Service dog meetup at the Golden Gate Kennel Club Dog Show

Left to right: Bella, Kiyah, Baja, Rhydian, Juno, Kaline, Delphine, and Bruce.

This past weekend was another where I just did way too much. Every year the Golden Gate Kennel Club hosts an all-breed dog show for two days at the Cow Palace, and we go and wear ourselves out. I always meet up with Sonja, but this year at one point we had eight service dog teams together!

Saturday, Juno and Kaline both got to go, since Sonja's Chief was still recovering from a paw injury and wasn't supposed to walk a lot on concrete. Juno won't work for most people, but she adores Sonja and will work for her. She was absolutely delighted to be able to go. Especially since Sonja gave her french fries.

We hung out a lot with our new friends Lindsay and Bruce the Painted Doberman (lots of people wanted photos of the Doberman service dogs in training) and with Ashley and her insanely cute Shar Pei-shepherd mix, Delphine. Probably the most commonly asked question of the whole weekend was, “What kind of dog is that?” We also met Tiffany and Baja, a German shepherd; Hillary and Kiyah, a pit bull; Heather and Bella, an Ibizan hound who won Best of Breed on Sunday; and Clara and Rhydian, another German shepherd.

Kaline and Bruce

Saturday we got there early and left early, due to a Michigan-Stanford men's gymnastics meet in the evening. Kaline did pretty well, other than our usual bugaboo of pulling too hard in harness, and pulling at all on leash. Everyone was just in love with him. I don't know why I get all surprised by that, but I guess I assume I'm in love with him cause he's, you know, mine. (Not that I don't get freaking frustrated as hell with him several times a week ...) But yeah, he was very popular among the other handlers. I of course let them love on him when he was just chilling out. He was most pleased with his new fan club.

We watched the Dobermans show, and among them was a stunning, all-natural, eight-month-old male Doberman from Poland. It was his owner/handler's first time ever showing in conformation and it was just so sweet to see all the experienced handlers coming over before they went in the ring to try to help her prepare. Argo won some ribbons, being the only one in his age group. Such a sweet, cute boy. Makes me want a Polish Doberman, haha! He had a much thicker coat than Kaline and the other Dobermans—looked like it might actually help him keep warm. What a concept!

Argo!

We came home for a nap after our time at the show, and then headed to Stanford for the meet. It was insanely loud and crowded due to the Stanford Open being held that weekend (for young gymnasts). The nice “redcoats” made us a little disabled section between two of the bleachers where the dogs (Sonja and Chief came) were protected. Michigan won, rather miraculously, and we got to see all our friends. Had one annoying stranger totally butt in on a conversation I was having with my friend, complaining about how her husband is searching for a Doberman but all the breeders he's called are “sold out” and want the princely sum (being sarcastic here) of $1500-2000. UGH. But mostly it was great. Kaline was so exhausted from the dog show that he held his down perfectly the whole evening. His pre- and post-meet crowd work was pretty excellent.

Kaline at his first men's gym meet.

Sunday we went to the dog show a bit later, though not as much later as I thought given how tired I was Saturday. We visited the Lagottos, both of whom turned out to be closely related to Kaline's little boyfriend, Lupo. We again wandered with Lindsay, Sonja, and Ashley, shopping and watching the breed judging.

Lindsay and I are both Paco addicts. WIN.

All the cute.

Five of us—Ashley, Lindsay, Heather, Clara, and I—ended up at our dinner, which we did at Buca di Beppo in the city. It was interesting getting five service dogs/service dogs in training all under or next to the table, but the staff were quite nice and set us up in a less crowded area. It was very yummy, and definitely a lot of fun to hang out with people who just get it. By the time I got home, though, I was totally zonked! Waking up the next morning to a full schedule of four pack walks: Not the best thing ever. But the exposure and distraction work are great for Kaline, and it's always wonderful to meet up with other handlers.

Snuggles at dinner.

Another leg for Juno, and Kaline's first trip to a trial

Yesterday was Kaline's first Gotcha Day—I've had him a whole year, which is pretty unbelievable—and we went to a Rally trial for Juno with friends Mary, Marissa, and Kristin. I brought the big purple pop-up crate for Kaline to chill in, along with his breakfast and a Bento ball with an actual cookie in it. (Usually Kaline finds the Bento ball so fascinating on its own that I don't bother with the cookie.)

