Michigan Trip, Day 4

17 August 2013

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

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

Kaline at the market.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Practicing airport security

This Saturday, in preparation for our upcoming trip to Michigan, Kaline and I met Sonja and Chief at San Francisco International Airport to practice going through airport security. Handily for me, Sonja already had to be there to meet Hendrik, so I got to tag along. We not only got to do security, we explored the international terminal and got to take the Air Train (like an easier version of BART) over to the domestic terminal, where we did Delta security.

I dressed Kaline in the big vest with saddlebags (which contained barely anything, but tend to cut down on drive-by pets) for realism, and wore a jacket he'd have to get off me. We'd been practicing his retrieves a lot around the house, as well as his tugging.

First we visited the Delta Special Services desk. The first lady we talked to was exceedingly nice and wanted to help us get a pass for security. The supervisor didn't want to, but she did say they'd issue the pass if TSA approved it. So our new friend took us over to security while she chatted with TSA. I know we don't normally think of TSA folks as pleasant, but boy, were they. It was slow at the airport, and you must admit, two adorable SDITs go a long way in making people nicer. The TSA supervisor had no problem approving a pass for me, so our Delta friend printed it at her desk and off I went with Kaline.

We went in the express line to get the pass and ID (mine, not one for him) checked, then got in the actual security line. I quickly discovered that several of the surrounding people were Michiganders, who were delighted to meet a cute boy named Kaline. I took off my shoes; Kaline played with them a little, but eventually delivered them to hand. When we got closer to the bins, I asked him to help me take off my jacket, and he did that flawlessly. He blocked pretty nicely in line. We had a little issue with his saddlebags—one guy wanted me to take them off, which is rather hard for me, and we compromised by emptying them into one of those little dishes and sending them through the X-ray. Otherwise, the TSA folks continued to be super nice.

For the metal detector, I left Kaline in a sit-stay originally while I headed through. He started to slide almost immediately, either because of the way the harness fits or because of the carpet, so I told him to down. Lesson learned for Wednesday, leave him in a down to start with. Once I went through, I called him through—perfect. A female TSA agent came to pat him down (I am not sure why “female assist” was required when my male dog was getting the pat down, and I was getting no pat down at all). Kaline stood nicely for her but did want to kiss her; she assured me that he could and that she loved dogs, so I didn't mess with him too much about it. Kaline plopped under the table while I got all my stuff back on and in my pockets, and then we made an about turn and headed out to Sonja and Chief!

Part of my anxiety involves constructing elaborate catastrophe scenarios in my head about future events. That's why I really, really, REALLY, like to do dry runs! This one definitely increased my confidence, although obviously we still have the plane ride itself to get through. On my own, I am pretty confident in Kaline's ability to handle it, but then I get the doubters and they make me doubt him. Which is stupid, but anyway.

Sunday Kaline did his usual public access work, which was generally very good. He got some looks for doing spontaneous DPT in the bagel store, but he was right—I needed it. He did pretty well in the market, which was freaking full of pets on flexis who aren't supposed to be there. He gets a little distracted by them, but I get huge spikes in anxiety, because generally the people who use flexis and bring their dogs to markets where they don't belong are the people with really badly behaved dogs, and I constantly fear some random dog attacking Kaline and ruining him. (See? Catastrophe.) But it's happened to a lot of people with SDs and SDITs, so it's not an unreasonable fear.

We did Trader Joe's at the end and Kay did really nice blocking there as well. Carts can come within inches of him, and he doesn't even turn his head. He did get surprised by the pop of a guy breaking down cardboard boxes, so we turned around and stood there watching the box breakdown and having cookies. No big.

Oh man, this is a big test coming up. I am excited but nervous to see how Kaline does in Michigan.

Fun with Sonja, going to the doctor, and retrieving tribulations

Sunday we had lovely fun with Sonja after very efficient errand-running with Juno in the morning. I just wanted to get things done, not do real training, so I took Juno to the Farmer's Market, bagel store, and Trader Joe's. We finished everything in about an hour, maybe less. No one noticed I had switched dogs, which I found a little odd. But it was, as always, the best being out with Juno!

In the afternoon, we met up with Sonja on the Stanford campus. While Chief was working on his poolside down-stays, I took Juno and Kaline over to an empty field to romp. They were off-leash most of the time, with e-collars on. Not that I actually need one on Juno, I just had it in case other dogs showed up and she gave stinkeye. Which didn't happen. Kaline had a great time running around and retrieving sticks, and then we came back and moseyed off-leash with Sonja and Chief. It was so delightful. I love the freedom the collar gives me and Kaline.

Sonja, being the fabulous friend she is, drove all of us to Foster City to get my mom's car (she left it with a friend who drove her and Dad the rest of the way to the airport). And then we (Juno and I) got invited to dinner at Buca di Beppo! So freaking delicious. And it was good I brought Juno, cause one of the other people there is afraid of dogs touching her. Can you just imagine Kaline giving her a Doberpoke?! Aaagh! Someday though, we'll go back and I'll take Kay.

Yesterday everybody got to go to the doctor. After our three walks in the heat, Kaline and I headed to my doctor's office so I could get checked out for some things. Also, my wonderful GP totally understood my airport paranoia and wrote me a prescription for a service dog, just in case. Not that I would ever show it to anyone and make them think it was okay to ask for that. I just want to have it.

Kaline was good in the exam room but man, was he squirrelly in the elevator! Ever since he was in the transparent one in Palo Alto, we get the knocking knees. I tried to distract him by asking him to sit, stand, come, touch, all of which he did, but he was not happy. Urgh. And he was pulling and sniffing a bit while we were walking.

Nonetheless, I was proud of how he did at the exam. The nurse always does my damn blood pressure before the exam, which for some reason just sends my anxiety through the roof, plus it's painful. Fibro + squeezing = OW. I sat in the chair and asked her to wait to put on the cuff. I cued Kaline to lap-up, and he did it immediately, and so gently. He was perfect, and I haven't been that calm for the blood pressure ordeal in years.

He tested out our new mat on the slippery floor (not too much sliding, yay) and held a nice down stay during the rest of the exam. Of course, his highness refused to pick up the mat at the end. “Get that? What does that mean? I have never heard that command everrrrrr.”

Next we went to the pharmacy to pick up prescriptions, and since we had to wait, I decided to work on, you guessed it, not pulling and not sniffing. It was a little bizarre. After being such a puppy ass in the doctor's office, he was perfect in the pharmacy. I think I told him leave it once. And I always had a nice loop in the leash. Good boy.

Then later, I had to take Juno to the vet just to make sure nothing was wrong (she's been limping off and on). Kaline came for moral support and still weighs 69.8 pounds. Sigh.

And today we had training. Kaline worked on hold and out (good) and retrieves (AWFUL). So I got Juno, and Anne set up a little course of objects for her to retrieve, going from easy (plastic water bottle, leather dumbbell) to hard (keys with no leather tab, metal Coke can). She picked up every single one like it was the greatest pleasure in the world to do so. I loved on her BIGTIME. I got so spoiled. She learned retrieving so easily with the clicker. Not so for wee Kaline ... He only retrieves the things he likes. Somehow, we shall advance to metal, the leash, and the roll-up mat!!

Birthday fun

Sunday was my birthday, and of course I did a bunch of things with my two best friends, Juno and Kaline.

Kaline got to do his usual morning of work. He was a little spacey in the Farmer's Market—he didn't sniff or really do anything naughty, but he just wasn't as focused as he usually is. He settled in though; after we had worked the market a while, we went to the bagel store and he settled immediately under the table, without being told. And he only had one pop-up, a little while before we were ready to go. I got to do some fun education with this lady who wanted to know how long it takes to train a service dog.

Trader Joe's was not nearly as much fun as usual. At least two separate sets of kids (I assume siblings) had been given miniature carts by their parents, so they could push them around and pretend like they were being useful. Instead, the little trolls were racing the tiny carts around, screaming and yelling as they went. Kaline was understandably unnerved by just the running and screaming. Maybe unnerved is the wrong word. He wasn't frightened, but he was clearly concerned and distracted. Then, in addition to the running and screaming and general racket of multiple tiny carts, one of the kids almost hit Kaline twice, once with his cart, once with a flailing fist.

