A non-guilty McDonald's trip

The parents are gone for two weeks in Holland, so I may be posting more due to there being no one around to tell me to get off my computer! Kaline and Juno don't really care.

Today was mostly a Kaline day, because Juno has been a little bit off, physically, and the vet said to rest her this weekend and see how she is Monday. She's not precisely limping, just not moving quite normally. I had wanted to take her to obedience class and then to meet my friend Marissa and her new SD prospect, Macro, but instead she stayed home and Kaline came.

He did really well at class, and even got a compliment from Anne on his hold & out skills! Woohoo! She wants me to start working him more on weird textures and objects, like Coke cans. At the end of class, he got a little over-affectionate with Lynn, who used to babysit him on the sidelines when he was little. She was kneeling down to him and he went for a hug, and tipped her over! Yikes.

On the way home, Kay and I stopped at McDonald's to grab some lunch to-go. Right as we walked in, this little girl barely taller than Kaline came up to pet him, and I asked her not to because he was working. A few minutes later, I heard her and her mom behind us, the mom explaining to the little girl that Kaline is a working dog. They were on their way out, and our stuff was almost ready, so I told them if they wanted to wait a minute, I'd take Kaline's vest off outside and the little girl could pet him.

Kaline was so good with this tiny little human! He could have knocked her over by just leaning on her shoulders, but he was exceedingly gentle, calm, and contained. No fast movements, no paws coming off the ground, just awesomeness. After confirming that the little girl was okay with kisses, I let Kaline go over and he immediately began washing her face all over. She totally loved it and petted him everywhere. He stood so still, except for moving his head to lick different parts of her face. Meanwhile, the mom prompted questions about service dogs in general and I tried to answer them in kid-speak. (I worry about walking the line between speaking in a way they can understand and being a condescending asshole.) At the end Kaline folded himself into a down and happily kissed the little girl's toes. It was absolutely precious and assuaged my usual McDonald's guilt. (Yeah, I know, I really shouldn't eat that stuff, but it's so YUMMY.)

We came home to a very happy Juno—“I thought you were DEAD!!!!”—and watched a bunch of baseball until it was time to go meet Marissa downtown. Her new little guy, Macro, is so freaking cute. He has the most charming, scruffy little face. He's a mix of Black Russian Terrier and Belgian Malinois, and just a sweet, confident, friendly little pup. He's about twelve weeks old and though he was very interested in everything going on downtown—he needed to be carried sometimes so we could walk faster than a crawl, haha—he absolutely wasn't fazed by anything. Kaline was mostly good (only dabbed a paw at the puppy a couple times), except for being distracted by dogs going by several times and pulling. Freaking pulling, I know someday it'll end but it is driving me nuts right now. It was fantastic to catch up with Marissa and meet her new boy! My ego got a bit of a stroke too cause Marissa, being the wonderfully kind person she is, said that Juno is one of her favorite SDs. Heehee. Totally made up for this guy at McDonald's asking if Kaline was very short for his breed (he is PERFECTLY WITHIN THE MALE STANDARD, dammit!!!!).

Anyway! Juno did get to go out once today, a quick in and out to Draeger's. I figured it was less walking than an average pee break, so why not. She was understandably pissed at being left home twice, and was bursting with glee when I put Kaline in the crate and told her it was her turn now. Put on the vest and suddenly she was walking and trotting normally (we did NO pulling of any kind, just walked in, did a block at the counter, got our stuff and headed out again). Very weird. I would really like to know what is up with her right now.

Our week

Another slow week, especially because I gave myself a bit of an ankle sprain on Wednesday night. That flared up massively overnight cause the fibro gnome got aroused, so I was having a flareup all over for the next couple days.

So Juno got to come with me to the doctor's office on Friday. I toyed with the idea of taking Kaline but ended up bringing Juno, which was the right idea. The building has these tiny, narrow door buttons which were a little confusing for her, but she figured it out. I need to figure out a time to work Kaline on those. Weirdness is good!

We ordered a new little vest ... Still hasn't arrived. Dammit.

In the exam room, Juno helped me off with my sweatshirt jacket, once the nurse was gone. I don't know why but I always feel bizarrely shy about asking her to tug off my jacket in front of people. Then she crashed on the floor till we were done. My doctor wasn't overly worried, just a bit pissed at me for hobbling about on all my dog walks Thursday and Friday. So I wasn't allowed to go to SF and walk around all day Saturday with Sonja. (We did go to obedience class though.) By Sunday, today, I felt all better with my foot.

