“What’s New” Archive
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Click here to read our Christmas 2010 letter.
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Click here to read our Christmas 2009 letter.
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June 2009
Wow, what a year it has been already. We’ve been so busy!
We began 2009 half way across the world in Fiji. Fiji is in the second time zone to bring in the New Year. Maybe some day we will go to Christmas Island and be among the first to celebrate a New Year.
We had a great time SCUBA diving with the Fijian locals. Above is a picture of one of the Bull Sharks that we were able to encounter. We also got to see Lemon Sharks & Nurse Sharks. Click here to see our Fiji 2009 photos.
In January, we volunteered at the Atlanta Travel Expo, helping out with an intro to SCUBA pool set up in the exhibition hall. Qualified instructors worked in the pool while we talked to prospective divers and told all about our trips to great dive sites.
Mary & Bolo spent the next couple of months polishing their Schutzhund training in preparation for Bolo’s upcoming Schutzhund III test in March. The weekend of March 7th was the big test. Bolo did an excellent job in all three phases, scoring 97 in tracking, 86 in obedience, & 93 in protection; for a total of 276. One of Mary’s friend has uploaded video of Bolo’s protection routine to YouTube, click here to view it.
In February, Pete met up with a bunch of other classic VW owners for a cruise to Beetle’s BBQ in Woodstock, GA. Several VW clubs converged from all around Atlanta to meet for lunch. There were at least 30 vintage Beetles, Buses, Ghias and Things. It was blast getting to meet all the other club members. Pete drove his 1957 ragtop Beetle to the meet.
At the beginning of April we joined our friends at the Sea Turtle Dive Club on a Carnival Cruise to Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Roatan, and Belize. We had a great time and probably gained some weight thanks to Carnival‘s Chocolate Melting Cake! Click here to see our Cruise 2009 photos.
Mid-April Pete attended a special Mustang event in Birmingham Alabama. The Ford Mustang was introduced on April 17, 1964, at the New York World’s Fair. This event was to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the Ford Mustang. There were hundreds and hundreds of Mustangs attending, racing, parts vendors, and Ford showing off the new 2010 Mustang.
Shortly after the 45th show, Pete was off again this time to Florida for the Sun-N-Fun airshow in Lakeland. He stayed with a friend in Winter Haven and also met up with a classmate from college at Embry-Riddle.
The beginning of May, Pete was off to another Mustang event. This time with his good buddies of the Yellow Mustang Registry. They had a fun weekend up in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee with 24 Yellow Mustangs from all over the US. They stayed at an amazing Christmas themed resort, went to group dinners, a cruise on Hwy 129 Tail of the Dragon (318 curves in 11 miles!), a visit to a Muscle Car Museum and a car show. It was a busy and fun filled 3 days!
The end of May was very important for Bolo (and Mary). In Germany, German Shepherds are not allowed to breed before they get a breed classification, called a Koer Klasse, during a breed survey from a GSD breed judge. On Saturday Bolo was shown in the conformation. In Germany dogs are rated. Bolo was given the highest rating of Excellent. Now that Bolo has a show rating (the last of the prerequisites he needed), Mary could present Bolo for his breed survey. The requirements to even enter a dog in a breed survey are not easy to achieve. To enter a breed survey the dog must be absolutely healthy, a minimum of 2 years of age, must have successfully completed an endurance test (12 miles trotting next to a bike), received a rating of at least “good” in a conformation show, must have obtained at least a performance title of SchH 1 and must have certified hips (free of dysplasia). During a breed survey the GSD is weighed, measured, and tested to the GSD standard. Bolo earned the highest classification awarded of a Koer Klasse 1.
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Christmas 2008
Merry Christmas!
As is always this time of year, we reflect on the speed at which the current year has flown by. And it’s no wonder since we have been extremely busy (again)! We are both fortunate that our places of employment are doing well during these crazy economic times. Pete has been employed with Lockheed Martin for over 18 years now. And Mary, who never seems to stay in one place for more than 5 years, has been with Royston LLC for 7 years. When we are not working we stay busy with our many hobbies.
