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"

Back to class for Freya

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Freya is headed back to group obedience classes tomorrow. We took a break and skipped one eight-week session, but I think our lives are all better when Freya has the structure of a class setting at least once a week. I’m also thinking of taking her to a Tuesday night class as well, but I haven’t made a final decision on that. The extra cost factor would be minimal (it is an obedience club class with a reduced price for members) but the distance is a little farther than I’d like. I definitely want her to be ready for the next UKC Rally Obedience trials coming up in the fall, though, so I’m leaning more towards doing the class.

Freya also has a vet appointment immediately following class, so it will be a busy morning for us. She has a small lump which I originally thought was a scab from overly rough play with Axel. It doesn’t seem to cause her any discomfort, but it isn’t going away, though, so it’s time to check it out and make sure it’s not something invasive or dangerous.

UPDATE 8/22/09: Thanks for all of your Freya love! It was a cyst from an ingrown hair and nothing more serious.

(NaBloPoMo | August ’09: 21 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 209 of 274)

More of the story: Freya’s Rally-O trial

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I gave you the short version on Saturday. Now here’s more of the story of our first attempt at rally obedience, and a happy photo with UKC judge Patti Burgess (thanks to Tracy and Sharon for the photo):

This UKC Rally Obedience trial was held by Flying Paws Dog Training Club at Northwest Obedience Club‘s training hall in Cary, IL. This was an air-conditioned building with one amply-sized room set up as a crating area, and another with the trial ring.

I was running late, but my wonderful friends saved space for Freya in the crating area. There was a pretty large RO1 entry, so I still got there just in time to do the course walk-through before judging started. A printed copy of the course was also given to each competitor (which I understand is not always the case).

Freya was shown a few times in German-style conformation, and she also has her Canine Good Citizen and ATTS TT certifications. Obedience training has been a life-long activity for all of our dogs. But this was Freya’s first time at any performance-type trial, and my first time back in a trial ring in around 10 years.

It’s bad form to publicly post a course layout without prior permission, which I totally spaced on asking for, so obviously I won’t be posting it. But I will comment on a few things about our run:

  • Remember I mentioned that two of the exercises at the novice level in UKC Rally did not exist in AKC Rally, which is the version we had started training for? It is a good thing we made a point of training them, because both were included in the course!
  • After all of these years, I still don’t know my right from my left! I took us into “Spiral Right, Dog Outside” the wrong way. I actually was thinking “right” but to the right of the cones, which of course, put Freya on the inside. Fortunately, I realized my error after a few steps, asked to re-try and got it right. One repeat of an exercise means you can still qualify. Two repeats means you do not qualify.
  • Our other point deductions were also totally my fault, not Freya’s. They were all for having a tight leash. Freya was not totally with me on the first few stations, so I tightened up on the leash. If I had loosened up on the leash once she was back with me, or better yet, given her additional hand signals, more verbal encouragement or an additional command, we would have retained a few more points. Given my extreme nervous state, I am still happy to have ended up qualifying and placing with 91 points.
  • Most of the obedience training that I’ve done with Freya and past dogs has been for Schutzhund or traditional obedience rather than rally, and that both helped and hurt us. Freya already has a fairly good Stand thanks to the show ring and traditional obedience classes, so we were ready for the Halt Stand that was our fifth station on this course. But in the more traditional venues, you cannot use additional commands or signals other than the initial command. It definitely hurt us that I didn’t use those additional commands and signals. It has actually been difficult for me to get accustomed to being able to talk and move more, and I need to work on giving us every possible advantage. If we do compete in traditional obedience down the road, I’ll worry about phasing out the additional chatter then.
  • I had an extremely bad moment a few days before the trial when Freya would not do a finish to my left when given the command and signal that she’s supposedly known for at least a year. I taught her a new signal which used massive body English and both hands, and is surely illegal in any venue outside of rally obedience. Thankfully, it worked, because the only finish on the course was a left finish. Now that the trial is over, she once again understands the original command. Go figure.

And of course, a big factor was the moral support and advice from Sharon, Tracy, and Melanie. Thanks, you all kept my head from exploding!

I am making plans for a trial weekend in mid-November (there are not that many UKC trials in this area). There is another trial in October, but I haven’t found out yet if it is part of a breed (non-Rottweiler) specialty or if is is an all-breed event. I don’t know how far we will be able to go, but I do know that at a minimum, I want to finish this RO1 with Freya. I’ll keep you all informed on the journey.

(NaBloPoMo | July ’09: 27 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 184 of 274)

First Rally-O leg for Freya!

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Freya now has the first leg of her UKC Rally Obedience 1 title! She had a score of 91 (out of a possible 100 points) which was also good enough for third place in a very small Novice A group. I will freely admit that pretty much all of the points deducted were because of my screw-ups, not hers. I did tell you that I was the stupid half of our team, didn’t I?

Thanks to Sharon, Tracy, and Melanie, who all supplied moral support and good advice (unfortunately my paralyzed brain didn’t retain much of the advice) which really helped get me through my first trip back into any performance competition venue in almost 10 years!

More details tomorrow or Monday, and hopefully another photo, too.

(NaBloPoMo | July ’09: 25 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 182 of 274)

New neighbors, Axel’s frisbee, Freya’s rally-o

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Since I’ve complained often enough about jagoffs in the neighborhood, it might be a surprise to hear that we consider our latest new neighbors a welcome addition. They are welcome indeed, since they are not jagoff humans. They are pretty birds, and in fact, our Illinois state bird.

