Well, on one hand the trip was great. We went to the Henry Ford twice, my new camera behaved amazingly, we had lots of fun at the Farmer's Market, went to Charley's three times, etc. But the Tigers decided not to show up for the World Series against the Giants. And not having Juno sucked. I needed her for physical help several times, especially the first day we got there and I was hobbling around like an elderly person because I'd sat for so long on the plane. I also really needed her for keeping my anxiety in check—it was like every place we went into, I was constantly scanning, on high alert. For what? Dunno. My mom did her best to be a good service human but it's just not the same.
So unsurprisingly, I was incredibly glad to see the dogs when we arrived home Monday night. Dad pulled up outside baggage claim, where I was plastered against a pole so no one could/would sneak up behind me. I went out, got Juno, put on her little vest and strode back in. It was like flipping a switch. All trip, we were avoiding crowds as much as possible. Now with Juno, I waded in, and she blocked exactly where I needed her to without even being asked. I was complete again! I hugged her a bunch, even when she was working, and then in the car she and Kaline piled up against me in a little mound.
Kaline had a great time at Freddie's playing with her big black Lab, Rio. I assume it's Rio's fault that I observed Kaline lift his leg to mark for the first time today. Haha. We had training yesterday and my whiny children did pretty well. My dad apparently worked Kaline in class on Saturday and did really nicely with him, didn't screw him up! Freddie said he was way more conscientious with the pup than he normally is with Juno.
I was super pleased with Kaline's stand-stay yesterday—he'll do it for me with basically no problem, but yesterday I left him and let Freddie "examine" him. He moved his feet some, but he didn't sit, come to me, or go to Freddie, so I'll count that in the win column! Juno did awesome recalls, during which a busybody cop came to inform us of the leash rule in the park. Which we, as trainers, have town permission to "break," and which assholes break all the time with dogs who won't do a recall. And those people never get any consequences. I let Freddie talk, because I'm not good at being patient and polite with stupid authoritarian people.
Today most of the dogs (save Xena and Jett) had Hallowe'en flair to wear on the walks. Kaline wore his jack o' lantern sweater, Juno had a jack o' lantern bandanna, Gracie had a grinning pumpkin headband attached to her collar with duct tape, Max had a black and orange frilly collar, and Ellis had the sparkliest, most awesome bandanna with black, orange and white pumpkins, witches' hats, and skulls. YAY.
Today was the big garage sale, which I figured would kill my day. Happily enough, it didn't, and we've actually had a pretty good day.
Juno had already been up a couple hours, supervising set-up and the beginning of the garage sale, when Kaline and I got our lazy selves out of bed. Scoots had to stay home while I took Kaline to class, since Dad couldn't leave to come handle her. We hung out at the garage sale a bit; Kaline was actually shivering, so I got out one of Angel's old coats and put it on him. It's a little big (shocker!). He looked like a superhero. Or at least a puppy wearing a cape.
Super Kaline!
It was a big day at training—Kristin's last class before she leaves for freshman year at UCSD this coming Thursday. Kaline did pretty well, especially considering that I only brought a bait bag full of kibble (made higher value by some crushed up pieces of freeze-dried liver). He did some nice heeling and leave it; right at the beginning Freddie placed two plates she found elsewhere in the park, with nasty old pizza and such, in the middle of the arena. We had to walk past those, and all the other dogs, repeatedly. And he was pretty nice about it!
Then we did group sit-stays and down-stays, with the dogs grouped close to each other. This was the first week I not only dropped Kaline's leash but walked around with everyone else among all the other dogs. I even left with everyone else to stand on the stairs outside the circle where we train. And Kaline did fine! Hurrah. Then there was a dog-switch, but with Kaline I don't want to do that. Just like I don't want other people (except Kristin, Freddie or Anne) giving him treats. I don't want him viewing other people as potential handlers or treat dispensers. Yes, I realize than in an emergency strangers might have to handle him, but at least at this point, he'd probably have no problem walking off with someone, as long as they'd brought him food or made squeaky sounds at him.
Group down-stays, Kaline front left in blue coat.
Kaline did very well on meet and greets. Our partner was Peter the Poodle, who has just come such a long way. He's like a different dog. Once the meet and greets were over, we had to go out of sigh in turn. I went first, and Kaline was totally fine; then when Dianne, Peter's mom left, only Kaline whined! Peter was a very cool customer. She's done an amazing job with him.
