Rottweilers Ate My Laptop

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

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

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Project 365 crosspost

January 21, 2011 by kathi

Crossposted from Project 365 at Haus Viersen

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Click the photo to see the full-size version on Flickr.

Project 365/21: On Day 18’s post, I remarked on Axel’s resemblance to “The Dog” bobblehead. So I thought it would make a cute picture to have Axel go nose to nose with one of my Rottweiler bobbleheads.

Not happening. The digital stack of outtakes is huge. My “obedience-trained” dog would not stay in a nose to nose position with the bobblehead. And despite the fact that he is a finished AKC Champion, he wouldn’t hold a nice alert expression for me. Sort of like this:

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Click the photo to see the full-size version on Flickr.

The paws picture turned out the best. Rottweiler bobbleheads, unlike actual Rottweilers, always stay where you put them!

Nikon Coolpix S51

Filed Under: Rottweilers Tagged With: Axel, The Dog

What’s your sign, baby?

January 14, 2011 by kathi

An amazing-to-me number of people are all bent out of shape at the news that their zodiac signs have changed with the addition of a 13th constellation, Ophiuchus. I guess if I believed in astrology and actually thought that my personality would or should change to that of another sign, I would be upset, too.

I haven’t acknowledged the Western zodiac in years. If anyone starts talking about horoscopes or wants to know my sign, I tell them I am an Earth Dog and that is where it ends. I do acknowledge the Eastern zodiac (so proud to be Asian, our zodiac did not change) even though I don’t actually believe in it much more than I do the Western version. I find it completely amusing and appropriate that I was born in the Year of the Dog. I’ll let you do the math and guess what year that would be.

Interestingly enough, three of the six past and present resident Rottweilers are also Dogs. Well, of course they are dogs. I am still talking about the Eastern zodiac. Heidi and Oscar were Wood Dogs, and Axel is a Fire Dog.

I found a Chinese zodiac site describing each of the Five Types of Dog and I had to laugh at the Fire Dog writeup. It is so Axel!

“A highly dramatic and attractive type of Dog who will be thrown into the limelight by his alluring yet friendly personality.” — Well, he’s not really that friendly, but he’s very dramatic and attractive enough to be an AKC Champion. He was definitely thrown into the limelight as he chased his my championship dreams.

“He will be defiant and rebellious when forced to do something against his will…” — This pretty much describes every Rottweiler, I think.

“…but he will be very popular with the opposite sex.” — That gives me some hope for his success as a stud dog!

Filed Under: In The News, Rottweilers Tagged With: Axel, Ophiuchus, zodiac

Project 365 | The Saturday Pet Blogger Hop

January 8, 2011 by kathi

I mentioned earlier this week that I’m doing a Project 365 (photo-a-day) this year. Since not all of the photos will be about Rottweilers, computers, or even world domination, I’ve started a separate photoblog as well as a Flickr set for the project.

So far, I’ve been using my familiar point-and-shoot Nikon S51 and the camera on my BlackBerry Curve 8330 for the daily shots. But one of my goals for Project 365 is to learn to use my Canon Rebel XS DSLR to best advantage, so that camera will be added to the rotation starting next week.

I cross-posted my first Rottweiler-related photo earlier in the week. Here are the other pet-related project photos:
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Click photos to go to the blog posts

Now that we’re concentrating on pet-related content again, it’s time to rejoin the wonderful Saturday Pet Blogger Hop! As always, this blog hop is hosted by Life With Dogs, Two Little Cavaliers, and Confessions of the Plume.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Blogging and Social Media, Non-Rottweiler Pets and Animals, Rottweilers Tagged With: Axel, Confessions of the Plume, Freya, Life With Dogs, Oliver, pet bloggers, Project 365, Two Little Cavaliers

Rewind: 10 from 2010

January 6, 2011 by kathi

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!
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Blogging and Social Media, Rottweilers Tagged With: Anita Zaffke, Axel, Freya, Glee, Healthy Omega Treats, Lora Hunt, Mary Wild, Pawcurious

24 degrees

January 2, 2011 by kathi

That’s the difference between the high temperature on December 26 and the high on December 31. I’m still not entirely convinced about global warming, but there have been a lot of strange things going on with the weather in recent years. We did have local warming in a big way last week, with a high of 55°F on December 31. That is pretty unnatural for the Chicago area.

Just a few days earlier on the day after Christmas, the high for the day was 31°F and a few inches of snow had fallen overnight. The dogs loved it because it was deep enough to wrestle in and roll around in. Please note that these are Rottweilers at play, not war. They may appear to be killing each other, but trust me. They tell me this is big Rottweiler fun.

Temperatures were warm enough on the 29th and 30th for the snow to start melting. The unseasonably warm temperatures on the 31st killed it off almost completely. I don’t have photos of the in-between swamplike stage featuring freezing cold mud, but here’s that same yard on New Year’s Eve day, after rain overnight and through the early morning.

We’re back to a more typical 20something°F today. No more local warming here.

On an unrelated note, I’m starting a Project 365 and attempting to take and post a photo every day this year. We’ll see how that goes. I’ll be adding a link to my photoblog in the right sidebar soon, but I’ll repost only the dog- and computer-related photos here. Like today’s:

Project 365/2:
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Click photo to go to the blog post

Filed Under: Chicago, Rottweilers Tagged With: Axel, Freya, snow, weather

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