Another successful IKEA outing with Chief!

Monday night, for Sonja's birthday, we took the boys to IKEA for some fun training. The boys were so lovely and we had a wonderful time.

Kaline got to practice “under” quite a bit, since there were various convenient objects all around.

Kaline does under

Chief does under

Both boys also got to practice picking up a credit card, which they did well. Kaline was a little overenthusiastic, but I'm not terribly worried about it. Enthusiasm is good! He was crazy when I asked him to pick up his leash. Before he would hand it to me, he had to “kill” it, very very dead.

We also worked on various distractions, as we like to do, with toys and stuffies and even an umbrella! A nice man took a video of Sonja trying to distract the pups with the umbrella.

Leaving the big carrots alone ...

At the end we had dinner in the wee food court and the dogs settled nicely under the table. Kaline was so zonked (he'd done four walks in the morning in addition to working at IKEA) that he didn't even notice when I got up to get a refill on our pops. This is the dog who normally cannot stand to let me go to the bathroom alone. And heaven forbid I go upstairs without him. The fastest way to wake him from a nap on the couch is to go up one flight of stairs.

Sleepy boys.

And on the way out, Kaline blocked nicely, even when I asked Sonja to gently nudge him in the butt. What a good boy.

Juno's birthday and Jekyll & Hyde outings for Kaline

Juno's (made-up) sixth birthday was on Dec. 26, so of course she got the traditional bagel-burger. I started that with Angel, my first dog, who also had a made-up birthday. Fry up a ground beef patty, put it on a bagel, then hang on while she goes to town! I also gave her tons of little goodies throughout the day—Gouda cheese, bagel & cream cheese, pieces of sugar cookies, extra bait, etc.

Here we have a ground beef patty on a pumpkin bagel, mmmmmm.

Yes, best dog in the world, this is for you.

OM NOM NOM.

Kaline then had two different outings. One went awfully, and the other was fantastic.

We got invited with Sonja and Chief to go to Hidden Villa, a dog-friendly farm where we'd never been. Since it was dog-friendly and Mom didn't seem real thrilled to be on Juno duty for the afternoon, I decided to take Juno with Kaline. First mistake. Second mistake, taking Juno on her martingale instead of her prong.

If Kaline had been by himself, he would probably have done at least a little better. As it was, he pulled constantly against his Halti, so much that my hands were burning the whole rest of the night and he rubbed the fur down on part of his nose. Sonja, saint that she is, took Juno because I couldn't, it turned out, handle both her and Kaline around the very interesting creatures (sheep, goats, kitties, fake horses). Chief got to roam about dragging his leash most of the time. Juno took Sonja seriously about being on vacation now that I wasn't holding her leash. Kaline was just frustrating as hell.

Meeting the Hidden Villa sheeps. Not a typo, I like saying sheeps.

The one really good thing he got the hang of was going up to see something interesting, like a sheep, and then turning away from it when I asked him. It was hard for him at first, understandably, but by the end he would come away pretty easily.

So yeah, mostly that one sucked. Kaline and I were not very team-like.

Then yesterday we went with Sonja and Chief (and not Juno) to IKEA. And both boys were freaking awesome. I did this a lot:

Because Kay had rubbed his nose, we switched back to the prong. Even if it has rubbed his neck hair some, and at points given him bumps, no training collar irritates him less or is more effective. So I guess we're back on the prong. Some lady in IKEA was apparently talking bad about Kaline's prong (in German). Whatever. It works, and Kaline's happy in it. I'm done, for at least a while, messing with his equipment. The little rubbed spot on his nose is driving me all kinds of crazy. Poor baby.

Anyhow. We did a ton of distraction work with Chief and Kaline and had ourselves a fantastic time. Hendrik also came along and I was incredibly impressed with his ability to entertain himself while Sonja and I worked with the dogs.

Right as we entered, there was this big bin of stuffie footballs. We tossed them around the boys, toward the boys, then piled them around the boys' feet and had them do stays among the balls. We also dumped in a big stuffed seal. It was precious.

Sit stay.

Kaline wonders why he didn't get to settle ...

Down stay.

Next, we put the boys in down-stays across an aisle from us and let all the crowds walk between us and the boys. No one would actually walk between Kaline and Chief, but Sonja got Hendrik to do it. Kaline popped up the second time Hendrik stepped over him, so I went out to reinforce his stay with people stepping over him.

Kaline and Chief during a lull.

We chilled on a couch and the boys got to schmooze a little bit.

We haven't been able to get the videos to load yet, but both Kaline and Chief got to work on open and close in one of the model kitchens. It took a little bit for Kaline to realize I wanted him to use Chief's leash as a tug, but once he got it he was pretty good. Chief was freaking adorable, I love how he has to put his whole body into opening a cabinet. He would open the cabinet, find a teddy bear and then bring that to Sonja. Kaline just did open-wait-close. The wait is important, cause if you don't tell him, he will open the door and immediately slam it shut!

We did recalls through a busy area.

Kaline got to practice a little bit on his new "legs" task.

When we found the cheap clearance toy bins, we did more distraction work. We waved toys around, then had the boys walk through a labyrinth of toys, then do recalls through it. We even did retrieving exercises.

And then we made the boys wear silly hats.

 

By then they were both pretty tired, so we took a break in the food court.