Yesterday we did obedience class, and Kaline was excellent except for whinging a bit while waiting for his recall. His heeling was very nice, plus we had like three people tell us how tall Kaline is getting. That always puffs me up, like I've accomplished something (ha!). During Kay's stays, I worked on proofing—nudging his butt, staring challengingly into his face and having others do the same, stomping around him, straddling him, stepping over him. Pretty solid. After class he blissfully let his buddy Lupo chew on his snout and ears and front legs.

Today, Kaline did his usual public access work in the morning: Farmer's Market, bagel place, Trader Joe's, and Walgreen's. He settled faster this week in the bagel place, even though he was on the tile instead of the carpet. He was fantastic in Trader Joe's and had an excellent time doing the buttons at Walgreen's. One was right at nose level, and wonder of wonders, Kaline pressed it with his nose! (He likes to use his enormous feet whenever possible.)

At the bagel place.

And then this afternoon, we went with Freddie, Anne, and their four collective dogs to the Horse Park at Woodside! Only Kaline was invited—he needs to run, plus we were going to work on his off-leash recall with the e-collar. I ordered a pair of collars for him and Juno for this purpose, but they haven't arrived yet.

Before anyone leaps on me for using an e-collar: Freddie has used them for decades, as has Anne, so with them they get used properly. They are never used to teach a dog a behavior. They are used to communicate with the dog over distance to enforce a behavior the dog has already been taught: here, the recall. We had already done some short-distance conditioning with Kaline. Call him, and if he ignores, he gets nicked. To turn the electricity off, he has to touch the hand of whoever calls him. None of the dogs do more than twitch their heads when they get nicked; no screaming, no flipping out. And the recalls are unbelievable.

We had to nick Kaline maybe once or twice at the start, and that was it. It was amazing to be out in this huge grassy area, with Kaline able to run and play and gambol to his heart's content, and know that I'd be able to get him back. He ran and attempted to get everyone to play with him (no one was really having it, unfortunately!). He even splashed into a little pond once! He clambered up and down the jumps, did beautiful joyous recalls, just ran himself totally ragged. He isn't too coordinated yet, but it was still so pretty to watch him.

We were there for about an hour. Rio, Freddie's black Lab, got to do some retrieving, and Mudd, Anne's 12-year-old chocolate Lab, sometimes joined in. Lucky, Anne's little rescue who looks like a Dachshund with long legs, ran around on his own schedule, and Dealer, her Norfolk terrier, kept everyone in line. Kaline got in his face one too many times and Dealer laid down the law with him. If only Juno could channel that a little bit sometimes! Kaline squawked in surprise and then left Dealer alone.

We are now home, and Kaline, having woken from his nap, is watching the broadcast of Westminster 2012 with highly amusing, deep interest! When a little Staffordshire bull terrier started bouncing around on screen, he was enthralled. Marvelous.

Christmas obedience class

Kaline demonstrates his Doberman comfort-seeking genes.

Today was our Christmas class at Stanford Shopping Center! We had a pretty good time. Kaline is used to the shopping center, but obviously today he was more distracted than normal since all his friends were there. His little buddy Lupo now has a snazzy bright red Ruffwear Cloudchaser—he looked so cute. Poor Kaline should've been wearing some sort of jacket. I thought we'd be mostly inside stores, but we turned out to be mostly outside between stores, and it was cold.

We always do Needless Markup (also known as Neiman Marcus) first, then disperse. We paraded through the first floor, went up the elevator in shifts—no one had any issues—then worked on group down stays right in front of the escalators. The dogs were freaking adorable. Whenever I got the chance, I'd work on auto-settling with Kaline. He did pretty well.

Kaline between Bean (Cairn Terrier) and Traci (German Shepherd).

L-R: Bollie (mixed breed), Rex (Golden Retriever), Bean (Cairn Terrier) and Kaline.

Back row, L-R: Gracie (yellow Labrador), QD (Border Terrier), Jessie (chocolate Labrador), and Bollie (mix). Front row, L-R: Phi (Sheltie), Percy (colored Bull Terrier), Sienna (terrier mix), Juno!!, Jockey (Norfolk Terrier), and Rex (Golden Retriever).

