Tiger Pride 2013

Every year, when the Tigers come to play the A's, we have a weekend of Tiger Pride. Most of my friends have Tiger Pride t-shirts I designed when I was sixteen, and we've gotten about four batches since 2002, when this all started. We get smaller groups now that a lot of people have moved away, but it's still fun.

This was Kaline's first Tiger Pride series—I wasn't sure how he'd do, having to stay down for a whole game, so Juno did Friday night (also because it was cold at the night game, and we all know how Kaline “deals” with cold), and Kaline did the two weekend day games.

Friday, 12 April: A's 4, Tigers 3 F/12

Friday night, Juno, Dad and I arrived at the ballpark well before the gates opened, and ended up meeting my friends Danny and Evanne. Juno was, of course, a star. We schmoozed with our favorite usher, Papa Nick, who works right behind the Tigers dugout and who has known me since middle school, probably. (The Tiger Pride crew have gained the affection of all the ushers on the first-base side, because we started coming with the Tigers were so epically bad.)

Juno waiting to go in.

We got to sit in Nick's section, cause he's awesome like that, and the game was pretty good. My nominal favorite Tiger, Max Scherzer, was pitching, and he was decent; the offense just didn't do much. Prince Fielder homered to give us a 3-0 lead, and then we gradually let the A's chip away till they won in extra innings. It was a really good thing I had Juno. Not only was it a ridiculously long game in terms of time, it was cold. I was miserable. Juno, with her nice double-coat topped off with her grey Cloudchaser, was just fine. Slept under my seat the whole time, then helpfully pulled me up the stairs and out of the stadium.

Juno being a pretzel under my seat.

Less pretzel-y.

On the way out, we passed some middle-aged female A's fans perched at the side of the concourse, booing anyone wearing blue and orange. They were like high school bullies. So I flipped them off as we went by. One of them then decided to come up behind me and grab me by the shoulders, telling me authoritatively, “You're too young to be doing that.” Just writing about it is making my heart rate shoot up. She is bloody lucky that I freeze in fear when I get grabbed by a complete stranger, instead of freaking punching them as hard as I can. I should've punched her, and I should've responded that she was way too old to be doing what she was doing, but instead I said, “Fuck you, I'm twenty-seven,” and rushed outside to find enough open space for Juno to lie across my lap and lean into my chest. She did that as soon as I sat down. I was shaking. People have no boundaries. But my dog is freaking awesome.


Saturday, 13 April: Tigers 7, A's 3

Kaline's first Tigers game was a smashing success. We got to the park later than normal, still an hour-plus before game time, and met up with Danny, Ryan, Evanne, Sonja, Hendrik and Chief at various times, along with my Tigers buddy Sabrina, the #1 Don Kelly Fan.

Me with Ryan, Danny and Evanne in our Tiger Pride splendor.

Kaline did incredibly well with the crowds packed in the concourses—it was a beautiful Saturday, there was a giveaway, and Justin Verlander was pitching for the Tigers, so it was a really well-attended game, especially for the A's. Crowds really send my anxiety through the roof, but watching Kaline be completely cool while trying to find a way through was amazing at calming me down. He's going to do great with the Leading Through Crowds tasks, when he is old enough to learn it. I think so, anyway.

Me and Kaline with Anthony.

I took Kay to meet all our favorite ushers, like Anthony, Mark, Other Mark, and Rod. They all loved on him, and I didn't say no because you totally want the ushers to be on your side; it was cool to watch Kaline accept their pats and kisses without really getting lovey back. After the game, I found Sabrina (who has a Doberman) and her birthday group and unvested Kaline, who had done really well. He immediately went into social-butterfly mode then, kissing everyone, giving hugs, draping himself across convenient laps. Super cute, a great reward for a good day's work, and the humans thought it was great too.