Mary is training both Bolo (our German Shepherd) and Tasha (our Rottweiler) now in Schutzhund, a competition sport that involves testing the dogs in tracking, obedience, and protection phases at three different levels of increasing difficultly (SchH I, SchH II, & SchH III). Recently, Bolo attained his Schutzhund II title. In each phase there is a possibility of earning 100 points. During Bolo’s SchH II test he earned 90 points in tracking, 93 in obedience, and 91 in protection. Training of Bolo & Tasha for this sport occupies most of Mary’s spare time. Click here to see recent pictures of our dogs & cats.
Pete stays busy with his cars, guitars, and airplanes. This summer, he finished his first complete VW engine rebuild for his 1957 Beetle and drives it whenever he can. Recently, he has become quite involved with a local Mustang club. He enjoys the car shows and just getting together with other enthusiasts to cruise in the mountains. He’s still collecting Lockheed aircraft memorabilia and aircraft parts, which makes Mary think an airplane will magically appear someday.
We share a few hobbies together too. We are both active members in a local SCUBA/Travel club, Sea Turtle Dive Club, Pete being the Secretary and Mary being the keeper of the website. It is a small club, so we keep quite involved in its many activities.
And as most of you know by now, we love to travel. This year we’ve added quite a few more flags to the map, both locally in the Southeast of the good ol’ US of A and a few points outside of the US. Where in the world have we been? Click here.
At the beginning of 2008 we dove, snorkeled, hiked, toured and ate our way through the Caribbean via Celebrity’s Galaxy cruise ship, visiting the beautiful islands of St. Thomas, Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Grenada, Barbados, St. Kitts, and Tortola. Post cruise, we spent two nights on the US territory of Puerto Rico. While in Puerto Rico, we touched Georgia pink marble columns in the Capital building, explored Old San Juan and its forts, kayaked through the glowing waters of a bioluminescent bay, marveled at stalactites in Rio Camuy Caverns, and learned about the search for ET at the Arecibo Observatory; which was featured in the James Bond movie Golden Eye. Click here to see our Cruise 2007 photos.
By February, we were already missing the “pretty fishies” of the ocean and we had many, many days yet to go before our next vacation. So, what are we to do? We are lucky enough to live within 2-hours of three different aquariums. So, we picked our favorite one in Chattanooga for a day trip to rid ourselves of the winter blues… yes, even down here in the south winter is too long. Click here to see our Chattanooga 2008 photos.
Also in February, Mary’s sister was in town for business. We spent a few nights visiting with her. On one night, the magician David Copperfield was performing in town, so we went to his show. It was truly a magical night for Mary. Before the show even started, a staff member offered us seats closer to the stage, row D, just four rows in front of the stage. And just when Mary thought it couldn’t get much better, David threw three Frisbees into the audience; Mary caught one of them (thanks to Pete ducking)… that’s right; she became part of the show, up on stage and everything. She still doesn’t know how he made that car appear out of nowhere!
Easter weekend and spring is finally here! We took a mini road trip on the Blue Ridge Parkway thru North Carolina, starting in Asheville at the Biltmore Estate and ending at a place called Mystery Hill. Click here to see our Blue Ridge Parkway photos. At the beginning of May, Pete met up with his Yellow Mustang car club friends in Pigeon Forge, TN for a car show and went cruising in the mountains. Memorial weekend, we did a quick get-away to the Great Smoky Mountains. We stayed in Pigeon Forge, having dinner one night at Dolly’s Dixie Stampede. Click here to see our Pigeon Forge photos.
