Rottweilers Ate My Laptop

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

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

Friday… I mean, Saturday… Freya

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When Freya was a puppy, we used to do a “Friday Freya” which was a photo of her with Dan and sometimes Oscar, too. I have sometimes wanted to find a Friday obedience class for her so I could have a weekly Friday Freya update post. But that would be a lot of inconvenience to play upon the fact that Friday is the day named for the Norse goddess Freya, if not the Rottweiler Freya, and of course the alliteration.

But I digress seriously from my real topic. So, anyway!

Saturday is group obedience class day. Since we’ve had a few big (read well-paying) projects at work that required working the weekend, we missed a couple of classes. Plus we had a week off due to Rosh Hashanah. So Freya and I were both eager to get back to class. Freya seems to work especially well after missing a class or two, and I’m not really sure why. If I could somehow use that fact for trials, I’d love it. But I would be very nervous about missing the extra practice close to a trial day, especially the practice in ignoring the distraction of other dogs in close quarters.

We also got the good news that our current instructor will be offering a class specifically for rally obedience soon. He incorporates quite a few rally exercises, such as the 360° and 270° circles, into the regular group obedience classes already to help improve heeling position and body awareness. Plus we learn and practice both left and right finishes. That actually helped us a lot for our first rally trial in July.

It probably won’t start in time to help us for Freya’s next trial (either later this month or in mid-November, or perhaps both of those dates) but definitely in time to help where we will need it most: for Rally Advanced and RO2 which are done off-leash.

(NaBloPoMo | October ’09: 3 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 225 of 274)

Back to class for Freya

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Freya is headed back to group obedience classes tomorrow. We took a break and skipped one eight-week session, but I think our lives are all better when Freya has the structure of a class setting at least once a week. I’m also thinking of taking her to a Tuesday night class as well, but I haven’t made a final decision on that. The extra cost factor would be minimal (it is an obedience club class with a reduced price for members) but the distance is a little farther than I’d like. I definitely want her to be ready for the next UKC Rally Obedience trials coming up in the fall, though, so I’m leaning more towards doing the class.

Freya also has a vet appointment immediately following class, so it will be a busy morning for us. She has a small lump which I originally thought was a scab from overly rough play with Axel. It doesn’t seem to cause her any discomfort, but it isn’t going away, though, so it’s time to check it out and make sure it’s not something invasive or dangerous.

UPDATE 8/22/09: Thanks for all of your Freya love! It was a cyst from an ingrown hair and nothing more serious.

(NaBloPoMo | August ’09: 21 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 209 of 274)

Revisiting canine calories

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I haven’t written about Freya’s quest to regain her girlish figure lately, mainly because she is stuck in a position that is all too familiar to many of us: the dreaded plateau. Since she is not gaining weight, and was only slightly overweight to begin with, I have tried not to worry too much about it even though I am puzzled as to why she’s not losing weight. Here are the past posts, if you didn’t get a chance to see them the first time around:

Counting canine calories
Freya’s weigh-in

She’s been keeping pretty active, but we probably haven’t been compensating enough for the rainy days (way too many of them this summer) when she didn’t get enough activity or the fact that we opted to take a break from group obedience classes for the eight-week session that just ended last Saturday.

Either that or Dan is feeding her a lot of extra treats when no one else is looking (I really don’t think this is the case, though, since there’s really been no change in the normal treat consumption and buying frequency pattern)!

The possibility of hypothyroid is always in the back of my mind, but Freya has been tested once and found normal (low-ish normal, but still normal). I’m not sure I want to spend the money for another full thyroid panel when she’s not showing any other symptoms related to hypothyroid other than the stubborn poundage.

So I am glad to see a very complete weight loss article in the September issue of Whole Dog Journal magazine. Even though the magazine hasn’t arrived yet, as a subscriber, I have access to the articles via the magazine’s website, which is a much-appreciated feature. I’ve just had time to skim the main article, and while much of it is information I’d already learned from a post at Dolittler earlier this year, there is other helpful information that is new to me.