During the game, to my delighted surprise, Kaline curled up under my seat and barely popped up at all. He did slowly wheel himself around, trying to find the optimum orientation, but he was calm and down and that's all I really cared about. Our only minor issue was that he wanted to do a little sunbathing, and kept sticking his head and one paw out into the aisle, where he could easily get stepped on. I was able to get him to crawl backwards by just holding a treat against his chest. It was actually quite amusing.

Head in the sun, nose and paws safely within our row!

And the Tigers won! Not without a lot of scary-ness, after Justin Verlander departed, but still, a win! And toward the end of the game Kaline and I moved up with Chief, Sonja and Hendrik, which was great fun as well. Kaline finally stuck his paw in Chief's face one too many times and Chief told him off. Attaboy, Chief!! Everyone was charmed by the pups. Cause they're freaking adorable.

Sunday, 14 April: Tigers 10, A's 1

Today's game went quite well also. We got there before the gates opened, so we'd have lots of schmoozing time before the game. Kaline did well in the small handicapped line (which I am so grateful for, by the way—no having to wait in big crowds of hostile A's fans. They're super mad at the Tigers right now, because not only did we eliminate the A's from the 2012 playoffs, we then failed to beat the A's crosstown-rival Giants in the World Series. Much bitterness).

We visited with Anthony, Sabrina, and other Tigers fans during batting practice, which Kaline found alternately fascinating (ooh, flying baseballs!) and really boring. It was great fun introducing him to other Tigers fans, because when they heard his name they'd smile with recognition. You don't really get that with the general population, haha. Donnie Kelly came over and made Sabrina's day by signing the baseball he'd given her on Friday and taking a photo with her. What a guy!
 

Donnie Kelly and Sabrina.

Anthony set us up with excellent seats and we happily watched the Tigers pummel the A's. Kaline was a little more fidgety today, because though it was sunny, it was windy and kind of cold. He was wearing a Cloudchaser under his vest, and he was still curled up under my seat shivering. About halfway through the game I wrapped him up in my dad's big hoodie, which seemed to help. Hopefully once he fills out and puts on more muscle, etc., maybe he'll stay a bit warmer. If not, we're going to have to figure out some kind of plan for night games ...

Curled up early ...

... bundled up later. 60 degrees with wind = winter blizzard in Kaline land.

Kay was definitely more on his game today—any sign of anxiety (including when I made joking distressed sounds) and he was pressing himself against me. I was super pleased with his whole weekend performance. It was a lot more than I was expecting! I have much more confidence now about taking him to ballgames in the future. He got to love on Sabrina after today's game too. Then he nested adorably in the back seat on the way home.  

DPT from Kaline.

Saturday Class No. 4 and a San Francisco trip for Juno

Used up all my spoons for the day, oh boy. We got up early because the parents were having the carpets cleaned. Dad, the pups, and I went to Borrone's to grab breakfast before class. Kaline worked on under and attention with other dogs around; I tried to follow Sonja's advice but sometimes it's hard, when Kaline is just staring away at other dogs. I'll work on myself.

Kaline on the way to class. He looked like an alien.

Class was great fun. We did retrieving stuff at the beginning; Juno got to demo hold and out, and then I got to play with Kaline. He's too little to really do hold and out yet, but I had a stuffed anteater for him that he could work on fetching. He had an excellent time.

Heeling didn't go as well as it has been, for some reason—I worked with him on informal loose-leash walking after class though, with the clicker. We gotta get cracking on that for the CGC in mid-September! We did a ton of different recall stuff and Kaline did pretty well. Still working on coming in straight, but his sit-stay was rock solid and at least he came gleefully in my direction. One time Percy, the young colored bull terrier, practically sat on Kaline and my guy didn't get up, just shifted a little. He got compliments on his confidence—we had the dogs in really close quarters, in down-stays, and Kaline just rested his head on his paws, chilling out. Not a lot really bothers him.

All through class, whatever we were doing, I had my clicker in my hand and was c/t-ing Kaline for choosing to give me attention. It was really fun, it was like our own little class within a class. And our loose-leash work was cool too, he really seemed to be having a good time and understanding what I wanted. We'll get it in time for the CGC!

