Kaline meets his cousin; Juno goes to Pride

We had a very exciting weekend! The week was mostly a slog due to a disgusting heat wave, lots of walks in said heat, and the air conditioning not functioning properly. (WHY?!) But then Kaline's cousin Rowan, and his mom Amber, arrived in town after a very long drive from the magical land of Canada, and that made everything wonderful and exciting.

Saturday was a little bit crazy. I got up early to take Kaline to class (Dad and Juno skipped), and he did pretty well. There was a lot of stationary stuff because it was so hot. We came home and I did his nails at warp speed, because I had to get Juno to her massage appointment. (Don't judge me, it definitely helps her not have soreness.) After her massage, I switched dogs yet again and took Kaline up to Berkeley to meet Sonja, Chief, Amber, and Rowan at Paco Collars! Did I remember to get the keeper I've been needing for Kaline's collar for MONTHS? No, I did not!

We arrived and there was Rowan in all his glory. He and Kaline were immediately friends. Kaline licked Rowan's ears and face and Rowan seemed to find this delightful. He also did not mind Kaline swatting him with his paws, and swatted happily back. The cuteness was just overwhelming. Sonja and I were exceedingly distracting while Amber was trying to order Rowan's Paco, which will be totally gorgeous. Alas, she did not choose to have Canadian flag conchos put on it. I cannot imagine why!

Canadian Dobermans! Rowan's mother, Lucy, is a littermate of Kaline's mother, Dolce.

I was allowed 15 minutes of comparing Kaline to Rowan, so I will do a little of it here too. Rowan is five months older and looks (and acts) so much more mature. His chest is much broader and he's definitely taller. The boys' paws are the same size though! I actually hope Kaline doesn't grow much more vertically, because right now he is the perfect height. They have just the same play style and a lot of the same happy scratching spots. Rowan is so freaking snuggly and cute, and gives lots of kisses if you ask. I was kind of cheating on Kaline and Juno with him, it must be said.

After Paco, we took the dogs to Cesar Chavez Park to play off leash. Kaline did well except for a really annoying interlude where he would not hold a down-stay for love or money. This after a morning where he did perfect out of sight down stays. I definitely got overly frustrated with him, and must work on not doing that. Otherwise, everyone had a complete blast. Well, maybe not Chief, who had to be carried a lot or the Dobermans would have broken him with their insane crashing about. They absolutely loved playing together and racing around like maniacs! Whenever there was a lull Kaline would practically put his face into Rowan's mouth. So much cute. We exposed the dogs to a flapping kite at the end, right in their faces ... didn't care. Woot.

Kaline and Rowan at Cesar Chavez Park, photo by Sonja.

Sunday was the Pride Parade in San Francisco, which was extra festive and huge because of the recent Supreme Court rulings. Originally Sonja wanted to have our own contingent to march, consisting of owner-trainers of service dogs. But we couldn't get enough people or monitors, so when the Atheist Advocates of SF sent out an email asking for more marchers, I volunteered us. I went up with my high school friends Rachel and Lia, and we met Sonja, Hendrik, Amber, Chief, and Rowan in Brisbane, where we caught a bus.

Juno in her Pride gear!

Juno looked super, with rainbow ribbon wrapped around her guide handle and a big rainbow bow on the saddle of her BLD. She also wore her rainbow Glow collar from Paco and a rainbow bandanna from Rachel. At the parade, the only thing people could talk about was her boring, grey Ruffwear boots. Le sigh.

It was Rowan's first time on a bus, and he did wonderfully. Juno even let him touch her. The bus driver on the way there was amazing. He made all the people in the disabled seats move for us, and kept looking out for us the whole ride. Definitely planning to write a complimentary letter!

Rowan and Juno on the bus to Pride.

We got to the assembly area at the appointed time, found the atheists, who were absolutely LAST in line to march ... and waited. For over two hours. The dogs met a lovely cockatoo named Casper and got lots of oohs and ahhs. Did really well in the crowds also. Juno's pulling was, shall we say, spotty. But we all have our off days, right?