The fourth of July holiday weekend, we spent traveling in Georgia to Savannah and then on to Jekyll Island. We had a lot of fun in Savannah and really enjoyed the peaceful tranquility of Jekyll Island. On the way home, we visited Dexter, GA which is quite a bit more rural than Dexter, ME. Click here to see our Coastal Georgia photos.
In July, we celebrated 16 years of marriage!
Labor Day week, we spent nine relaxing nights in beautiful Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. A couple of days, we went on tours and one day we went diving. One of the tours took us to the town of Tequila where we visited an historic Tequila distillery. Another tour took us to an overlook of the filming site of the movie Night of the Iguanas. Click here to see our Puerto Vallarta photos.
Thanksgiving weekend, just came and went in a blur. We spent it getting a cultural education by visiting several Atlanta museums and exhibits. First we walked like an Egyptian while we learned all about the boy King Tut. Next we shivered as we touched an “iceberg” at the Titanic exhibit. We found quiet viewing windows of the Caribbean Sea at the Georgia Aquarium on Thanksgiving Day and daydreamed about floating in the nice warm water with tanks on our back (scuba diving). After so much serious culture, it was time for some comic relief, so we visited the Jim Henson (creator of the Muppet Show and Sesame Street characters) exhibit at the Atlanta History Center. While at the History Center we visited the Civil War exhibit and learned pivotal turning points in the war of “Northern Aggression” as it is known here in the land of Dixie. Next we traveled even farther back in history at the High Museum of Art, learning all about China’s first dynasty of Emperor Qin and his terracotta army. While at the High Museum, a visit to the Louvre exhibit was mandatory. On exhibit is one of Leonardo Da Vinci’s original notebooks. Click here to see our Atlanta Thanksgiving photos.
So, here we are counting down the end of 2008 and we’ve already had our first snow flurries of the winter here in Georgia. We’re looking forward to our next big travel adventure; diving in Fiji very soon. We will be staying at the beautiful Waidroka Bay Resort.
Wishing you all the best of health and happiness in the coming New Year, have a Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!
We would love to hear from you…
Click here to email Pete -or- Click here to email Mary
Or drop us a letter at:
P.O. Box 385
Ball Ground, GA 30107
Pete & Mary of Rott’n Manor
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July 2008
Is it really almost August already!
As you can tell by the lack of updates, we’ve been busy.
Mary is training both Bolo and Tasha now in schutzhund. Tasha is doing very well in her obedience portion and shows great interest in the tracking. Bolo continues to be enthusiastic in all three phases; sometimes too much so.
Pete stays busy with his cars, guitars, and airplanes. Recently he has become quite involved with a local Mustang club. He enjoys the car shows and just getting together with other enthusiast to cruise in the mountains.
In March, Easter weekend we had our first (mini) vacation of the year. A mini road trip thru North Carolina, starting in Asheville at the Biltmore Estate and ending at a place called Mystery Hill. You will need to check out our online photo album.
Pete took on the role as club secretary for our SCUBA club. It is a small club, so both Pete & Mary keep quite involved in its many activities. In April, Mary represented our club and the Jasper Dive Center at a big Travel Expo in Atlanta. Mary had a lot of fun. Then in May, the annual dive show came to the Atlanta area and we were both able to attend some lectures. We even came away with an awesome vacation idea… more on that later.
Despite the gas prices, for the Memorial holiday weekend we did a quick get-away to the Great Smoky Mountains. We stayed in Pigeon Forge, having dinner one night at Dolly’s Dixie Stampede. And of course the photos are up online for you to view..
In July, the fourth of July holiday weekend, we spent traveling to Savannah and then on to Jekyll Island. We had a lot of fun in Savannah and really enjoyed the peaceful tranquility of Jekyll Island.
Also, a big milestone in the month of July… We celebrated 16 years of marriage! We also got to see our favorite band, Rush, play here in Atlanta. It was a great concert.
