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.

I have clean puppies!

This was supposed to go up last night ... oops.

Juno and Kaline are clean, and they look so pretty! Kaline is super shiny and silky, while Juno is silky and almost fluffy. I read this post on DobermanTalk a while ago about the "proper" way to bathe a Doberman (or any dog with a very short, sleek coat), and tried it out. You use cool, almost cold, water instead of warm or hot, and try to go with the hair as much as possible at all times—shampooing, washing off, drying off. I think it worked! Haven't noticed any dandruff on either dog, and usually there is some on Bath Day or Bath Day plus one.

Kaline post-bath

Juno post-bath. I tried to get it so you can see her fluffy chest but I guess it didn't work that well!

We had three pack walks this morning and got to try out Trumbull with lots of dogs. It went okay, but I came home and immediately ordered a "pet net" online that I probably don't really have money for. I have to keep the pups—basically Juno and Kaline—from getting into the front seat. Not that they did it while I was driving, fortunately, but still. It's unsafe for either of them to sit in the seat while the car's going because now we have these newfangled things called airbags, and I don't want the seats getting clawed up like the Honda's. Kaline, of course, is still welcome to ride in the foot space; he just has to stay there.

Kaline may have to keep riding up front, because he loves to play in the back with whoever I pop in, since there's so much space to do it! Can't really blame the little guy, but it's never nice to hear thumping from the back while driving. Teddy really doesn't like the new car. He has incredible jumping ability, but does not want to use it for jumping into the back. Sigh. Xena took to it with no problem. Of course. Kaline has really perfected his running leap into the cargo area.

I attempted to use our new camera to do Kaline's weekly shot, but I couldn't get it to focus. I definitely need to have a long play session with it, to figure out how it works. I measured Kaline before dinner, and he has grown a little over two inches in four weeks! Wow!

Juno came along for the last bit (I hope) of loan paperwork with me and Dad. She was odd about momentum pulling—she'd do it fine if Dad was there, but if not, she would go slower and slower, giving me the Super Sad Face™ and finally rest her head against my legs. Not very normal for her, so I will definitely be keeping an eye on it. We got everything finalized, hurrah, and now I just have to make sure that I put enough money in the account so that it can make automatic car payments each month. Then when we got home, my letter from Chase arrived saying why I got rejected there. HA!

In other news, the pups are now (almost) insured. Kaline will be once he gets approval, and when I get approval on Juno, we have to coordinate getting rid of Trupanion so that we're not paying for two kinds of insurance at once. Dog insurance is a lot cheaper and easier to get than human insurance. I am a little jealous, not gonna lie!

There was very little Puppy Witching Hour (yayyyy!) and much adorable sleeping and snuggling. Love that.

Last couple days

Funk continues, plus I have been using up way too many spoons. Hence the infrequent writing.

Wednesday we had three pack walks; dropped Kaline off at home and then it was just me and Juno. We went to lunch at Johnny Rocket's with the parents and then went with Dad to the Honda place. I was pretty sure at that point that I was going with the Lexus, but we gave the CRVs and a 2009 Rav4 their shot. Turns out, any CRV older than a 2012 doesn't have the levers for the seats, but has instead these bizarre straps. Which I physically can't work. Not that I have lots of trouble working, but I actually can't do it. Plus the used CRVs we looked at, a 2011 and a 2007, were both more expensive than the Lexus.

Juno at Johnny Rocket's.

The 2009 Rav4 was actually pretty sweet. Junebug certainly enjoyed it, chilling in the back while I gave it a test drive. But again, it was more expensive than the Lexus, and not nearly as awesome. So the Lexus wins!

Juno in the Rav4, checking out the extra cupholders. Very important.

Thursday was a little easier to handle—one pack walk and then training. We had a ton of client dogs, so Juno and Kaline didn't get a ton of work. Kaline at least got to do some good heeling and weaving, and then the Gauntlet—recalls between two lines of dogs facing each other on down-stays. Juno practiced formal retrieves. After training, he got crated and Juno and I went to my parents' anniversary dinner.

Happy Anniversary, Mom & Dad!

They've been married 42 years, hurrah! So we went to this really nice restaurant that we go to maybe once a year if we're lucky. Juno was of course the perfect lady; just thinking about taking Kaline in such a place at this age gives me the shudders! At the end they give you a rose—I'd been practicing take it and hold with Juno in hopes of getting her to clench the rose in her teeth, but she spat it out. Ah well.

Today was the third-to-last day of this stupid week. (Weekend's not gonna be good.) We had three walks, culminating with our last walk with the Portola Valley dogs. Thank goodness we're done with the hellish hills. No chance to eat or take a nap afterward; we had to drive to San Mateo to a credit union to start the process of trying to get a loan so I can get the car. We walked in, and when I sat down, Kaline for the first time automatically lay down at my feet. Yay, progress. From there, we had to go straight to our tdoc appointment, where both of them mostly slept. Again with the yay.

Kaline's been having what I refer to as Puppy Witching Hour, where around 9:00 or so he'll just go insane and be a complete brat for what seems like forever, until he all of a sudden conks out. To combat that, tonight after we had recharged a little, I took the dogs out for about an hour. It's now 9:22. Kaline has been asleep since about 8:45. Oh the bliss of peace and quiet.