Rottweilers Ate My Laptop

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

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

A few more words about Westminster

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As mentioned earlier in the week, there are only a very few times over the long history of Westminster that Rottweilers have placed in group competition. Unfortunately, 2010 would not be one of those times. But it was still so exciting to see Julia and Patrone on TV, and what a wonderful team they made.

I’m not one who yells at the TV very often during sporting events. But last night, there was clapping and cheering (and barking) for Julia and Patrone, as if they, or the judge could hear us. And when they made the cut and got pulled into the line at the end, we got even louder. Alas, Patrone would not follow in his great-grandfather’s pawprints as one of the very few Rottweilers to place in the group. Still, a beautiful showing and very excited to see a friend in the spotlight at the Garden! Just a little disappointed that the commentators did not mention Julia by name, as they did with some of the other handlers.

I was pulling for the Whippet for Best In Show, but the Doberman should have had it. Sadie, the Scottish Terrier favored by many to win, did in fact prevail. But you all knew that, too!

I was a little surprised to find myself liking Tamron Hall as co-host. She spent quite a few years on the Chicago Fox affiliate’s morning news show, and I didn’t particularly care for her in that spot. Upon reflection, perhaps it was that I didn’t care for her teamed with David Novarro, or more likely, it’s David Novarro that I still don’t like in that morning spot. Anyway, good job, Tamron! Way better than last year’s co-host.

Oh, yes. I am sure you were hoping I’d forget, but guess what came in the mail recently, and that I finally got around to scanning? That’s right, Axel’s Canine Good Citizen certificate!

I know those of you who knew him as “Junior Gang Member” or “Junior Sex Offender” from puppy classes or as the unruly adolescent who tested me constantly are laughing at the idea of him being a good citizen. Well, there’s the proof. So there!

(NaBloPoMo | February ’10: 17 of 28)

More Westminster… getting personal

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I had just arrived at work this morning when I got the wonderful news that Julia had gone Best of Breed with Patrone at Westminster. Yes, that would be Axel’s beloved handler, Julia Foster, and Rottweiler CH Chancellor’s Gorgeous Patrone, TT!

I can only imagine how much more interested in the show Axel will be tonight, when he sees “his” Julia on television!

Obviously, Julia’s win today is a big part of Westminster getting personal for me. But there is more.

Axel has actually been in the ring with six of the Rottweilers who were shown today. They were all Champions competing in Best of Breed during the time he was out getting his Championship. As Winners Dog from the classes, he went back in the ring with the specials dogs, or more specifically, to be defeated for Best of Breed by the specials dogs (it’s okay, that’s usually what happens). One of the Award of Merit winners is the son of Freya’s half-brother. His handler owned Freya’s sire. His owner once owned Freya’s littermate.

So, yes, I watch with a bit more interest each year, because there are more and more personal connections.

I was surprised to see the number of searches on various Rottweiler-ly Westminster topics leading here to the blog today. Here are some answers to the questions posed in those searches.

  • A Rottweiler has never won Westminster. A Rottweiler has won the Working Group only once, in 2006: CH Carter’s Noble Shaka Zulu. I so hope to see that happen again tonight.
  • Rottweilers have placed in the Working Group only four other times.
  • All of the Rottweilers, and in fact all of the dogs entered at Westminster, are Champions. Westminster entry is limited to Champions and it is currently the only AKC show with this requirement.
  • The Westminster website and its associated Facebook page and Twitter stream are being updated lightning fast. The Rottweiler winners are here and the list of Rottweiler entrants is here. If you are not a Rottweiler person, the “2010 Show Results” link on the Westminster website will take you to information on how your own breed of choice is doing. The only thing that seems to be taking a little longer is the videos. I so want to see the Rottweiler breed video before the groups tonight!

(NaBloPoMo | February ’10: 16 of 28)

Westminster!

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Of course we are watching on television right now, and even more important (because the Working Group is tomorrow), tomorrow night!

In fact, I had been watching the breed judging videos as time permitted during the day. We do not block websites at my workplace, because we are all adults here and know when the work has to be done. But we all have our favorite sporting events that run during work hours, and we do abuse the streaming video as we gulp down the bandwidth. Westminster and pro surfing are my personal bandwidth suckers.

Axel is actually watching the show. He usually watches television shows featuring dogs or other animals, but he seems especially into it tonight. Maybe because he’s now been there, done that? Well, obviously not to a huge and prestigious show such as Westminster, but still, he has done the showdog thing.

I was going to write a post about how to watch a dog show. But it’s been done. And done, and done. Seems a little silly, too, now that we’re into the last hour of tonight’s broadcast. Play-by-play? Or results? Plenty of places for you to find that, too. So for now, I will give you Axel’s version:

Hi. I’m Axe. I was in some dog shows and I became a Champion. Here is what we do at the shows. We go kind of fast, and turn left. Sort of like NASCAR. But with paws and only once around. We also go up and back. Then we do the NASCAR thing again. Then someone wins. Sometimes me.

There you have it!

(NaBloPoMo | February ’10: 15 of 28)

Freya: class notes 2/6/10

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Although there was some progress made toward fixing crooked sits and sloppy turns, this was not one of our better pre-trial review sessions. This was the last run-through of the day, and you can see that Freya is beginning to shut down a bit.

Strangely enough, this less-than-stellar practice session was followed the next day by one of our best trial performances: a score of 208 and 1st place in the Level 1 “A” division. The next trial run later on Sunday resulted in a NQ, though, so I’m not quite sure what the moral of the story might be.

Maybe it’s just that I need to figure out the best way to do the last-minute practices and to handle the downtime between trials. Are the day-before last minute practices more helpful or stressful? So far, they seem to be more helpful, but maybe I should lessen the number of run-throughs. Should I do more or less warm-up between trials, and how soon before showtime for the second trial? That one isn’t quite so obvious.

As always, you can see more videos of Freya, her classmates, and other dogs-in-training on Allan’s YouTube channel.

(NaBloPoMo | February ’10: 14 of 28)

Puppy Tweets

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Yes, that’s right, I said Tweets, not treats. Did I lose your interest? Of course I did, you are Rottweilers, so of course you would be way more interested in treats than Tweets.

Mattel’s Puppy Tweets, set to come out this fall, is kind of a cute idea. It consists of a USB receiver for your (or your dog’s) computer and a tag for your dog to wear. You need to load software for the receiver onto the computer and set up a Twitter account for your dog. Or maybe your dog is technically inclined and can do it himself (or herself). When the dog barks or moves, the tag sends a signal to the receiver, and one of 500 canned Tweets is sent out via the dog’s account. Kind of cute, huh?

But at $29.99, I doubt I’ll be doing it. The tag looks a bit too easy for a Rottweiler to destroy, and to leave one of the laptops on all day to get only faux communication with the dogs seems a little silly to me.

Besides. If Freya and Axel wanted to be on Twitter, they already would be. Or maybe they are, and just don’t want me to know. Look up there at the header. That’s Freya at age nine weeks, taking over my laptop when I got up to get a drink. She is six years old now. I am sure she has learned a lot since then. She is probably already managing multiple Twitter accounts with TweetDeck and cannot imagine how humans could be dumb enough to think that she needs something like Puppy Tweets.

I have not received compensation for this preview, and I have no connection to Mattel.

(NaBloPoMo | February ’10: 13 of 28)