Our week

Another slow week, especially because I gave myself a bit of an ankle sprain on Wednesday night. That flared up massively overnight cause the fibro gnome got aroused, so I was having a flareup all over for the next couple days.

So Juno got to come with me to the doctor's office on Friday. I toyed with the idea of taking Kaline but ended up bringing Juno, which was the right idea. The building has these tiny, narrow door buttons which were a little confusing for her, but she figured it out. I need to figure out a time to work Kaline on those. Weirdness is good!

We ordered a new little vest ... Still hasn't arrived. Dammit.

In the exam room, Juno helped me off with my sweatshirt jacket, once the nurse was gone. I don't know why but I always feel bizarrely shy about asking her to tug off my jacket in front of people. Then she crashed on the floor till we were done. My doctor wasn't overly worried, just a bit pissed at me for hobbling about on all my dog walks Thursday and Friday. So I wasn't allowed to go to SF and walk around all day Saturday with Sonja. (We did go to obedience class though.) By Sunday, today, I felt all better with my foot.

Yesterday we did obedience class, and Kaline was excellent except for whinging a bit while waiting for his recall. His heeling was very nice, plus we had like three people tell us how tall Kaline is getting. That always puffs me up, like I've accomplished something (ha!). During Kay's stays, I worked on proofing—nudging his butt, staring challengingly into his face and having others do the same, stomping around him, straddling him, stepping over him. Pretty solid. After class he blissfully let his buddy Lupo chew on his snout and ears and front legs.

Today, Kaline did his usual public access work in the morning: Farmer's Market, bagel place, Trader Joe's, and Walgreen's. He settled faster this week in the bagel place, even though he was on the tile instead of the carpet. He was fantastic in Trader Joe's and had an excellent time doing the buttons at Walgreen's. One was right at nose level, and wonder of wonders, Kaline pressed it with his nose! (He likes to use his enormous feet whenever possible.)

At the bagel place.

And then this afternoon, we went with Freddie, Anne, and their four collective dogs to the Horse Park at Woodside! Only Kaline was invited—he needs to run, plus we were going to work on his off-leash recall with the e-collar. I ordered a pair of collars for him and Juno for this purpose, but they haven't arrived yet.

Before anyone leaps on me for using an e-collar: Freddie has used them for decades, as has Anne, so with them they get used properly. They are never used to teach a dog a behavior. They are used to communicate with the dog over distance to enforce a behavior the dog has already been taught: here, the recall. We had already done some short-distance conditioning with Kaline. Call him, and if he ignores, he gets nicked. To turn the electricity off, he has to touch the hand of whoever calls him. None of the dogs do more than twitch their heads when they get nicked; no screaming, no flipping out. And the recalls are unbelievable.

We had to nick Kaline maybe once or twice at the start, and that was it. It was amazing to be out in this huge grassy area, with Kaline able to run and play and gambol to his heart's content, and know that I'd be able to get him back. He ran and attempted to get everyone to play with him (no one was really having it, unfortunately!). He even splashed into a little pond once! He clambered up and down the jumps, did beautiful joyous recalls, just ran himself totally ragged. He isn't too coordinated yet, but it was still so pretty to watch him.

We were there for about an hour. Rio, Freddie's black Lab, got to do some retrieving, and Mudd, Anne's 12-year-old chocolate Lab, sometimes joined in. Lucky, Anne's little rescue who looks like a Dachshund with long legs, ran around on his own schedule, and Dealer, her Norfolk terrier, kept everyone in line. Kaline got in his face one too many times and Dealer laid down the law with him. If only Juno could channel that a little bit sometimes! Kaline squawked in surprise and then left Dealer alone.

We are now home, and Kaline, having woken from his nap, is watching the broadcast of Westminster 2012 with highly amusing, deep interest! When a little Staffordshire bull terrier started bouncing around on screen, he was enthralled. Marvelous.

We're back!

Well, on one hand the trip was great. We went to the Henry Ford twice, my new camera behaved amazingly, we had lots of fun at the Farmer's Market, went to Charley's three times, etc. But the Tigers decided not to show up for the World Series against the Giants. And not having Juno sucked. I needed her for physical help several times, especially the first day we got there and I was hobbling around like an elderly person because I'd sat for so long on the plane. I also really needed her for keeping my anxiety in check—it was like every place we went into, I was constantly scanning, on high alert. For what? Dunno. My mom did her best to be a good service human but it's just not the same.

So unsurprisingly, I was incredibly glad to see the dogs when we arrived home Monday night. Dad pulled up outside baggage claim, where I was plastered against a pole so no one could/would sneak up behind me. I went out, got Juno, put on her little vest and strode back in. It was like flipping a switch. All trip, we were avoiding crowds as much as possible. Now with Juno, I waded in, and she blocked exactly where I needed her to without even being asked. I was complete again! I hugged her a bunch, even when she was working, and then in the car she and Kaline piled up against me in a little mound.