As you might have guessed, Kaline was absolutely not interested in the diversionary things and whined a lot in the crate. Juno was her usual excellent self. It was fantastic getting to meet Mary in real life, and both the dogs quite liked her also. Juno even favored her with a kiss, which is big coming from her. It was really nice to have a friend there that one dog could stay with while I did things with the other. And Mary took a bunch of fantastic photos of both dogs, but mostly the gorgeous Juno.

I tried to do things better than last time, given it was the same venue. We got a much better course, full of things that Juno is fairly good at, and sans broad jump. (YAY!) It was overcast, so I could warm Juno up in a figurative sense without really doing it in a literal sense. And for actual SD work, I had Kaline there, so Juno didn't have to worry about that.

Well, we again had jump issues, since on the first pass Juno decided to cut around the jump rather than go over it. Not knowing that you're not supposed to repeat a jump (I learn new things at every Rally trial, and always because I've done something incorrectly, haha), I got her back and had her take it properly. We lost ten points right there, but only one point on the entire rest of the course! So I was really happy with that. All four of the dogs who got ribbons for Advanced B got scores of 100, how insane! First through fourth was decided based on speed. An awesome toy poodle got second. All of us sitting together were commenting on how nice it is to see a little dog that's treated like an actual dog. All of us with dogs competing in Advanced (me, Kristin and Marissa) got legs! WOOHOO!!!

Once Juno was finished, I left her to hang out with Mary, got Kaline vested, and decided to do a circuit of the trial. I had had him out a few times already, just in our area, and had no issues from anyone regarding his prong collar. (Prong collars may not be worn at AKC trials—unless your dog is a SD and it's part of his working gear.) That changed toward the end of our circuit, the rest of which went pretty well. Kaline apparently has more trouble ignoring single dogs than ignoring an entire area full of dogs.

Anyway, we had just spotted our Doberman friend, Sue Korp, and her lovely bitch who has All The Obedience Titles. As we went to say hi and chat a bit, a woman with an Airedale came up to yell at me about Kaline's prong collar. I didn't even let her finish her little diatribe, continually cutting her off with, “He is a service dog. He is not competing. The prong collar is part of his normal working gear.” (I wasn't going to get into the nuances of SD vs. SDIT with her, considering that in California, it doesn't really matter.) I was getting pretty worked up but not too  badly, because I had expected someone, at some point, to do exactly what she was doing and had prepared for it. Kaline was doing really well, standing in a block in front of me, between me and the yelling woman.

So I reached down to stroke him reassuringly and tell him he was a good boy. The Airedale woman gave him a disdainful look and said, “Can't be much of a good dog if he's in a prong.” That hurt, big time. I'm proud that I didn't cuss her out, or say something stupid, instead responding that my tools are my business, not hers. But you don't hear from a stranger that basically you have a terrible puppy and not feel totally like crap.

We immediately came back to the area with our friends, where Kaline parked himself on my lap/against my chest for most of the next half hour or so. He'd get off momentarily but then he'd be right back up. Such a good boy. And later, Sue came over to chat and say that the Airedale woman was over the top. She said that nationals for Rally are in Pomona this year—bad half of California, but still, West Coast! Maybe we'll figure out a way to go. It's in October, so we have time, and it'd be fun to see Sue's wonderful bitch strut her stuff (somehow at Rally I never end up finding time to go watch regular obedience).

During Rally Novice, a nice woman and her elderly mom came over to us to talk SDs—the mother is training her next mobility dog, a pretty smooth collie. She asked about Kaline's Petjoy harness vest, probably my favorite piece of gear besides our BLD, and I got to evangelize about all its wonderful qualities and how nice the company is to work with in general. It was such a nice, friendly, happy note to end on, rather than Airedale woman.  

After crashing away the whole afternoon with the pups, Kaline and I accompanied Mom to Stanford for a quick outing (Nordstrom and Macy's near closing time). Kaline's fear of elevators is all gone and he's blocking properly again in them. He was really accurate with all the buttons, and is mostly using his nose now instead of his feet because he is SO DELIGHTFULLY TALL. TALL, I TELL YOU. He (mostly) ignored three other dogs at the outdoor cafe where I got some tea, and was just a lovely boy all around. Everyone upstairs at Macy's gathered around him to fawn over him and his beautiful silky ears. They were super nice and asked all the un-intrusive, fun questions.