We waited in various places around the bus plaza, keeping the dogs and ourselves cool and hydrated. Unfortunately, Rachel and I both had to be back in Menlo Park in time for 6:00 dinner plans, so we reached a point where even if our group started marching that second, we wouldn't make it back in time. And thus we didn't get to march. Sad face. We still had a good time!

Rowan with rainbow ribbon and stickers.

OHMIGOD LOOK AT THOSE SHOES!!!!!!!

Adorable Chief.

Juno looking less than thrilled about holding this ...

Amber & Rowan; Sonja & Chief; me & Juno

Rowan, Chief, and Juno.

Rowan on the bus back--such a fantastic boy!

Since Juno had done Pride, Kaline came to Dad's birthday dinner. It was his first time at a really nice restaurant (I think). He was so good. He stayed under my legs quietly the whole time, ignoring dropped french fries and such. On the way to the bathroom (TMI, I know, but there's a point!), he was very deft at swiveling his butt out of the way of doors opening and closing. Maybe he's finally getting some body awareness! Wouldn't that be wonderful.

Other developing stuff with Kaline: His anxiety/panic alert is supposed to be a leg nudge. We're working on this. But he has other thoughts. For a while, it was jumping on me in a non-excited way. I would tell him “off” and then get the nudge, and then he got to do DPT, which is basically a reward for him. So he's not really doing that anymore. Now, he's freezing in place and staring hard at me. Absolutely will not move. I appreciate the alert, but even after DPT he's reluctant to move, and that's a little inconvenient. So we need to figure out how to get to that elusive leg nudge. Homework!

Outings with Chief

Kaline and Chief are fast becoming best friends. They will play with each other until one or both basically collapses from exhaustion. Yesterday, Chief and Sonja came out to training in the park. Kaline's face when he saw Chief arrive was priceless. He was stoked.

Juno and Kaline didn't get a ton of work in yesterday—we had a lot of dogs. Kaline did a pretty good job doing figure eights for the first time, though. It's a great heeling exercise, because the human has to work very hard on keeping a smooth, steady pace regardless of the turns (I usually hum "Do You Remember" in my head because it has a good beat to match my pace to), and the dog has to work on maintaining the heel position through an inside turn (slow down) and an outside turn (speed up). So Kaline got to do figure eights, and Juno got to do jumping and recalls and down-stays. We say it lovingly and jokingly, but her nickname, from all the broken down-stays, is Goddammit Juno. (Just like Peter is Jesus Peter.) We have a little too much fun cracking up and joking about at training.

We left training at exactly 4:30 to get home and be ready for our Animal Control appointment. They were scheduled to come between 5:00 and 8:00. Because Kaline is Canadian, there were all kinds of incredibly preposterous restrictions on him from Customs. Apparently rabies is just rampant there, and all puppies, even from great breeders, are exposed. (That's sarcasm.) Seriously, the restrictions on Kaline were identical to those he'd have had if he were an unvaccinated dog who'd been in contact with a confirmed rabid animal. If one actually followed those rules with a puppy from 9-17 weeks old, you'd have the most maladjusted, antisocial dog ever. Basically no going outside except to pee in the backyard, no contact with any humans or dogs outside the immediate family.

Anyway, yesterday was the day we got our figurative walking papers. The lovely man from Peninsula Humane Society came, I opened the door, he cooed over Kaline, and then said, "Okay, you're all set!" I was a little confused and said, "Um, don't you want to see his rabies certificate?" He shrugged and said, "Sure, if you have it." Clearly enforcing these insane rules is not a huge priority for them (he asked if Kaline had been through puppy classes yet, even though he wasn't ever supposed to set foot outside the house). And that's as it should be, because there are a lot of dogs actually in need of their attention! We had a great time chatting with the Animal Control officer about the improvements made at PHS (Juno is an alum) and about the two wonderful dogs he adopted from there. He just loved Kaline. Of course.

