Rottweilers Ate My Laptop

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

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

New page: Rally Obedience trial calendar

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Look up on top, and you’ll see that I’ve added a standing page with a Rally Obedience trial calendar.

This calendar is generated from my two personal Google trial calendars. One lists all the Chicago-area APDT, UKC, and AKC Rally Obedience trials that I have information on. I don’t usually travel for trials, so this basically means the Chicago metro area, and maybe southern Wisconsin and northwest Indiana. These are listed in blue on the page. When I actually make plans to enter a trial, I move it to the second calendar, and these trials will be listed in red on the page.

I started these calendars to help me keep track of our trials, but I hope the calendar page is also useful to others in this sector who are looking for a nearby rally trial, whether to compete or just to observe.

Speaking of rally, it’s that time again for Freya’s one month of “fame” on the UKC New Title Holders page, with her URO2! And yes, of course there is a screenshot, what did you think?

(NaBloPoMo | April ’10: 24 of 30)

It’s real, it’s real! Freya’s URO2

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I was so happy to get this in the mail today…

You’ll recall the small panic over Freya’s scores being recorded incorrectly, as well as my happiness at the speed with which Beth at UKC rectified the error.

Even considering my usual obsession with getting the online and physical proof of our accomplishments in hand, this one is a slightly bigger relief to actually have in my hands!

(NaBloPoMo | April ’10: 12 of 30)

Good updates!

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I got two good updates today!

First one is dog-related, of course. As you read last week, one of Freya’s scores for her UKC URO2 title was recorded incorrectly as a non-qualifying score. I heard from Beth at UKC this morning, and everything has been straightened out! She heard back from the judge, whose records agreed with mine and showed a qualifying score for Freya, and corrected the official results. Freya’s URO2 title is now official and the paper certificate will be sent out tomorrow.

Second one is that my pretty red laptop is ready for pickup a few days sooner than I expected. I was told it would take about a week, but I got the call that it was ready just a little while ago. So I will have it back at home tomorrow evening, minus the irritating noise from the defective cooling fan.

All good news!

(NaBloPoMo | April ’10: 7 of 30)

Might as well jump

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Production for Issue 1 2010 of The Total Rottweiler Magazine wrapped up earlier this week, but this was still not a good dog training week for me with missed classes and limited practice time.

So it’s zero hour and I’m still trying to decide whether it makes more sense to skip this weekend’s UKC rally obedience trials, or give it our best shot, knowing we are probably not going to qualify. I know, I know. There have been other times when I thought our chances for qualifying were poor, and we got through it anyway. This time, however, there are two exercises that we truly have not yet mastered, and that are very likely to be included.

One is Halt – Stand – Heel Backwards 3 Steps – Halt. This was easier to teach than I expected, but results are still not totally reliable unless we’re up against a wall or fence.

This is also the first time for us to trial in a level (UKC Level 3) that has a jump. Dan built us a practice jump, so at least we were still able to work at home. Freya still wants to go around the jump as often as she chooses to go over it. We’re working on it with the usual strategies of repositioning the jump against a wall or in a doorway. Check out our very portable jump, by the way:

Dan built it using instructions found at http://sotcdogtraining.com/pdf/Jumps_Targetwork.pdf. This is actually an agility jump (there is a second crossbar which I am not using), but works fine as a practice bar jump for us. Not sure how old these instructions are, but the cost has gone up from their estimated $15. Our total was around $25 so it still isn’t even close to being a hardship.

Right now, I’m leaning towards giving it our best shot tomorrow. I am trying to think positive, and really, I should be. Although it feels like we are behind on training, and in some ways we are since we’ve missed more than a few classes and practice sessions, we are actually slightly ahead of the game. The original plan for this weekend was to get at least one leg towards our Level 2 title. I did not think there was any way we’d be done with Level 2 by now. And here we are, done with Level 2 two weeks ago, and not quite ready for Level 3. We’re actually two weeks ahead of schedule, not two exercises behind schedule.

Hopefully that thought will help me relax! Freya is already snoring on “her” couch. Maybe I should take some relaxation lessons from her.

(NaBloPoMo | March ’10: 26 of 31)

Another new title for Freya!

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We got it done. It was not pretty at all, but the lovely Freya is now…

URO2 Sciroco’s Freya vom Viersen, RL1 (AOE), CGC, TT!

She was a totally different dog today than she was yesterday. I sincerely hope that this version of Freya does not show up at too many future trials, as she was distracted and unfocused, and it took a good deal of effort (and silent prayer) to get her back at my side to focus on the task at hand.

But the main thing is that she did come back and our team did get through it. The main thing today was to qualify and earn that last leg, and that we did, though with a low score.

I hope that all Freya sees is my very real delight at accomplishing this with her. Working off-leash felt like a big leap of faith to me, and maybe I made it a bigger obstacle in my mind than it needs to be. We still have a lot of things to work on improving, and some new things to learn before we can advance to the next level. But now I definitely feel that we will get through that next level, too!

(NaBloPoMo | March ’10: 14 of 31)