Let's see, other highlights from my undocumented week. At our last session with the tdoc, Kaline was fast asleep until I started to talk about the access challenge we had in Pennsylvania. Then he woke up and laid his head in my lap for a while. Win. We've been practicing retrieves, and he's done pretty well with different materials including metal.

Last Thursday, Juno and I got to go with Sonja and Chief to the JCC in Palo Alto to talk to a class of preschoolers about service dogs. That was super fun!! Normally I'm very afraid of small children, but the teachers had prepared them extensively for the visit, and of course Sonja took the lead in talking to them and doing demos. They were really well behaved and just fascinated by the dogs. Chief demonstrated opening a cabinet and retrieving Sonja's medicine pouch, as well as going to a target with people around it (foundation for going to get help). Both dogs did regular retrieves, and then we showed the kids how the dogs can “undress” us. Then we let each kid put one of our gloves on their hand (their tiny hands were swimming in our gloves!) and one or the other of the dogs would come and tug it off! They were totally enchanted. I hope we get to do something like that again soon! I can't wait to take Kaline and see how he does. He will definitely have fun—Juno tolerates and is very quiet with children, but Kaline just loves them.

Juno's other big outing was going to the Giants game against the Padres (extra innings, of course) with me and Dad for Dad's birthday/Father's Day. Mom and I chipped in for really good tickets on the club level. Junebug was excellent, natch. Our usher was so proactive in looking out for her—anytime someone wandered near our row, she'd jump in and go, “Find another way in, there's a dog here.” We were right below the broadcast booths (TV and radio) and got to wave to the broadcasters during the seventh inning stretch. Lots of fun. Unfortunately we had to leave before the game ended; with a SD, my general policy is not to stay past the end of the 11th inning at Giants' games. (A's games, I can leave the scorebook with Dad and get my dog out for a pee break if I have to, so we can stay later.) The game went thirteen innings and we lost, but hey, a fun night anyhow!

We're planning to go to the Pride Parade in SF this weekend. Juno will be in charge of that, and then Kaline will be on-duty for Dad's birthday dinner that night. 

Juno got her RN!

No, she's not a registered nurse. (Yes, I was super confused when I saw the title “RN” after dogs' names.)

Juno got her second and third legs for her Rally Novice title!

We had a very exciting day on Sunday. We got up insanely early to drive to Petaluma, where the trial was happening at the fairgrounds. It was delightfully laid-back and relaxed; if I'd known ahead of time, I would've brought Kaline and just put him in the popup crate. As it was he had to stay home, but he wasn't actually alone that much.

Because we left so early, Juno and I drove across the Golden Gate Bridge just as the sun was coming up over the Bay. It was absolutely gorgeous. I felt really lucky, because people come from all over the world to see our beautiful bridge, and I got to drive over it just to go to an obedience trial. Too bad no one else with proper digits drove with me, because it would have been an amazing photo.

We got there with plenty of time to spare. I was extra nervous because instead of being scheduled to go into the ring 57th or something, we were third. Unlike the other trials we'd gone to, Novice A & B were up first instead of last, woohoo! But I'm now used to having basically the whole day to brush up on the course and get Juno warmed up, so it was a little weird.

A bunch of the people we had met at the other trials were there, cause I guess it's a small world. It was freezing in the morning, holy crap. We all shivered our way through the first of the two trials. Juno and I actually had plenty of time to practice for the first course, which only had 11 stations and was actually pretty easy. Juno was totally perfect in the ring, but we lost ten points when I had her sit on a “finish right” that had no stop sign. Whatever, I thought, we qualified! Who cares about the other stuff. And problems with me are (most of the time) easy to fix.

Juno and her first green ribbon.

After qualifying in the first trial and having some deep pressure time to stop my heart from racing, we browsed the items up for raffle in one of the buildings. There was a table and a half covered in dog books, a good 10-15 of which were Doberman books! As you can imagine I went a tiny bit apeshit, especially since two of the covers had natural-eared Dobes on them. As with many things I want really badly, nobody else was interested, so I “won” the books as the only person who entered for them. Two dollars ended up getting me about 10 Doberman books and then another five or six plain dog books. A most productive two dollars, I'd say! I just have no idea where I'll put them because I have literally no bookshelf space left.

Only some of the books I ended up taking home.