Today we had our pack walks in the morning, then came home for lunch and a lovely snuggly nap. Our tdoc appointment got cancelled, so we went on adventures. First we stopped by Mr. Choo's, the tailor, to introduce Kaline to him (he's crazy about Juno and has been asking my mom to get me to bring Kaline by). He loved the puppy and made sure to lavish attention on Juno too. Kaline was a little more distracted than normal because there was a big mirror; he still doesn't trust that strange dog who looks just like him and keeps copying him without fail!

After that, we went to meet Sonja, Hendrik and Chief over in Burgess Park. We let the puppies play off leash—they ran each other ragged and had a brilliant time. There was one point where their play drifted into a little soccer area for the kids, and one of the kids took off and Kaline took off after him ... I was of course a bit horrified and ran after Kaline to get him. No one seemed worried but me! Turned out, the kid's mom was laughing the whole time because they have two German Shorthaired Pointers, and the kid loves having them chase him. Other than that they did pretty well. Ate some mud, but hey, what are you going to do.

Sonja, who is a dog training genius, taught Juno to bark on command in about two minutes. I have been trying to figure out how to teach her that for years, and could never do it! It was no trouble getting the Labs to do it, but Juno, no way. Apparently you have to make woofie noises (I was doing that) while showing lots of open mouth and teeth (I wasn't doing that). Then they think you're playing and get excited and eventually bark back at you. It was so awesome!

Our last big adventure was going to the Stanford campus, which I've never taken much advantage of despite living here my whole life. It's almost as pretty as Michigan! And it's super service-dog/handicapped friendly. Every building not only has at least one door with a handicap button; there are always two buttons, one at the normal level and one almost at ground level, for people who either use their feet to push the buttons or who have short/small service dogs.

We walked around campus a bunch, then found a set of buttons to practice on. Juno was freaking awesome. I got her to push the button with both her paw and her nose. And since I was using the clicker, she'd get her treat and immediately bounce back to hit the button again (her cue is "Hit that"). Fabulous girl. Chief worked on the low button and did great, and I tried Kaline on both. He actually had a much easier time with the higher button; he's already tall enough that when he puts his paws on the wall, he can either hit that high button with his paw or his nose. He got the door to open once and I jackpotted him. It was a lot of fun.

We went to another courtyard and sat on the ground while the little boys wrestled some more. Damn, they're cute. Kaline is so clumsy and yet gentle with Chief, and they do tons of bitey face. And of course they really didn't have much traction on the smooth cement, so if they got up any speed chasing, they'd slide for a while if they tried to stop. Chief finally decided he was done, so we made our way back to our cars with our very tired babies. We're going to make a weekly thing of this—it's going to be great for the dogs!

Pictures hopefully to come ... Next week I'm gonna try and remember to take my Real Camera™, not my little phone.

Let the mostly sleepless marathon begin!

Yesterday was the big day! Obviously, there was kind of a lot going on.

We picked up Kaline around noon (we being me, Danny, Dad and Juno). He was at Air Canada Cargo—we could hear him yowling as soon as we walked in. They gave us paperwork there that we then had to drive over to Customs down the road, and then we drove back for the puppy.

Kaline in his crate at Air Canada Cargo.

He is so tiny! Well, except for his paws, of course. I know he won't stay that way for long, but he is little enough that I was able to pick him up yesterday. (I now know that was a bad idea ... well, I knew it at the time too, just didn't care! All muscles are in mutiny today.) He's fun to carry around, because he hugs onto your neck like a little monkey. He cried part of the way home in his crate—he is not a fan!—but then fell asleep. I guess it's a puppy thing, but I find it just so adorable: how Kaline can be totally into something one second, and then the next second, he's asleep!

We came home and mostly had a playful afternoon. Juno wanted/wants nothing to do with Kaline—I think she's afraid of him. He'll go up to her, kissing or playbowing, being very polite for a puppy, and she just walks away. She wasn't talking to me for a while but I think we're friends again as of this morning's training session.

Kaline and Danny!