Well, that just about gets us up to date. But in the near future we have two fantastic vacations planned. First we will be going to Puerto Vallarta Mexico. We’ve never been to that side of Mexico and look forward to the change of scenery… and we hope to do a little diving there too. Then for the really big trip of the year, we will be going south of the equator AND across the international date line (two things we haven’t yet done) for 9-nights in Fiji. Until the dive show we hadn’t considered Fiji, but as we found out, the most expensive thing is the airfare. Once on Fiji accommodations are quite reasonable. The diving in Fiji is supposed to be fantastic and the people are reported extremely friendly. We can’t wait to get to Fiji and find out for ourselves.
So, that’s our mid-year update.
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December 2007
It has been another busy year for us.
At the end of 2006, we had a foster dog named Boomer. Well, Boomer was adopted and his new mom reports that things are going very well. Yeah! For Christmas & New Years last year, we decided to decorate a palm tree instead of a pine tree. So, we were off for our Christmas/New Year’s vacation to the Grenadines. We took two one-week cruises (back to back) on Windjammer’s SV Yankee Clipper through the Grenadines. We visited: St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Mayreau, Bequia, Carriacou, Tobago Cays, and Grenada.
In January, Pete visited his Mom in Florida for her birthday. And Mary trained Bolo.
In March, Pete attended the opening air show of the season for the Starfighters Airshow Team in Titusville, FL. Also, in March Pete visited a friend in Pensacola, FL while there they spent a day at the US Naval Aviation Museum. And Mary trained Bolo… crunch time, spring & fall is the best time to trial a dog down here in the South, before the sweltering summer temps.
In April, Pete attended the big VW show in Chattanooga, TN. That same weekend that Pete was in Tennessee, April 21st, Bolo & Mary successfully trialed at Rising Star Working Dog Club in Brooks, GA. Bolo earned his Schutzhund 1 title with a score of 95 (tracking) – 81 (obedience) – 94 (protection) for a total of 270 giving him a low SG rating (very good). And he was rated as pronounced in his courage & fighting (“a”) drives. His tracking score earned him the High in Tracking medal. It was a Very Good weekend indeed!
In May, Memorial Day weekend we had our first (mini) vacation of the year together. A quick weekend to Memphis Tennessee to enjoy the R&B music, a tour of the Gibson Guitar factory, a stroll along the Mississippi, a drive across the Mississippi River to cross into Arkansas, a visit to Graceland, some great BBQ, a stop in Tupelo Mississippi, and an industrial history lesson at Vulcan Park Birmingham Alabama. Five states in 3 nights/4 days.
In June, We attended a “special” VW show, one just for Ghia’s. It was nice to see some that were restored (unlike Mary’s project car). It was also at a great location, in Stone Mountain Park. So while there, we took full advantage of what the park had to offer. Pete even managed to get Mary to go for a bike ride! Mary wasn’t too excited about the biking, but she did really enjoy the Animal Planet presentations, especially the “All The Kings Horses” show. We also got to see our favorite band, Rush, play here in Atlanta.
In July, the fourth of July holiday week we spent onboard the Windjammer ship Legacy sailing up and down the Pacific coast of Costa Rica with Mary’s sisters Ann & Kathy. We had good weather (even in the rainy season) and a fun week.
Big milestone in the month of July… We celebrated 15 years of marriage!
Pete attended the AirVenture fly-in at Oshkosh, WI for the 6th consecutive year in a row. He finally gave in and bought a digital Canon Rebel camera for this trip. In one week, he took 1,300+ photos!
In August, we made a day trip to FDR’s Little White house. It’s just a few hours away from where we live.
In September, around Labor Day we spent a week in Maine, mostly along the coast. We started in Portland, worked our way up to Bar Harbor, and then went inland to visit with family in Dexter. We even spent some time in Greenville. Pete also spent a weekend in Charlotte, NC for the AutoFair car show at Lowe’s speedway. It’s an annual gathering of the Yellow Mustang Club and this year had about 40 yellow Mustangs of all ages parked together in the infield.