I’d like to take a moment to plug Whole Dog Journal, if I may. It’s the only magazine for which I currently pay for a subscription. It is subscriber-supported and carries no commercial advertising. The focus is on natural dog care and positive training. I don’t consider myself 100% natural or a purely positive trainer by any means, yet I still find this magazine one of the most valuable dog resources available.

I have no connection with the magazine other than being a satisfied subscriber from the first issue to the present. Give it a try if you haven’t already.

(NaBloPoMo | August ’09: 19 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 207 of 274)

Things I want to talk about

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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)

More of the story: Freya’s Rally-O trial

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I gave you the short version on Saturday. Now here’s more of the story of our first attempt at rally obedience, and a happy photo with UKC judge Patti Burgess (thanks to Tracy and Sharon for the photo):

This UKC Rally Obedience trial was held by Flying Paws Dog Training Club at Northwest Obedience Club‘s training hall in Cary, IL. This was an air-conditioned building with one amply-sized room set up as a crating area, and another with the trial ring.

I was running late, but my wonderful friends saved space for Freya in the crating area. There was a pretty large RO1 entry, so I still got there just in time to do the course walk-through before judging started. A printed copy of the course was also given to each competitor (which I understand is not always the case).

Freya was shown a few times in German-style conformation, and she also has her Canine Good Citizen and ATTS TT certifications. Obedience training has been a life-long activity for all of our dogs. But this was Freya’s first time at any performance-type trial, and my first time back in a trial ring in around 10 years.

It’s bad form to publicly post a course layout without prior permission, which I totally spaced on asking for, so obviously I won’t be posting it. But I will comment on a few things about our run:

  • Remember I mentioned that two of the exercises at the novice level in UKC Rally did not exist in AKC Rally, which is the version we had started training for? It is a good thing we made a point of training them, because both were included in the course!
  • After all of these years, I still don’t know my right from my left! I took us into “Spiral Right, Dog Outside” the wrong way. I actually was thinking “right” but to the right of the cones, which of course, put Freya on the inside. Fortunately, I realized my error after a few steps, asked to re-try and got it right. One repeat of an exercise means you can still qualify. Two repeats means you do not qualify.
  • Our other point deductions were also totally my fault, not Freya’s. They were all for having a tight leash. Freya was not totally with me on the first few stations, so I tightened up on the leash. If I had loosened up on the leash once she was back with me, or better yet, given her additional hand signals, more verbal encouragement or an additional command, we would have retained a few more points. Given my extreme nervous state, I am still happy to have ended up qualifying and placing with 91 points.
  • Most of the obedience training that I’ve done with Freya and past dogs has been for Schutzhund or traditional obedience rather than rally, and that both helped and hurt us. Freya already has a fairly good Stand thanks to the show ring and traditional obedience classes, so we were ready for the Halt Stand that was our fifth station on this course. But in the more traditional venues, you cannot use additional commands or signals other than the initial command. It definitely hurt us that I didn’t use those additional commands and signals. It has actually been difficult for me to get accustomed to being able to talk and move more, and I need to work on giving us every possible advantage. If we do compete in traditional obedience down the road, I’ll worry about phasing out the additional chatter then.
  • I had an extremely bad moment a few days before the trial when Freya would not do a finish to my left when given the command and signal that she’s supposedly known for at least a year. I taught her a new signal which used massive body English and both hands, and is surely illegal in any venue outside of rally obedience. Thankfully, it worked, because the only finish on the course was a left finish. Now that the trial is over, she once again understands the original command. Go figure.

And of course, a big factor was the moral support and advice from Sharon, Tracy, and Melanie. Thanks, you all kept my head from exploding!

I am making plans for a trial weekend in mid-November (there are not that many UKC trials in this area). There is another trial in October, but I haven’t found out yet if it is part of a breed (non-Rottweiler) specialty or if is is an all-breed event. I don’t know how far we will be able to go, but I do know that at a minimum, I want to finish this RO1 with Freya. I’ll keep you all informed on the journey.

(NaBloPoMo | July ’09: 27 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 184 of 274)