Michigan Trip, Day 5

18 August 2013

We were at Greenfield Village basically from opening to closing! It was glorious. Perfect weather, so Mr. K did not have to wear shoes, and no one was chilly or overheated. Woohoo.

Dad had twisted his ankle the night before, so for the day he rented a scooter. We told him he looked like Dr. Nefario from Despicable Me.

We had planned to take the train to the back of the village and work our way forward, but the wait for the next one was too long—we had a long list of things to do! This ended up happening repeatedly and we never actually took the train. Ah well.

We walked all the way back to the Daggett Farmhouse, one of my favorite stops. Kay did excellent momentum pulling to get there. We stopped off at the Logan County Courthouse, where Abraham Lincoln once practiced law. We'd seen the outside but never the inside, and the door was open so we went in to learn more about it. When we came outside, I noticed that Kaline's liquid bandaid had all worn off and his ear looked pretty good! I was still super careful with it and the bandaid has since been reapplied, because he shook his head too hard and I could tell it wasn't going to hold. Maybe it will once the hair grows back?

Once we went inside the farmhouse, we had a lot of things to work on! The fire inside was crackling merrily as usual—the Daggett Farmhouse presenters cook their meals there and much of their food comes from the garden in the back. It's so cool that it's still at least kind of a working farm. But the open flame scared the crap out of Kaline (not literally) who had no clue what the heck it was. He froze, hackles up, and gave a little wuff.

The presenters were super nice and supportive about me working Kaline through it. We went outside to calm down, first of all. Did some easy commands (sit, touch, stand). Once he was a bit calmer and more focused, we went back inside. He was still not happy about the flames but I took him as far away from them as I could to sneak past and get him into the kitchen area. There, he chilled out nicely. I let all the presenters say hi to him and pet him because he also seemed unsettled by their period dress.

We met a guy, also in period garb, outside splitting wood. Kaline warmed up to him nicely, after being a little unsure at first. Then we spent a long time at the candle-making demo. The two ladies there were very informative and very happy to help Kaline with his aversion to period dress. One even took off her straw bonnet so he could make a closer inspection. He really relaxed after that interaction. Yay.

One of the lovely, super helpful dog-loving candle makers.

Next we went to the beautiful Cotswold Cottage for tea and scones, something that is never an option when we go in chilly October. There were tables set up in the side yard with little umbrellas over them, and flowers all around. English gardens are awesome. Kaline chilled out next to my chair for the most part (till we got him up for a wee photo shoot—Mom can't resist the combo of gorgeous flowers and dogs). I got a pot of hot English Breakfast tea in a tea cozy, with a full honey bear on the table just for me. The scones with jam and clotted cream were to die for.

We came back to the Town Hall for a fun Gershwin medley performance, during which Kaline warmed my feet. The parents went to ride the carousel while Kaline and I waited in vain at the town hall for the baseball parade to begin. (Dammit.) After that, Dad went to watch the game, while Mom, Kaline and I went off on our own.

Town Hall.

Greenfield Village Omnibus.

 We ended up at Liberty Craft Works again, where I was actually able to watch and very much enjoy the pottery demonstrations. Kaline also met a tiny little girl who was so cute and polite I let her pet him and love him up. He'd been doing so well all day I thought he deserved a reward.

A little later, we met back up with Dad and decided to ride the Model T even though there was a really long line. Kaline did pretty well in line except when he accidentally did a tail clamp on one of the chains that marked the line's serpentine. Did some blocking, some lying down with all the humans blocking for him. We ended up in basically a Model T woody, known as a hack. Kaline was a little nervous at first because of how loudly the gears shifted and how much vibration there was, but soon he settled into a down at my feet.

On the Model T ... Kaline is hard to see but he's there!

After our ride we explored the Miller School, another building we'd never been in since it's rarely open to the public. The man at the door advised that there was a tiny steam engine inside, so I'd be ready to work Kaline through it if it bothered him, but he totally didn't care. Just flopped on the floor while Dad and I talked to one of the presenters about steam engines and the war for Toledo (Michigan “lost” but got the Upper Peninsula, full of copper and other awesome things. Ohio got ... Toledo.)