If it wasn't obvious, badly behaved children annoy me. A lot. I feel like a 9-year-old should definitely be able to behave as well in public as my 11-month-old puppy. Who despite his distraction, never barked, whined, play-bowed, or lunged. We ran into our usual friend, who complimented Kaline on not reacting to the kids beyond the staring. In a moment of passive-aggressiveness, I recounted the misbehavior of the various children to him knowing that just behind him was the mother of the kid who'd almost hit my puppy. Hopefully the semi-indirect calling-out will inspire her to put her spawn on a leash. Or just leave them in the car.

We finished up on a positive note, with a great mini-outing to Walgreen's. I love having Kaline do the buttons there. There are all kinds of fun challenges to work on, and in the absence of the crazy offspring, Kaline was his usual awesome self.

We broke up the day with a double-dog outing to the grove. Juno didn't run much, but I think she enjoyed herself nonetheless. Kaline made several new friends, including a little five-month-old Australian Shepherd named Sierra.

For dinner, my parents took me to Buffalo Wild Wings in San Jose. I know, I should have higher standards. But I absolutely love the food there! I took Juno, and was super glad I did, because once our server found out there was A DOG under the table (Dad told him), he took every opportunity to squat down and try to interact with Juno. Juno wouldn't even make eye contact with him, merely staring off, head comfortably on her paws, while he made a bit of a fool of himself. “You are beneath my notice,” she was clearly saying. He didn't get the message. I probably should have said something, but Juno did such a good job of it nonverbally! It was too funny.


Mom gave me money for my birthday, so I could order the custom 8x8 BLD leash for Kaline that I've been wanting. Woohoo! Definitely a good birthday! Except for the whole getting older part. Boo on that.

Fun stuff

Monday, 11 March:

We did four pack walks, tiring out both the dogs, and I got in a shockingly invigorating shouting match with a Crazy Lady in downtown Palo Alto. She took great offense at my dogs and I continuing on our usual route behind her. How dare I harass her with such nasty dogs, etc. I dunno, snapping back at Crazy Lady gave me all kinds of energy for the rest of the walks!

Tuesday, 12 March:

I was attempting to fix the DVD player and it was highly frustrating. Kaline came over to me—I was sitting awkwardly on the floor—slung his head over my shoulder and just licked my ear for a while. I found it delightful even though I probably stank of dog breath afterward.

Wednesday, 13 March:

Not as much fun. Lots of little delays combined to kind of fuck up our four pack walk schedule. Then I had big plans to take Kaline on an outing to Hillsdale Mall with the 'rents. But apparently only Juno was invited. I don't think it's a very good precedent to let others choose which dog I work, so I just stayed home with both and we had a calm, quiet evening.

Thursday, 14 March:

So. Much. Awesomeness. We had a bizarre encounter in the morning. I had my five-pack downtown, and we came to a red light. Across the crosswalk from us, suddenly, was a group of about eight Japanese tourists. First they shrieked and pointed at the dogs and then every single one whipped out an enormous SLR camera and began snapping away like paparazzi. Yikes.

After training and everything, Juno and I drove up to Berkeley to have dinner with Sonja and Chief and our friend Eva and her SD Coral! We had only “met” her online, so it was super exciting to finally meet in person! Eva has cerebral palsy and is nonverbal, so she uses a laser pointer attached to her hat to point at things, and has this fantastic board she made herself. It's covered in little colored boxes, each one containing a letter, number, word, or short phrase. She used her board to spell out things and her aide, Lauren, was super quick to figure out what she was spelling. Eva's aide and cousin joined us for dinner and we had a marvelous time. We had fun times discussing SD drama, and Eva threw back her head and laughed infectiously at the juicy parts. She has the best smile! And red Converse. Love those.

Eva was in town for a rehearsal of a performance which she will come back for in May. Hopefully she'll be able to stay longer and we'll get to go to the beach with the dogs! Sonja and I already put the performance date in our phones and are planning to go. It's going to be amazing.

Friday, 15 March:

Four walks again, and Juno and Kaline got to wear their St. Patrick's Day ties.

Saturday, 16 March:

With Mom out of town, Dad and I had lots of errands so Kaline got to do a lot of PA work. We had obedience class, then went to the post office, Hillsdale Mall, and later Target. At the mall, we worked on under, opening different kinds of fridges, roll (his hip), and the usual Stop Pulling Me and Leave It. We had lunch at a Mexican place that's very dog friendly, so we sat outside in the beautiful weather with both dogs unvested. Kaline did a lovely under and down stay beneath my chair!

Poster for the shelter where I got Juno!

Good under!

Target was a little insane for me—first a kid came out of nowhere, pounding past us and freaking me out, and then we turned down another aisle and there was a pet Lab, lunging at Kaline against his flimsy harness. After that I needed some major deep pressure; then I informed an employee and the situation was taken care of very quickly. Target doesn't tolerate pets because they have such big food areas now. So Kaline was very good in there, very attentive to me especially because I was very edgy after the bad beginning.

Sunday, 16 March:

The usual morning of PA work. Farmer's Market was great except for this random old lady. She complimented Kaline on being handsome, then said, “That top collar. I don't like it.” She was referring to his pinch. At first I was a little taken aback, because we hardly ever get training comments of any kind. I was polite to her, restraining myself, but I wanted to say, “You don't like his collar? Quick, quick, ask me how much I care!” Kaline stood there clearly looking very traumatized as he blocked and didn't sniff people.

Ha! If only that rule were enforced.

Trader Joe's was awesome. We always have a good time in there. We ran into our friend who loves watching Kaline work and always compliments him on his progress. As usual, he ignored Kaline himself and chatted with me. He ended up telling me about a woman who always brings her poodle in, vested, but doesn't have any control over it. The dog sniffs things, jumps on people, jumps on merchandise, some of which is food, and barks. I gave him a PDPM card and said if she doesn't take steps to control her dog, they have every right to make her take the dog out, and return by herself. She always yells at them when they ask her to control the dog or leave, saying she has papers/certification. TJ's people are so nice! Anyone who is mean to them deserves to be kicked out.

Slow stuff

Not a ton going on around here since the dog show. Our new hectic walking schedule just started, so we've been running ragged. For example, today we had four pack walks, all back to back. And it was cold in the morning, and wet, so for the first walk my whole left arm and shoulder were spazzing with pain. Thank goodness that pack needs hardly any correction and the walk is quiet.

We're definitely loving our new pair of Boxers. Kaline especially enjoys them, because their enormous flews fascinate him and they share his enjoyment in licking anything their tongues can reach.

Kaline got to do some work-work Sunday morning in downtown Menlo Park. Got kind of an offensive question to start out: “Is he a legit SDIT, or did you just get him a jacket?” But the guy was curious and just ignorant, not being nasty, so I educated him about the fact that it's illegal to fake a service dog. Anyway, Kaline did fine in the Farmer's Market, but took a while to settle at the bagel place. Finally he did, and then of course it was time to get him up and go to Trader Joe's. In there, all of a sudden I got “fibro fog” where your brain goes a bit fuzzy and you somehow can't comprehend things at normal speed. Kaline was super attentive, peering up at me constantly and carefully matching his pace to mine, which basically never happens. He was a very good boy in there, and we got to talk to a kid who just learned about guide dogs in school and was super excited to meet Kaline.

Last stop was Draeger's, where we just had to run in and pick something up. It took a little bit for me to figure out what exactly I needed, during which time Kaline was blocking behind me. Juno has a habit of switching the direction of her block based on where the most people are coming from, and for the first time, Kaline did the same thing! I was super proud of him.

Juno did a movie on Saturday and was her usual excellent self except for goosing a woman as we came out! Gotta admit, I laughed a little. She also came to Auntie Jen's to watch the Super Bowl, looking very pretty in her 49ers collar. Too bad they lost, eh?