In October, for Mary’s birthday, she wanted to go to a concert… It was Jimmy Buffett in Las Vegas. A group of “jammers” (Windjammer Barefoot Cruises enthusiast) that Mary communicates with on a message board (Windjammer Flotilla Forum) were setting up “JammerWest” in Vegas to coincide with Jimmy’s last concert of the current tour. So, off we went for a long weekend in Vegas. It was a great show!!!
In November, we joined our dive club for a trip to Homossasa Springs for Thanksgiving. We snorkeled with Manatees, and then SCUBA dived Rainbow River, Blue Grotto spring & Devil’s Den spring. The water was cold but very clear and made for fun diving. Pete found a fossilized shark’s tooth in the Rainbow River.
And finally that brings us to December. Mary & Bolo started off the month by entering a trial for Bolo’s Tracking 2 title. The track was 400 paces, had two left turns, and was aged an hour. Bolo passed the test. But more importantly, Mary had fun showing him and hardly felt nervous at all.
Wow, it’s hard to believe that another year is already gone by… The best way to see what we’ve been up to lately is to visit our online photo album with pictures & our infamous trip reports!
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!
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January 2007
We’re back from our Christmas/New Years vacation to the Grenadines. We took two one week cruises (back to back) on Windjammer’s SV Yankee Clipper through the Grenadines. We visited: St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Mayreau, Bequia, Carriacou, Tobago Cays, and Grenada. As soon as we get caught up with everything, we will post photos and a trip report to our online photo album.
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December 2006
November 18th – Tasha passed the CGC test. Bolo passed both the CGC test and the TT test.
December 2nd – Boomer was adopted and his new mom reports that things are going very well. Yeah!
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Fall 2006
Guess what?!?!?! We’re terrible at posting updates. The last one was almost a year ago. Well, a lot has happenned since then.
Mary has remained busy training Bolo for future Schutzhund competitions with several different training groups: Greater Atlanta Schutzhund Association, Chattahoochee Schutzhund Club, and Atlanta K9 Proformance. Bolo had a few milestones this year:
1) He turned two years old at the end of December 2005 and thus, become old enough to apply for OFA certification. His results: Hips – Excellent and Elbows – Normal. Only 2 – 3% of German Shepherd Dogs get the rating of excellent on their hips. Bolo was the first dog for his breeder to receive an excellent hip rating!
2) He passed his 12.5 mile endurance test. Mary is glad that this test is over (she had to ride a bicycle with him for the whole 12.5 miles).
3) He entered the German Confirmation show ring and was rated as SG; translation “Very Good”. In Europe there are two “lines” of German Shepherd Dogs; the Show Line & the Working Line. Bolo comes from the Working Line. It is very difficult for a Working Line GSD to get an excellent rating in the show ring, so Mary was very happy with the “SG” rating.
Mary is looking at next spring to show Bolo for his Schutzhund 1 title. To see pictures: The Kids
Pete has been busy with his usual projects; collecting more guitars, working on his Sonex airplane project, working with the Starfighters Airshow Team, tinkering on the VW Beetles, and keeping the yellow Mustang shiny & clean. He added one new project this year. He bought a 1971 VW Karmen Ghia car project for Mary. So far, he has spent more time working on it than Mary.
For Pete’s Birthday (February 27th), we took up a new hobbie: SCUBA diving! A long time ago when we were in Aruba, we took a resort SCUBA course, Pete loved it… it scared Mary half to death. And ever since then Mary has wanted to conquer that fear. So, to kick off the lessons and to get Mary motivated we visited the newly open Georgia Aquarium.
This has been a big travel year:
Christmas 2005: We spent Christmas in Maine. A great time was had, even though the weather did not cooperate for our planned skiing day.
April 13 – 16: We took a long weekend trip out west to visit the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, and Zion National Park.
