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"

Same time, last year

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Last year, Axel was on the road chasing his championship dreams (ok, fine… my championship dreams). Freya and I were getting ready for her second UKC Rally Obedience trial, hoping to finish the first level and wondering if we could make it as far as the advanced titles.

This year, I’m wondering how to keep Axel busy and happy at home, now that he’s chased and caught that championship dream. Sometimes I think he misses showing. He’s a very “look at MEEEEEEEE” kind of dog. I don’t want to send him out to chase a grand championship, though.

This year, instead of working towards advanced titles with Freya, I’m wondering how to fix whatever went wrong over the spring, or whether to just let her retire. I wish she could tell me what she really wants, because I think it might not be the same as what I want.

(NaBloPoMo | November ’10: 10 of 30)

New month, a new blank page

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It’s the start of a brand new month and October is one of my favorites. One thing I do like about the vast midwestern wasteland is the fall color change and the sunny yet cool days we get through September and most of October.

I’m going to take a shot at this month’s NaBloPoMo. The theme is “Play” and I’ve even made an Axel NaBloPoMo logo to display. The magazine (that would be Total Rottweiler Magazine) will be going to the printer sometime this weekend, a few projects have just wrapped up at work, and one other work project will wrap up on Monday, so I may actually have time to write.

But I’m not sure what I’m going to write about for an entire month. I won’t have much dog training news to report once we’re done with “The Five Minute Formula to a Brilliant Recall” course. I don’t think Freya and I will be continuing on in Rally Obedience or any other dog sports. I’m having very little success in getting her past her dislike of certain other dogs, and thus, very little confidence that she will be able to get through honor exercises or group exercises. She’ll be seven in November, so if her greatest joy will come from being retired and not having to deal with dogs she doesn’t like, then that’s what will happen.

I do owe you all a report on Axel’s last German-style conformation show. I’m waiting on his critique and photos. We’re coming up on one month after the show, so I’m hoping it will be very soon!

(NaBloPoMo | October ’10: 1 of 31)

PEDIGREE® Adoption Drive: Write a Post, Help a Dog

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When I talk about my Rottweilers, their impeccable bloodlines, their fancy conformation shows and rally obedience competitions, and of course, their designer grain-free and all-natural foods that I suspect might cost more than my own meals, you might assume I’m just another psycho dog snob, and wonder why I’m writing about Pedigree’s Adoption Drive.

Before there was Axel, and before there was Freya, there was Missy. Missy was possibly a purebred Rottweiler. Or maybe not. We never knew for sure. A friend of ours noticed her tied to a post at a strip mall. But at the end of the day when she passed that way again, the dog was still there. No one at the stores or a nearby construction site knew where she came from, and no one admitted to owning her. She was very underweight and covered with ticks. We took her in with the intent of finding her owner, or finding her a home. That home turned out to be with us for the rest of her life. Missy was probably the best dog we ever had. So, yeah. Believers in adoption here.

How about Pedigree, you ask? An important part of getting Missy back to an ideal weight was Pedigree Choice Cuts, particularly the Country Stew flavor. It was her food of choice and always got her appetite to perk up. And even though we’ve switched to a lot of all-natural treats for the current two, we cannot cut them off completely from Pedigree Marro Bones and Jumbones without inducing anarchy. So, yeah. Pedigree products have a place here.

So about that adoption drive? Here’s the deal:

For each blog that posts about the PEDIGREE® Adoption Drive through September 19th, PEDIGREE® will donate a bag of their new Healthy Longevity Food for Dogs to shelters nationwide. It’s simple: Write a post, help a dog.

Thursday, September 16 through Sunday, September 19, the Pedigree BlogPaws bloggers will host a Blog Hop, to help raise awareness for the “Write a post, help a dog” effort.

Hopefully you’ll see this so you can join in, too. Quick, quick, go and write your post! Then go here to check in and be counted.

Is there a Learning Style Inventory for dogs?

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I’ve mentioned in a few prior posts that we’re doing Susan Garrett’s “The Five Minute Formula to a Brilliant Recall.” I’ve mentioned before that Freya and Axel seem to have different learning styles as well.

One thing in particular that surprises me is that Freya is still reluctant to do anything to my right, even when rewarded for being there. Freya will be seven and Axel will be four in November, so I definitely expected both of them to be more accustomed to being on my left in the usual heel position. That’s quite a few years of being on the left, including casual walking, basic classes, show training, showing in American and German-style shows, obedience classes, and rally obedience classes and trials.

Axel was a little confused at first, but with the possibility of a food treat or toy reward on my right, he decided pretty quickly that he would go with the program. I can now call or signal him to either heel or right, which is more useful than I thought it would be.

Freya still thinks it has to be a trick. She isn’t sure why I’d try to trick her after over six years, but she makes it clear that she is not going to be the one to fall for it. We’re still working on it. I still can’t get her to willingly come to my right side unless I create a barrier to my left side with a wall or fence.

I am sure we’ll get past it, as we have almost everything else. It’s just interesting how different Freya and Axel can be sometimes.

(NaBloPoMo | August ’10: 20 of 31)

Turn on the lights, brush away the cobwebs…

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Sorry I haven’t been around as much as I should be. I seem to have lost my way this month, with a NaBloPoMo fail and a definite shortfall of Mingling and Blog Hopping. I’ll play catch-up as best as I can, but I think I’ll forego any more attempts at NaBloPoMo until fall!

As you may already know, Freya’s training and trialing has not been a source of joy and wonder lately. A vet visit didn’t turn up any physical causes for our training and performance issues, but I didn’t have any lab work done at that time. I’ve been debating with myself about having a thyroid panel done. Her last one came back normal not quite two years ago. But she will be seven years old in November, so is now edging up to senior status (noooooooooo, she’s still my puppy girl), so at this point, maybe it is money well spent rather than a long shot. Hypothyroidism is also one of the only non-fatal things I can think of that could cause mood swings, hyper-reactivity, and weight gain (in her case a more subtle inability to get back to her ideal weight… hmmm… a problem for me, as well). Anything else I can think of is either much scarier, or else points back to me sucking big time as a dog trainer (this is actually the most likely possibility).

Speaking of health tests, I still need to get Axel in for his OFA cardiac clearance. I have been holding off in hopes of a cardiac clinic being offered at a nearby show, as the cost savings would be very significant (try at least 50%), especially if the clinic is also doing Dopplers. Since there have been no known heart issues with his parents or siblings, and I don’t have any immediate breeding plans for him, I guess it won’t hurt to hold off just a bit longer.

I know I’ve mentioned this before, but I’m going to mention it again anyway since it’s one of the things that has been eating up my time this month. Please think about subscribing to The Total Rottweiler Magazine. I am currently a volunteer (unpaid) proofreader and copyeditor for TTRM so I do admit some bias as I tell you it’s well worth checking into if you have any interest in Rottweilers and dog sports.

So that’s the short version of what’s been going on. I have a backlog of Freya training videos to analyze and comment on, as well as a couple of hopefully more informative short rally obedience-related videos that I’m editing in iMovie as time permits. I hope to also have some Axel frisbee video soon. On the technology side, I have some MacBook and Sony Reader thoughts to post. Oh, and I did manage to fit in the upgrade to WordPress 3.0 as well.

I know it isn’t supposed to be a main focus for this blog, but I still have some TV breaks that I never posted. Lucky for you all, some are no longer timely so you won’t have to read them, but at some point I still plan to tell you why Glee is the devil. I’m sure I’ll have at least a few new TV breaks once Rescue Me and Mad Men start up again on June 29 and July 25, respectively.