We're registered for a rally trial in two-ish weeks. Woohoo!

Our Sunday

Kaline had another mostly excellent Sunday. We walked downtown with him in his vest, which is not the usual way of things but turned out to be a good idea. On the corner of Santa Cruz, we ran into a barefoot man who seemed ... off. I did what I do with Juno when I feel very wary of a person—I told Kaline "break" when we got to the corner, instead of making him sit beside me. That way his back wouldn't be to this man, and he could move around.

Kaline made a circle around me, and then just stood staring at this guy. For all I know, it could have been his regular, "A new person! Do you want to be FRIENDS?!" look that he does to a lot of people. But anyway, it made me feel better. And then the guy asked to pet Kaline, and I was so grateful he had his vest on, because I could say, "No, he's working right now."

Which sent the guy into a rant, yelling at me about how could I not know he's a dog lover, does my dog work for the government, something must be very wrong with me, etc. Luckily we got the walk signal right as the rant started and booked it across the street. I was panicking, bigtime.

As soon as I saw an empty chair outside Stacks, the restaurant on the corner, I plopped down in it and with the tiniest invitation, Kaline practically threw himself on me, paws on my shoulders, leaning his whole upper body into my chest. Such a good boy! Right at this time a veteran saw him and started telling me about this Paws For Purple Hearts program they have at the VA nearby, and how he's training a service dog. Which is awesome, don't get me wrong. Big yay for programs that train dogs for vets, because there aren't enough and the VA makes nothing easier.

But jeez, dude, you're training dogs to respond not just to physical problems but PTSD and other mental issues. And you see a baby SDIT clearly doing a task ... maybe not the best time to try and engage the handler in conversation. I did the best I could responding, because I knew he meant well, but still.

Once Kaline had calmed me down, we headed off to the Farmer's Market. It was the first time in a long time we didn't have to deal with pets in there—so nice. Kaline did good blocking, didn't pull as much, paid attention, etc. He was not as good in the bagel place, where he was very antsy for the first ten minutes or so before settling down. It was kinda tight quarters, so at one point he was down but blocking the tiny aisle. This kid had to get through and just stepped right over him—sometimes I love kids! Cause Kaline stayed perfectly still and it was nice practice.

Trader Joe's went really well. We were in the meat and cheese aisles and he showed no interest in sniffing anything. He did a little bit of blocking in line, even though it was again a very tight space and there was another person right next to him that he was keeping away from me.

Later in the evening, we had a bunch of tiny fridge sessions. (Kaline also amused himself at times by just opening and closing cabinets.) Kaline got the fridge door unsealed (he doesn't quite open it the way Juno does, to the point where you can reach in, but it's early) twice all by himself. I worked with Juno on retrieving metal objects (in this case, a butter knife). She hates to have metal in her mouth so it's an ongoing thing. She could get the knife off the bed, but had a harder time getting it off the rug or the floor. She did fine retrieving my keys, because they have two leather strips (from BLD!) as keychains.

I'm not going to be hard and fast about the one task per week resolution. I'd rather get Kaline's fridge-opening skills to be very reliable before we move on.

Muir Woods

Oh, we had a fun weekend. Saturday was class and such; I ended up getting to work mostly Kaline but Juno for a little while. Kaline was really good except for whining during Circle of Chaos recalls. His heeling was really nice, and he did well on the meet and greets. He was awesome for the supervised separation, couldn't have cared less that I left. After class, Dad stayed with Kay while he romped with Lupo, and I took Juno off to the side and let her have fun bumpers. She's so damn cute.

Later in the day, Kaline and I did clicker training, trying to work on basics of starting the retrieve (yep, that again), opening cabinets, and rear-end awareness. I tried filling a tiny treat bag with treats to help Kaline with the whole getting-something-I-point-at. He went to it all right—and promptly plumped down to try and open it! Oh puppy. So we worked on hold and out, which went really well. He's doing hold with only gentle stroking fingers under his jaw, no hand on the back of his head. And as soon as you say out, he lets go and backs away from the object (in this case his tennis ball dumbbell, since Juno's obedience dumbbell is MIA).

We made some progress on open. It took forever to teach Juno this task, so I anticipate a similar quest with Kaline. About halfway through, I finally came up with the brilliant idea of not having the door clicked shut, but technically open, so I could reward Kaline for any pull that made the door move. Of course, we just started with rewarding for mouthing the tug, then tugging it enough to get it off my hand, and then tugging enough to make the door move, however slightly. That's about as far as we've gotten, haha.

Last we did rear-end awareness, which, like Juno, Kaline really seems to enjoy. Well, at least he likes the part where he gets treats for putting his front paws up on the stool. He's still at the point where I'm rewarding for each single step of his back feet to either side. Also where he falls off the stool a lot, because he's puppy clumsy! It's freaking adorable when he falls off and then rushes to get his front paws up again, looking expectantly for his treat.

This training took at most thirty minutes, with breaks included ... Kaline passed out for the rest of the evening. It was glorious.

Dead to the world.

Dad found out that there were no fees to go to Muir Woods on Sunday (Armistice Day), so we planned to do that. I still ended up going to the Farmer's Market with Kaline. He did really well, meeting four people dressed up as mice (with scary mice heads) and realizing they weren't going to eat him, and calmly not reacting to an enormous dog who charged us out of nowhere. Yes, the market is technically a no-pets area. I smacked the dog's face away from Kaline's—once my SD is getting charged, I don't mess around with being nice. Then I grabbed his collar and yelled, "Does this dog belong to someone?" After what seemed like forever, someone came to fetch him. Gaaah.

Kaline was unfazed, even if I was having figurative heart palpitations. He did absolutely rock-solid blocking for me at every stall. I still have to show him where to be, which I expect to have to do for many, many more months, but once he is in place, he stays there, sometimes leaning a little bit into the backs of my legs. Such a good boy.

In the afternoon, we headed to the woods. The woods are also a no-pet area, so both dogs needed to be on duty. My aunt, who lives up in Marin near(ish) the woods, told us there was horrific traffic, no parking, etc. We went anyhow, of course, and though at points the traffic was bad, it never stayed bad, and right as we pulled into the parking lot, someone else pulled out! It was very good luck.

Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge.

Kaline began shivering the instant he jumped out of the car, so into the Cozy Horse coat he went. Juno wore her big harness-vest and did most excellent momentum pulling all through the forest. She had a ton of distractions to ignore, clusters of people, screaming, running kids, strollers, not to mention all the fascinating smells of the beautiful forest. She was a star.

Juno, for pulling, went on my left, so Kaline walked on my right. He really didn't seem to mind walking over there, even though he basically never does it. He did a pretty good job ignoring all the kids too (he has a lot more trouble resisting them), but did have some totally understandable trouble resisting smelling all the forest stuff. With a dog on either side, I felt like I was in my own little parade or had really adorable bodyguards. We definitely got some looks, but mostly had no issues. I was surprised we didn't get any problem at the gate, with two dogs and Kaline "dressed" the way he was. It was a very pleasant surprise. And thanks to Juno, when I came out of the woods, I wasn't worn out and I wasn't in a ton of pain.

Me and the pups!

Between two trees.

Looking up between those two trees.

Tamalpais Valley on the way home.

I attempted to get cute pictures of the dogs with paws up on the rail of a bridge. Juno apparently decided she needed to be an overachiever. Instead of doing paws-up, which is a command she knows, she put her paws up and then attempted to vault over the freaking rail and into the creek! I practically died (thankfully she was on a very short leash and her little vault got aborted real fast). Kaline is basically Juno's size now (seven pounds to go!) but he acts shorter, so when he did paws up he didn't try to do ... more. Yeesh, Junebug!

The one picture I got of Juno, before she decided "paws up" meant "please jump over this railing."

Kaline, my little ham.

Oooh, water!

