score on that subtest.

I don’t like to anthropomorphize animal behavior, but since I don’t like strangers coming up to me in an overly friendly way either, and I have difficulty remaining silent under most circumstances, I think I understand what Axe was thinking.

Axe’s half-brother, half-sister and mother all passed, and Axe can try again at another test after five months have passed. Following the test, our group talked about the results and agreed that Axe would have probably fared better with the friendly stranger who did the subtest for the females. The friendly stranger who did the subtest for the males was more tentative with the Rottweilers, as compared to the other one. Hesitation or fear is something that Axe is obnoxiously quick to pick up and exploit, unfortunately even when it’s not in his best advantage. Like today.

Freya passed with good scores on all of the subtests. Freya is innately much friendlier than Axel, but there are a few people and dogs that she has taken a dislike to, for no apparent reason that I could see at the time. Fortunately, the neutral stranger and friendly stranger did not fall in this category. I knew she would be fine for the rest of the subtests, as there was nothing there that she had not been exposed to and dealt with. As soon as the certificate arrives in the mail, she will officially be Sciroco’s Freya vom Viersen CGC, TT. And yes, we’re still going to be working on that RN and beyond in rally obedience. Freya’s breeder Donna was there to see Aslan (who she co-owns) and Freya, and happily, both of them passed.

Very proud of all of the dogs in our little group! Eleven new TTs was a good day’s result. Thanks to Axel’s “grandpa” Gary for being a great handler as always.

(NaBloPoMo | May ‘09: 9 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 105 of 274)