Mom and Pop Cardinals
Creative Commons License photo credit: MsPixie

A pair of cardinals has built a nest in the neighbor’s rose bush. It sits up against our fence, and the nest is only about five feet off the ground. Last year, a pair of cardinals abandoned a partially-built nest in that bush. We blamed Axel, because he was always up on his hind legs, paws up on the fence, peering into the bush.

Hopefully, he won’t scare away this pair. We’ve seen the female sitting in the nest, so we’re trying to keep Axel’s attention away from the bush and the birds. I haven’t tried to get any photos yet, and if I do, it will be with a long lens and no flash. I don’t want to be the one to scare them away this year! (Those are not “our” birds in the photo above; I’m sure most of you figured that out from the credit line though.)

Speaking of Axel, he caught the frisbee twice today. Good boy, Axe! Rottweilers are not good candidates for frisbee dogs, and it’s a bad idea to throw the frisbee the same way you would for a border collie. But a low, straight throw is Rottweiler-safe, and he still looked cool hopping up just a little bit to pluck the frisbee out of the air just slightly above his head level.

I mentioned Freya’s upcoming rally obedience trial yesterday, and the need to get a training routine in order. Today’s task was to familiarize myself with UKC rules, since we’ve been practicing using AKC rules and signs so far. I’ve identified two exercises which are used in UKC Rally Obedience 1 that we’ve not practiced yet, as they are not part of AKC Rally Novice. One is Halt and Stand, and the other is Halt-90° Pivot Right-Halt. So we practiced those two exercises indoors today. If you know of any other exercises that differ between AKC and UKC, please let me know!

I didn’t want to train outside today, although it was a nice day. As I also mentioned yesterday, I expected the neighborhood jagoffs to finish off their fireworks today, and they did. I suppose I could have used it as an exercise in working through distractions, but I really don’t think we’re going to have to deal with fireworks or gunfire in a trial situation. At least I hope we won’t, or else I’m finding a safer sport.

Weather is supposed to be nice tomorrow, and after tonight I expect the jagoffs to be out of fireworks, so I’ll set up a practice course in the yard.

(NaBloPoMo | July ’09: 5 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 162 of 274)

Rally obedience signs: the illustrated version!

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Wow, we are supposed to have two, count ’em, TWO days of consecutive sunshine! Rain is again in the forecast for the remainder of the week, but we are set to have sun tomorrow. Of course, I will become a believer only when I actually see and feel it.

While checking the searches that brought me visitors (and thank you for stopping by), I noticed several instances of people looking for rally obedience sign holders. One of my older rally obedience-related posts gives some good resources for signs and holders, but I thought that maybe some of you would like to see my homemade signs.

Signs can be downloaded in PDF format from the sites of the various organizations that sanction rally competition, and from a number of dog training sites and dog owners’ personal sites. I am lucky enough to have access to a color laser copier at work. I printed the signs on light card stock and put them in plastic sheet protectors. I think I would opt for heavier sheet protectors if I did it again. I bought the least expensive ones and they are a little too flexible. The clothespins are used to attach the signs to the wire holders.

EDITED TO ADD: I don’t usually number the signs for at-home practice. As small as the yard is, there is usually only one possible route anyway! If I do, though, I just write numbers on Post-it Notes. Hey, it works!

signs_DSCN0103

The wire holders are made from a folding wire garden edging fence, 18″ high with 8 segments, each approximately 1 foot wide. I didn’t save the packaging so I don’t have a brand name, but It was purchased at the local Ace Hardware store and made by Glamos Wire Products. The linked site appears to be for wholesale, but I would guess you could call to find the names of retailers. I’ve also seen them at Home Depot. Cost was about $5. I used a needle-nosed pliers to unhook the segments from each other and cut off the excess wire.

EDITED TO ADD: They also had taller (24″) folding fences made by Living Accents. They were $12.49 at my local Ace Hardware store. Here is a link to an online hardware store selling them for $6.99. Link no longer works, but you should be able to find these and other folding fences at your local Ace Hardware or Home Depot or [insert your hardware store or home improvement store here].

EDITED TO ADD: Check out this very cool variation from Marie at K-9 Solutions! She uses the same folding fences to create an indoor/outdoor version of the sign holders.

signholders_DSCN0102

Here they are in the yard, set very close together just for photo purposes:

signs_DSCN0105

I also got the bright idea of using my Flip Mino to record our practice sessions. Since there isn’t always someone around to run the camcorder, I set it up on the patio table, on an inexpensive mini-tripod that was part of the accessory package that came with my digital still camera.

flipmino_DSCN0104

Our yard is small (the lot is a typical Chicago neighborhood lot, 30 feet wide by 125 feet long), but I wasn’t sure how much of the yard would actually be in the frame, so Axel and Freya helped me by heeling around the yard with me (separately, of course) so I’d have some reference points for setting up the rally signs and our other practice sessions for video. I left the camcorder running for about half an hour and now have a pretty good idea of which parts of the yard are out of the frame.

Here is about a minute and a half of Freya “helping” with the camcorder setup:

I plan to do more videos featuring the lovely Freya and the handsome Axel putting up with my sloppy leash handling and bad timing. Hopefully my handling will also get better as a result.

(NaBloPoMo | June ‘09: 14 of 30 | 75% Challenge: 141 of 274)