By the time of the second trial, it warmed up quite nicely. We were second on that one, though, and I did not feel as prepared when we went in the ring. It was a harder course as well with a lot of turns. But again, Juno was perfect and I was the one who messed up (this time it was for not coming to a stop when I should have). Nonetheless, we passed and I was incredibly stoked because you always get a little medallion or pin for a title, and the ones at this trial were really nice looking. I was, as always, incredibly proud of my girl. She charmed everyone at the show, since they were all packing cookies or bait.

Juno and her second green ribbon.

Juno's RN title pin.

It took us a while to drive home because of insane traffic. I ended up going to dinner with Mom, and took Kaline because he hadn't really gotten to do anything all day. I fully expected a non-peaceful dinner, because he hadn't gotten his usual amount of exercise or stimulation. Instead, he walked into the restaurant, waited politely for me to lay out his mat, then curled up on it and didn't pop up until we were ready to go! I practically died. Could it possibly be that he's maturing? Naaaaaah.

Kaline being a very good boy at Max's.

In other Kaline news, he went to the high school musical, Legally Blonde, on Wednesday with my mom and me. He did have some popups there, but for the most part he was good. If you've never seen the play, it involves several instances of exceedingly high pitched squealing. The first time it happened, I kinda went, “Aw shit” in my head, but Kaline didn't even flinch. Woohoo. He pulled a bit in the crowds, but he wasn't at all overwhelmed by any part of the experience, which is the kind of thing that would worry me. Overall I was really happy with how he did!

Kaline at the theatre, checking out the crowd before the play.

Weekend at the Golden Gate Kennel Club Dog Show

We had an awesome weekend. Kaline accompanied me to the GGKC Dog Show on Saturday, and Juno came on Sunday. They were both really great!

We got up super early on Saturday, because the Doberman breed judging started at 8:30. We picked up Sonja nearby—after she almost gave me a heart attack knocking on the window while I was at the traffic light! Argh! Chief came later because he wanted to sleep in.

Kaline, naturally, was not at all ready to settle on the floor, even with his blankie, first thing in the morning. So I spent most of the Doberman judging with him on my lap in some way. We saw a gorgeous black bitch come out in a pink and black zebra horse blanket, covered in sparkles. She was stunning, and she turned out to be Fifi! Full name, Protocol's Veni Vidi Vici, which is extremely fitting. She walked into the ring and you just knew she was going to win. She won the Working Group and Best in Show both nights of the show. She just blew everyone away. Her owner/handler was really nice, and liked Kaline's adorable ears.

Kaline does his own judging of the Doberman group: “I'm cuter than all you guys. Know why? I have awesome-sauce natural ears!”

So many Dobies!!! And a rogue Pharaoh Hound.

The Fifinator! Her handler had her pose so her fans could take photos. Isn't she just gorgeous?!

Kaline was certainly distracted by the atmosphere—tons of people, over a thousand dogs, food, etc.—but he was not overwhelmed. And after a little while, he got used to it and was able to focus pretty well. He still pulled but otherwise, he was a very good little boy. We got free stuff at various stands, including the Taste of the Wild booth. (I gave most of mine to Sonja, haha.) We visited the Dobermans on their bench, running into our two friends from the Rally trial as well as Linda with Rosie and D.J., who we met last year at the trial where Juno got her CD. I was super pleased at the compliments Kaline got on his looks, cause these are people who know how Dobes are supposed to look. I also awkwardly asked everyone with a male Dobe his height measurement. I saw one who was a nice height, I thought, and it turned out he's an inch shorter than Kay! How about that! Kaline's just not filled out, ya know?

We went up and down the benches, checking out the various breeds and saying hi.

Kaline blocks while I chat with Linda. D.J. is the red male, and Rosie, the black female, is his mom. I'm crazy about Rosie—she is such a love.

Kaline and D.J. making “Let's play!” faces at each other. They wanted to roughhouse so bad.

I also did some very delightful shopping, buying a slim snake chain each for Kaline and Juno (for obedience/Rally) and also a braided exceedingly soft leather traffic lead for each. Kaline got black, Juno got teal. And I got a pink dumbbell for Chief, cause he just turned a year old!

Our new obedience gear!

Chief and Kaline on our midday tea break, which temporarily relieved my deathly hacking cough. (I am almost over the damn flu.)

All dogs like to curl up on Sonja's bag. Kaline is no exception (also at the tea break).

