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"

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)

Freya: preparing for her next trial

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You may recall that my original plan for Freya’s Rally Obedience career was to earn the on-leash novice level titles in all three of the venues we are competing in before moving on to the next level in any of the venues. That plan has changed slightly, since there are a number of UKC trials nearby during March, April and May.

UKC’s Level 2 is done off-leash, but unlike APDT’s Level 2 and AKC’s RA, it does not include the jump that we’ve only just begun to train. The two trial weekends in March are both at clubs where we have trialed before. Next weekend’s trial location has two rings going simultaneously, but they are set up with a barrier in between so the working dogs aren’t distracted by the activity in the other ring. The rings are also set up so there are very limited escape opportunities. So even though I’m still not 100% sure of how we will do with the Freya half of the team off-leash, it’s worth a try.

One good thing about training for all versions of Rally Obedience is that even with the last minute change in plan, I had only two new exercises to train at the last minute. One, the Offset Figure 8, is a Figure 8 around food bowls which contain treats but are also covered with a screen so the food can be smelled but not accessed. The Figure 8 itself is easy, but ignoring food does not come easy for a Rottweiler. Or at least, not for any Rottweiler I’ve ever owned. Training the other exercise, Halt – Leave – Call Dog Front While Running – Finish, went very well, though, especially considering it was completely new to us.

I was a little surprised, but maybe I shouldn’t be. Freya is a good working dog. She is not consistently good because I’m not. In the hands of a more skilled trainer, she would reach her full potential. In my hands… well… I’m happy that we’ve done as well as we have so far.

Since I did have the new exercises to train, I opted to miss a fun match that I probably should have gone to today. After weighing the pros and cons, I decided that training the new exercises in class, where I could get help if needed, made the most sense. Now I just have to try and relax, and keep our training and practice this week very positive.

(NaBloPoMo | March ’10: 6 of 31)

New title for Freya!

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As most of you know, Freya earned the first two legs towards her APDT Rally Obedience Level 1 title on January 24. I am very proud to announce that we completed the title at today’s first trial at Flying Paws Dog Training Club… with a score of 208 points (out of 210 possible points, 200 plus a 10-point optional bonus exercise) and first place in Level 1A! Since all three of our Level 1A scores were 190 points or better, we will also receive an Award of Excellence.

So Freya is now URO1 Sciroco’s Freya vom Viersen RL1 (AOE), CGC, TT!

Although we brought our “A” game to Trial 1, we did not fare so well at Trial 2 and NQ’d when Freya got up from a Down on the Halt-Sit-Down-Walk Around. Even though she was very distracted during this run, she is usually very solid on the stays for the Walk Around exercises so it was not only a disappointment, but an unwelcome surprise. The run was not great, but it would have otherwise given us a qualifying score. So, sadly, we do not yet have any of the 10 legs needed for the RL1X title.

The next APDT trial within easy driving distance won’t be until the beginning of May. There are some UKC trials coming up in March and April, so we need to learn the rest of the Level 2 exercises and get more practice working off leash. The other option would be to work on the AKC Rally Novice title. But since AKC trials are plentiful as compared to APDT and UKC trials, it seems to make more sense to work on the RN during the months that no APDT and UKC trials are available. Decisions, decisions!

(NaBloPoMo | February ’10: 7 of 28)

Freya: class notes 1/23/10

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Since most of our classmates were at the first day of For Your Canine’s APDT trials on January 23, Freya and I basically got a private lesson that day to help us prepare for the following day’s trials. Allan set up a practice course for us designed by one of the judges that I’d be trialing under on Sunday. I was able to view this video to identify areas to work on before doing another run-through. Allan posted a video of that run-through to his blog.

No course map today since it was a course used in an actual trial for which I did not get permission to publicly post.

Start: I still want to get better attention from Freya at the start. She does now seem to know that we ain’t goin’ nowhere until she makes eye contact with me. Our next run started off with better attention.

25. Spiral Right – Dog Outside. She’s lagging, partly because she’s not paying full attention to me, and partly because I’m not being interesting enough nor am I giving her enough cues to stay with me. Our teamwork is much better in the next run.

8. Left Turn, 13. 360-Degree Right Turn. I’m surprised we don’t lose more points on turns in trials. We did a little better in the next run.

2. Halt-Sit-Stand. Freya has never had a pretty stand. I would like to be able to stand her with a verbal command alone and will work toward that. She does not move around much which is an improvement.

20. Fast Pace, 21. Normal Pace. Still need to work on making pace changes more noticeable. Varying the length, even more so than the speed, of my own steps seems to be the key.

17. Call Front, Finish Right. Slow and crooked sit. Sits seem to be the current problem area. On the next run, I gave her both verbal and signal cues to help her sit quickly and in the correct place.

11. 270-Degree Right Turn, 10. About “U” Turn. See above; we really have to work on polishing our turns.

23. Halt – 90 Degree Pivot Right – Halt + 5. Halt – Sit – Walk Around. This is something that I believe exists only in APDT Rally. Signs can be “married” as in this example. The ending Halt with Sit of sign 23 is used as the beginning Halt-Sit of sign 5; it is not performed again. So the sequence is Halt with Sit – 90 Degree Pivot Right where dog moves with handler – Halt with Sit – handler Walk Around dog. We did ok.

13. 360-Degree Right Turn. See previous comments on turns.

28. Halt – Turn Right – 1 Step – Halt + 3. Halt – Sit – Down. Another set of “married” signs. I want to phase out the excessive body English for the Down signal, but Freya’s Down has not been too consistent, so I will stick with a firm tone and exaggerated signal for now.

9. About Turn Right, 14. 360-Degree Left Turn, 8. Left Turn, 10. About “U” Turn. See previous comments on turns.

Bonus: Exercise 1. Halt – Leave Dog – Call To Heel. This is one of our better bonus exercises, but could use some polishing. I’d like her to come in closer and straighter.

This is the first session where I switched to a 4-foot leash. I found it helped me greatly in keeping a loose leash. Even when I tied knots in my 6-foot leash, I found myself folding it too short or grabbing it too short and below the knots. It may not have been the greatest idea in general to switch leashes the day before a trial, but in terms of avoiding point losses for tight leash, it was very successful.

As always, you can see more videos of our rally obedience classmates, as well as Allan’s other training clients, on his YouTube channel.

(NaBloPoMo | February ’10: 3 of 28)

First APDT Rally-O legs for Freya!

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I’m happy to report that Freya qualified and placed in both trials at For Your Canine today to earn the first two legs towards her APDT Rally Obedience Level 1 title!

Freya’s score for the first trial was 201 points (out of 210 possible points, 200 plus a 10-point optional bonus exercise) for third place. Her score for the second trial was 192 points (we totally blew the bonus exercise) for fourth place. We need one more leg to earn the title, and our next trial is in two weeks. It’s possible that we could even earn the title with an Award of Excellence if we can get that third leg with a score of 190 points or better. I just hope we both bring our “A” games to the next trial!

We are both way more tired than we should be, considering that total time in the ring is approximately two minutes per trial. In our defense, the day did start very early, especially since I stupidly didn’t set up the van and crates last night, but I think we are just getting old!

More details sometime in the next few days and possibly video, too!

(NaBloPoMo | January ’10: 24 of 31)