May 12 – 14: We went to Vortex Spring Florida for our SCUBA certification. Mary vowed to never do another cold water dive!
May 27 – June 5: We did our yearly Windjammer cruise. This year it was on the S/V Mandalay to the Brittish Virgin Islands. Just georgeous!
July 1 – 4: We took a long weekend trip to Florida to visit Pete’s Mom and go SCUBA diving at Epcot.
Aug 31 – Sept 6: Our travel agent found us a fantastic deal at an all-inclusive resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.
Visit our Online Photo Album to see vacation photos, read the trip reports, and view our online SCUBA dive logbook entries.
We have been doing a lot of hiking around Georgia with the dogs this year, too. Tasha is turning into a social butterfly. She just loves to go out to new places now.
We’ve added a few more “family” members this year. Right before our Windjammer vacation, Mary got a call at work… they needed her help catching a kitten that was out in the manufacturing plant. Mary has become their resident “animal catcher”, a reputation that she has earned by rescuing several dogs. This was her first (and last) cat rescue. This was a very sweet kitten, we call him “Kai”. Well, Kai just wasn’t a tough enough guy to stand up to the dogs on his own. So, we adopted “Charrie” from the local animal rescue organization. Charrie is a very loving cat with a bit of a “mafia” attitude towards dogs. Bolo no longer even attempts to mess with Charrie.
Oh, it gets better. A few days before we left for Punta Cana, Mary almost hit a dog on the way home. Well, she couldn’t just leave him running in the road, so she loaded him up and brought him home. After contacting the animal rescue organization only to be told that they were full, we offered to foster “Boomer” until his forever home can be found. Boomer is listed with Pickens Animal Rescue.
Well, hopefully we will get better with these updates and you won’t have to wait another year for more news. We’re much better at posting new photos online. So, the best way to see what we’ve been up to lately is to visit our online photo albums. There you will find pictures, links, & our infamous trip reports!
Pete & Mary of Rott’n Manor
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November 2, 2005
It’s finally fall, the leaves are changing and the temperatures are falling. We’ve even had our first frost (augh!). And since it’s been a while since the last update, we thought we’d better update this before the rush of the upcoming holiday season gets us completely sidetracked.
Mary has remained busy training Bolo for future Schutzhund competitions with several different training groups: Greater Atlanta Schutzhund Association, Chattahoochee Schutzhund Club, Atlanta K9 Proformance, and a group of “rebels” that train for the sport of Practical Protection Dogs. Recently she has been taking Tasha to the clubs with her, too. Tasha spent the summer adjusting to her new home and had a few issues with strangers and strange places. So, Mary has been introducing Tasha to everyone in all kinds of different places. Who knows, it may come in handy some day… a friend of Mary’s just was called to have is Rottweiler “star” in a commercial with Dale Earnhart Jr.
Pete has been busy collecting more guitars, working on his Sonex airplane project, tinkering on the VW Beetles, and keeping the yellow Mustang shiny and clean.
In September he took his Mustang to the Fall Autofair in Charlotte. While there he met up with his friends from the Yellow Mustang Registry (http://www.yellowmustangregistry.com), just imagine a sea of yellow Mustangs. While at the show, he hooked up his “Stang” to a dyno to measure its’ performance.
July 6,2005
Natasha is a 2 year old female Rottweiler. She is sweet and friendly yet she is already beginning to show signs of her protective & guarding nature towards the house. She is going to be Pete’s baby. Mary is always dragging Bolo off to training or events which leave Pete alone. Now he has Natasha.
Speaking of events, Bolo had his first trial July 2nd. He earned his BH title at the young age of 1 ½ years old. The BH test is more of a temperament test than anything, though on & off leash obedience routines are required. It will be a year or two before he is ready for the next level (Schutzhund I).
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December 8, 2004
We just returned from visiting with many of our friends and family over Thanksgiving during a whirlwind long weekend trip to Maine. We really enjoyed our visit!
