Kaline's first restaurant experience

Today Kaline came along with me, Juno and Mom to Stacks for lunch. I wasn't sure quite what to expect from Kaline, cause, ya know, he's a wee baby. We brought his chewy toothbrush thing and a soft mat for him to lie on (we were outside; I've pretty much decided no pet-unfriendly places until Kaline is at least 16 weeks old).

He'd been out for an hour-long walk in the morning with Juno, and then had a long nap in his little crate while Juno and I went on another walk. For all that he doesn't like the little crate, the one he was shipped in, every time he races upstairs and I go looking for him, I find him standing proudly in his big crate. Precious. And yay, clicker training. He had some zoomie time as well before lunch, fetching his fluffy bone. And he's now wearing his Go Blue collar, woohoo. It's a little loose, but thanks to his big ears it can't slip over his head.

Handsome little Wolverine.

He was a little better in the car this time, because he could press up against Juno. She was clearly not best pleased about this, but she endured quietly (with a huge pout). We didn't want to put him down in the parking lot, so Mom carried Kaline to the restaurant—in her purse! A Doberman as a purse dog, can you believe it? I was pretty amused.

Juno and Kaline in the backseat.

He kinda fits! He was totally cool about it too.

I set Juno and Kaline up with their respective mats (when Kaline is a big boy Service Dog In Training, I'll get him his own spiffy portable SD mat ... for now, he gets this random but quite soft thing that we brought home from my dad's hospital stay in January). I got Kaline his chewy toothbrush, sat him on the mat, and just kinda waited and watched.

Stacks is on Santa Cruz, the main street in Menlo Park. The outside tables are a flight of stairs up from the sidewalk, and set back a bit, but you can still hear and see all the traffic going by. There is also a bit of foot traffic by the tables themselves, mostly kids going to Color Me Mine next door.

Kaline keeps tabs on downtown activity.

Kaline was quite curious about everything, but not stressed or worried in the least! I was pretty amazed. He stayed sitting for a bit, watching the cars go by and putting his ears forward at the sounds of the trucks, then lay down with his chewy. One truck had a big clattering load, but apparently this was no big deal. Junebug, of course, provided an excellent example, chilling out right next to Kaline on her own mat. People walked by, and neither of the dogs left their mat, just politely watched as they passed. I was actually pleasantly shocked that no one ran up and started manhandling the puppy (as so often happens with Juno). People cooed from afar, but that was it.

By the end of lunch, little Kaline had copied his big sister's position exactly—lying down, rolled over on one hip, head to the side and resting on a paw. He actually fell asleep and ended up totally sacked out (on his side, legs sprawled) next to the table! I love that he always wants to copy Juno. This is one amazing, awesome little puppy!