championship points

Axel returns to Chicago

December 21, 2009 by kathi

Well, sort of! Since Axe didn’t finish his championship at home this past weekend, he’ll be home for the holidays only, and then heading out on January 3 to Texas, then Florida, which is way more exciting than what his human family members have planned for themselves for January.

As you’ve guessed by now, if you’ve been following Axe’s championship quest, our much-hoped-for 3-point majors for Rottweiler dogs did not hold for any of the three Christmas Cluster shows at the Rosemont Convention Center. Oh, I guess that should be Donald E. Stephens Convention Center now, but I don’t call the Sears Tower the Willis Tower either, so bear with me, please.

Despite the lack of majors this past weekend, I still have good news to report. Axe went Winners Dog and Best of Winners at Friday’s show for 2 points, giving him 13 total points. Now he needs just one more major win to earn his championship. On Saturday, he had a successful debut in the Rally Obedience ring, qualifying for his first Rally Novice leg with a score of 94 points, which was good enough for 3rd place. Have I mentioned before how much I appreciate Axe’s handler, Julia Foster? Not only does she make him look good, she gets him to work well with her, too.

I’ve added Axel’s November show photos to his gallery for you to enjoy.

Things I want to talk about

July 30, 2009 by kathi

I’m running on empty for no apparent reason, so I’m just going to make a few notes about some topics I want to talk about, before I forget about them entirely.

I got my invite for Google Voice last week. I did set it up, but haven’t had a chance to play around with it much, nor have I tried to set up its BlackBerry client. I’m sure at least a couple of you out there might like to hear about it!
I wrote a little bit about WordPress for BlackBerry when it first came out, but I should probably do a more complete review. There have been six updates since then, over the space of less than a month, so the developers really are working hard on bug fixes and enhancements.
As you all know, Freya is working on her rally obedience titles. When Axel goes back out with Julia this fall, he will also be working on rally obedience titles along with his AKC championship. That is, if I make sure he knows all of the Novice stations before he leaves. With about two and half months to go, we should definitely be able to do that, and get some training posts out of it, too!

(NaBloPoMo | July ’09: 30 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 187 of 274)

Just a bunch of stuff (12 of 31/47 of 274)

March 12, 2009 by kathi

After all of our best efforts to get Axel down to Louisville, someone else broke the major for dogs. I hope karma doesn’t take too long to come around on this one. We are all very proud of Axel, though. He reportedly looked good today, and we have hopes that he might get something done this weekend, even though he wasn’t really supposed to have a chance, or even be there. In a strange coincidence, Axel’s substitute handler is also Freya’s “grandma” – she bred and owned Freya’s sire. Cross your fingers for Axel’s team! There are three more days and three more possibilities to win!

I got a nice surprise today: Axel actually has 6 points, not 5. We miscalculated the points for the Belle-City show on February 28. We originally thought he got 1 point as Winners Dog and Best of Winners. Dogs were 1 point that day, but bitches were 2 points. I think that both Julia and I were reading the wrong point schedule. As Best of Winners, he crossed over to get the same number of points as the Winners Bitch – 2 points instead of 1 that day. So we’re just a tiny bit closer than I thought yesterday!

Oh, and here is Axel’s new minivan:

Well. My minivan, or more correctly, my company’s minivan. This 2009 Dodge Grand Caravan replaces the 1998 Dodge Caravan that was a great vehicle for us (meaning me, my company, and the past and present vom Viersen Rottweilers) for so long. Only dog people or parents could get excited about a new minivan, and you know which one I am.

I usually try to gas up at a station near Freya’s obedience class, because gas is so much cheaper outside of the city of Chicago and Cook County. When I’m not able to time my fill-up properly, I go to the Mobil station between home and the expressway. This sign’s huge and blatant misspelling has been bugging me for about two years now:

I’m so lame (33 of 274)

February 11, 2009 by kathi

Because I am so lame, I have been visiting the AKC site every day once a week had passed since Axel’s show debut weekend, waiting to see evidence of his official points progression. Never mind that the website clearly states that it could be several weeks before points are officially recorded.

I was quite busy at work on Monday and Tuesday, brought work home on Monday evening, and had no internet at home on Tuesday evening. So today during lunch I finally had a moment to check again. Look!

axel_first_points

For those who remember that I said he has three points, apparently his point for the February 1 show did not make this report.

Of course we made some time to watch the Westminster Kennel Club show on Monday and Tuesday nights. The internet has made this event better for me, since Westminster KC now provides streaming video from each day’s breed judging. Rottweiler #10 in the breed judging video is Freya’s half brother Odin, by the way.

I always enjoy watching the TV broadcast of the group judging, particularly the Working and Herding groups. I was pleased to see 10-year-old “Stump” get Best in Show and his moment in the spotlight, but I honestly don’t know enough about the Sussex Spaniel standard to make any intelligent comments on the win.

I was looking at the #westminster Twitters after the fact, and it was fun to see what the general public tweets about dog shows. It was pretty obvious to me which tweets were from dog fanciers and which tweets were from people who think that dog fanciers are “psycho dog people.”

One tweet that left me perplexed was one where someone wondered why none of the female handlers wore high heels. Umm. I hope the tweeter was watching the Toy group judging at the time they tweeted. In the other groups, it would have been evident that you have to run down and back, and around the ring, with your dog. Personally, any scenario I can come up with that involves a show ring, my dog, running and high heels does not have a happy or pretty ending.

I was watching rather than tweeting myself, except for a tweet in which I wondered who the new co-announcer was. I really did not care for her at all.

I haven’t been to a dog show myself in quite a while. I’d like to visit Axel this weekend, but so far it’s not looking good for that. Maybe I’ll go to the International Kennel Club show for the first time in several years the weekend following, though.