Kaline and I with my favorite poster. Bennett Park is where the Tigers played before they had Navin Field/Briggs Stadium/Tiger Stadium.

Itty bitty steam engine.

We checked out the World's Fair exhibit in the actual museum, but it wasn't that exciting, unfortunately. Even Mom agrees that the best special exhibit we've ever seen there was the baseball one put on by the Hall of Fame in 2006 (I think). None of the others have even come close, though we never did get to see the Titanic one. I bet that one was pretty cool.

Momentum pull FTW!!

Dinner was yummy, and when I was feeling particularly tense and anxious, Kaline got up and laid his head in my lap for a while. Both my parents commented on how excellently he'd done on the trip. Sure, he was a little annoying in his teenager way when off duty, but during his working time, he was pretty much everything you could possibly ask from a nearly 16-month-old pup. Very professional.

Michigan Trip, Day 4

17 August 2013

Saturday, we did the Farmer's Market, Greenfield Village, and dinner with one of my buddies from the gymnastics team who is now in med school at Michigan.

It took forever to get out to the market, but we finally did. It's way bigger and better than the one at home, not to mention more crowded. Kaline had a little more trouble with these crowds because they were so dense. Sometimes there was no path through, and he couldn't make his way without touching people somehow. We also ran into pets who shouldn't have been there. But it was still fun. Kaline even did an anxiety alert and response, which was pretty awesome.

Kaline at the market.

After the market we drove to Dearborn and the Henry Ford Museum, my favorite thing pretty much ever. America's Greatest History Attraction. Totally true. We headed out into Greenfield Village, located behind the museum, where all the historic buildings are. Kaline was a little spooky to start, because right as we got in he saw in succession a steam engine making all kinds of noise, a bunch of Model Ts puttering around, and horse-drawn omnibus. Not familiar things in his life!

Our objective was Walnut Grove and the Historic Base Ball game about to start. We got a nice spot on a hill overlooking the field but soon discovered there were innumerable flying insects in the grass which were constantly swarming over Kaline. He didn't seem to mind, but I was sure bothered! We only stayed for two innings. The game itself was very delightful—some of the plays they made barehanded (no gloves in 1867!) were just amazing. The game settled Kaline down nicely also.

After the game we headed to the Eagle Tavern for lunch. I love that place. They serve whatever foods would be available in Michigan at that time of year in about 1850. Way better than the fast food you get at the cafeterias elsewhere in the museum. I got a bunch of cornbread to save along with all my other delicious food. Kaline slept between my feet the whole time.

The weather was beautiful, warm but not hot, and there were way more people than we usually see in the fall. So many more stands were open too! It was really cool. We caught a horse-drawn wagon from the tavern, pulled by Percherons Amos and Edsel. Kaline was apprehensive about climbing on this contraption at first, but got used to it. Then we went to the carousel, where Dad held Kay while Mom and I rode. I pulled myself onto a horse and wrenched everything in my back and shoulders. Stupid, stupid me.

Next we went to the craft shops: glass blowing, tin making, print pressing, pottery making. In the tin shop, the other SD team we'd been seeing all day came in but left when they saw Kaline. I was a bit bummed at the lost training opportunity. Little white dog in orange, I assumed it was a hearing dog since generally that's their color.

Pottery is my favorite but that day I basically had to be a presenter, even though I really wanted to listen to the actual presenters. Everyone was asking me questions about Kaline. Nice questions, but I was bummed out that I didn't get to hear what the real presenters were saying. And then it was time to leave cause they were closing.

Kaline was so exhausted he just slept through dinner at Good Time Charley's, my favorite restaurant ever.