Kaline had a great time at Freddie's playing with her big black Lab, Rio. I assume it's Rio's fault that I observed Kaline lift his leg to mark for the first time today. Haha. We had training yesterday and my whiny children did pretty well. My dad apparently worked Kaline in class on Saturday and did really nicely with him, didn't screw him up! Freddie said he was way more conscientious with the pup than he normally is with Juno.

I was super pleased with Kaline's stand-stay yesterday—he'll do it for me with basically no problem, but yesterday I left him and let Freddie "examine" him. He moved his feet some, but he didn't sit, come to me, or go to Freddie, so I'll count that in the win column! Juno did awesome recalls, during which a busybody cop came to inform us of the leash rule in the park. Which we, as trainers, have town permission to "break," and which assholes break all the time with dogs who won't do a recall. And those people never get any consequences. I let Freddie talk, because I'm not good at being patient and polite with stupid authoritarian people.

Today most of the dogs (save Xena and Jett) had Hallowe'en flair to wear on the walks. Kaline wore his jack o' lantern sweater, Juno had a jack o' lantern bandanna, Gracie had a grinning pumpkin headband attached to her collar with duct tape, Max had a black and orange frilly collar, and Ellis had the sparkliest, most awesome bandanna with black, orange and white pumpkins, witches' hats, and skulls. YAY.

Juno, Gracie, Kaline and Ellis on Walk No. 1.

 

Jett, Xena, Kaline, Max and Juno on Walk No. 2.

How is he still awake?

I don't comprehend how Kaline is still bouncing around after the day he had. (Okay, maybe it had something to do with the 2+ hour nap he had ...) Right now he is writhing around on his back in the kiddie-pool bed adorably, growling to himself. Sometimes this can be an indication that a nap is in the offing. And sometimes it means he's just getting started.

Today Kaline got to meet Baxter, one of my favorite pups. I've known him since he was about five weeks old, and I've always thought of him as very small—until today! Next to Kaline, he looked enormous. He was a little overly rambunctious for Kaline, but the little guy kept going back for more. Baxter was constantly leaping into the pool, which is insanely cute. Any excuse and splash! Kaline was not real into the water (big shock), but I did get him on the first step, and supported him under his already-substantial chest as he did paddles in the water. When Kaline got tired, I held him on my lap a while as Juno and Baxter ran like crazy people all over the backyard, barking gleefully. Baxter could play really rough with her, and they had a blast.

After the playdate, we went to training in the park. My play yard for the puppy came last Friday, so today was the first time I got to use it. I thought it'd be a lot bigger, but it'll do. It's super spiffy, and Kaline took to it pretty quickly. Inside, he had his lunch, a little water bowl, his soft mat, his beehive and his chewy from Anne. A little puppy palace.

Juno next to the new playpen, with Kaline inside.

We had three client dogs today, and six trainer dogs, haha. Juno got to do a lot. She did fantastic recalls, never broke once and came in nice and straight. She did retrieves over the bar jump and retrieves on the flat. We did moving downs and moving sits, flip finishes, the "get around" for the first time (I like flip finishes much better), and sequences of sits and downs in the heel position. That's kind of hard for her, because when she does a down, she knows I expect her to roll on a hip and get comfy immediately. But when you're doing quick sits and downs, it helps if she stays in more of a sphinx position. Stuff to work on!

Juno just gets so stressed out at training ...

Kaline got to come out a little later and we worked on his basics some more, just in a much more interesting and distracting environment. He did pretty well at focusing on me, at least for the length of his baby puppy attention span. At the end, he got to play off leash with everyone. He really took to Shadow, Kristin's beagle, probably because they're about the same size (Shadow is not really into him). He also really liked her Sheltie, Phi, who has never met a boy dog she didn't adore. They played excellent games of chase. And of course Kaline had to go play with his big hero, Rio, Freddie's big black Lab. It was precious.

I'm so glad Kaline is so social! I know it's normal for puppies to be that way, but with Juno and her predecessor, Angel, they were both rescues who lacked a lot of dog social skills. Juno was so dog-reactive on leash when we first got her that the vet told me to get her evaluated immediately before I got attached and left her with my parents after going back to school. They each had to be taught, and you still kinda had to be vigilant about them and whoever they were playing with. With Kaline, I can just be so much more relaxed. It's not like I don't watch him and his playmates carefully, but I don't worry in the same way.

After training, I brought the pups home. Kaline said hi to Mom and Dad, then promptly trotted to his big crate and conked out. Gawd, he's just so freaking cute! Big day for him tomorrow—we're going to a 4th of July party, where he'll get to meet at least one dog-friendly kid, multiple tall men, and a dog almost his size to play with! Poor Juno has to stay on-leash and out of the play because no one wants to listen to fifteen minutes solid of non-stop barking.