Rottweilers Ate My Laptop

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

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

Changed my mind… writing on!

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I changed my mind about waiting until fall to try another month of NaBloPoMo daily posting. This was largely influenced by the fact that we just finished uploading and approving all pages for the summer issue of The Total Rottweiler Magazine.

Since this is a late-breaking decision, I don’t have a good topic, or for that matter, any topic in mind. I’d use NaBloPoMo’s writing prompt, but since the prompt is “What’s your favorite movie?” I think I will have to pass. If you knew me way back when, you know how long it took me to pick five movies for a desert island. I don’t think I can narrow it down to one before the day turns over.

So for now, enjoy a very, very brief preview of Axel’s upcoming frisbee video:

(NaBloPoMo | July ’10: 1 of 31)

Shameless self-promotion, or dog promotion anyway

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Looks like I was doing this exact same thing one year ago, too! Same beautiful dog, same wonderful handler, same situation with me scrambling to put together an ad for The Total Rottweiler Magazine right on deadline.

As most of you know, Axe finished his championship and earned his RN and CGC about six months ago, but I didn’t get his ad done until just now. So please indulge me once again, and behold the beauty that is Axe:

click image for full-sized PDF version

This ad will be running in Issue 2 / 2010 of The Total Rottweiler Magazine. Please check out the magazine if you love Rottweilers! I am on staff as a volunteer (unpaid) proofreader and copyeditor, so I definitely have a connection and an interest in the magazine’s continued success.

Turn on the lights, brush away the cobwebs…

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Sorry I haven’t been around as much as I should be. I seem to have lost my way this month, with a NaBloPoMo fail and a definite shortfall of Mingling and Blog Hopping. I’ll play catch-up as best as I can, but I think I’ll forego any more attempts at NaBloPoMo until fall!

As you may already know, Freya’s training and trialing has not been a source of joy and wonder lately. A vet visit didn’t turn up any physical causes for our training and performance issues, but I didn’t have any lab work done at that time. I’ve been debating with myself about having a thyroid panel done. Her last one came back normal not quite two years ago. But she will be seven years old in November, so is now edging up to senior status (noooooooooo, she’s still my puppy girl), so at this point, maybe it is money well spent rather than a long shot. Hypothyroidism is also one of the only non-fatal things I can think of that could cause mood swings, hyper-reactivity, and weight gain (in her case a more subtle inability to get back to her ideal weight… hmmm… a problem for me, as well). Anything else I can think of is either much scarier, or else points back to me sucking big time as a dog trainer (this is actually the most likely possibility).

Speaking of health tests, I still need to get Axel in for his OFA cardiac clearance. I have been holding off in hopes of a cardiac clinic being offered at a nearby show, as the cost savings would be very significant (try at least 50%), especially if the clinic is also doing Dopplers. Since there have been no known heart issues with his parents or siblings, and I don’t have any immediate breeding plans for him, I guess it won’t hurt to hold off just a bit longer.

I know I’ve mentioned this before, but I’m going to mention it again anyway since it’s one of the things that has been eating up my time this month. Please think about subscribing to The Total Rottweiler Magazine. I am currently a volunteer (unpaid) proofreader and copyeditor for TTRM so I do admit some bias as I tell you it’s well worth checking into if you have any interest in Rottweilers and dog sports.

So that’s the short version of what’s been going on. I have a backlog of Freya training videos to analyze and comment on, as well as a couple of hopefully more informative short rally obedience-related videos that I’m editing in iMovie as time permits. I hope to also have some Axel frisbee video soon. On the technology side, I have some MacBook and Sony Reader thoughts to post. Oh, and I did manage to fit in the upgrade to WordPress 3.0 as well.

I know it isn’t supposed to be a main focus for this blog, but I still have some TV breaks that I never posted. Lucky for you all, some are no longer timely so you won’t have to read them, but at some point I still plan to tell you why Glee is the devil. I’m sure I’ll have at least a few new TV breaks once Rescue Me and Mad Men start up again on June 29 and July 25, respectively.

Update: Mary Wild – show dog heat stroke deaths

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Last June, dog handler Mary Wild left eight show dogs, including her teenaged assistant’s dog and the #1 Akita bitch in the country at that time, in a poorly ventilated cargo van overnight after returning home from a show. Seven of the dogs, including those two, died of heat stroke. This afternoon, Ms. Wild was convicted on eight counts of misdemeanor animal abuse. Sentencing will be in July. The maximum penalty for this type of offense is up to one year in jail and a fine up to $1,000. I sincerely hope that the maximum penalties are applied in this case.

Links to coverage from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Judge convicts dog handler on all counts – June 4, 2010
Trial opens in deaths of 7 show dogs – June 3, 2010
(this link also contains the original news story from June 24, 2009)

(NaBloPoMo | June ’10: 4 of 30)