After our "hike" we went to meet my aunt and cousin for a bite to eat. Normally I don't really like working both dogs in a restaurant, but I didn't really have a choice. We went to California Pizza Kitchen and once Kaline settled, everything went incredibly well. They both passed out, hurrah, except for a couple times when Kaline decided that my anxiety levels were getting a little high and did a lap-up. He's very proactive about lap-ups, which I quite like.

In less lovely news, Kaline had to go to the vet today. For the past week-plus, about every other day, in the wee hours of the morning, I wake up to Kaline making awful vomiting noises. Then all that comes out is a white foam. I know, I know, TMI. Anyway, Saturday night he barfed up his whole dinner plus a squeaker. We have no clue where he got it, because he is no longer allowed stuffies of any kind, and the one we keep in Mom's room for Juno is in mint condition. Then he vomited that foam again this morning, so I took him in in the afternoon.

I was really proud of how calm and quiet he was during Dr. Harish's exam. Dr. Harish was looking in his eyes, ears and mouth, prodding and poking his belly, etc. I wasn't holding Kaline at all and he just stood there and took it. Apparently he was not as good when he had to go off with a tech for an X-ray, but that's cause they had to hold him on his back. Thankfully, all the X-ray showed in his innards was food. So the current theory is the squeaker was in there for a while, irritating his stomach and causing the nothing-vomiting. Hopefully we're done with that for now!

Why is it Monday again?

Despite having a "job" I really love, I still don't like Mondays. They're long. Three hour-long walks in the morning—four-pack, five-pack, four-pack—followed by an afternoon siesta and then a training session, which is supposed to be an hour but always ends up being two, not that I really mind. It seems like not that much when I write it that way. But it's a lot.

Anyway, Monday is over (yay!) but I'm still way stressed. Obviously the election is tomorrow. I need Barack Obama to win. Aside from all the multitudinous reasons I like him tons and absolutely despise, loathe, and abominate Romney, if Obama is elected, one day I will be able to get my own health care. If Romney is elected, I will never be able to get health care on my own. So tomorrow is going to be a little bit of hell. Hopefully I will get to go to bed knowing I don't need to think seriously about how to move to the Netherlands.

Moooooving right along. We had a decent weekend. Kaline is working really nicely, I must say. We didn't do a ton Saturday because I felt crappy. Sunday though, we did the Farmer's Market and Trader Joe's and the bagel store. I took both Juno and Kaline into the bagel store and they practically spooned. It was really cute and they did really well. We definitely got some looks, but whatever. Dad took Juno on a walk while Kay and I went with Mom to the market.

For some reason, after breakfast, my brain got really slow and fuzzy. I have heard people talk about "fibro fog," but I have never had that happen to me and I am not sure if that is what actually happened. Nonetheless it really sucked. I would be trying to talk to someone and it took three times as long to just process what they were saying, and then it was really difficult to respond appropriately. Kaline did his job even though I wasn't totally there. Yeah, he was doing more than the usual amount of sniffing, but otherwise, he was great. He did great blocking, even when rude people basically walked right into him (one woman huffed her way by and conked him with her enormous bag—I actually said, "Yeah, just walk right into him like he's not there!" in a slightly loud voice, but she didn't notice). He did "touch" when I asked but it wasn't enough, unfortunately, to bring my brain back into focus. Usually if I can feel myself getting out of it, repeated hand-touching will get me back again.

Oh yeah, right as we walked into the market, some guy shouted after us, "NO PETS!" Kaline had on his bright blue vest, which shows up very nicely against his gleaming black coat, and is covered in service dog patches. If I'd been thinking fast enough, I would've really given him an education; all I could get out was "He's not a pet." Damn you, failbrain.

Kaline was awesome in TJ's. About a minute after we came in, someone working there dropped one of those big plastic crate-type things. It was a big loud noise. Kaline didn't flinch, just stopped and then looked up at me—"Treat?" Yes, indeed, young man. Of course we had to go to the cheese aisle (second in challenging-ness only to the meat aisle) because I am totally addicted to Gouda. (Side note: NEVER call it "goooooo-duh." It's "chhhhh ow dah." You have to kinda hock up a loogie for that first sound.) He blocked, then sat when I asked and did an adorably alert down-stay while I stocked up. A guy in the checkout line said it was very hard to resist petting such a beautiful dog. Heehee.

And then we had Monday. Kaline was good; of course a few of the others were annoying. Naughty naughty children. Our midday siesta was not enough but it was very lovely. Kaline's presence was requested for our training session; the puppy loves him and thus so does his owner, even though Juno is a much better demo dog.

Kaline meets a bear!

I really tuckered the pup out yesterday, and it was pretty glorious. (Today, he's been an absolute pill while awake. Sigh.) The dogs and I got up early to get ready for training. Kaline was cold, so he got to wear his orange jack-o-lantern sweater to obedience class. He looked so cute. It's a little big on him right now, but so is everything. He did pretty well, except for whining during the lull in recalls. And trying to start chaos during long downs, haha.

This is how I found Juno yesterday morning. She thinks her cuddly friend would make a great successor dog, he's very quiet and never annoys her!

We worked on a lot of heeling, which Kaline does great at if I can remember not to be twisted, looking down at him, all the time. His figure eights were really good once I started standing up straight and looking ahead. We did a ton of different recall drills and while Kaline didn't break, he did break eye contact a lot and also whine sadly. Eh, we'll get through it. During the long downs, Kaline not only broke but attempted to get Juno and a little Chief-looking terrier mix, Rio, to go with him. Juno turned away from him and muttered under her breath but Rio just nailed him. Attaboy. Took Kaline back to his spot and he didn't get up again.

After class, Kaline went home with Dad while Juno and I went to Borrone's to meet her best friend, Alex. Alex and I both used to work at Kepler's. I did take video when Alex arrived, but Juno was not as insane as normal. When he was still at Kepler's and I'd bring Juno in to visit, she would smell him (I guess) and immediately start whimpering excitedly, ears up, looking all around for him. Then when she'd find him she'd pretty much attack him with love. Even yesterday, she couldn't decide between rolling over for delicious belly rubs, or leaping up to pat at Alex with her paws and lick his face. Sometimes she gets a little overzealous with the licking and it turns into face-punches. Hazards of being loved by Juno.

Once she had greeted Alex properly, I vested her to go in and put in our orders. She immediately shifted into work mode, calmly standing a bit behind me to block in line, then doing full blocking while I was doctoring up my tea. We've unconsciously worked out this little side-pass she can do when we're in a tight space and someone is trying to pass; I kiss to her a little and put a little pressure on the collar, and she sidles up next to me while still maintaining her position. She's just super. We saw an adorable baby bulldog at another table outside and then when we were about done with lunch, I took off Juno's vest and let Alex give her a bit of leftover cheese, meat and bread from his sammich. Yes, there are different standards for Kaline and Juno. This is my evil grin.

Next order of business was taking Kaline over to my high school. It was founded in 1952, so this year is its 60th anniversary and there was an all-class reunion/picnic being held yesterday. The event itself was rather disappointing; I'm fairly certain I was the only person not currently enrolled at the school with a graduation year after 2000. Kaline did fine, not that there were a ton of challenges.

Kaline and the bear.

The best part was when he noticed the new bear statue. We were probably fifteen feet away when he saw it, and he stopped in his tracks. He gave it the stare. He growled deep in his throat. He gave a little boof. The bear didn't react, so he got closer; he stayed quiet, so I started treating him for that and for moving forward. Eventually I had him do paws-up on the pedestal, and then I boosted him up onto the pedestal itself, all the while patting the bear's feet and saying what a good bear it was. People probably thought I was a little soft in the head but what do I care? I don't know them.

We did a school tour—there are a few new buildings, but not much has changed except for most of my teachers being gone—and then headed home. We picked up Juno, then went to get Jett out for a walk (his grandparents are babysitting him and his human siblings this weekend, and they can't walk him). We got to have a nice chat with our friend the CCI puppy-raiser, whose latest puppy is still in advanced training. She wasn't sure that the pup (well, she's not really a puppy anymore) would last more than a few weeks, but she must be doing pretty well! My pack met Hummel when she was a teeny little buttery yellow ball, and for Jett it was love at first sight. He'll probably fall in love with the new one in November though; Jett's not the reflective type!

