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"

Freya: setting a new target date

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We’ll have to set a new target date for Freya’s first Rally Obedience trial. The original plan was for NSDTC’s trial on June 14. Thanks, or should that be no thanks, to a large project at work that encroached into evening and weekend hours throughout much of the month, that trial date is no longer feasible (not to mention that the closing date for entries was last Wednesday, at which time it was obvious that we weren’t ready). Without a few more fun matches and run-throughs under our belts, it would have been way too ugly.

We were able to do some practice at home. I made rally sign holders from wire garden edging fences, using the tips from GraceGift’s rally site. For a total of $10 (2 folding fences and a package of clothespins), I got 16 sign holders. If I didn’t mention it before, I printed out the downloadable signs (from AKC’s site, and also on GraceGift’s site) on the Canon CLC Color Copier at work on 67# vellum card stock. 90# or 110# (slightly heavier card stock) would have probably been better, but I know that 67# almost never causes paper jams in that particular machine.

There is an AKC trial in DeKalb early in July, an AKC trial in Waukesha late in July, a UKC trial in Cary also late in July, and an APDT trial at the beginning of August. So those will be our next target dates. Hopefully June will be a better dog training month!

(NaBloPoMo | May ‘09: 30 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 126 of 274)

Freya’s training notes (28 of 30/94 of 274)

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Due to the wet weather, Freya and I didn’t get very much training in over the last week. We did get a couple of days of nice weather. Those days fell before I had finished printing up a set of rally obedience signs, so I didn’t get a chance to set up a practice course in the back yard.

From AKC's official Rally Obedience Rules
From AKC's official Rally Obedience Rules

Each sign has a graphic and a few words to describe the exercise to perform at that station. We practiced some of the exercises in the kitchen. The exercises that can, and in fact should, be done in a small space include 270° left and right turns, 360° left and right circles, call front-left and right finishes, sit and halt, and down and halt. So we did get in some training specifically for the rally obedience exercises.

The sunny days were probably not used to best advantage in terms of training, but Freya thought they were just fine with time to play ball and wrestle with Axel.

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Here she is in heel position at my left side, wondering why I’m pointing a camera in her face instead of holding a treat or a toy for her.

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Here she is right after coming in for an almost perfectly straight front (we have issues with good fronts), wondering why a light is flashing at her instead of my hand signaling her to go around me to finish.

I think we’re ready for a good hour of training at tomorrow night’s drop-in class!

Updates: 31DBBB, Freya’s training (26 of 30/92 of 274)

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Although the results may not yet be visible to the naked eye, I am still making my way slowly through 31DBBB. I haven’t been able to keep up with the one-task-per-day pace during the week, and I’m not caught up as far as I want to be, but I am still getting a lot out of the project. You can sign up at any time, and I suggest it for anyone who wants to improve their blogging. Even if you don’t join the project, check out some of the 31DBBB posts at ProBlogger!

One change that is probably visible, even to the naked eye, is the header on the blog. Back near the beginning of April, the first task of 31DBBB was to write an “elevator pitch” for our blogs. Mine is here, and I’ve finally made some of the changes and additions outlined in that post. I hope you like the new header, which features my favorite puppy picture of the lovely Freya!

I’m currently bogged down a bit on Day 8, where I need to interlink my post with other related posts within the blog. Yes, there’s a plugin for that. But as I started to work on this task, I realized that my categories and tags needed a major overhaul in order to work properly with plugins, and for that matter, to make it easier should I end up choosing to do my related links manually. So that’s a project to complete this coming week. I hope.

Freya’s first rally obedience training session went very well. We didn’t even trip over any of the signs. Our team’s biggest problem is, as usual, me. My leash handling needs work. Rally Novice is done entirely on leash, and keeping a loose leash is very important to avoid point deductions. I also need to get accustomed to using as much body language and verbal encouragement as needed. Extra help like that is not allowed in conventional obedience competition nor in Schutzhund obedience, so most handlers will phase it out during training as early as possible.

It’s not that I don’t want to continue on to conventional obedience competition or a Schutzhund BH, but realistically, I don’t know if I ever will. So it makes the most sense at this point to get through the Rally titles using every legal command and motivator that I am able to, and then worry about phasing out the extra commands and encouragement later.

Freya: time to get some working titles (12 of 30/78 of 274)

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A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that I’d like to set some training goals and try to earn some titles with Freya. We just completed an eight-week intermediate/advanced obedience class yesterday, and we’ll begin another eight-week session right away. The obedience club that we used to train at, and that we are still members of, is having a Rally Obedience trial in nine weeks. This is the trial date we’ll be shooting for, and I’ll have to make the final decision as to whether we are ready or not over Memorial Day weekend.

