Rottweilers Ate My Laptop

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

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

Unidentified Flying Objects: Axel and his frisbee video

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As promised a couple of weeks ago, here is the finished version of Axel’s soon-to-be-famous frisbee video, featuring guest appearances by Freya and Oliver!

I’m getting a little more comfortable with iMovie. I didn’t go out yesterday to buy the “Missing Manual” book, but I’m pretty sure I do want it. I know I’m not taking full advantage of the program and it seems like the fastest way to get up to speed would be to do some reading before and during experimenting. I’m still debating whether to get the printed version with one of my Amazon gift certificates, or order directly from O’Reilly to get the print + ebook combo package.

(NaBloPoMo | July ’10: 18 of 31)

Some Freya video and my iMovie learning curve

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I’m finally done with a short Freya training video that I started working on back in May. When we started having training issues, I lost some of my motivation for working on her videos. By the time I felt like reviewing video footage again, the magazine deadline had to take precedence.

But here it is, finally! It’s not really as informative about Rally Obedience as I had originally intended. It turned out to be more about me learning to use iMovie than about producing a good teaching video. I have a better handle on iMovie now, as well as some thoughts about how to structure a more educational and entertaining production.

I really like iMovie ’09. I’m not particularly creative or visual, so something like Final Cut or Premiere would be overkill for me. iMovie has a good variety of backgrounds, transitions, titles, and sound effects supplied with the program, enough for a beginner to use (and possibly overuse). I took only a short time with the tutorials and help files, and quickly had enough information to get started with my “production.” I guess I am a little old-fashioned as I do miss having printed or even PDF manuals. I’m definitely a easy sell for O’Reilly’s iMovie ’09 & iDVD: The Missing Manual and in fact I might head over to the bookstore tomorrow to buy it.

Although the iMovie tutorial videos on Apple’s site are helpful, it’s still a pet peeve of mine to find some information available solely as a video tutorial. Sometimes a written step-by-step is more effective, but those seem to be rare items these days.

In low-tech news, I’m still deciding whether to head back to class with Freya tomorrow, stay home and do some plain old dog stuff with her and Axe in the yard, or maybe all of us will just hide in the air-conditioned house avoiding the mid-90s temperatures. The third option really sounds best, doesn’t it?

(NaBloPoMo | July ’10: 16 of 31)

Freya’s thyroid panel results

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Freya’s thyroid panel results came back today, and everything looks normal. Not low-normal, normal. It looks better than the last one we did not quite two years ago. We also did a regular blood chemistry panel, and everything looks fine there, too.

On the one hand, it’s good to know that everything looks fine with her health right now. She’ll be seven years old in November, so she’s well into Rottweiler middle age. On the other, since I’m her primary trainer and handler, her recent training issues then point straight back at me and my less-than-stellar dog training abilities. Ouch.

Although yesterday’s exercise in gratitudinaety definitely put me in a better place, I’m still not sure where I want to go with my training and trialing plans for Freya. Remember that the big question that remains:

How can I help this dog to live with more joy and be more connected to me?

If Freya is not finding any joy in training and competing in rally obedience with me, does that mean I need to find a way to make it fun for her again, or let her retire and just be a plain old dog? I’ve retired dogs before, but it’s always been for health reasons, not because they just didn’t want to play the game or do the job any more, so I’m not quite sure how to handle this yet.

I so wish she could talk.

Whatever I decide, I am still grateful for this sweet girl who is sleeping upside down on the loveseat right this minute, just like yesterday’s photo.

(NaBloPoMo | July ’10: 14 of 31)

With gratitude

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My computer bookmarks are not always well-organized. This means that sometimes I can’t put my finger on something I need right away. But it can also mean that something might surface right when I need it most.

Like this post, Behaving Gratitudinaeously, from Susan Garrett’s agility training blog. She suggests going through this exercise (and no, it is not a training exercise) with each one of your dogs, and if you are struggling with a particular dog’s training, to start with that one. Right now, that would definitely be Freya.

I want to share a couple of the “gratitudinaeous” moments I thought about as I went through the exercise.

See him at home on the first day, how curious he was, how crazy you are about him.

This was the evening of Freya’s first day home. She’s getting the lowdown on how to be a vom Viersen Rottweiler from our grand old man Oscar.

Next visualize that dog the last time you saw him sleeping in his favourite place around the house, where is he? What position is he in?

This is one of her favorite sleeping positions. She will often be found upside down on the floor, and even in her crate.

Think about how much you love that dog and how grateful you are to have him in your life.
I haven’t done this often enough lately, so today I am also grateful to Susan Garrett for writing her post, and to whatever powers of the universe brought it back into my sights when I needed to see it.

Now put this question out there for your “higher power” or just throw it on out there into the universe. “How can I help this dog to live with more joy and be more connected to me?”
This one I’m still working on, and while I don’t yet have the answer, I’m much more confident of finding the right one after thinking of all of the things that make me grateful to have Freya in my heart and my home.

(NaBloPoMo | July ’10: 13 of 31)

Waiting for thyroid panel results

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You’ll remember that I was debating with myself about running a thyroid panel on Freya. And you knew I’d end up doing it, didn’t you? As mentioned before, it’s a long shot. But at best, it could provide an answer, and at worst, it rules out something.

We did the blood draw on Saturday. With the holiday weekend, I don’t think I’ll hear any results until at least the end of the week or early next week since thyroid panels are sent out to Michigan State University. Freya’s last test was almost two years ago. I looked at it again on Saturday and while the values were within the normal reference ranges, several of the values were towards the lower end of those ranges. So I am wondering if she has in fact been borderline hypothyroid for a while.

When I was at the vet on Saturday, I was surprised to see how many people still use acepromazine to sedate their pets. I guess it does work fine on some pets. It did nothing for at least two of our previous Rottweilers, and I never considered trying it with these two. Rescue Remedy either helped, or at least gave me something to do for the dogs. Both dogs (and their humans and felines) got through the Fourth of July weekend without too much wear and tear from the fireworks. It seemed as though there were less fireworks in the neighborhood than last year, but from the sound of it, some people had more firepower as well. The dogs thought we were at war, but once they were convinced that there was no immediate need for them to follow (or lead) us into battle, everything was fine.

(NaBloPoMo | July ’10: 5 of 31)