We came home, everyone's brain fried, and had naptime, Kaline in his crate and Juno snuggling with me on my bed. Then I did grooming for both dogs—I got their nails so short, what a great triumph! (Yeah, I know, my life is super exciting.)

There was a San Francisco Atheists event in the city at 4:30, so Juno and I took BART there. I was already getting hyper-anxious; Juno had to do a lap-up before we even got on the train.

Juno keeping watch before BART scared the crap out of her.

Juno had only been on BART one time before, and she did not at all enjoy her second trip. She does fine on trains, in cars, and on airplanes, but something about the BART train's noise and movement really bothered her. It makes kind of a high-pitched noise at some points, and then you'll go through tunnels and the crashing noise of the train on its rails reverberates all around. Juno's head was up, her ears were at attention, her eyes were wide, and she even whined a little, all very out of character for her.

Luckily, I had brought her dinner in a baggie, and Juno is about the most food-motivated dog int he whole world. I treated her whenever the weird noises happened and whenever she looked at me. Right at the end of our 40-minute ride, she finally sighed and put her head on her paws. Grin.

She was so stoked to leave the BART station that she did some of the best momentum-pulling she's ever done! Juno was excellent going to the pub, pulling steadily and following my directionals. Being in the city on our own ratcheted up my anxiety, but Juno kept me moving. We found the pub without too much trouble, but it was really crowded when we got in. Another lap-up. Then we settled in at a group table and listened to Greta Christina's excellent talk on Atheism and Sexuality. Juno curled up cozily on her mat and slept through the whole thing.

Chilling out at Schroeder's with the SF Atheists.

Greta Christina!

Juno on the way back to BART.

Getting back on BART was the absolute worst part. After sitting through the talk, I was having flareups in pretty much every joint I could think of, and I was basically out of spoons. I was anxious about how Juno would be on the train, anxious about going underground, riding in the toilet-smelling elevators ... And then the train arrived, crammed to the windows with people. It was all I could do just to get on.

Of course, did anyone sitting in the disabled seats get up for us—a clearly marked service dog team? Nope, not a chance. I couldn't grab any of poles or straps, cause my hands hurt. We were pressed in on all sides by people. Juno was doing touch, over and over, hard, on my open right hand because I was about to have a panic attack. The train lurched and to save myself from falling I went on my knees on the floor next to Juno, trying to ground myself by stroking her and concentrating on keeping her from sliding around. After one stop, when a couple people got off and we could get next to a wall, I moved us there, Juno blocking in front of me. The guy whose bike was behind me against the wall started yelling not to bend his spokes, and I almost just melted down. It was just really bad.

Juno doing grounding work on BART.

Finally we got an actual seat, and Juno laid down behind my legs and put her head on my feet—more grounding. This third time on BART, she was the cool, collected one. It was like she'd gotten all her scared-ness out on the previous ride, and she was back to normal for the ride home. I was really proud of her. She did an awesome job today. Best dog ever.

Cuddling to keep warm waiting to get picked up at the BART station.

Going to the horse show (and Saturday Class No. 4)

I think Kaline and I were both a bit tired for Saturday morning class—we stayed up really late watching the Olympics! So I was not too surprised when 10:45 hit and he couldn't concentrate very well anymore. He did a lot better on his heeling! I'm trying to use "let's go" for when I want him to just walk with me informally (i.e. not looking directly into my face 95% of the time) and "heel" for the formal heel we'll use in (hopefully) obedience competitions. I've been having to lure his face back up a lot, but at class he pretty much stayed locked on that treat and kept his head up! Hurrah.

Recalls went okay. He's not breaking when the other dogs go, which is really nice. He still has issues coming in though. We're working on it! Every time he did kind of a half-assed front, I'd back up little steps (sometimes repeatedly) until he was in straight and close, where he was supposed to be. Meet and greets went pretty well; long sit-stays and down-stays at the end of class were kind of beyond him.