Last we did all kinds of recalls. It was pretty fun when the dogs all sat in a tiny circle, butts together, waiting to be called. The waiting was killing Kaline though, especially cause it was at the end of class and he was pretty much done. He just wanted to lie down and chill; having to stay up in a sit was hard for him, especially if I went too far away. So I just stayed in close to try and keep the tired little guy focused. He did fine on the recalls, I just need to work on my technique! It's always the handler, isn't it?
Cupcakes!
After class, we had cupcakes in honor of Kristin. Her mom and Freddie did lovely speeches about what a great trainer she has become, and what a magnificent job she's done with Ben, her Toller. He was a kennel dog when she got him, very skittish, afraid of men, prone to bolting randomly. Now, he's a total star, and just earned his CDX and rally novice title! Juno and I aspire to be Ben, haha. We're really going to miss Kristin, but I know she'll have an awesome time at UCSD. After first quarter, she'll probably get to have Ben with her!
Kaline and I headed to Gracie's house to pick her up after class—her family was settling one of the daughters in her new dorm today. We pulled up at home, Juno leapt into the car, and Mom sent us off to go grab lunch for everyone at Burger King. Finding places in the car to put four large cups of pop and two bags of food while ferrying three dogs is interesting, especially when you only have two cupholders. Thankfully Gracie and Juno have good leave its, and Kaline doesn't care about the food because he has never been fed any of it. So it was just a matter of not spilling the pop everywhere!
When we got back, Juno stayed outside with the adults, while Kaline and Gracie came in with me. Of course, they began an epic roughhousing session that has basically lasted all afternoon. Once I was done with the food, I came out to the driveway where the sale was happening and ground down Kaline and Juno's nails. I tried Gracie, but she was not having it. We came in, there was roughhousing, and then a lovely group nap—Gracie on the floor, Juno on her couch, Kaline on me.
Gracie lets him do this. Then, of course, she pins him to the ground with her chest and lies on top of him.
When everyone woke up, we went on a walk to downtown Menlo Park and back. Walking three dogs is a great way to get me to pass the used book store without buying anything—I feel awkward taking two dogs in there, and three is just out of the question. They have such a great WWII section ... Anyway, the roughhousing has finally ebbed away; Kaline is now chewing a bully stick instead of Gracie's ears. Seriously, this dog has the patience of a saint. Gracie's conked out on my feet, Juno under the table. Time to feed the hounds!
Tonight Kaline and I went on our first service dog outing sans Juno. I will admit it, it was weird. I think it was good for both me and Kaline, though, because I was able to focus completely on him.
Everyone loves the Stannie!
I tried so hard to tire him out beforehand. We did a pack walk in the morning; I got to borrow Gracie for the afternoon, so he had a nice long wrestling session with her; and then we went to training in the park. He did so well. He did literally the best recalls he has ever done—came galloping in, lovely enthusiasm, and if he didn't sit straight, at least he didn't rock back and away from me at the end. He did good heeling and weaving through dogs too. At the end, he did an awesome down-stay, off leash, next to Juno while I gathered up the other dogs we had to drive home. I even ran him around in the sun trying to basically fry his little brain.
It all seemed to have worked when we arrived at the Stanford Theatre after dropping Juno off at home. Kaline was fantastic in line, standing next to me (not sitting, even though we've worked on auto-sits). He's not really capable of blocking, since he's still pretty small, but it was definitely great behavior to build on. He gave me really nice attention. When we waited on a bench for Sonja and Chief to arrive, Kaline did an automatic settle. He did really nice in the concessions line as well, standing again and watching the whole time. Didn't go for any popcorn or anything!
Auto-settle in the lobby.
Then his buddy Chief arrived, and both the boys were like, "Wait, what? We can't have a play session?" Up in the theatre, they both took a while to settle down. We just had to laugh at them and their adorable puppy-ness. Chief was kinda crawling about on Sonja's lap, and Kaline kept trying to sneak over to Chief's mat. Once Kaline got half on my lap and gave Sonja a very presumptuous poke with his massively oversized paw. He was the first one to go to sleep, and then Chief conked out. I thought we were home free. And then they both woke up again.
Kaline, having done lap-ups at my request out in the lobby, just started doing them over and over once he woke up. Again with the muffled giggling. I cuddled him, and once he got off, put him back in his down on his mat. Over and over and over. Sonja joked that when we want to actually watch a movie, we should bring our girls. And then right as the movie finished up, both boys curled up on their mats and pretended to be model service puppies in training. Gotta love them!
I would've written yesterday, since it was a big day in the Life of Kaline: His very first day out with all the other dogs! But Dad, Juno and I ended up at the Giants game, which went extra innings ... so yeah, I needed sleep.
