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"

What do you mean, Stop and Down?

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You might remember that we started out training for rally obedience with Freya doing the AKC novice exercises. We switched over to UKC in late spring since there were going to be UKC trials during the summer and fall. When Axel’s conformation handler offered to do his Rally Novice title as well, I started running Axel through the practice courses I’d set up for Freya.

Before Freya’s trial, I posted about the exercises in UKC Rally Obedience 1 that are not used in AKC Rally Novice. Because I am so smart and organized, I neglected to check on the AKC Rally Novice exercises that Axel hasn’t learned or practiced from Freya’s UKC courses. Much to my horror, there are five of them. FIVE.

Okay, breathe. Breathe!

Halt, 1-2 and 3 Steps Forward: This one shouldn’t be a problem since we’ve done it in general heeling practice since beginner classes.

Call Front, 1-2 and 3 Steps Backward: This one we will need to work on for the first time. Yikes!

Stop and Down: Dog downs as I stop? So it’s not a down, it’s not quite a moving down… again, yikes!

Halt, Fast Forward from Sit: Should not be a problem since Axel likes to move fast. Unless of course he moves too fast!

Left About Turn: As in a Schutzhund-style about turn. Since I constantly labor under the delusion that one day I will go back to training in Schutzhund, all my dogs have learned this early on. Whew!

Okay, maybe this isn’t the major crisis I thought it was after all! Now if it would just stop raining…

(NaBloPoMo | October ’09: 15 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 237 of 274)

Did you miss me?

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Did you all miss me??

:: crickets ::

Hmmmm… well, okay, then! Maybe the question should be: did any of you notice I was gone??

I planned to take a few days off from blogging as soon as August’s NaBloPoMo was completed. I didn’t mean for it to stretch out past a week, but I’ve been stuck behind a computer screen for other reasons and didn’t feel like staying on to blog most nights. Some of it was for work, which is a welcome change from the shortage of paying customers over the summer. No one ever thinks that graphic arts is a seasonal business, but it is. Some of it was for the most poorly-chosen hobbies ever, websites and the Rottweiler magazine. I’ve talked about it before, and it just cannot be good for me to spend eight hours InDesigning and Photoshopping at work, and coming home to do more of the same plus DreamWeaving. At the very least, it’s making me crabby.

Does it sound like I’ve been neglecting the dogs? Yes, their training has been sliding a little too much considering that both Axel and Freya have Rally Obedience trials to prepare for. The dogs are far too self-centered to let themselves be neglected, and that is fine.

I have been keeping notes on a number of topics that I want to write about, and fortunately, very few of them are time-sensitive enough to go stale. At least you know you probably won’t be spoiler’d by the time I get around to writing about the season ending of Rescue Me and the new seasons of Mad Men and Sons of Anarchy… OMG, Sons of Anarchy, was that S2 opener a punch in the gut, or what?

Back soon. Or at least, it won’t be a whole week.

(NaBloPoMo | 75% Challenge: 220 of 274)

Still in need of a more effective routine

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Here we are at the end of NaBloPoMo for July 2009. I didn’t write much on the month’s theme of “routine” although the struggle to establish an effective routine is an ongoing concern.

At the beginning of the month, I had hoped to establish some better routines for blogging, dog training and computer maintenance. I think I succeeded in one area only, that of computer maintenance, and particularly if success is equal to having current backups of everything important.

NaBloPoMo has gotten me into the habit of writing daily, but unfortunately I’m having difficulty shifting my writing time from extremely late night to early evening. Early morning was considered and rejected as a good time to write. One must be awake and alert to write. That is not me in the morning.

The dog training routine is now high priority. Freya and Axel both need to be ready for rally obedience trials in October or November. I’ll be training very few totally new exercises to either dog, so the challenge is to keep them (and myself!) from getting bored and sloppy.

(NaBloPoMo | July ’09: 31 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 188 of 274)

Things I want to talk about

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I’m running on empty for no apparent reason, so I’m just going to make a few notes about some topics I want to talk about, before I forget about them entirely.

  • I got my invite for Google Voice last week. I did set it up, but haven’t had a chance to play around with it much, nor have I tried to set up its BlackBerry client. I’m sure at least a couple of you out there might like to hear about it!
  • I wrote a little bit about WordPress for BlackBerry when it first came out, but I should probably do a more complete review. There have been six updates since then, over the space of less than a month, so the developers really are working hard on bug fixes and enhancements.
  • As you all know, Freya is working on her rally obedience titles. When Axel goes back out with Julia this fall, he will also be working on rally obedience titles along with his AKC championship. That is, if I make sure he knows all of the Novice stations before he leaves. With about two and half months to go, we should definitely be able to do that, and get some training posts out of it, too!

(NaBloPoMo | July ’09: 30 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 187 of 274)

Last-minute preparations

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We’re spending the evening on some last-minute preparations for Freya’s rally obedience trial tomorrow. I have the van loaded with two crates, crate pads, reflective tarps and sun shields, sheets, towels and MapQuest printouts. And this time, I remembered to load my folding chair, although I’m sure I’ll be pacing instead of sitting.

We did not do any actual practice this evening, as it is not only raining, but thunderstorming. I think we know all of the exercises by now, though. Or at least Freya does. I have spent some time once again reviewing the rulebook and the signs, and more time praying that I don’t misread any of the signs once it’s showtime tomorrow.

Freya is preparing for the trial by sprawling out on the love seat and napping. And snoring loudly.

Who is the more evolved species here, I wonder?

(NaBloPoMo | July ’09: 24 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 181 of 274)