Rottweilers Ate My Laptop

Rottweilers. Computers. Cameras. World Domination. Not necessarily in that order.

Rottweilers.
Computers. Cameras.
World Domination.
Not necessarily in that order.

Weekend wrapup: things didn’t improve

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Our less-than-impressive trial weekend didn’t finish up any better than it began. Freya had two Level 1 runs and one Level 2 run, and managed to qualify in only one Level 1 run with another mediocre score of 185 points. Again, no ARCH points, but at least we are one small step closer to our RL1X, with 4 of 10 legs now complete.

It was disappointing to NQ on courses that should have been good for us, and frustrating because I’m not 100% sure why Freya was so out of tune with me. She seemed slightly depressed in the morning on both days, but she also seemed to adjust to the new surroundings more quickly than usual. She’s not particularly good with other dogs, but this weekend she didn’t go off on any other dogs, and she pretty much ignored dogs barking from vehicles and crates. That part I am definitely happy about, especially at a new venue with some areas that were very much close quarters. She was able to relax everywhere on the grounds—except in the ring where I needed her to be relaxed and attentive. I don’t feel like I ever had Freya’s full attention in the ring, even during our qualifying runs. So we definitely have things to work on before our next trial weekend, May 15-16.
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Saturday Freya: not one of our better performances

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Today we went to an APDT rally obedience trial at Blitzen Canine Academy. This was not one of our better trial days. We were entered in both trials in Level 1 only, working on RL1X legs and ARCH points. We ended up with one NQ and one Q with a very mediocre score of 179. So we did not get any ARCH points but we did add an RL1X leg (now at 3 of 10).

Tomorrow, we are entered in both trials in Level 1 as well as Level 2 in the second trial. It will be a long day, so it’s way past time to get some sleep! I’ll talk more about the entire weekend tomorrow night.

Counting down to our next trial day

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Just six more days and we will be back in the rally obedience ring. Freya and I didn’t trial at all in April, and I had hoped to get more serious training in during the month, but that just didn’t happen. We did get some practice time on full courses, mostly Level 2. I need to do some on-leash practice this week, since we are entered in four Level 1 runs.

We have made progress with the jump, but are not quite to the goal of full height plus me being able to do the run-by 6 feet to the right of the jump. Since we are entered in only one Level 2 run, I’m going to plan on taking the 3-point deduction for doing the run-by closer than 6 feet, and our jump practice this week will be focused on the interim goal of full height plus a run-by 2 feet to the right of the jump. As I’ve mentioned before, a 3-point deduction for being too close to the jump is still far better than the NQ we’d get for Freya running around the jump.

Other than that, this week’s training will be mainly about getting rid of any sloppiness.
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One lonely point

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Remember our one, count ’em, just one, lonely point earned towards our APDT ARCH last month? Well, here it is!

When we started doing rally obedience, my only goal for Freya was to earn a novice level title, and maybe, just maybe, an advanced title. I’m really not sure we’ll be able to get the consistently high scores needed, especially in the off-leash levels, to earn the ARCH, UROC or any combined-level titles other than RAE, which requires qualifying scores but not high scores.

I’ll give it a try, even if just to make sure that one lonely point isn’t so lonely after our next trial!

(NaBloPoMo | April ’10: 11 of 30)

One, yes, ONE championship point!

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This was not one of the more successful rally obedience trial weekends for Freya and me. But even though it was disastrous in many ways, we did not completely fail. While we did NQ twice, we also Q’d twice albeit with some very lackluster scores, and earned two legs toward the ten we need for the APDT Level 1 RL1X title.

Oh, and ONE point toward the ARCH Rally Champion title. I will absolutely have to remember to get a screenshot including our ONE lonely point once the scores are posted online for this trial.

Most of what went wrong for us can be attributed to training issues, and if you recall, being overscheduled and thus underprepared. I have only myself to blame for not making some time to practice on what was a totally new thing for us, artificial soccer turf, something that was a much bigger problem for us than I had expected. I also know I don’t put as much time into training for heavy distractions as I should, and that is on the priority to-do list as well.

However, I do think that the heavy distractions we faced at this trial were out of the ordinary: ongoing light construction and setup, erecting a swimming pool, and agility lessons and practice going on in the same room with only a tall mesh fence separating it from the rally trial. Kudos to those of you who successfully train your dogs to work through stuff like this. Although it is obviously what we should work toward, it is a little beyond what Freya and I can handle consistently at this point.

As a small business owner myself, I can understand why the facility owner may not have wanted to cancel scheduled classes, especially in the current economic climate. As a competitor, I wish I had a more accurate picture beforehand of what the trial site would be like. Again, I am not saying that I should not have trained harder. What I am saying is that in general, I would like to have enough information to make a good decision about whether a particular trial venue is right for us.

Winter is just ending in northern Illinois, so I would choose to avoid outdoor trials until we have some opportunity to train on grass again. I can choose obedience- and rally-only trials, rather than trials held in conjunction with large all-breed shows. I can choose venues that run a single ring rather than several rings concurrently. And at this point in our training, I would have chosen to skip a trial held with agility lessons, or an agility trial, going on in the same building… that is, had I known about it.

That’s enough whine to go with our string cheese (best training treat ever, loved by dogs and people alike). On to the next trial weekend, which will be our last for about a month. We’ll take a break, and now that we’ve identified some more definite issues, we can get back to training.

(NaBloPoMo | March ’10: 21 of 31)