The first walk yesterday was with Teddy and Wilson, in Wilson's neighborhood. Poor Teddy had to be the buffer between the babies. Kaline is used to that walk, with multiple dogs, so that wasn't really much of a milestone. He was even kind of naughty. He and Wilson ratchet up each other's naughtiness. That's why I like Freddie's Saturday class as opposed to the usual puppy class (though, of course, if there was a Play & Learn happening now, we'd SO be there). Kaline isn't around a ton of other unruly puppies like himself, he's with a wide variety of dogs, most of whom are calm to one degree or another.
The second walk was the big deal—the five-pack going from The Willows neighborhood through downtown Palo Alto. Here, Kaline met Jett (Swissie), Max (McNab), and Xena (black Lab). I stuck the little man in the very middle of the pack. Juno and Max, my old hands, go on the outside, Xena and Jett on the inside.
Max fixed Kaline's backseat craziness in a quick second, by the way—this is why he's my No. 1 puppy wrangler. Kaline was romping about with Xena, which obviously is not very appropriate for the backseat of a car. I popped Max in there, he let out one or two really ugly sounding growls, and voila! Peace and quiet.
The walk went fairly well, for it being Kaline's first time. He had to be reminded about sitting when we stop (quite understandable), and forgot his manners a little at the flower shop, where all the dogs get treats (he jumped up to get the biscuit instead of staying in a sit). But he stayed in line with the other dogs, for the most part, and didn't lick Xena too excessively. Oh, who am I kidding, he was washing her ears every chance he got. She doesn't mind though, and well she shouldn't, considering she used to do it to everyone.
Juno did amazing at the Giants game. I almost made Dad leave early, and if you know us, you know that's freaking insane. We do not leave baseball games early, ever. But the game went so crazy long, and even though Juno wasn't really showing signs of her bladder exploding, I was worried about her because of her apparent early-onset incontinence. (The vet initially agreed it was a UTI, but then a culture showed no evidence of such, so the current conclusion is a bit of incontinence. Keeping a more rigid schedule of pee breaks seems to have this well in hand.)
However, being inside a ballpark with no in-out privileges kind of puts a crimp in the rigid schedule of pee breaks. It had been almost 7 hours since Juno's last chance to pee. And if Brandon Belt hadn't flied out to end the game when he did, we would have left before the end of the game. As soon as we got outside, we went to the handy gravel across the street and Juno immediately did No. 1 and No. 2. Good dog.
Juno at the ballpark.
Her pulling on the harness was decent before the game (could've been better), but afterward was excellent. Fabulous even. I'm curious about why ... does she know that pre-game, basically we're practicing, and that post-game, I really need it? Or is she a doggie version of barn-sour, where she's just excited to go back to the car? The world may never know.
The barking when the dogs are together has gotten pretty ridiculous, so we've got a couple different things to try. First stage, removal of whichever dog instigates the barking (usually Juno). If that doesn't work, Binaka, sprayed in the mouth of the instigator. Last resort, e-collar for precisely timed corrections. So far this evening, Juno has been removed three times. It seems to be working, knock on wood.
Kaline and Juno went on a sort of training walk this morning to the park, which went okay. Juno did a lot better than her wee brother; he was just so distracted. We did a pack walk with Gracie, Baxter and Jett. (Just FYI, if Jett is on a walk, we go to downtown Palo Alto.) Kaline looked so cute between the two yellow Labs. For now at least, the very middle is a perfect spot for him.
Junebug did fabulous jumping today at training—three jumps all in a row, almost like flyball! Kaline obviously can't do that kind of thing. We did lots of handling with him, Kumbayayas, and worked on stand.
Kaline is running with the big dogs! Or at least getting treated more like one. Yesterday at training, he got tethered like everyone else, instead of put in the playpen (from which he is quite adept at escaping). Unlike everyone else, he had a tire with a rope, and a stuffed lobster to play with. He also got to participate more actively than before. Instead of just coming out for the Kumbayayas, he worked on some loose-leash walking around four or five dogs in down stays, as well as recalls, and “meet and greets” with all the tethered dogs.
He did pretty well! Our new strategy for recalls is to call him in, then make a ninety-degree turn either left or right so he has to follow me and still come in straight. I have no issues getting him not to rock back when I do that, so we'll keep on.
Juno really improved on her down stays yesterday—she didn't break nearly as often as she has been doing, so hooray! She did an excellent job as usual with the jumping (26 inches). I was really happy with her. But later that night, when we went to My Fair Lady, she leaked on her mat. Very worrisome. This is the second time in recent history that she has leaked on her mat. It's not like an accident, because she was calmly lying down when it happened. She doesn't know it's happening.