After class, Kristin got out the dokken she just got (a pair of fake ducks with floppy heads) and Freddie tossed one for Kaline. He was so intrigued! He would chase it down with great enthusiasm and then bark and playbow to see if it might be alive. On the last throw, he finally mouthed the duck and we all cheered for him.

In the afternoon, Sonja and Chief came and she, Dad, Juno, Kaline and I all went over to the Circus Club to see a bit of the horse show. I was amazed at the number of people who came over to me and said they had Dobermans at home! They're just not real common here. Sounded like everyone had reds though, haha.

Kaline was already tired, so he did pretty well at the show. I'd woken him up from a nap to go, and then the walk there was pretty hot, so he was perfectly content to lie down anywhere, pretty much whenever I stopped moving. We met some lovely people and dogs at the Muttville booth—Muttville is a rescue for senior dogs, how wonderful!

We took a stroll down the aisle of booths, most filled with insanely expensive horse stuff, and met tons of nice dogs. There was a baby black Lab about Kaline's age who was adorably asleep in his ex-pen; there was a very handsome Corgi with actual legs; and a nine-month-old stunning black Great Dane named Bella, who Kaline was a little unsure about. He'd go up and smell her, then kind of dive back under the table—"She's really big!" I joked with the owner that Bella could take some of the attention off of Kaline's enormous paws.

We had lunch from one of the stands, and all the dogs chilled out under the table. Chief had been a little unsure about Kaline at first, but soon they were great friends and Kaline was rudely swatting Chief's face with his paw under there. When he could find the energy, that is. Kaline handled all the people and dog attention with no problems.

Miss Junebug

Kaline

Adorable Chief.

I am so used to protecting Juno's space that I kind of have to remind myself I don't need to protect Kaline's in the same way. Juno does not appreciate strange dogs coming up in her face; Kaline really doesn't care, as long as they're nice, obviously. And pretty much all the dogs we met were nice—something about horsey dogs, Sonja says.

We went to watch the hunter-jumpers for a while, which was fun, and then we walked down past the ends of all the aisles of temporary stables. All the dogs did just fine with the horses, which seemed way larger than I remember (I used to do horsey things forever ago). The endcaps of these aisles were fascinating—they were like portable living rooms, from really nice houses. Nice couches, nice chairs, usually with bright green grass/sod underneath and possibly some nicely arranged bricks. There'd be tables and framed photographs and ribbons and usually a dog lounging on one of the very nice couches. One place had an actual fountain! Yes, we were among the 1%. The dogs had a good time, though they were definitely hot.

Portable living room with cute dog.

Kaline in the small-dog-sized judge's booth outside one of the endcaps. Soon he won't be able to masquerade as a small dog anymore!

Chief got to be carried most of the way home, because he was so tired (nothing better than a tired puppy). Somehow though, he and Kaline found the energy for a really long play session once we let them go on the grass in front of the apartments down the street! They were so cute together. I don't think Kaline's ever really gotten to play with a dog significantly smaller than himself, and it was nice to see that he didn't play overly roughly with Chief. He'd practically flatten himself into the ground (yes, there were many faceplants, not all of them intentional!). They chased each other around, but interestingly they confined themselves mostly to the grass right in front of me and Sonja. We have to make sure they keep having playdates—I want Kaline to stay very gentle, and to stay anything, you have to practice!

Post-play session.

After we finally separated the puppies (they would've kept going, I'm sure, until they collapsed) we both went home. Kaline basically slept away the evening, which Juno certainly appreciated. There was much cuddling, which is also practice for Kaline's eventual deep pressure tasks. I figure the more he sleeps on top of me, and enjoys it, the more he'll enjoy doing tasks like "on me" (lie completely on top of me, head under my chin), "cuddle" (lie next to me with your back pressed into my chest/stomach), and "across" (lie across my lap and lean into my chest while I sit on the floor). There's totally a method to my madness. Promise.