Kaline had been ready to crash after going to the school, but after the walk he was ready to pass out. He was largely delightful during the evening, which was good because Dad and I were utterly absorbed in the gut-wrenching Tigers-Yankees game. We got pizza and Kaline chilled on the couch with me while I ate without begging in the slightest. When we finally went to bed around midnight or so, Kaline trotted into his crate, collapsed, and didn't so much as change position until about 8:30 in the morning.

He made up for it today, though. He was okay in the morning, but not as sharp as normal. (I get it, all dogs have off-days, and puppies more than adults.) We walked to downtown Menlo Park with him in the Cozy Horse coat. I clipped his In Training tag to the D-ring and used our 8x8 BLD leash with the service dog leash patch to try and avoid access challenges. It's not like we're unfamiliar in our usual haunts, but I try to mark him in some way when he's working, just as a courtesy.

We met Mom and Auntie Jen at the bagel place and had breakfast inside. Kaline laid down under the table next to my chair but took a while to fully settle under there. We did a quick pass through the market, which was not very busy due to the cold, overcast weather. Then we accompanied Mom and Auntie Jen to Sprinkles the cupcake place at Stanford. Usually it's really crowded, so I figured that would be great exposure, but it was totally empty! So I just worked Kay on sits and downs in front of the cupcake case.

Kaline at the bagel place.

After getting dropped off at home, we took Trumbull the car over to Jett's to walk him again. He and Kaline were screwing around the entire time. It was super annoying. I don't understand why Kaline likes to have another dog mouthing his, Kaline's, entire snout, but he really does. As usual Jett pooped in the middle of a sidewalk, luckily not in downtown Palo Alto. (You can give him all the chances in appropriate places you want; 95% of the time, he's going to poop on the sidewalk.) Hands and arms were really hurting after that, and it only got worse when we got home—I was constantly getting Kaline off Juno, herding him into his timeout spot, getting him off the couches in the living room which he's not allowed on, etc. Finally I just tethered him in the kitchen with me, whereupon he whined incessantly for an hour or so. It was a very frustrating afternoon.

Ever since he fell asleep though, things have been better. He slept for most of the Tigers-Yankees game (another win for the Tigers, yay!), then came with me and Juno to get Trumbull washed and behaved himself very nicely. And now he's asleep again. Hurrah.

Full day for the pups!

The dogs had quite the full day today. We did the Farmer's Market, the bagel store, Borrone's, a street fair and then up to our ex-neighbors' house to play with one of their two dogs and also meet their horses.

Kaline only had to work in-vest for the market and bagel store. Dad took Juno into the market unvested—they don't enforce the no-pet rule at all, and it's not like Juno will do anything naughty, like poo or snatch produce. Kay was super cute. I had to let out his vest a bunch on Friday; massive growth spurt, I guess! He's getting longer right now, not so much taller. His chest is already super deep.

For the first time, I took Kaline in the bagel store and actually did the bagel buying—normally I just take him in and work him and come out. He did well focusing on me, blocking a little, not sniffing things while I was busy making the purchase. Woohoo!

We came home briefly to watch the very exciting and satisfying end of the Tigers-A's ALDS Game 2, in which the Tigers won 5-4, and then headed to the street fair in San Carlos to meet Mom. We had lunch in the outdoor space of a restaurant, and I took Kaline around the fair and let him socialize with polite people (i.e. people who actually asked to pet him instead of just reaching for him). He had a lovely time and did quite well. He met beautiful rescued Greyhounds raising money for—what else?—Greyhound Rescue, went into a bunch of stalls and immediately settled on the ground, charmed oodles of Doberman fans. He got to meet a firefighter by a fire truck, and the guy knew all the best scratching spots. Within seconds Kaline had melted onto the ground and one of his back feet was twitching in pleasure.

At the end, Dad and I confronted the hateful "pro-life" (read: anti-choice, anti-feminism, anti-separation of church and state, anti-sex for pleasure, etc.) people at their stand. It got really heated. Kaline ignored it all, curling up on my feet for the duration. Good job, buddy. It's very important that he not mirror my emotions, but only reflect calm back at me, no matter how anxious, fearful, or angry I get. When I get in conflict, part of my brain kind of turns off and I have trouble recalling everything I want to, and saying everything the way I want to; so I thought it was interesting that when one of the patronizing godbots at the stand called me a "poor little child," I angrily replied, "I am not a poor little child! I have a beautiful Doberman!" My dogs are the best thing in my life, what can I say. Of course, as soon as we got away from the stand, the adrenaline rush abruptly shut off and I had a meltdown with Kaline in my lap. Sigh.

After the fair, we drove to Woodside, where our former neighbors, Becky and Kip, now live on a big property with their two dogs (Jack Russell and Chihuahua mixes), their horses, and multiple boarders' horses. Kaline and Juno got to play a bunch in the huge backyard with their younger dog, Badger. Pinto, the older dog, recently injured himself so unfortunately he wasn't allowed to run around. Pinto is the real runner; Badger is more into bitey-face. So there wasn't a ton of running, but Kaline got pretty tired out anyway. Becky brought two of the horses, Slick and Aladdin, down to meet us; Juno was super interested and sniffed noses with them energetically through the fence. Kaline came over but didn't really want to sniff noses with something that big! It was lovely to get a horsey fix. I used to go up there all the time in high school to work on Parelli with Becky's horses. Both dogs are crashed out now.

Other stuff we've done lately ... Friday I took Kaline to Stanford Shopping Center to work on stuff. We went in a ton of different stores and had a great time. He got to do a bunch of buttons and work on obedience in all kinds of different stores. We did more escalator exposure, ignoring displays of stuffies and Christmas trees, and desensitization to the various water features outdoors.

We met a wonderful woman at the Bath and Bodyworks store. She loved Kaline, and it turns out she really could benefit from a SD. It was odd—just before, I had met a guy in a stationery store and stonewalled him completely when he asked about Kaline's work/my disability. When this lady asked, I started telling her about fibro tasks. Maybe subconsciously I could just tell she was asking for a different reason?

She told me she's had so many surgeries on the left side that she physically cannot get up without help if she ever falls. Her husband won't let her go on walks alone, ever. If she falls at home, alone, she is out of luck till someone comes. We talked a little about mobility dogs and I gave her my card and a PDPM card. Might go back in and see if she'd like more info on program dogs, because it didn't sound like she wanted (or felt she could) train her own.

Saturday we had no class, but the dogs got to the vet. It was the best visit we've had in a long time! All is well with the dogs, and we were not sent home with any sort of medication! Kaline's white spots on his hock are merely a sign that things are healing up. Juno's periodically red eyes are from allergies, and she should just have Benadryl, nothing stronger. YAY.

Kaline has been busy!

Still trying to shake a really bad funk, hence the not writing. But Kaline has been quite busy doing all kinds of awesome things. Over the weekend, he did Borrone's and the Farmer's Market, as usual, but also did IKEA again. We also went to newly reopened Kepler's, which has an extremely shiny and fabulous floor—I was a teensy bit worried it might shake Kaline, but of course it didn't. Takes a lot more than a shiny floor to rattle this boy!

At Borrone's I was feeling all jangly and weird, probably because Kepler's had been so busy and in addition to all my friends working there, there were a bunch of new people too and I felt super awkward. Of his own accord, Kaline did a lap up and just stayed there until my waffle came; as soon as the waffle was gone, he was back up, and eventually started scrabbling his back feet—"Let me all the way up!" So I did, and he just leaned himself into my chest. I was so pleased with him! Not to mention, all kinds of people saw what he was doing, so their Doberman picture of the day was of a snuggler. Ambassadober!