So today we went to the vet. Junebug got her favorite vet, Dr. Ulla, and she took a urine sample to test to see what we've got. I'm hoping for an easily cleared up UTI, rather than early-onset incontinence. Dr. Ulla was so sad she didn't get to see Kaline, that after we got home, we just set out on a walk with him and went back to the vet's office so she could meet him. (Dr. Ulla has a black and tan Doberman named Anchor.) No one was in, so we just let Kaline gambol around the office in his adorably clumsy way. Everyone was commenting on his lovely temperament and obvious confidence. Whee.
Kaline also got to go on his first real pack walk today, with Juno, Gracie and Wilson. Four-dog packs are my most common, although that will change when Kaline becomes a regular. (Five is my limit, and will become most common.) Wilson and Kaline will just egg each other on in silliness, so I put Gracie between them. She is only a year or so old, about the same age as Wilson, but you'd never know it. She is such an old hand when it comes to dealing with other dogs who need to learn the ropes. She was a fantastic buffer between the boys and made everything go far more smoothly.
Kaline of course did fine. I don't think he's going to have an issue with pack walking in the mental/emotional sense—it doesn't faze him. I just don't know where in the pack I'll put him when I've got Jett too! Normally in packs the least-trained/experienced dog goes on the extreme inside, but since I started with Jett, that's been His Spot, regardless of who else is walking. Mostly because even though he knows what's expected of him now, he can still unintentionally leave huge swipes of drool-slime on passersby if the opportunity presents itself. If I put Kaline to Jett's right though, I have a feeling he'll get smushed. He may end up in the middle, next to my No. 1 Puppy Wrangler Max. That'll be fun.
I shall leave you with a most adorable sequence of photos. Yesterday after training, we all came home tired as usual. Juno flopped on her blue bed, and after a few minutes, Kaline's eyes lit up: Snuggle Opportunity!
So brazenly, he marched over to Juno and curled up in the curve of her body. Then he started scootching around, trying to find the exact perfect spot with the absolute largest area of his body in contact with hers. Would it be better with his head over her neck, or against her shoulder? It was hilarious. Juno grumbled the whole time, naturally, then quieted once she realized he had no interest in chewing on her feet.
Most adorable picture ever, methinks!!
Last bit of news: I finally know Kaline's registered name! It's my first choice—Gatehouse As Time Goes By! Woohoo!
Kaline is having a most excellent time, and Juno is getting a bit of a break from puppy pestering: Miss Gracie is here! She was in “daycare” yesterday and again today, and she and Kaline just play nonstop. Really quietly too—when Juno and Kaline are “playing,” it's a nonstop barkfest that will give you a headache in 15 seconds. Because Juno cannot manage to play without barking incessantly. To that end, I finally found her old bark collar in the recesses of my trunk. No idea if it actually still works, but while wearing it, there's no barking! So yay.
The pups had a good time at training yesterday in the park, though I was preoccupied most of the time with the fact that Kaline had still not had his post-breakfast poop. He'd had a walk, an awesome play session with Gracie, then fun before training actually began, yet still, no poop. I worry about these things. (He finally went after “jumping”—4-6 inches, worry not.)
The big dogs were excellent. We had every single dog out doing an off leash down-stay except for one seriously spastic poodle-mix. (I won't rant here ... yet ... but “Labradoodles” and “Goldendoodles,” these are not actual breeds.) First they were in a long line, so one or two working dogs at a time could practice weaving and heeling, and then they were in two parallel lines, so we could do The Gauntlet, a recall exercise where the one working dog does a recall between the two lines of dogs in downs. The Gauntlet is probably my favorite exercise ever.
Dogs on left, front to back: Ben, Gracie, Shadow, Tex, Juno; dogs on right, front to back: Xena, Phi, Rocky, Lucky, Peter, Rio.
After the stays, weaving and recalls, most of the dogs got to go play in the sprinklers. I use sprinkler time mostly as a way to work on Juno's recall some more, teaching her to come even when having tons of fun. And once she comes, she gets to go play more. She gets all gleeful and soaking wet. I must figure out a way to get Kaline to love sprinklers as well.
As usual, Kaline got to participate in what we jokingly call the Kumbayaya Session, where most of the dogs come out and do group down-stays in a loose circle. He worked on his sit, down, watch, stay, stand and newest one, high-five. (I realized a bit belatedly that for him I would like “shake” to mean shake like after a bath.)