All the things, and Saturday Class No. 3

Thursday night, Juno was an absolute star. I had the worst lower-body fibro flareup that I've had in a long time, and it started in the middle of a University of Michigan alumni networking mixer. Once it started, I sat down, and that did nothing. To get up, I had to brace on Juno. To get up the stairs, she had to pull me slowly forward. Dad and I stopped briefly to get takeout Thai for dinner, and Junebug had to give me momentum pulling there too. My knees and calves were starting to burn like they were on fire.

We got home, and I stayed on the couch. When I tried to get up again, everything was a million times worse. Dad took Kaline out for his last potty break, and I took Juno, thank goodness. She took tiny, tiny steps to keep pace with me hobbling around. Going down the stairs, she went one at a time so she could support me. I basically crawled back up the stairs, because it was easier to have my knees taking the pressure than my feet. I was kind of wondering about my options for becoming upright when Juno helpfully popped out of the kitchen and braced wonderfully for me to get up. What a fabulous girl. It's days like those when I'm like, "Gawd, I want a BLD!" But those days don't happen that often, and a BLD is very expensive, so at least for now I'm holding off.

Friday we tired the crap out of wee Kaline with three pack walks, back to back to back. After that, he took a big ol' nap, then came to the tdoc appointment with us—in his adorable vest—and after a little bit of being antsy, went to sleep again. How glorious.

Naptime!

 However, by about 7:30 or so, Kaline was fully recharged, so we went on a very long walk (Juno stayed home to beg dinner off my parents). We went to downtown Menlo Park, and Kaline met a ton of people, including two little girls. The girls were all over him, hugging and petting, and I would have said something if Kaline looked uncomfortable (most dogs don't like to be hugged). These kids hugged him, both at once, and he just closed his eyes and leaned harder against them. He looked positively blissful.

Kaline also finally encountered the stone dogs outside this one downtown store. It took a while before he was completely convinced that they weren't real. First he stayed back, stretching out his long neck and sniffing energetically. Then he got a little closer, for more sniffing. He went all over both the stone dogs, sniffing and sniffing. Then, as a final test, he playbowed before them and did his very best to get them to play, even barking and running in little circles. It was pretty amusing.

I took him to the park at the end, and he ran around me in circles, like he was a horse on a lunge line. More hilarity. He slept very well once I brought him home.

This morning we had obedience class. After starting in the back seat, this is where Kaline ended up by the time we got to the park.

Kaline did really well at the beginning, and of course started to lose focus toward the end. Now that I think back, I could just see the gas gauge getting to zero during the remote sits and downs, usually one of his best things. At first he was doing it, and then all of a sudden, he'd go down and he was down. Head on the ground, eyes saying, "Do not ask me to get up again."

I'm staying right here.

We did a lot of heeling work, especially in close with the other dogs. We also did a ton of individual recalls, and even when I dropped the leash, Kaline didn't break once. And that's a tough thing for a baby, to have to hold a sit when he sees all the other dogs running to their handlers. We did a lot of meet and greets with variation with a lovely German Shepherd named Harley (Juno, inexplicably, cannot stand either Harley or his biological brother, Wheeler). Kaline did all right there too—broke one sit when he got greeted by Harley's handler—but he was losing it, so all the sudden recalls started to not be tons of fun for him. He was totally fine when I left him in a down with Harley's handler and went out of sight for a few minutes. Woohoo!

After class, we did our first two-service-dog outing, to Red Robin. I was so nervous. What if they gave me a huge access challenge over having two dogs in the restaurant? What if Kaline peed in the restaurant? What if he suddenly barked at Juno and she barked back? What if he refused to hold any kind of a stay and just made a pest of himself?

Kaline on the way to Red Robin ... I was just hoping he didn't totally recharge by the time we got there.

It ended up being completely fine. Both dogs were very professional. Kaline wore his head collar, so I'd have more control if he started to go for something on the floor. We brought his new mat, which is (I kid you not) made of memory foam and has a super soft blue outside. Juno and Kaline walked in together, and I set their mats up on either side of my chair. I got Kaline settled, with Juno waiting patiently, then gave her the "on your mat" command. Kaline immediately snuggled down in his mat (hey, who wouldn't snuggle into that thing?) and only got up once or twice. I rewarded him periodically for his lovely settle.