Kaline smelled kinda bad after his trip, even though he didn't mess in the crate as far as I could tell, so I took him upstairs and gave him a bath. He hadn't peed since we got him, even though we gave him chances (he was distracted). I expected he'd end up going in the tub, but I was slightly off and he peed in the bathroom. Easy cleanup, totally not his fault.

Kaline in the bathtub.

He was very good in the bath, partly because he couldn't jump out no matter how hard he tried, being too small, and mostly because Maura did such a great job accustoming him to being handled. He didn't mind being touched anywhere or having his feet washed or getting his face wet. I loved how I could wrap up his entire body in the towel once I got him out.

What a face!

Danny, Dad and I hung out with Kaline in the living room (Juno wasn't having any of it) for a long time. He was like the Energizer Bunny for a while. We worked a little on sit, down, watch, get busy, and wait. He's really getting the hang of going potty immediately, outside, and on his leash. Hurrah. He had one more accident later that night—because he'd just woken up from a long nap, but instead of getting outside promptly, he got sidetracked being cuddled by Mom!

My stuffie!!

After Danny left for work, Kaline pretty much crashed. He had no problem sleeping in his crate if the door was open, but the minute I shut it, he would go ballistic. You can imagine how attempting to sleep last night went! Not so awesome. But we just have to ride it out; he absolutely can't learn that if he just cries LOUD enough, and LONG enough, he'll get what he wants. I've only been letting him out once he's quiet, and I'm trying to get him to wait. We need to do some crate exercises with the clicker ... First I have to introduce the clicker! (I've just been luring and treating so far.)

Asleep in the crate.

Today, Kaline's sit has been awesome. It's one of his defaults already, and he's starting to make nice eye contact. He'll stay a bit too, long enough for me to get from facing him to the heel position. He goes into a down very easily, but so far doesn't really want to stay there. He comes wonderfully (we're not doing the formal recall yet, just “Puppy puppy puppy!” and the like) and is starting to wait at the doors.

Walks are interesting. I don't know how much time Kaline has had on a leash. So far, he mostly will not walk ahead of me (big plus), but he kind of weaves around behind me. Sometimes he'll just stop ... so yeah, we're having fun on the walks! We've just gone around and back on the back streets here. Kaline was a little surprised by the train when he first heard it outside (inside, he couldn't care less) but he recovered really fast. He's catching on fast with the stairs too—we have a lot of stairs. Watching him go up and down like a little uncoordinated jackrabbit is way too much fun.

Juno finally talking to me again.

I really love Kaline's personality. He's bright, he's fun to do quick training sessions with (he has the attention span of ... a baby puppy!), he doesn't get frightened easily (just startled, and then curious) and he has an off switch! He's definitely up for relaxing/sleeping a lot. He also likes to chew his leash, but I've been redirecting him with a squeaky bone and a Nylabone. Fluffy bone is a big hit. Also sweet potato chews. Juno finishes those in about fifteen seconds; Kaline was still earnestly masticating his twenty minutes on.

Oh, speaking of earnest, have I mentioned his little head wrinkles? So precious. He looks so serious and pensive when he just plops down, cocks his head and wrinkles his forehead while looking at you in a quizzical way. He also makes gurgling noises when he sleeps.

And his ears. They are everything I thought they'd be and more!

TOMORROW!

I am excited out of my mind. Kaline will be here tomorrow. Since I got home from walking my packs today, I've been doing cleanup and puppy prep. Mom and I washed down our whole back patio—this will be the first place he learns to eliminate—and then sprayed the whole thing with a weak bleach solution. I'm hoping that soon Kaline can learn to hold it between his crate and getting outside in the morning/after naps, and then I can take him out the front door and across the street, to a nice big patch of gravel. Much easier cleanup!

All Juno's stuffies, except her current favorite, Mr. Rhino, are either hidden away in the garage or up on a high counter in the little bar area off the living room—no stuffies for the wee one until I know he's not going to kill them. Mom did a last Pet Place run while I was out with the packs, and came home with a ton of goodies. A little stuffie bone for Kaline (yeah, we'll see how long that lasts!); a couple free packets of little treats; a smaller, softer Nylabone (I already have a big one for Powerful Chewers); and of course, an enormous container of Nature's Miracle. We've got spray bottles now ready, one full of the bleach solution for cleaning up on the back patio, and one full of Nature's Miracle for accidents.

