sunnuntai 18. toukokuuta 2014

In the Depths of the Forest...



Whilst on our walk to the Rohrbach woods Afri and I came across something rather spectacular!
This is the Ehrenfriedhof, a graveyard for those who fought in the first World War. The thing that makes this place kind of special is the fact that it is almost literally in the middle of a forest!

Oltiin African kanssa Rohrbachin metsässä ja löydettiin sen keskeltä jotain aika jännää! Metsän keskeltä löytyi Ehrenfriedhof, joka on siis hautausmaa niille jotka kuolivat ensimmäisessä Maailman Sodassa. Niinkuin sanottu, tämä paikka on tosiaan lähes keskellä metikköä!


We decided to take a different route from our usual one and that is how we stumbled here. The Ehrenfriedhof is almost 300 m high up! It was as if we had stepped into a whole new world. I was completely in awe of this place and cursed for not having a camera with me the first time we found it. Two days later however we returned and these are some of the pictures I took (mostly of Afri).

Päätimme mennä eri reittiä kuin yleensä ja niinhän me tänne sitten päädyttiinkin. Ehrenfriedhof on melkein 300 m korkeudella! Tuntui kuin olisimme astuneet ihan kokonaan toiseen maailmaan tullessamme tänne. Harmittelin kovasti ensimmäisellä kerralla tänne löydettyämme kameran puuttumista. Pari päivää myöhemmin palasimme kuitenkin takaisin ja tässä siis muutamia kuvia, joita tuli silloin otettua (pääasiassa Afrista).



















torstai 1. toukokuuta 2014

Click click!



Last weekend Africa and I headed to the pet shop to get some treats and something that I've been thinking of getting Afri for a long time. (Pictures taken during Easter in Rohrbach/Leimen)



The clicker! Afri is a very "conditionable" type of dog and I figured that clicker training would benefit us greatly. And right I was!


I've been using clicker training for Afri now since last Saturday and I am already kind of amazed by its results. First of all, Afri learned very fast that after a click she always gets a treat. When she didn't get the click, she would try to offer me everything possible and stare at the clicker in a rather expecting sort of fashion. Her motivation is on a whole different level after introducing the clicker into our sessions. For a Hovawart, Africa has always been an exceptionally fast learner. Her concentration isn't the best, which then requires me to keep the training interesting, short and fun. 

With the clicker, I can keep our sessions a little more repetitive than usual. Normally, she is not a big fan of repetition; Africa finds it boring, loses interest and simply leaves the scene to do something else. Now, she can't get enough and is actually asking me to do the training sessions with her!