And I must say, the staff at Red Robin were fabulous. They didn't ask any intruding questions, or give us trouble about the two dogs. Our server grinned at the dogs but never talked to or touched them. She was so sweet: "Yep, I could tell the little guy is in training—the big one is just cool." They sat us in an area with few other people, so there was plenty of space to put the dogs and have them out of the way of anyone walking.

Needless to say, I was very proud of the kids! Took them to Petco after (unvested, of course) to get some treats and loving up. Yay, our first real Juno-and-Kaline outing was a success!

Kaline's first obedience class

What it says on the box: Kaline finally got to participate (almost) fully in Saturday obedience class! I say almost because class started with teaching everyone to teach their dogs “hold” and “out.” Juno knows it already, and I'm not really starting that with Kaline yet. Plus, I have a different way of teaching it than what we do in class. So Kaline got to munch on a new pressed rawhide bone that Freddie gifted to him, and I tried to provide constructive criticism for my dad, who was working Juno. (I admit, I am not very good at this; I get easily grumpy when he doesn't do stuff exactly right with her.) She did fine, though.

After hold and out, we did some heeling exercises. Kaline did okay at these, but not great, because we haven't worked on formal heeling. So far I've been mostly focused on him walking with a loose leash, and either stopping or sitting when I stop. What we really need to focus on, other than him watching me while heeling (my holy grail!! Juno refuses to do this), is him turning with me.

Next we worked on remote sits and downs. Obviously with a baby puppy, I wasn't too remote, haha. But he did extremely well, I thought! He mostly kept his eyes on me, and never crept forward when I downed him from a sit, or moved his butt when I sat him from a down. I even got about 3 feet away while giving the hand signals! That was pretty exciting.

We did a bunch of partner work. First we walked at our partners and then called our dogs just before we were about to run into each other. Again, Kaline was so-so, but it was what I expected. We've been doing rudimentary recall work, but nothing like that. I'm shocked he wasn't more distracted and off in the clouds than he was. I got him back to me without too much trouble, but it's not like with experienced Juno, where when you say her name, her head whips around before you can even get “Come” out. Kaline's fronts were all over the place too.

Then we did meet and greets: First you walk past your partner shoulder to shoulder, then you walk past so the dogs are on the same side and have to do a big leave it, and finally you face each other within handshaking distance. You say hi to your partner, hi to their dog, but the dogs don't say hi to each other. Kaline was again rough on the heeling portion, but surprisingly he never got up from his sit to go to the other person or dog. So I figure, if we work on heeling as much as we've been working on sit, down, watch, and stay, he'll have it down pretty quickly, right?

Our last meet and greet had all kinds of silly stuff—unexpected turns, random down stays, stepping to various points around your dog, straddling your dog. I have trained a lot of dogs who really don't appreciate being stepped over and/or being straddled. Happily, Kaline is not one. He couldn't care less. (Tangent: I cannot stand it when people say “He could care less” as though it means the same thing as “He couldn't care less.” One makes sense, one doesn't! End tangent.)

Last, we did the long sits and downs. For the long sit, my row of handlers had to leave and go out of sight. I wasn't sure if I should go, since it was Kaline's first time, but Freddie told me to go, and Kaline was just fine. Just to be clear, when we left, the remaining row of handlers held our dogs—my puppy didn't hold an out-of-sight sit-stay on his own! Once he realized Claudio was going to feed him treats to continuing to sit, he didn't care that I was gone. I wonder what would've happened if both Juno and I left though. I worry he has separation anxiety regarding Juno!

The long sit was a minute, and the long down was three. I stayed with Kaline and Kaia for the long down, and again, they were both totally fine. Freddie said Kaline is a very good puppy. I was definitely really happy with how he did today, and I can't wait to get back next week! I think Dad and Juno did okay too. Then again, with Kaline to handle, I never had time to watch them!