Rottweilers Ate My Laptop

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

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

Search Results for: Freya "rally obedience"

Done for the moment, I hope

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I told you that wasn’t it, didn’t I? It was not that bad, or at least it would not have been that bad, had the snowblower not given up the ghost yesterday afternoon.

Compare these to yesterday’s shots!

Although most days it’s really less than a joy living on a main road, there are some good things about living on a snow route, like usually having it cleared quite quickly after a snowfall.

Rottweilers can’t run through it too fast when it’s this deep.

Freya compares today’s snow depth to yesterday’s.

This corner isn’t affected much by blowing and drifting, so the amount accumulated on top of the a/c is probably pretty close to the actual amount that fell between yesterday’s photos and today’s.

The snow is supposedly done for now. At this depth and at the forecasted colder temperatures, the backyard piles and drifts will be around for a while for the Rottweiler wrecking crew to enjoy.

So, on a totally unrelated note, then… you know I had to do this, don’t you? As always, I have been keeping a close watch for online and offline proof of the dogs’ latest accomplishments. Freya’s first set of APDT Rally Obedience scores have just been posted online. See?

We’re still watching for online confirmation and physical certificate for Axel’s Rally Novice title, physical certificate for Axel’s Canine Good Citizen, online confirmation and physical certificate for Freya’s APDT Rally Level 1 title, and photos from Freya’s APDT trial at For Your Canine. So you’ll have to share a few more of these moments with me still!

(NaBloPoMo | February ’10: 10 of 28)

Randomness

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Some random thoughts before I try to get a good night’s sleep. The training facility where we are going for Freya’s APDT rally obedience trial runs a single ring, so the two trials will run one after the other, not concurrently. So tomorrow promises to be quite a long day.

  • I think today’s pre-trial practice session helped with fixing Freya’s crooked sits and improving on sloppy turns. I hope I didn’t break something else though, as she was starting to shut down a bit on the last run-through. I am hoping that she, too, just needs a good night’s sleep.
  • Thinking about what time I have to get up and what time I have to leave tomorrow, I am reminded of why I drifted away from dog competitions: too many early mornings. I am so, so, so not a morning person.
  • The dogs and I watched the AKC Eukanuba National Championship Dog Show on Animal Planet earlier this evening. Freya and Axel are a lot better than some of the dear departed Rottweilers at watching animals on television. They did not chase or bark at the TV dogs, or better yet, try to get behind the TV to see where they went.
  • It was fun to watch the dog show even though, like all psycho dog people, I already knew the results.
  • I knew there were quarters minted last year for the District of Columbia and the territories. I honestly can’t remember ever seeing one until today when I got one for American Samoa in my change.

(NaBloPoMo | February ’10: 6 of 28)

Looking forward to Westminster!

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No, we won’t be there in person this year (February 15-16 if you’re watching on USA and CNBC as we are). But if I had a bucket list, a trip to Westminster Kennel Club’s dog show would surely be on it, with or without a canine family member participating.

Can I say it will be just a little bit more exciting for me to watch from here on out, knowing that technically, I could have my dog in the game? Axel is now an AKC Champion of record and would be eligible to enter in the future (only Champions of record are eligible to enter Westminster, which I think is the only AKC show with that requirement at this time). The chances of us ever participating are still almost nil. Entries are limited to 2,500 and fill up incredibly fast. This is also a show we would have pretty much no chance of winning. This will be the 134th year for this show, and in that time, a Rottweiler has never won Best in Show at Westminster, and has won the Working Group only once, in 2006.

So Westminster dreams are really just that: dreams. But still. Wouldn’t it be nice?

Ever since the dogs started working on titles, I’ve had to explain more than a few times what dog shows and trials are about. I’m wondering if those of you who visit here would be interested in some “dog stuff basics” posts? I know at least some of you are psycho dog people yourselves and could probably recite the AKC “Rules Applying to Dog Shows” in your sleep. But as many times as I’ve had to explain points and majors and how Axel’s shows are different from Freya’s trials (that got really confusing last month, when they were both competing in Rally Obedience, but in different organizations), maybe some of you would like to know more?

(NaBloPoMo | February ’10: 4 of 28)

What would Jake do?

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Note to self: If you do “Save Draft” and not “Publish,” then no one gets to see what you write. Not that it would always be a bad thing, but, yeah.

