Rottweilers Ate My Laptop

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

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

Action!

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Photo by: Chuck Currey, Currey Photo, Reddick, FL

During Axel’s journey to his AKC championship, I collected many, many photos of him stacked nicely, standing pretty with Julia and the judge.

What I didn’t have was action photos, either from conformation or rally obedience. I was very surprised to receive the proof of this photo in the mail. It was taken the very last time he was shown in AKC conformation. It was the last show of the second cluster of the Florida Winter Classic held in Brooksville. He went in the ring solely to hold the 3-point major; he had already finished his championship during the first cluster. So glad he did, as there were no action shots that I know of taken at any of his other shows. Axe moves nicely, and this photo really shows it. Yay for surprises, surprises like this one, anyway!

(NaBloPoMo | March ’10: 10 of 31)

Space case

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It’s a case of no space, as in my back yard is not big enough to lay out a full sized rally obedience course. This will not stop us from practicing the individual exercises, although the sogginess of the yard and the on-and-off rain might move us indoors to an even smaller space.

Although I usually don’t mind living in the city with all of its conveniences, sometimes I truly envy those of you who live in the ’ burbs or beyond. Your jagoff neighbors are separated from you by yards or even miles, not inches. Your basement is big enough to set up a full 40' x 50' AKC rally or obedience ring. Your yard is big enough to set up a full 50' x 80' APDT rally ring, or maybe even a 100' x 120' agility ring or 100m x 80m Schutzhund field. Space and distance, what a life! Or at least I say that until I need an open-24-hours grocery store or veterinarian or whatever within five miles or less. Tradeoffs, always those tradeoffs.

For the rest of the week, Freya and I will be practicing individual Level 2 exercises in whatever time and space we have available to prepare for Saturday’s trial. So the small size of the back yard won’t really matter. Heh, now that I look at our schedule, we have trials every weekend for the rest of the month, so it may not matter until March 29!

What I would like to try at that time, though, is to design some fun practice courses that will fit within a 20&#39 x 20&#39 space. Last summer, most of our back yard practices were done using the diagonal plus a square. I really had no idea what I was doing in terms of layout. Most of those practices took place after our very first trial in July and before our second trial in November, so I had been on only one trial course and a few practice courses. Oh, and learning whatever I could from downloads on the Internet. We did manage to learn and practice all of the novice level exercises for UKC and AKC, so my simple squares weren’t totally ineffective, but they were a little boring.

Now that I have a bit more trial experience, a few more classes, and a lot more reading to draw from, I’m hoping to come up with some better and more enjoyable practice ideas.

(NaBloPoMo | March ’10: 9 of 31)

Is someone watching me at the checkout?

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My husband and I have long suspected a conspiracy theory at our local Jewel supermarket. We think they decide what items to stop carrying by secretly gathering data from our Preferred Card purchases. I am sure that Jewel tracks regional purchasing trends, and maybe store-specific trends, and almost definitely uses the data to target advertising mailings. But if they are not intentionally trying to annoy us, then why is that they have stopped carrying several of my personal favorite Lean Cuisine frozen meals and Dan’s favorite varieties of frozen pizza? These are not weird meals like Squid Super Surprise, or pizza toppings eaten only in California either. So I have no choice but to believe it is intentional. Right HERE, Jewel.

This is obviously pretty minor on the scale of stress-causing life happenings. However, it is not good to see that the effects have spread to a different store and a different item. This one is earth-shattering because it involves… dog treats.

On my last few trips to our local Pet Supplies Plus, which is located in the same mall as the aforementioned Jewel (coincidence? I think not), they didn’t have any Wellness WellBites Chicken & Venison treats. Of the five flavors available, that is the one that Freya and Axe like the best. When I first noticed it about a month ago, I just assumed they were sold out, since stock was also low on the other four varieties. Yesterday I once again ended up buying their second-favorite flavor (if you’re wondering, Chicken & Lamb). I’ll need to check into this. The Wellness website doesn’t indicate anything about discontinuing or recalling the Chicken & Venison treats. I haven’t yet checked at any of the other nearby pet supply stores.

So, is this part of the same conspiracy that the Jewel folks are involved in? Or do all the other dogs in Norwood Park have a preference for the same type of treat, and are their moms and dads hoarding them?

What do you think (other than that I’ve obviously gone off the deep end)?

(NaBloPoMo | March ’10: 8 of 31)

It’s that post again

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It’s THAT post. You’ve seen it before… the one that serves solely to keep NaBloPoMo going for this month.

I’m hoping it’s the only one for March, but with magazine production tasks happening over the next couple of weeks, plus a full month of trials for Freya, there may be a couple more until that’s all over with.

(NaBloPoMo | March ’10: 7 of 31)

Freya: preparing for her next trial

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You may recall that my original plan for Freya’s Rally Obedience career was to earn the on-leash novice level titles in all three of the venues we are competing in before moving on to the next level in any of the venues. That plan has changed slightly, since there are a number of UKC trials nearby during March, April and May.

UKC’s Level 2 is done off-leash, but unlike APDT’s Level 2 and AKC’s RA, it does not include the jump that we’ve only just begun to train. The two trial weekends in March are both at clubs where we have trialed before. Next weekend’s trial location has two rings going simultaneously, but they are set up with a barrier in between so the working dogs aren’t distracted by the activity in the other ring. The rings are also set up so there are very limited escape opportunities. So even though I’m still not 100% sure of how we will do with the Freya half of the team off-leash, it’s worth a try.

One good thing about training for all versions of Rally Obedience is that even with the last minute change in plan, I had only two new exercises to train at the last minute. One, the Offset Figure 8, is a Figure 8 around food bowls which contain treats but are also covered with a screen so the food can be smelled but not accessed. The Figure 8 itself is easy, but ignoring food does not come easy for a Rottweiler. Or at least, not for any Rottweiler I’ve ever owned. Training the other exercise, Halt – Leave – Call Dog Front While Running – Finish, went very well, though, especially considering it was completely new to us.

I was a little surprised, but maybe I shouldn’t be. Freya is a good working dog. She is not consistently good because I’m not. In the hands of a more skilled trainer, she would reach her full potential. In my hands… well… I’m happy that we’ve done as well as we have so far.

Since I did have the new exercises to train, I opted to miss a fun match that I probably should have gone to today. After weighing the pros and cons, I decided that training the new exercises in class, where I could get help if needed, made the most sense. Now I just have to try and relax, and keep our training and practice this week very positive.

(NaBloPoMo | March ’10: 6 of 31)