He was so not tired after his long day though. It was kind of insane. He even got a visit, after training, from two of my former Kepler's colleagues, who gleefully played with him and entertained him for half an hour or so. Everything he did was the New Cutest Thing Ever. He got handled everywhere, and was cool with it. But still, there was much leaping onto couches (he has never been invited onto the couch, only lifted there when sleepy, so I don't know why he thinks he can go there), and much chewing of things that are not his toys. Sigh. Even his last walk did not do much to curb the zoomies.
Happily, he slept through the night. This seems to be becoming, dare I say it, a habit. I love.
I got up extra early this morning so I could go get Gracie before Juno and Kaline's walk. Another mini-pack experience for Kaline. He did well again, though we still have to work on not licking other dogs' ears while walking. We ran into the UPS man, who Juno loathes for no good reason, and Kaline loves, just like Angel did. UPS man loves dogs back and was quite happy to see his little buddy. Oh yeah, and yesterday Kaline met an older lady with a walker. Not fazed in the least.
It's kind of interesting, Kaline changes my whole approach toward other people. Generally I try to avoid contact of all kinds. No touch, no talk, no eye contact, right? But with Kaline, I'm always thinking, “Oooh, that person totally fits a demographic I want to make certain Kaline is comfortable with! Oooh, ze is looking at the puppy with interest! Let's go meet hir!!!” Basically, I'm looking for humans who are not completely able-bodied women (because I have so many of those in my life that Kaline is in no danger of being underexposed to them). Obviously, if such a woman wanted to meet Kaline, I would never say no! Men, children, extra tall men, people in wheelchairs, people with crutches, people with walkers, people in uniform, people with strollers—all these people have become targets (I mean that in the best way possible!). So I constantly find myself asking, “Can he say hi?” And the answer is pretty much always yes.
After the first walk, Kaline went for crate time and Juno, Gracie and I went on our two pack walks. Then Kaline and Gracie had a massive play session. It's unbelievable the things Gracie will put up with! I find it hilarious that Kaline ended up tiring her out, not the other way around. I feel kind of accomplished though—I devised a morning that crashed out a one-year-old Labrador! Hurrah!
Everyone is currently crashed for their afternoon siesta. Sounds like a plan to me.
Yesterday (Friday), Kaline had a playdate with Gracie, Baxter's sister. Also a yellow Lab, she's a little over a year old. She and Baxter like to play pretty rough, but once Gracie saw that the puppy couldn't handle that level of play, she really toned it down and they had a great time.
Gracie is a most excellent retriever, so once she got going with her ball, Kaline was all about chasing her around the yard, and then leaping on her when she would lie down in the grass. She let him jump on her face, flop over her back, whatever he wanted. They had a fantastic time wrestling. Kaline got tired after a while so he employed the time-honored Doberman strategy of placing himself somewhere in Gracie's path and waiting for her to run over to him—that way he could jump on her without actually having to give chase. This is something my first dog, Angel, used to do; Kaline reminds me a lot of her.
After the playdate, Kaline crashed for basically the whole afternoon. He was one tired puppy. Late in the afternoon though, he had two appointments. He came along with me and Juno to see my psychologist, and did pretty well. It was his first time there. He was a little antsy at the start, but I had brought his new hit toy, a tiny tire with a rope attached (ropes are the new hot thing in Kaline-land), and soon he focused on that. And then he crashed again.
Kaline settling in the waiting room with his rope toy.
Then we went to see the vet, because Kaline's puppy acne has not gone away, and when the vet last saw him, he said he wanted to get him on antibiotics if the acne stayed longer than a week. So yesterday, Kaline got to see Dr. Cortesi. He is mostly retired now; but when I had Angel, he was the main vet there. It was really nice to have my brand new puppy seen by the same vet who treated Angel her whole life.
Dr. Cortesi prescribed a short dose of antibiotics for the acne, said to get Kaline back on only the puppy food until he has consistently good poops, and gave me the puppy pack I forgot last time. (It's got kind of a pre-heartworm preventive in there.) Kaline was a very good boy, and Juno suffered her role as moral supporter with mostly good grace. She got lots of treats, and with his sensitive stomach Kaline hardly got any, so she was a pretty happy camper.
Later that night, Juno sacked out on the brown bed that has become her main spot downstairs since Kaline commandeered the blue bed. Once her eyes were closed, Kaline very carefully crept over and snuggled in next to her. Juno opened her eyes in horror, but Mom and I both told her, "It's okay, just stay there." Kaline wasn't doing his usual routine of "How hard can I gnaw your feet?" He just wanted to sleep cuddled up and was being very good. So Juno went back to sleep. See photos for how this progressed!