I was deciding whether to post Freya’s Saturday class video and commentary, or write a little more about Sunday’s trial. But for some reason I am thinking about Jake, mostly because APDT Rally Obedience encourages disabled dogs and handlers to participate and goes as far as allowing certain exercise modifications so that they may do so safely and successfully. I think this is absolutely wonderful.

Jake has been gone for over seven years now, but he was one of my heart dogs so he is never far from my thoughts. He was an amputee due to accident, which is what took my post in this direction. Only a few of you who visit me here probably remember him in real life, but you can read what I wrote about him about a year ago.

Although the APDT and rally obedience were both in existence during Jake’s lifetime, I didn’t know much about either one until later. After he had recovered fully from the amputation surgery, my challenge was to keep this active dog busy and happy, or at least out of trouble. Since Schutzhund competition involves a 1-meter jump and an A-frame, it was not something we could easily return to. So I just started to look around for things we could do, and titles we could achieve.

All AKC titles were then, and still are now, off the table for disabled dogs. The Canine Good Citizen test was a possibility. In 1998, the CGC guidelines which encouraged participation for disabled handlers were already in existence. The guidelines that now exist, welcoming disabled dogs to participate, did not exist at that time. There were more than a few clubs that chose to defer to the AKC show rules which referred to disqualification of dogs who appeared lame. It took way more phone calls and emails than I ever imagined to get a club to allow Jake to test. And then he failed his first attempt. He did pass on a later attempt, even though at heart he was more outlaw than good citizen.

I don’t even have to look up the names of the people who helped me in my quest: Mary Burch from the AKC, and Tammy Dean from Glenbard All Breed Obedience Club. I like to think we are all part of the reason that the CGC evaluator guidelines now specifically state:

Dogs with disabilities such as the loss of a leg, deafness, or blindness in one eye are welcome in the Canine Good Citizen Test. Dogs must perform all of the 10 items to pass the test, however, handlers may use hand signals, gestures, or other cues to which the dog has been trained to respond.

Anyway. He also got a doctor’s note to be allowed to take ATTS’s Temperament Test, which he passed with flying colors despite his outlaw leanings. I was not even their volunteer webmaster yet at the time.

Back then, UKC specifically allowed disabled dogs to participate in obedience competitions. I went so far as to register him with UKC, but since their CD, unlike the AKC CD, involved a jump, I decided not to put him through it. For the rest of his life, we got out to club and as much obedience and protection training as he could handle.

Titles aren’t important… yet, they are. I would have so loved to do Rally with him. He was truly my best working partner and we would have had a lot of fun with it. Miss you, Jakey. I hope you are proud of me and Freya.

(NaBloPoMo | January ’10: 25 of 31)

Didn’t mean to gross you out…

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As you know, Freya and I are preparing for our first APDT Rally Obedience trial coming up on Sunday. Since Freya is not ready to trial off leash, or maybe that is me that is not ready, I’ve decided to do the novice level titles for all of the organizations that regularly offer trials in our area — UKC, APDT, and AKC — with her before attempting any organization’s advanced level title.

In APDT trials, you can use food rewards after any of the stationary exercises. This differs from AKC and UKC, where you cannot have food in the ring at all. At first I thought this would be a great thing, and it might well be. Except that I am the klutziest handler on the planet, and there are point deductions for dropping food, which sad to say, I do all the time in training. We get a lot of practice on “leave it.” Food rewards also have to be hidden in the handler’s pockets. You cannot use a bait pouch or hold food in your hands or mouth. That alone is a huge adjustment for me, since I always use a bait pouch and hold food in my mouth.

I have probably lost some of you already when I talk about holding dog treats in your mouth. I always feel like I have to apologize to new people in our group class, because I’m always holding treats in my mouth to get Freya’s attention on my face. My dog treats for training classes are all “people food” with the favorite choices for both me and dogs being string cheese and Jewel store brand Homestyle Frozen Meatballs (the President’s Choice meatballs taste better, but they have a higher fat content and don’t hold up as well for a one-hour class). I also use hot dogs, nuked with or without a dash of soy sauce (yes, that would be teriyaki hot dog treats). See? All of that is stuff that you wouldn’t mind holding in your mouth, right?

The one thing that I am not klutzy at is spitting food to my dogs. Most of them have been great at catching treats, either spit or thrown, and only a couple of them have let the food bounce off their faces. I will admit that if a class runs a full hour or longer, I do end up eating some of the string cheese myself.

(NaBloPoMo | January ’10: 19 of 31)