Saturday Class No. 5 and Tour of Gymnastics Champions

Saturday class was back on yesterday, and Kaline did pretty well. There was a ton of heeling going on, and toward the end of class, Kaline even did some of it off-leash! I was really excited about that. He kept looking up to check in with me, as I've been rewarding him for on walks when he's on a "let's go," not a "heel," and that was awesome. We did regular heeling on the circle, except everyone was going different directions (on purpose). That made for some very useful chaos, as dogs were constantly having to speed up, slow down, and go past other dogs. Kaline has no trouble really ignoring dogs moving past in class ... just have to transfer that to the real world!

We also did figure eights, great for getting dogs to keep pace with you, and meet and greets. The figure eights went quite well, I thought, and the meet and greet was good too. Kaline is still sitting about one step behind where the heel position actually is, but after I move him up enough times, I know he'll get it!

Recalls went pretty well too. He even did one or two off-leash! Of course, I didn't go very far away from him, and as soon as his attention started to wander, I'd move in really close to get it back. I just have to remember to keep both hands down to guide him in. Both hands, and he comes in straight. One hand, regardless of which hand, and he will do a drive-by on my right.

There was also a really cool bit of class where we were only allowed to use hand signals and the verbal cue for "watch." Any command other than watch had to be nonverbal. It was so neat to watch everyone work with their dogs in silence, and Kaline did fairly well. It was toward the end of class, so all he really wanted to do was lie down. So, whenever I would raise my hand in the down/drop signal, he'd drop, but for sit, even though he knows the hand signal, he'd lie there and look at me like, "Are you sure I have to get up? Positive?" Not too worried about that, since longer focus will come with age. I keep having to remind myself that he is only about 4 ½ months old, and I need to keep expectations reasonable. Sounds like a broken record, but it's so important, and I am so terrible sometimes.

Last we did long sits and downs; predictably, Kaline had issues with the long sit because he was tired. Also, Juno kept lying down for Dad, because when he'd signal her to stay, he'd move his hand in such a way that it looked way too similar to the hand signal for down. And Juno is very accommodating, haha.

She also was one of the dogs who took off on a joyride during the off-leash portion (since she qualifies as an "advanced" dog—Kaline was the only one at class not ready for an entire off-leash section). Our class Whippet took off, and even after everyone got reminded to pay attention to their own dog, the Lab was next to go, and then I guess Dad was asleep at the wheel cause Juno bolted after them. Everyone was gotten back safely, the children's soccer game nearby wasn't harmed, and everyone got a good lesson on focusing in the right spot! Also Juno looked pretty gorgeous stretched out running as fast as she could. Whippets, shockingly, are super fast.

After class we went to see the Prius V and give it a test drive. To my dismay, it is pretty much out of the running. The setup inside is a bit weird; the surface in the cargo area is not completely flat like in the CRV and Rav4; the one with leather seats is the second-most expensive option, and with dogs you pretty much have to have the leather seats for clean-up-ability; and the kicker is I barely could close the hatch in the back. Just getting it down the one time hurt, and there is no way I could close it multiple times per day. Ah well. A used 2011 CRV in glacier blue has turned up, so we are going to check it out Wednesday and see if it might be a winner. Faithful Little Tygs On Top is already starting to make weird noises again. Sigh.

Last night, Kaline stayed home while Juno, the 'rents and I joined two friends for the Tour of Gymnastics Champions in San Jose. One of the friends was Amie, with wonderful Pilaf! We had a great time taking the dogs together—it's definitely a plus when you aren't the only one in the group who has to think about feedings, potty breaks and the like. We with dogs ended up in one of the cement boxes, but we could see fine and the dogs had a ton of room to stretch out; the other three were in the row below us.

Juno in the box.

Juno was a champ, and so was Pilaf. Juno has never had an issue with Caltrain, just went right to sleep on my feet on the way there. She did awesome momentum pulling basically the entire night. Once she knows a route, her pulling improves tremendously (a sign we should probably work more on directionals at some point). I was really glad I didn't bring Kaline cause this was definitely a show to pay attention to!

The Shark Tank before the show.