Mary, if you haven’t figured out yet, is a “closet travel agent” and is busily planning our future vacations. So, check back next year to see where we go or get updates here.
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May 21, 2003
We started the year off with a really BIG vacation. We spent the last two weeks of February in Italy. It was a vacation with Mary’s sister Kathy, which had been a few years in the making. Visit our Photo Albums page for photos and the trip report.
Back from our big vacation, there was no time to rest for Mary & Kobe… they had a PPD competition on March 29th. There were 10 dogs entered (several of them were actual working police dogs). Kobe won 2nd place earning her PPD 1 title. The tournament was at the conclusion of seminar given by Appie Kamps. Here is his website (check out his “Results in the past” link): Appie Kamps He is a top trainer and competitor in the Netherlands and really all of Europe…. He beat me by about three points for the 1st place position. The dog that Appie entered was NOT his World Champion dog, but the dog was in training with that level of competition being the goal. The tournament was a Practical Protection Dog tournament (see link: Protect-Dog.com – yes the Rottie on this website is Kobe). This particular competition was divided into two phases, Obedience with the maximum points available of 100 and Protection with a maximum points available of 200. As you can see the protection phase is heavily awarded. For Kobe to do so well with the level of competition is awesome!!!
Pete kicked off April with a trip to Florida for the “Sun & Fun” airshow. Where he shopped ’til he dropped for tools to use on his airplane project.
In the beginning of May, we started having visitors to some of the big trees in our yard…. Barred Owls. They are always near the top of the tree and in the shade, so we haven’t any really clear photo of our particular owls but if you visit: Barred Owls you’ll be able to see some really good photos and even listen to their calls”.
As if the owls weren’t enough excitement, Trinka (our 8 year old Rottweiler) tore her cruciate ligament in her right knee… she is scheduled for knee repair surgery at the end of May. Check back here for photos and updates on her condition. She should do just fine. You may remember that Strudel suffered the same injury when she was 11 years old. Now, Strudel is 15 years old and the knee repair has held up very well for her.
You would think that Mary and her friends would be happy with Kobe’s PPD1
achievement, but no. Every one put in a lot of hours on preparing Mary and Kobe for their next effort. On May 10th, Kobe earned her Schutzhund II title – scoring 95 in tracking, 83 in obedience, and 81 in protection. Now, Mary and Kobe set their sights on a fall/winter Schutzhund trial to get the “golden” Schutzhund III title.
Kobe, at 7 years old, has not shown any signs of slowing down, but Mary has already started to prepare Kobe for her gradual retirement into a housedog. To anyone who has house pets this may seem like a funny statement, but Kobe has been a very active sport dog, who has spent every waking minute outside of a crate or kennel, for all of her life, working (playing). So, when Kobe comes into the house, first she thoroughly checks out every nook and cranny for hidden tennis balls (those things are sneaky and could lurk anywhere). This doesn’t sound so bad, unless Mary has left them in the sink to dry after washing them and Kobe climbs onto the counter, knocking down whatever was on the counter, to reach them (real cute for a working or narcotics dog, but not for a house pet). Or, if Strudel has dropped one and it accidentally rolls under a couch or dining room table… Kobe is quite capable of moving furniture (with or without people) in quest of those sneaky tennis balls. Another step to Kobe’s retirement is that she will be spayed sometime this summer (but first we have to get Trinka on the road to recovery).
With Kobe retiring what will Mary do for a sport/competition dog? That question is on the minds of a lot of people, including Pete. Right now, Mary is planning on bringing in a new member of the family some time in the fall or winter. Mary will be in the market for a 10 to16-month-old male German Shepherd Dog of European bloodlines… nothing more specific than that. When she sees the dog she wants, she’ll know it.
And finally, the question that we get asked the most: When/where are you going next?
Then answer: we just don’t know, but keep checking back here for the latest updates!
Pete & Mary of Rott’n Manor
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