He was awesome in the market too—by himself, he is doing extremely well. Great attention, very little sniffing around, just great. We also talked to a lady about the difference between SDs and ESAs; hopefully she'll get in contact again, because someone gave her tons of misinformation. Such as: ESAs are permitted to go on CalTrain, ESAs require special training, psychiatric service dogs are not recognized by San Mateo County, etc. I cannot stand people who give new SD people the wrong info! Starting off with a service dog is hard enough without others telling you things that are completely inaccurate. I feel so lucky that I was able to find groups where accuracy is of paramount importance and I was able to get spot-on information.

IKEA was pretty good too. We did a lot of "close" practice, because the parents were checking out all the model kitchens. It is pretty much my mom's fondest dream to remodel the kitchen, which anyone will admit was terribly set up and designed. I had a bag full of kibble, of course, so we'd go through the kitchens after Dad, and he'd have opened a bunch of drawers and cabinets at different levels. Then Kaline got to close everything! He only has trouble with low drawers, because he wants to use his feet—on a low drawer, feet are ineffective, and also I don't really want him to use his feet in the first place. High drawers were adorable, he'd push them like a seal bouncing a ball back to the trainer.

We also practiced under at different tables, settling on various interesting rugs (including one made of cowhide), sit and down stays, little recalls, etc. Kaline and I were pooped way before the parents were!

Then Monday night, Kaline got to go to his very first Major League baseball game! Normally when I go to a ballgame, I have extreme focus on the game: I get there when the gates open, I bring my scorebook, I keep score in my very detailed personal scoring system, and I basically do not leave my seat from first pitch to last pitch (unless I really have to go). So last night felt a little weird for me.

Hendrik and Sonja had invited just me, but then Sonja didn't feel well, so Dad came. We got to the park only a little while before first pitch. We introduced Kaline to our favorite ushers, Nick, Mark, Rod and Anthony, then went to the seats. Kaline was a little overwhelmed right at first. You don't think about it most of the time, but when you're with a puppy, you realize all of a sudden just how much sensory overload there can be at a ballpark. There are tons of people, food everywhere including all over the ground, it's inside but feels like you're outside (yes, I worry a lot that Kaline will have trouble with that distinction and think it's okay to eliminate in the concourse), it's loud and echoey, there's always something blaring from the speakers, etc.

But I'd brought Kaline's dinner, and that made everything okay.

He settled nicely under my seat on his cushy mat for about three or four innings. I didn't keep score, just focused on Kaline. And the Tigers game, playing on my phone, because they were about to clinch their division title. It was super hot during the day, so the night was warm and miraculously Kaline never shivered! (I brought the Cozy Horse coat for him anyway, and he wore it on the way out for visibility. ADORABLE.)

He started to get antsy after a while, so we got up and walked all over the ballpark, practicing attention and not sniffing/socializing. We did the inner ring, where we could still see the field, then did the concourse, which was louder and more crowded. Kaline was amazing. He was definitely interested in everything that was happening, but he was checking in constantly, both when I asked him to and on his own. At one point there was a huge cheer while we were in the concourse (the A's were about to clinch a playoff spot, so it was extra loud last night), and the sound was reverberating. Kaline's ears went flat against his head and he just got this look on his face like, "WHY?!" I got him to watch me, and instead of one kibble, gave him a handful. The rest of the night, when there was a big cheer, instead of wilting, Kaline would fix me with a stare: "Cheering! Where is my food?!" It didn't bother him again.

After the concourse we went to the gate where we'd come in, to see if they'd make an exception for us on the no re-entry policy. They waved us through, grinning: "You're not the only one who's needed to take a dog out tonight!" Yay. Kaline got his business done fairly quickly, and while he was out of his vest I just kind of played around with him a bit to loosen things up. Then we went back in and he was good under my seat basically the rest of the game. In the ninth I let him curl up on my lap. (He really has to curl now!)

Watching the game (sometime before our stadium circuit).

Obviously when the A's won and had their celebration, the whole Coliseum went apeshit. But Kaline now knew that loudness would get him treats, so he was completely unfazed by the whole thing. He was so great! He was a little pissed when I stuffed him into his coat at the end, but hey, people definitely noticed a bright blue and maize puppy trotting through the crowded concourse. I was very proud of my little guy.

In which no one gets bathed ...

Yeah, who saw that one coming? Everyone? Good. Happy five-month birthday to Kaline.

Nobody got a bath today (nobody who is also a dog), but both kids got to go on solo working outings, so that was good. And they both did very well. Dad took Juno on a long walk by herself this morning, so I could take Kaline with me to meet Mom at the Farmer's Market. We practiced on-leash recalls down the back street behind our house, and leave it whenever the opportunity arose. He walked so nicely right next to me. Unsurprisingly, he works far better on his own, when we can both focus on each other 100%.

Kaline did awesome at the market. People were actually commenting on his attention. Better enjoy it while I can, cause his brain might fall out when he hits seven months and his "Doberteens"! He hardly did any inappropriate sniffing, and did nice blocking when I positioned him. Oh yeah, and he was really on with the handicap buttons today! He was hitting them very squarely most of the time, and sometimes doing it even without me asking! Of course, I want him to wait for the cue, so we worked on doing calm sits before hitting the button, but still, it was cute. He'd lock in on the button from like 15 feet away and once he was in range, he'd leap at it to push it.

We did a lot of work in the market, going back to the car periodically to put more stuff in it so we didn't have to carry it around (we being my mom, haha). There were a couple pet dogs in the market, which annoyed me—I think all dogs should be allowed, but they have two big No Pets signs, one at either end, and I feel like they should either enforce it, or take down the signs. Inconsistency sucks.

Kaline also got to do the bagel store, where he was pretty awesome. They have pumpkin bagels now! I love October and November: baseball playoffs; Hallowe'en, the best holiday in the universe; and pumpkin everything. Also, if you're in a place with seasons (read: Michigan), incredibly beautiful fall leaves. Mmmm.

We came home to drop off our goodies and to pick up Junebug; then we headed to Borrone's. The place was hopping, as usual, and the only table we could find was in the sun. The dogs were fine—they got to lie in the table's considerable shadow—but we humans were frying. Still, a yummy breakfast.

We were next to a gorgeous 18-month-old Vizsla named Rusty at first, only 45 pounds which is small for a male. I thought he was a baby puppy like Kaline when we first saw him. I can't get enough of that rich orange-gold color. Later, two women (mother and daughter, we found out) arrived with a big young black-and-rust male Doberman! Both Kaline and I were staring at him, haha. He was still basically all legs, obviously very cuddly. Apparently he lives with a five-year-old brother-and-sister pair and a nine-month-old red male. Lots of land! If we had four Dobermans in this house no one would be able to move.

Cuddling at Borrone's.

After breakfast (or more properly, lunch) we ran into some of my old buddies from Kepler's, which is reopening on Tuesday! Everyone was in the half-finished store, working on stuff. We got to see Maggie, Mike, Nancy, Katie, Marilyn, Pam, the whole gang. Everyone was delighted to see the dogs, and they both basked in the attention. Maggie and Kaline were just all over each other, it was adorable. I told her she could do anything she wanted with him, basically, so she was playing with his feet, picking him up, all kinds of stuff. Kaline took it all calmly and happily, great practice for one day when he's working and some little kid comes up and touches his paw or tail or something.

Maggie and Kaline.

Finally we came home and everyone took a nap. Except maybe for Kaline, crazy puppy. Then for the late afternoon/early evening, he was in his crate and Juno came out with me and Mom. We went first to our local Ritz Camera store, which is closing and thus having big discounts on most stuff. And thus, amateur camera enthusiasts that we are, Mom and I got the Canon Rebel I've been coveting. I can't wait to try it out (it's charging now). We went to Walgreens, where Juno got to press the buttons and do various kinds of pulling and bracing. (By the end of our many-stop outing, I was getting numb and tingly from the knees down, ugh.) We went to Nordstrom's and Draeger's, then came home and collapsed.

Well, I did—Juno and Kaline had a big wrestling session downstairs. Yay. Unfortunately it seems not to have tired him out, as he's been a pill since then. Juno is wiped out.