I got a bunch of little stuff up off the floor throughout the house. Filled up the smaller black Kong with peanut butter and some pieces of puppy kibble, and popped it in the freezer. Moved the thick awesome bed out of the big crate and into the guest room (Kaline can have it when he's not gonna destroy it, and when the crate no longer needs to be partitioned) and lined the crate with a big towel and the adorable soft pad Mom got for him when she was at a craft fair. We have grand plans for that thing. It's vaguely bone shaped, very soft, light blue with puppies on one side and red with puppies on the other. We're gonna take a photo of Kaline on the pad tomorrow, and then every Monday thereafter for a couple months. (Who knows, given my tendency toward obsession/sticking to routines, it could be every Monday for a YEAR.) Why Monday? Cause he was born on a Monday, and then I can say things like, "This is Kaline at nine weeks."

Juno got a bath, mostly because she was sticky from training yesterday at the park. She was tethered on the lawn when not working ... there were plums ... thus stickiness. Also she'll be all super-pretty now for the arrival of her new brother. I even put more ointment on her pads—such a gorgeous girl!

I also got in touch with Air Canada Cargo. I got a Real Live Person™ on the first try! It was amazing. The Real Live Person™ helpfully told me the address of Air Canada Cargo—a completely separate place from San Francisco International Airport—and said to arrive there about an hour after Kaline's plane is due to give him time to get transported from the airport to cargo. Once I get him at cargo, I have to take his health certificate over to customs, and then we can go home. Not entirely sure if I have to leave him (and his undoubtedly full bladder) at cargo while I do this; hopefully I'll at least be allowed to take him for a pee break first!

Man, tomorrow is just going to be insane and momentous. Gotta at least try to get a decent night's sleep, since I won't even have the opportunity to do so for the foreseeable future. I've done the first-day-with-a-new-dog thing twice, but Kaline is my first puppy. And like most people, I've wanted a puppy since forever. I'm actually really glad that I had to wait this long. I feel like I'm finally ready for a puppy.

Let's see if I still feel that way by the end of tomorrow!

Five days!

This countdown is getting crazy! Okay, actually I'm the one who's crazy. Today I got Kaline's flight information. He should be arriving at SFO at about 10:35 on Saturday morning. I'm not entirely sure just yet where I actually pick him up, but I seem to remember seeing someone pick up a puppy in an office by the baggage claim. I wonder how long it will take to reach a live human being at the airport who can give me the one answer I need ...

I went back to observe puppy class again this past Sunday, this time with Danny in tow. I'm hoping that if I can get Kaline into the class, Danny will be able to come to help with the recall and stuff. Kaline may end up falling into a sort of limbo between classes—might be too young for any but the last meeting of the current five-week session, and may be nearly too old for the next one. It's not the end of the world, as Freddie also has puppy classes going on. I just have my heart set on Amy's!

The puppies are ever so cute, as always. This time around, there's a yellow Lab (my fave, of course); a Golden Retriever; a poodle/Golden retriever mix; a gorgeous blue Great Dane with the most hilarious ears; a Wheaten terrier; and a delightful little Bernese Mountain Dog. Hopefully Kaline can get his second-round shots at 11 weeks and make it to the final meeting. We'll see what the vet says, just one week from today!

Did I mention that the local vets are Doberman people? There is a married couple now in charge at Peninsula Pet Hospital (originally, Angel's and Juno's vet was Dr. Cortesi, but he's mostly retired now) and they have a gorgeous young black and tan male named Anchor. Juno likes Dr. Ulla a lot, which is a big deal cause she is not generally a vet fan. The techs are all stoked to meet the puppy, of course.

One week to Kaline!