Later in the day we met up with a Facebook friend, Ashley, and her SDIT Mordecai. Mo is a beautiful blue nose pit bull, and just the sweetest thing! She did great. Kaline of course is in love with her. Everyone at the Cow Palace was in love with Mo—Ashley really cleaned up in the free stuff department! We also got to hang out with Heidi and her SDIT Arrow, a super handsome yellow Lab.

Kaline, Chief, and Mordecai, with me and Ashley, by the Rottweiler ring. Yes, Juno is painted on my sweatshirt.

What an adorable group, don't you think?

We missed the beginning of the group judging, but caught Fifi winning the Working Group!

Kaline needed a warmer place to curl up during group judging ... I was amazed he still fits!

For dinner, we met another handler, Rebekah, and her SD Cali, along with a friend and her pet dog, at an Italian place. In San Francisco, ESAs have access rights the same as SDs, so you can basically take your dog anywhere and not have any issues. And the restaurants won't get nailed for health code violations. Mo and Kaline were butt buddies. He was pretty restless though, because we spent so long trying to find a parking spot and used up his tired settling time in the car. Gaaah, I wanted Juno so bad when he was popping up and putting his head practically on the tabletop. But it was a very long day for him, and for a nine-month-old, he really did fabulously.

At dinner!

All of us after dinner: Kaline, Cali, Missy, and Mo with their humans, heehee.

Sunday, though, was a dream. Juno is just too much fun to work. We did a lot of momentum pulling practice, and the majority of the time she did really well. There were of course a few moments where I'd be like, “Forward!” all happy, and Juno would back up and practically go sideways. That was awkward. But most of the time she'd go right ahead and be super, sometimes with Sonja or Ashley as a target, and sometimes without.

Juno and I making googly eyes at each other.

Cue incoherent baby talk.

Chief had a very excellent day as well on Sunday (he came for the morning, and went home after our midday tea break) and looked so bloody adorable in his little backpack harness. There was nothing in it, really, but he looked so businesslike. Which made it odd when this door-guard kept attempting to hassle us each time we'd come back into the Cow Palace after going outside. Juno was in her big vest covered in tons of patches with me hanging on to her handle, and Chief of course had his packs, and they're like, “NOOOOOOO, don't bring the dogs in!” Some people are just silly. We didn't even stop for them; I'd just look over my shoulder in what I imagined to be withering fashion (ha!) and go, “Service Dogs.”

Chief settled in his adorable backpack harness.

Juno settled immediately for the Doberman judging, although at the end I let her get up and have a peek at the action. Of course Fifi kicked butt again. I just got such a thrill out of seeing fifteen or so Dobermans all in one place, because you hardly even see one around here. And all well bred and beautiful. Mmmmmm.

Junebug and Chief doing off-leash sit-stays in the main arena.

I love Juno BUNCHES, No. 1.

I love Juno BUNCHES, No. 2. Jeez. Lookit that face.

She did great in the benching areas and in the booths, naturally. Lots of good pulling and blocking and ignoring everything. Which was a lot of stuff.

Doberman bench again. In red and green are our two Rally acquaintances, and in the chair is Fifi's mom.

We got Mom a Diane Wat shirt (she will be so excited). We stopped by the Peninsula Humane Society booth since Juno is an alumna, which was quite fun, and then I ended up chatting with a woman involved in an organization that works to train SDs for veterans with PTSD and TBI. She asked if she could take a picture of Juno's big patch, because she liked it so much, so I started writing out patch websites for her. She does amazing work!

Mo, Chief, and Juno doing down-stays by the Rottweiler ring.

Mo works on a down-stay, Chief does a long-distance sit-stay, and Juno blocks by the Rottweiler ring.

They are just so cute!

Awesome dog-powered cycle thing we saw outside between “upstairs” and “downstairs.” The dogs were clearly having a great time. The guy who made it has made others for wounded veterans to exercise their dogs more easily, how awesome!

Juno at the midday tea break.

We made sure to get back to the main arena for all the group judging. There was a group of old people behind us who Ashley and I decided were the real-life equivalent of Internet trolls ... or just mind-numbingly idiotic. Of course I got sucked into arguing with the dumbest one, but eventually I was able to restrain myself. Sigh.