Car shopping and skateboards

Big day yesterday, mostly chilling out today. We were supposed to have class Saturday morning, but it got cancelled at the last minute. Since we were at the park anyway, we just worked the dogs a bit in the usual spot, then took them on two laps around the park. Kaline did pretty much all his stuff, including a bit of heeling and finding the heel position. I also did drops on recall with Juno, who had a lightbulb moment when I realized I should be taking a step toward her as I was giving the hand signal. She dropped way quicker after that.

Kaline did pretty well with his loose-leash walking; good stays, good remote sits and downs. Semi-decent recalls, sigh. We're having trouble coming in straight still.

After training, Kaline went into his crate for a nap and Juno came to the Honda dealership to check out the CRV. I definitely like the 2012, but of course it's pretty out of my price range unless I can get a good lease or something. It's got these very easy to pull handles that make the seats flop down; basically I was checking it out to see what would hurt my hands and what would be easy on them. Putting the seats back together definitely hurt, plus they separate into two parts, the second of which needs a lot of force to go back into place. Juno had no trouble hopping up into the back, so yay.

We also went to the used Honda place across the street, but they only had a 2004 CRV with almost as many miles on it as Faithful Little Tygs On Top. The point in getting a new car is not to have to keep bringing it in for repairs that basically cost more than the car is worth, so that one is out. They also showed us this fire-engine-red Scion which was pretty much the ugliest car I'd ever seen. Plus the seats didn't go flat. Also out.

We came home, Juno went upstairs to join Mom's nap in progress, and grabbed Kaline to go check out Toyotas. He did great. We saw a used 2011 Rav4 which was practically perfect, but obviously we are still in research mode and not ready to get a car. The back opens to the side, instead of up, which is easier for me, and has the same seat levers that the CRV does.

Kaline could almost get himself into the back—he couldn't because he's uncoordinated, and cars for sale have this smooth plastic on the floors so he couldn't get any traction. Any adult, non-senior dog his size or a little smaller won't have a problem leaping in. He was also able to hop into "his spot" in the front seat foot space. When he wasn't being called upon to test the car's dog friendliness, he just lay down on the ground and waited patiently. What a good pup.

The used Rav4 was right in the target price range too. Dad has a car guy in one of his business groups, so hopefully we can set him on the trail of a used 2011 CRV (cause yeah, I like those better). Either one will work just fine though, I think. They both have their good points and drawbacks.

Both dogs were quiet and lovely while I was home with them and the parents went out to dinner and a movie. We went on a long walk to downtown Menlo Park, and had an impromptu skateboard desensitization session.

Three boys from the nearby middle school were coming toward us, two on skateboards, and Kaline shied away from the sound. (I'm pretty sure it's the sound, because when bikes or scooters go by—wheels, similar speed—he doesn't really care.) As soon as they saw us, the very considerate boys immediately got off their boards and picked them up to walk past. I asked them if they'd mind riding past slowly, and maybe letting Kaline smell their boards. They were happy to oblige, and the encounter ended with Kaline eagerly picking treats off their boards. He even put both feet on one board and sent it rolling away; he was not at all fazed when it clattered off. What nice kids!

Kaline all of a sudden became a total pill later in the night when the parents came home. Once I got him out of one place he wasn't supposed to be, he'd immediately go to another. Oh, puppyhood. Nights like that make me long for the day when he turns two (or three) and gets his grown-up brains. Or whatever passes for grown-up brains among male Dobermans, haha!

Today we did our usual walk to the Farmer's Market, the walk-through, and Borrone's. No problems, very little inappropriate sniffing on the puppy's part. Positioning is always a problem at the market, though, because I've got both dogs, both fair-sized now, and it's always crowded. I heard one guy (not the kids' parent, but their babysitter, I guess) explaining to the children why they mustn't touch my dogs, and thanked him profusely for doing so. Then we let the kids pet Kaline while I rewarded him for maintaining focus on me. 

Chilling at the Farmer's Market.

At the cafe, I tried to put Kaline in the sun because we didn't have a mat for him today. Of course he immediately moved to the shade! He did well though, didn't eat a tempting strawberry that was on the ground near his paws, and didn't go for the plate the kids at the next table kept leaving one body length away from him. The kids also kept throwing random crap in the fountain; the splashes didn't bother Kaline either. (The kids sure bothered my dad though!)

By the fountain.

Palo Alto Craft Fair

The work on walking nicely and being attentive continues—Kaline was really good today! Our first order of business was the Farmer's Market, which is difficult because I have to work him and Juno together. It's always crowded, so it's hard to make your way through when you're walking three abreast; plus two dogs attract exponentially more attention than one, so you get stopped more often.

Nonetheless, it was quite productive! We worked on Kaline's stand/block with all those people around, as well as his attention. I spotted two cops, and they were happy to say hi to Kaline. I want him to be totally comfortable with people in uniform, and he quite liked these two. When we went to get our berries, Mikey (the guy who runs the stand) obliged me by doing his funky whistle repeatedly while I rewarded Kaline for ignoring it and watching me.

Then as we were walking through we ended up talking to a woman who had recently lost her dog, who she called her life companion. I did my usual recommendation of Peninsula Humane Society, and the woman said she was wary of going to a shelter because so many of the dogs might have "pit bull blood" and she didn't want a dog who was so "unpredictable."

I can't hear that kind of nonsense without trying to educate, so I went into my spiel about the true, wonderful nature of pit bulls. How cuddly and sweet and smart they are, and what great friends they make. I of course mentioned my various friends who have pit bulls or pit mixes as service dogs, and recommended exploring the website, StubbyDog. I think I at least made something of an impression. Gotta try. She was definitely surprised and impressed to learn that Stubby was a pit bull and a war hero, and that pit bulls used to be nicknamed the Nanny Dog. People used to think those stupid things about Dobermans; they're just as stupid when applied to pit bulls.

After the market we went to Borrone's for our Sunday breakfast; once I set up Kaline's mat properly (this took a little bit of experimenting) he did a fantastic under and stayed there, all curled up and adorable. The bustling cafe with all its people and dogs and food is becoming old hat to him.

We came home for a bit, had naps and all. We had a lot of cleaning up to do, since the house basically got taken apart yesterday for the rug cleaning. Once everyone was sufficiently recharged, we headed out to the Palo Alto Craft Fair.

The fair was way more dog friendly than the Menlo Park one simply because of its location and today's weather. University Avenue is very shaded, and is fine for walking dogs on all but the very hottest of days. Plus, today was pleasantly cool. No hot pavement to burn dogs' feet, and no scorching sun to heat them up and make them pant unhappily.

Dad took Juno and I worked Kaline, totally focused on attention and walking with a loose leash. Obviously this will be a work in progress for some time, but we definitely had stretches where Kaline was brilliant, walking along at exactly my pace and looking up at my face very attentively. There were tons of dogs and he did as good a job at ignoring them as you can expect from a baby; Juno also did very well at ignoring other dogs, and we ran into a bunch of shepherds, which she tends not to like.

We also ended up talking to a lot of different people about service dogs, including a woman who, like me, has fibromyalgia. She also has diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis (major drag!). So we definitely had a lot to talk about when it came to how a service dog might be able to help her. That stuff was fun.

Less fun: People who insisted that Juno and Kaline must both be part Rottweiler, which is ridiculous. Juno is 26 inches tall and weighs only 60-65 pounds, there's no way she's part Rottie. And Kaline is a Doberman, end of story. His ears confuse people so much. But I wouldn't have them any other way, because they're beautiful.

There were also people who would say something nice about Kaline's behavior and then go, "And, he's a Doberman!" As if you wouldn't ever expect to see a Doberman be focused and calm. I don't think I'd even say that to a poodle-mix owner (at least, not to their face!). All these people kept telling me how Dobermans are ADD, how they're crazy, etc. I was kind of like, How many Dobermans have you met? I could understand if they said something referencing his age, but not his breed. Oh yeah, one person asked if Kaline was nine months old, because he's big. Ha! (Side note: Kaline's brother Montgomery is 45 pounds already! Way bigger than Kaline.)