Kaline will be here in just seven days! Brown-collar puppy, now wearing a brown and blue collar, is for sure The One. I am so excited! He's super sweet and pretty sure of himself, which I love. The puppies met Maura's potbellied pig, Stella, this week, and Kaline went right up to her to check her out. The little red girl ran away when she realized how big Stella was, but Kaline was just cool. He and the red boy are both unfazed when they go exploring and find themselves without their siblings. I guess the others don't really like that.

I'm guessing this is before Stella was let out; all the pups going, “WHOA, what is that?!”

Handsome red boy, Wilson, in the yard with his black sister, Olive.

One of the black boys approaching Stella.

Puppy pile on a young friend! Kaline has been quite calm and friendly meeting all kinds of strangers. WIN.

More introductions to Stella!

Juno has had a busy week! On Wednesday, we went to the Giants game, likely our last of the season, and if you're a baseball fan, you know that Matt Cain pitched a perfect game that night! (If you're not a baseball fan: In a perfect game, the pitcher allows no baserunners. No hits, no errors, no walks, no dropped third strikes. NOTHING.) It was amazing, and Juno handled everything with her usual no-sweat attitude. She got to watch the game a little (we had several empty seats around us) and otherwise slept through pretty much everything. She worked the crowds like a champ.

Juno at the perfect game—“What do you want me to watch you for? I'm watching the game!”

She also got to go to a couple new pubs (new to her) to watch some Euro 2012 games. One was the Rose & Crown, where my friend Ben and I watched England play to a 1-1 draw with France. That one wasn't too crowded, but when the goals were scored, it got fairly loud. Then on Wednesday afternoon, we went to Rudy's for the Netherlands-Germany game. Rudy's is the local pub where all the Dutch fans gather to watch their team, so Rudy's was packed wall-to-wall with crazy people in orange. (Yes, I too was a crazy person in orange, though sadly I am not Dutch.) Juno, who had just been on two hour-long walks, sacked out under the bar with Ben and me standing behind her, guarding her paws from wayward human feet. Lots of loud noise, crowding, food everywhere—no big deal for Junebug!

Juno at the Rose and Crown.

It's been really hot here lately, so much so that Juno has been dancing about uncomfortably on pavement, so today I got her Ruffwear Skyliners—dog booties. She pranced hilariously when I first put them on her, but I think they will really make a big difference. Yet another small proof of global warming: Juno has never, ever had this issue with pavement before, even in summer. This year, it's hot enough around here that her paws are hurting and her nails were getting ground down to an uncomfortable point. But not anymore! Yay booties. I also got her some ointment for her pads.

We picked up Kaline's puppy food (Royal Canin), one of the last things I need for him. I also got him a Zoom Groom, cause they've been highly recommended and I certainly can't use a Furminator on him. (Juno, on the other hand, has been Furminated nearly every day in the past two weeks, and the amount of hair that's still coming out of her is absolutely preposterous.) I'm sure there'll be more things I have to get for him—dogs are 'spensive, jeez!—but I think I'm as prepared as I can be for now!

Pups outside again!

More photos! I made them bigger than usual because the puppies seem so super small in them. Is it June 23 yet?!?!?!?!

One of the red pups, I *think* it's the girl, outside.

Formerly brown-collar boy, now blue-collar boy (at least I'm hoping I got the collar switch right!)

Blue collar boy.

I think that's still blue-collar boy.

Outdoor play and STACKED PHOTOS!

There are so many gorgeous photos of the puppies from today I just don't know where to start! They got to play outside. I don't know if it was their first time or not, but it must have been very exciting! I tend to view things through my service-dog lens, so as I was looking through the photos, I was full of delight at seeing all the different surfaces and objects the puppies had to explore. There was wood, grass, rocks to clamber over—learning to be comfortable and relaxed on all manner of surfaces is very important. Plus it looks like the pups had a fantastic time.

Chilling in the grass.

Exploring the deck.

Insane cuteness from no-collar boy.

Exploring the rocks.

Exuberance!!!