It was loud, with crazy lights, and a good dose of screaming (especially when Aly Raisman's distinctive floor music began to play and a spotlight suddenly picked her out on a corner of the floor). That bothered Pilaf at the beginning, but that was pretty much the only time she got unsettled. She was super. Juno is an old hand at the screaming (she only can't stand it if it comes from rollercoasters, as I discovered on a trip to Great America). She slept most of the time and I got to concentrate on the show. Sam Mikulak, Michigan Man, was not there, I assume because he has to be in school. (Jake Dalton is a junior too, though, and he was in it. Hmm.) Danell Leyva also was MIA. Figures, he does not seem to be much of a team player at all. All the Olympic girls were there, plus Jon Horton, John Orozco and Jake Dalton from the guys' team. Other National Team guys were some of my faves, like Chris Brooks, Steve Legendre and Josh Dixon (Stanford!). We tried to go down and say hi after, but no luck.

On the way home, the girls tucked themselves (or got tucked, as the case may be!) under the seats and Amie and I got to talk service dogs the whole way. It was quite nice, though we were very tired. Poor Amie had no sleep to look forward to either—she had to go to work for ten hours, then a meeting! Yikes.

Juno and Pilaf on the ride home.

I came home to a zoomie baby Doberman, so we played fetch a bit before we had to head back to bed. I was very proud of him that he hadn't made any mess or destroyed anything in his crate, because he was in there for a long time. I tired him out beforehand and made sure he was empty, but still!

Today we did downtown Menlo Park and hit all our favorite handicap buttons. Juno reminds me of Hermione when we're doing buttons. She watches Kaline flub around with this look of mounting frustration on her face, then finally shoulders him out of the way and smacks the button right on with her paw. She knows the answer, dammit! He's getting better at the buttons though, probably because he's getting taller every day. Maybe a little more coordinated too ... I hope!

We also had our usual Borrone's walk/outing with Dad, and today we met Freddie there to talk about dogs as a business. I always end up really discouraged after such conversations, even if they're not meant to be discouraging. I always feel so limited in what I can do, because of my limitations from fibro. The fatigue is a huge problem, almost as big as the problems with my hands. So now I'm wondering if I can ever make it work ... and by the same token, I wonder how I could ever get a "normal" 9-5 job when I probably could not actually work such a schedule long term, spoons-wise.

But anyway, the dogs were good; Juno even let Kaline cuddle with her a bit under the table. We're having a quiet afternoon and I'm just trying to stave off the latest edition of the funk. Another hell week begins tomorrow, and maybe after that things will be a little better.

Dogs cuddling.

Twelve weeks old!

Today Kaline turned twelve weeks old! How exciting. He went and got his second set of shots, which I was super stoked about ... and then the vet said I should still wait another two weeks to take Kaline on the big pack walks and such. Argh. I have a lot of walks with this one dog, however, who lives in a beautiful, quiet neighborhood, and I generally have to walk him by himself because he's a bit of a spaz, so Kaline will be able to go along for those walks. No treks to downtown Menlo Park or Palo Alto yet though.

Our big exposure for today was the train station. I thought I was so prepared—I checked the schedule when we got to the station, and in a few minutes there would be a northbound train stopping. We were on the southbound side, so the train would be kind of distant and it would be slow, plus Juno couldn't care less about trains no matter what they do, so she would provide a great example for the wee one.

I didn't factor in the express.

We were just hanging out on our bench when a southbound express (our side of the tracks) came whooshing through. I was not expecting it, and obviously neither was Kaline! Juno stood there as though nothing out of the ordinary was happening, and her wee brother scooted under our bench until the bad nasty train went away. I felt so awful. Poor little man!

Nonetheless, I waited for the “good” train, and while we were waiting, Kaline finally got to meet a person on a bike. I still am on the fence about Kaline and bikes: is he scared of them, or just very interested? After asking permission, I let Kaline sniff this guy's bike all over, and meet the guy himself, of course. After a few minutes, the next train came through, the one I'd been planning on. Kaline sat between my feet and shook a little while I rubbed his chest. He didn't whine or try to run away though, and he definitely recovered his happy-go-lucky-ness very quickly.

Trains: Another thing to keep working on.