Back to good stuff. There was a guy playing an accordion at one of the intersections, and he was in a full body suit! Even covered his face. It was bright pink and black, with little puffballs attached at various places and just crazily designed. He was kind enough to let me bring Kaline up to sniff his hand; the pup didn't seem all that impressed by the getup. I thought it might at least give him a bit of pause or something. When I first saw him, I jumped, not gonna lie. But no, apparently Kaline got that it was a person and no big deal.

Kaline also had to deal with golf carts passing really close by, and of course smothering crowds when we'd hit one of the many bottlenecks. The only issues we had were nearly running into lots of different people, because we were both working on eye contact, haha.

Just measured him tonight—as best I could, using a miniature flag as a ruler on his back with him wriggling in a stand next to the wall—and he is approximately 21 inches tall already! Woohoo!

Sunday funday

The dogs got out and about a bunch today. We got up early and walked downtown, planning to meet Dad at the Farmer's Market. On the way, we stopped at Peet's, where we saw Max with his mom, and another dog we know, Darby, a poodle mix. Darby is working on his dog reactivity, so it's great for him when other dogs in training (as opposed to crazy MDIFs—check out this post if you don't know what I mean) come by. He did very well and didn't bark at Juno or Kaline. Max went crazy when he saw me, was glad to see Juno, and told the puppy in no uncertain terms to behave himself, hehe.

After our impromptu doggy meetup, we headed to the Farmer's Market. I vested both dogs and took them through, and I must say, it's pretty tough trying to work two dogs in a slow crowd like that. They did fine, behavior-wise, but we definitely have to figure out some sort of system regarding positioning. It doesn't help that I really want Juno not to sit, in those situations, and I do like it when Kaline sits. It's a tail thing.

We then did a quick in and out at the bagel store—a sit-stay by the door, then a quick loop to the back of the store and out again. Kaline did well at not sniffing and not soliciting attention. Then we headed to Cafe Borrone for some breakfast. I didn't vest the dogs, because we were going to sit outside and I wanted Kaline to be able to go say hi to people. There were, of course, a lot of people who wanted to pet him and love on him. He took a little while to settle down on his mat, partially because of all the people coming to say hi, and partially because just across the way was a little Catahoula puppy!

We met her foster mom after breakfast—the puppy is up for adoption, along with her six brothers and sisters—and found out the little girl is about Kaline's age. She had very similar coloring as well, though more of a blunt face. And a tail, of course. The hilarious thing was, once they started to kind of play with each other (as much as they could on leash and basically under a table), we suddenly noticed how much bigger Kaline's paws were. Overall, he really wasn't much larger than the Catahoula, but his feet were probably at least twice as large!

After a while, Kaline finally settled on his mat, right at the end of it so he was close to his beloved Juno. A couple times he rested his head on her back, but I was never fast enough with my phone to get a picture. Drat!

We came home briefly after breakfast, then headed out again to the Michigan Alumni Student Send-off. Supposedly this event is for the kids heading off to Michigan at the end of the month, but really it's for the alumni to get a much-needed taste of "home." The club ships in Cottage Inn Pizza, breads, meats and cheeses from Zingerman's Deli, and best of all, ice cream from Stucchi's! It's fabulous.

I was hoping this would be sort of a chill-out event for the dogs, but as we drove into the park where the event was held, we saw a ton of No Pets signs. I was so bummed. You've got this absolutely gorgeous big park, and no one can bring their pet dogs! How awful! So the pups had to go vested. No biggie for Juno—I actually think she likes it better when strangers leave her alone. She really doesn't have any interest in them unless they scratch her Happy Spot or they have food for her. Kaline, though, is my little social butterfly and would have loved getting to go schmooze with everyone.

Nonetheless, both dogs did very well. Kaline settled much more quickly at the picnic than at the cafe. It was on dirt, so everyone's gear has to get washed, but hey, it's an occupational hazard. The kids got in a bit more crowd work, and just relaxed with all the people around. We got to do some service dog education, and I even met (in person) someone I had met years ago online when we were both part of a Brad Ausmus-obsessed Yahoo group! That was really cool. I was pretty pleased with how Kaline did, given all the people he wasn't allowed to say hi to, and all the food he wasn't allowed to have. He pawed at his head collar a bit, but that was about all.

And an update on Kaline's neck: The hair loss isn't getting worse, at least. I emailed Maura about it, and she said that fleece-lined flat collars or no flat collar at all would be the way to go. Kaline can go naked at home, but outside a lot of the time he needs to be wearing a collar with tags, so I guess we'll be getting a fleece-lined collar soon. Also coming soon: two spare, magnetic closure, super awesome bait bags! Hurrah!

First vested outing; and the only time I will ever use a Flexi

This morning was super exciting to me, because Kaline got to have his first vested outing! It lasted all of about 15 minutes. Before we left the house, I had to kind of jerry-rig the vest, safety-pinning the long straps up so they don't dangle (obviously, at this point I have both straps as short as they'll go). I put Kaline and Juno's vests in Dad's car—he drove to the Menlo Park Farmer's Market, and the dogs and I walked, to take the edge off Kaline's morning energy.

Kaline models his vest up in my room. Still needs to grow into it a little more!

We met Dad at the fish stand, and he had already completed the shopping! So he held Juno at that end while I vested Kaline and then headed in. We made one circuit of the market, just up and back. I was well-armed with treats, and Kaline was excellent. We wove through the crowds and he was interested, looking around, but anytime I asked him to watch, he did, pretty much immediately. He didn't sniff too much, and only pulled a little to go say hi to people. I was pleased at how he handled the quick up-and-back, and very pleasantly surprised at the fact that no one even asked to pet him, much less molested him without asking. Woohoo!

Dad had to pick up a few things at nearby Trader Joe's, so the pups and I followed him across the parking lot and just sat on a bench outside. I didn't think Kaline was ready to go inside TJ's, but I kept him vested, put him in a down next to Juno, and we just did some quality people watching. People-with-carts watching, even better. I admit, I feared that Kaline would have a cart phobia. Thankfully, he does not. He was very cute. Okay, fine, he's always very cute. But he just looked so adorable and businesslike in his vest!

Good settle, buddy.

We came home for a while, and then Dad started going on about finding somewhere for Kaline to run. Basically he had two ideas, dog park or tennis courts. I nixed the dog park because I will never allow either of my dogs into one; the benefits don't come close to outweighing the risks. Tennis courts got nixed because Kaline is way too young to be running on such a hard surface. Then he suggested the beach, and I thought, "Hey, that's an awesome idea!"

So, if you've known me more than five minutes you know I absolutely hate, loathe, and abominate Flexi leashes. However, when we go to the beach, I make a rare exception. I want the dogs to have a lot more freedom and play than on a normal walk, and it's appropriate for them to have more freedom. I don't want to let them completely off leash, though, because obviously the baby doesn't have a solid off-leash recall, and even if both dogs did, sometimes it's pretty hard to hear right by the ocean. So a Flexi, much as I hate to admit it, is a good compromise.

We ended up at a Half Moon Bay beach and had a lovely time. Juno likes to go walk around in the waves—not interested in swimming or getting in deep water, but definitely doesn't mind getting wet up to about her hocks. Kaline very plainly did not want to get wet. He had a good time running around though and after watching me scrabble in the sand with my feet, he went nuts digging. It was hilarious, because instead of alternating front feet, he tries to dig using both front feet at the same time. So there are frequent faceplants and he ended up with a lot of sand on his nose and in his mouth. A lot of it was in his mouth because he, um, was trying to eat sand. I have a silly puppy.

My goobers!

Wee Kaline on the beach.

Yooooo-no!

Diggin' a hole!

Which one of ...

... these is cuter?

I tried to get photos of Juno and Kaline's pawprints next to each other, cause they're practically the same size. Unfortunately, while Juno leaves beautiful clear prints, Kaline doesn't really weigh enough to do that yet. Ah well! Everyone seems to be pretty zonked now; Kaline is being a more muted pest than normal, haha.