Juno eventually got cold, just as Kaline had done (much faster) the day before. Kaline, of course, had gotten up in my lap for the warmth, which is totally normal for him. I was surprised and delighted when Juno did the same thing! Oddly, though Kaline is now taller and heavier than she is, he was able to fit his entire self on my lap, while Juno needed to use about half of Sonja's as well as all of my lap. Mo decided the whole lap thing was a good idea too. It was so freaking cute. And then Fifi won again! Hurrah!

I'm coooold, Mom!

Only Juno could pull this off.

It was a very marvelous weekend. I wish there were more dog shows like that nearby. Although I'd probably spend all my money there if there were!  

I am getting the car!

Yesterday was a nightmare, mostly, but it ended with me (and Dad as co-signer) getting approved for a car loan. So yay.

I was super proud of Kaline in the morning. He is on antihistamines which also have steroids in them, so he is having a harder time holding it in the morning. Well before we normally get up, he whined loud enough to wake me up. When I let him out of his crate, he absolutely booked it downstairs. Normally, going downstairs first thing in the morning involves a lot of checking rooms to see where the other family members are, then stretching eleventy billion times as he makes his way down. Nope, he was on a mission. I opened the door to the patio and he zoomed out to his favorite plant and peed for like fifteen minutes. I was so impressed that he actually knows it is not good to pee inside, which is very different from knowing it's good to pee outside. Yay for the baby.

We tired him out with numerous pack walks, which was good because the afternoon was all Juno. We went to lunch with the parents, where I was massively bummed because the goalposts got moved on me getting health insurance. I'm on COBRA now, which sucks the big one because it is super expensive yet rather useless, so far. I was told that if I had no treatment for my fibromyalgia for six months, I would be able to look for non-COBRA insurance. It has been six months. I checked in, and was told I needed to be treatment and symptom free for six months. Well, that's not happening, clearly. Gaaaah.

After lunch, we headed to Chase, where both my parents have accounts and we thought getting a loan would be easy. Not so fast. I had applied online the night before, hoping to expedite the process, and got rejected by the computer program in about two seconds. Which apparently made it impossible for any actual human beings at the bank to help me in any way. You almost have to laugh—they reject you in less than a minute, using a computer; then they send you a paper letter by snail mail in 3-5 business days to tell you why. And of course, you can't do anything further with the bank until you receive said letter, and they can't tell you anything about said letter over the phone because that would be EEEEEVIL. I got so upset during this futile process that Juno had to do a lap-up to calm everything down.

Following that rejection, we went to Stanford Credit Union. Thanks to Dad being my co-signer, we got pre-approval for the loan. The whole thing took forever, but it did not involve any frustrating arguing with the equivalent of inanimate objects, so that was awesome. Also, Juno got to do handicap buttons without having to watch Kaline fumble about with them. Oh man, there was this lady in line who was so confused why she couldn't screw around with Juno. (See the Service Dog patch? See the Do Not Distract?!) Then she started yammering about her Bichon and how expensive they are, and how she got hers for free. Lemme tell you, lady, just because a dog is expensive does not mean it's well bred or worth it. See: ALL DESIGNER DOGS.

I was so exhausted from all this crap that I almost didn't go to Kristin's send-off dinner, but I'm glad I went. It was at a really nice place called the Village Pub and Juno was perfect. They were so nice to us—I showed up super underdressed, because basically all I own are jeans and t-shirts and hoodies, with my dog, of course, and we got welcomed so warmly. Well, Juno got welcomed—I'm just her sidekick! After a little bit of scootching around under the table, Juno got into what I think of as perfect Guide Dog Position, lying between my feet and partly under my chair, facing the same direction as me. Lovely. Dinner was amazing and many hilarious and wildly inappropriate dog stories were shared.

Kristin at the Village Pub.

Today we got to do daycare for Rocky the Golden Retriever-Poodle mix and had a really productive time at training. Anne was there and really worked me and Kaline. He's graduating now from heeling with a treat basically in his mouth to not having the treat there—I'm always afraid to bump him up to the next level, but he did great. I just have to really work hard on not turning into him, because it pushes him back. We also worked on his recall; he has now started to come in, bash his nose into my crotch, then sit. What a lovely gentlemanly habit, don't you think? Gotta nip that in the bud.

At the end of training, we had all fifteen dogs who were not Kaline out on down stays in two lines, facing each other. It was so cool. We have a couple dogs who have really come a long way, who were recently way too nervous and anxious to do this kind of thing successfully. It was so gratifying to see them succeed!