 

On the way out, tired Chief got to be carried sometimes, which was insanely cute. That's not an option for Kaline, who now weighs in at 65 pounds, so he got to practice his blocking again. When he blocked at the food court, Sonja even nudged him a little with her knee and he didn't move out of position. Yay! We have to do that more, now that he's pretty solid.

Melt.

You are a good boy.

Service dog training, luckily, can be like baseball instead of American football. If you have a bad day, you can just get right back out there and (hopefully) erase that memory with a better day. I'd much rather do that than stew for a week over a bad outing!

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.

IKEA!

Let's begin with a disclaimer: I dislike IKEA. You might even say I loathe IKEA. So easy to get lost (getting there, in there, getting out of there ... ), clogged with people, too many tempting smells of cinnamon buns ... I avoid the place.

But there is one thing that must be said for IKEA. If you are looking for a training ground for future service dogs, there is absolutely no better place. (All photos courtesy of Sonja)

Chief and Kaline playing in the car ... shhhh.

This afternoon Sonja and I took Chief and Kaline to IKEA for the first time. Well, it was Kaline's first time anyway. I think both Kaline's and my brains were on fire by the end! We both worked hard. Sonja is an amazing person to do outings with. (I know, should be "with whom to do outings," but it sounds so stilted!) She is incredibly creative about training and creating opportunities for training. Unlike me, she has no qualms about asking strangers to participate in our training. Kaline and I really got a workout being with her and Chief! And it was lots of fun to use the clicker so much, though I ended up having to mooch treats off Sonja after I ran out. (Oops!)

Right as we got in, Sonja noticed a pair of people checking out some furniture. She asked them to call to each of our puppies in turn, after telling them their names; then we rewarded our boys for maintaining their focus on us, not the strangers. I kind of wait for real life situations to happen and then respond; Sonja creates them on her own terms so Chief can always be practicing. Awesome. She also helped me with getting and rewarding Kaline's attention: Instead of immediately trying to get his focus back when he looks at something, I should let him look, and then reward when he looks back to me on his own. Clearly it's a method that works, because Chief is constantly looking to Sonja for direction. I think I got the hang of it as we moved through the store.

Pups in IKEA!

More things we did with strangers: Multiple times, we got people to pet the dogs in vest and rewarded the boys for maintaining their focus (yeah, that's gonna be a theme). We set up the dogs about one stride apart, in downs, and after we stepped over them repeatedly, we had a stranger do it. (They were great.) When we came across three little boys with their parents, Sonja got the boys to come up near the dogs and wave their stuffed animals. Other times we had kids run past and make noises.

Sonja also worked on other scenarios that might happen. She and I made weird noises at the dogs, trying to be a little scary, waved our hands around their faces, pretended to scold them, all kinds of things that grouchy and/or drunk people might do when they see them. We stomped, we jumped around, we made sudden movements. Chief and Kaline mostly just sat there and looked at us like we were crazy, utterly nonplussed. The whole time, amusingly, Kaline kept slithering into downs, both because he was tired from the morning (three pack walks, running around with Juno, short outing to Jan's Deli) and because he had little to no traction on the floor. Poor guy, those cat feet are freaking cute but the lack of hair doesn't help him much.

This happened a lot.

Another thing we did, which sounds bad when you type it, was knock stuff off shelves onto the floor to "surprise" the boys. Obviously, we never did it with anything breakable or that would get scratched up. We're talking mousepads, wicker baskets, plastic baskets, plastic-wrapped whisks. We also banged some metal canisters together. If the pups did startle, it was pretty minimal, and they were quickly able to focus again.

We did "under" at different tables, let the dogs explore the multitudinous surfaces and objects all over IKEA. In various places, we had them practice their actual tasks. Chief retrieved a pouch and returned to settle on Sonja's chest as she lay on the floor; Kaline did lap-ups and even an on-me when I found a long chair just perfect for stretching out on. He worked on touch and leave it as well.

"under"

"lap up"

"on me"

My only gripe with the little man, who did a fantastic job today, was the pulling. Obviously in IKEA, when you are searching out training opps, you don't walk at the nice brisk pack-walking pace. Plus Chief was usually ahead of Kaline. Just for shits and giggles, I might review the Kikopup videos on no pulling and try to do a couple training sessions like that. I have to take my own advice—if what I'm doing (corrections on the prong and rewards for slowing down and giving me attention) isn't accomplishing what I want, and I have given it a good chance, it's time to try another tactic.

In the middle of our outing, Sonja found a secluded corner and we took the boys' vests off so they could have a little wrestle. Sonja thinks it's really important that SDs be able to play and then return to working mode quickly, and I couldn't agree more. They did pretty well, although Kaline can never pass up a chance to take a swipe at Chief with one of his massive paws. I figure when they can finally work side-by-side without losing their focus on their humans, they'll be able to work through any situation! It's so cute how much they like each other though.

The outing was wonderful and we need to do it more ... but oh man, was it a pleasure to put Kaline down for a nap in his crate and grab Juno so we could go to dinner with the parents. I'm sure this will come as a huge amazing revelation to everyone in the world, but puppies are a LOT of work! My brain could kind of turn off once I was with Juno—she knows her job and we just know how to work together. I know someday it will be like that with Kaline but I am so glad that Juno didn't have to retire, and will be here to get me through Kaline's training! Fabulous girl. She looked so pretty in her wide collar with its brand new DogTagArt ID tag.