I did participate in a few conventional Obedience trials with my dear departed Heidi. We failed miserably, except in the sense of providing comic relief for any spectators who happened to see us. Rally Obedience is similar to conventional Obedience in that the same or similar exercises are performed. In conventional Obedience, the handler can give commands with or without an accompanying hand signal to the dog only once, and cannot give verbal or other encouragement. In Rally Obedience, multiple commands, praise and other verbal encouragement, and extra hand signals or clapping are allowed as long as you do not physically guide or correct the dog. Heidi was Queen of the Double/Triple/Quadruple Command and we might have done okay if Rally Obedience had been around back then.

The Novice level of conventional Obedience has some exercises that are performed off-leash while the Novice level of Rally Obedience is done all on-leash. Freya has an unfortunate tendency to be the “fun police” if any other dogs in the immediate vicinity are getting loud or hyper or for some breeds, just breathing. We have made a good deal of progress on that particular training issue during the last class, but I will still feel much better about life in general if Freya is totally on-leash in her first competition situation.

That’s the background on our plans so far. We’ll also be doing an ATTS Temperament Test early next month. That is a certification, not a working title, so there’s not much preparation involved.

I’ll be keeping Freya’s training diary either here or at one of my other online places, and I hope you don’t mind following along with our story, hopefully to have a happy ending in June!

Rewind: 10 from 2010

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Yes, I’m late with this since we’re almost a week into 2011 at this point. But I still wanted to take a look back at 2010. I won’t call this a “top 10” list as many other pet bloggers are. I’ll just ask you to revisit some of 2010’s moments with me:

The best achievements of 2010 went to the dogs.

New champion!! Axel’s AKC championship was one of the highlights of my year. A week after this, he would earn his CGC (Canine Good Citizen) and the following week his RN (Rally Novice) title, making January 2010 a hugely successful month for him. I was more of a happy cheerleader than anything else. The credit goes to his handler Julia Foster and his breeder Denise Pluta.

Just a few more Freya title thoughts Later in the year we would have some training setbacks and I’m still not sure whether Freya is retired or just on hiatus from rally obedience training and competition. But in March 2010, we kept things together long enough for her to earn her UKC Rally Obedience Level 2 title. This is an off-leash title and given that I am the worst handler in the world, a huge accomplishment for both of us.

If I were a real pet blogger, I’d have more posts like these.

Freya: class notes 1/16/10: I have a few other “class notes” posts where I take some raw video from a training session, class, or practice session, and break it down into what went right and what still needs work. It was helpful to me to review Freya’s progress and decide what to work on. I hope it was interesting to at least a few of you as well.

Some Freya video and my iMovie learning curve: I used one of the “class notes” videos to learn how to use iMovie ’09 and also create an “intro to Rally Obedience” type video. It did not end up being that effective as an overview, but I learned a lot about iMovie while creating it. Thanks to our obedience trainer Allan Ross for all of the class videos.

Total recall: We experimented with taking an online class as well, with some surprisingly good results. I don’t think online dog training can ever totally replace working one-on-one or in a small group with a good trainer, but I found this recall class to be an effective supplement to our training. Susan Garrett’s blog is a great read even if you are not doing one of her online classes and even if you have very little interest in agility.

Review: Pet Botanics Healthy Omega Treats: If I were a real pet blogger, I’d probably get more opportunities like this one to review pet products. I was happy to give these treats a good review. The dogs loved them and the healthy ingredients and low calorie count were a bonus.

These very disturbing news stories accounted for quite a bit of last year’s traffic, sad to say.

Update: Mary Wild sentencing: Dog handler Mary Wild got off with an unbelievably light sentence for the actions that caused the heat-related deaths of seven show dogs due to her negligence. She was convicted on eight counts of animal abuse and the light sentence was a horrible letdown considering what the penalties could have been.

Update: Lora Hunt sentencing: Lora Hunt was painting her fingernails as she drove, and rear-ended motorcyclist Anita Zaffke, killing her. For this, Ms. Hunt got only 18 months in jail. Another unbelievably light sentence and a big letdown for all of us who really do want to believe that justice can be served.

I’ve gone off-topic to non-Rottweiler, non-technology items quite often in the past. I’m trying not to do that going forward, but sometimes it’s hard not to write about food and entertainment!

Snack break: teriyaki meatballs: If 2009 was the year of kal bi, 2010 was the year of these retro teriyaki meatballs, taken from a ’60s cookbook put together by my aunt’s service club in Honolulu.

TV break: The Rocky Horror Glee Show: I’m not good at recapping or reviewing movies or television shows. I usually talk more about myself than about the show!
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