All the dogs! (See that black lump on a rug in the top right corner? Kaline.)

I had a nap with Kaline on my legs, and then went to dinner with Mom and Juno. We ended up at a pub where I usually go to watch the Dutch national football team. It was really loud (not too crowded, just bad music) and fire engines kept going by. Juno slept through all of it, was a total star. I wonder how Kaline would have done in that environment.

Tomorrow we're getting the car checked out by the mechanics at the Shell Station, who know my beloved little Honda like nobody else, so we really trust them. One of the guys just got a new Doberman puppy (he already has a two-year-old cropped black and rust male). I'm trying to convince him to keep his new red girl natural, for her ears at least. He got her from a BYB (makes me want to tear my hair out, but he's got her now, so there's no point) and she's only 7 weeks old. Still, I can't wait to see pictures!

Night night, doggies.

Retrieving and other adventures

The pups had a good day of training yesterday, and are now zonked from three successive pack walks today. The first thing we did at training was try to start all the dogs on retrieving: getting them excited about one of a variety of toys, then throwing it for them and calling them back. Didn't matter if they brought the toy back, but the recall was paramount.

Before working Juno (who knows the retrieve already), I worked Kaline, two Labs, a Golden Retriever-poodle mix and I think one other dog. One of the Labs had already had a bunch of retrieving work—her dad eventually wants her to be able to go hunting with him. So, I was pretty stoked about Kaline when he showed absolutely the strongest retrieving drive of the dogs who really don't have retriever training. My little Doberman retriever! He was on that stuffed lobster every time I tossed it; the coming back was questionable, but that's why everyone was on leash, haha. Juno was the most fun, of course, because she knows her stuff, but I was very encouraged about Kaline.

Big props to Maura, Kaline's breeder—one of the most important tests to see if a puppy will end up being a good service prospect is the retrieving test. If you throw a ball of paper and the puppy goes for it, then at least makes the attempt to bring it back, that's a great sign. She picked me a great one!

Later, Juno got to work in the "big dog" group, as usual. At training, "big dog" refers to our personal dogs. We did lots of heeling, with moving stands and moving downs. I worked Juno on either her shark line or completely off leash, and she did pretty well! Gotta love those moving stands; we had so much fun working on those when she was first learning how to do it. Then we did remote sits and downs, and Juno was held up as the example of how to go properly from a down to a sit (push up, no picking up the butt and creeping forward). Woohoo!

Kaline got to do a bit of heeling and weaving through the advanced dogs on down-stays. He was a bit ADD—Look! There's Chief! Oh, hi Mom, yes, I'm watching. CHIEF! Hi! Oooh, leaves. Right, right, I'm watching ... We have been working a lot though on him responding to his name with eye contact while we're walking, so I think eventually that'll pay off. He's been doing great at that on pack walks, even when he's in the middle of the pack.

We had a bunch of training opportunities on our walks today—seriously, everything feels totally manageable when I'm wearing a bait bag! Multiple times, we either had to pass or got passed by dogs who were growling and/or showing other reactive behaviors. Every time, I was like, "Oooh, yay! Time to reinforce proper behaviors!"

In my first pack, I have a lovely but somewhat reactive dog—he won't start crap, but he will definitely respond if the other dog keeps on long enough. At one point, we got passed by a pack of four dogs, way out in front of the woman walking them, growling and straining toward my guys. Well, my guys were all sitting and staring at me, getting little yummy morsels popped into their mouths. Definitely the message I want to get across: See a reactive dog, look at human, get food—nothing bad will happen and the human will handle it.

On the second pack walk, the one that goes to downtown Palo Alto, we got passed by lots of loud buses and trucks; Kaline's reaction to them is getting more and more muted. We didn't even run into any idiots on that route today, it was fantastic!

We did get an idiot, I think, on the third walk, which was the most relaxing one: just Juno, her boyfriend Ellis, and wee Kaline. Some guy kept asking me which dog was the MGM Lion, and when I was confused, he assumed I didn't know what MGM was, or that a roaring lion is their symbol. Let me assure you that that's untrue, I don't live under a rock! If anyone reading this happens to know what three dogs have to do with the MGM Lion, please tell me so I can retract my statement that this guy was an idiot. (One other idiot: Saw me passing with three dogs trotting at my heels—they were all tired—and said, "Who's walking who?" Um, I think that should be pretty clear.)

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.