Additionally, Maura posted the first set of stacked photos! In case the word “stacked” doesn't mean anything to you when it comes to dogs, the term means that the dog (or puppy in this case) is standing squarely, with their back feet far enough back that their hocks are straight and their topline is nice (i.e. not hunched over or way stretched out). It may look easy, but it's really not! Not even with an adult dog—teaching them to stand properly can take a really long time, and getting puppies to stand in the right position, and stand still, is a big task.

Brown collar boy stacked.

Brown collar boy.

White collar boy stacked.

White collar boy.

No collar boy stacked.

Red boy stacked.

Red boy. What a face!

Black girl stacked.

Black girl.

Red girl stacked.

Don't you just love their fat little bellies? Precious.

Kaline's in-training vest came yesterday. I'll post photos once the patches are sewn on—taking it to the tailor tomorrow!

A wealth of puppy videos

Happy Mother's Day to mama Dolce!

The puppies are going to be three weeks old tomorrow, and today Maura posted three fabulous videos! They're up and mobile, eyes open, vocalizing with incredible adorableness. In the next few weeks, we'll really start getting to see all the pups' personalities. Probably, after another three or so weeks have passed, I'll know which puppy is Kaline!

 Juno is quite the talker, when off-duty, so hopefully this means Kaline will be too! (To be fair, though, the puppy making all the noise in the video is the black female—evidently she was not happy that she had to have a bath.) I'm always having to tell new people, “Don't worry if she starts to growl when you scratch her butt, that means she's happy and you should keep doing that.” Sometimes if she's really feeling playful she'll make her wounded bear/Wookiee noises. And of course, when we're out at training in the park and she has to honor a different dog working, there's a constant stream of commentary from the Juno Peanut Gallery. You can tell her down, and she'll go, but the whole time she'll be grumbling or yodeling in hilarious protest.

I can't figure out how to embed the third video, which shows some of the pups playing, so here's the link!

Puppy travel & possible registered names!

When you live in California and you decide to get a puppy from eastern Canada, you know that travel is going to be A Thing.

We (my dad and I) are currently somewhat on the fence about whether to fly to Buffalo to get the puppy, or to have him shipped from Toronto. It's more expensive for people to fly from San Francisco to Toronto; Buffalo is a little further from the breeder, but cheaper and then we wouldn't have to cross the border. The puppy flying from Toronto, though, is way cheaper than us flying roundtrip to Buffalo. Toronto has direct flights to/from San Francisco; Buffalo doesn't. I wouldn't consider a non-direct flight for the puppy by himself. With shipping the puppy, you also have to consider heat ... So there is a small possibility I could get him a week early if we go that route.

Tons of people—people who know what they're talking about—have told me that puppies are shipped by themselves on planes all the time with no physical or psychological ill effects. A friend just had her new little SD candidate shipped to her, and he's doing great. But I still make up worst case scenarios in my head. It's kinda what I do. So all things being equal, I'd rather go get the puppy, despite the possible hassles of traveling with two dogs and attempting to do a potty break with a baby puppy on our return layover. Knowing exactly where he is and how he's doing the entire time would make me feel so much better.

However, flying both my dad and myself to Buffalo is, um, really expensive and thus makes all things not so equal. Not even counting in the pet ticket for the way back. And this is if we took a red-eye so we wouldn't have to spend a night in a hotel. It's considerably more expensive than shipping the puppy. But ... Dad all of a sudden is kinda excited about the prospect of staying over and going to see Niagara Falls. That could help in getting us to Buffalo! Decisions, I am so incredibly terrible at making them sometimes.

See how the fence sitting thing works? All right, enough of the agonizing over travel. Here, have a picture of 17-day-old puppies.

AND ... Here are the three picks I'm sending off to Maura for Kaline's registered name. She has final say, and might not choose any of these three. It was great fun picking them anyway!

Gatehouse Michigan & Trumbull (The Corner, where Tiger Stadium was located in Detroit)
Gatehouse As Time Goes By (cause his dad's name is Ambermark's Play It Again)
Gatehouse Lucky I'm Cute (cause this is the L litter)