We meandered all over the shopping center, eventually running into our friend Sylvia (I've gotten to know her because her house is on the Black Dog Walk route) and her newest CCI puppy, Scotland! Scotland is a three-month-old Lab/Golden cross. Kaline was crazy about her. She is unspeakably cute, I must say. Sylvia and my dad really hit it off because they are from the same area of Pennsylvania, so we ended up standing around in the middle of the center for what seemed like hours.

How many more times do I have to pose with inanimate objects?

Being an adorable puppy himself, Kaline attracted child after child. And he was excellent with them. I was so proud. He did not jump on a single one, or even appear to think about jumping. He sat very nicely while they petted him, and went for little kisses whenever cheeks came in range. If the kids wanted to give one of the doggies a cookie, they got to visit the chow hound, Junebug, who gleefully slimed their hands as they held out treats for her.

We had an afternoon full of grooming, mostly for Kaline. Juno's toenails are fine if I grind them once every two weeks; Kaline's need to be ground (grinded?) intensively at least once a week. Probably twice if I was really a good dog mommy. So we did that, and then both of them got brushed. And then came Kaline's anti-favorite, the bath.

He still needs "help" getting in. He could, physically, jump in, but he won't, even if I put a rug in the bathtub for traction. He was okay after I helped him in. He was seriously pissed about being bathed in cool water though. I'm hoping the bath in the special sensitive-skin shampoo will help us get through the next week or so till his Paco collar gets here. The skin on his neck has been more flaky than normal lately, in certain spots. Ugh.

For the first time in a while, I accepted an invite to the movies from Dad. Then I agonized for a while about which dog to take. Kaline is more attuned to my psych stuff, but obviously is too young/untrained to really help with anything fibro-related. And he requires a lot more involvement in general. But I really wanted to get him the work, especially on settling. Then dinner got added into the mix, and I pretty much knew that that'd be too much for Kaline. Two hours lying quietly in a theatre, then a couple more hours lying under a table? Yeah, surrre.

So once I settled on Juno, I roped Dad into a Trader Joe's outing for Kaline. He worked the best he ever has in his head collar. He was paying attention, walking with me, responding quickly and enthusiastically to commands. He did hardly any sniffing. I had Dad run the cart by us, very close to Kaline, while he was both sitting and lying down. No problems. Dad walked by us and stomped loudly next to Kaline; he nudged his butt while he was in both sit and down stays; he did the bad-dog-hand-waving that Sonja and I like to play around with. Kaline was a little rock. And then he blocked wonderfully in line.

I put him on the treadmill at a trot for about 15 minutes to drain him before we left for the movies. Juno was perfect at both the movies and dinner. Kaline probably would've been fine at the movie, but oh man, he would've been way overstimulated at the restaurant. It was very crowded there, and we had to wend a very narrow path between oodles of tables to get to ours. Juno does not sniff people or tables, but let me tell you, Kaline sure would have! All at nose height—oh boy.

The one disappointing part of the evening (other than getting scolded for not indulging the curious people who ask intrusive questions) was realizing it was impossible for me to use the bathroom at the Guild Theatre. It was built in 1912, I think, so obviously it doesn't have to comply with the accessible bathrooms part of the ADA. It still sucked. The stalls were so tiny, no one with a medium-sized or larger SD—much less someone in a wheelchair—would have been able to fit. The bathroom itself was not large enough to accommodate a SD doing a down stay outside of the stall. And I couldn't even put her on an out of sight down stay in the tiny bathroom "lobby" because every time the door opened it would have hit her. I wrote them a kindly worded letter about the problem; I doubt there's much that can be done but it can't hurt to bring it to someone's attention.

Maybe I'll use Kaline training as an excuse to be bad and eat fast food tomorrow. Hehe. I loved using the McDonald's near Kepler's as a training ground for Juno when she first started training. Mmm, definitely a possibility.

This is why I can't visit collar stores ...

I swear, I went with the purest of intentions. Go to Paco Collars in Berkeley, find an already-made Deluxe collar (two layers for less rubbing on the neck) that I liked well enough, buy it, leave.

Of course, that's not what actually happened. Let's blame Dad.

I was looking through all the collars for sale, and had found one that was pretty good. Tan leather (though I really wanted black), gorgeous conchos with subtle flowers on them with a tiny amber stone in the center, nickel hardware. It wasn't as wide as I wanted, but I was like, this is not a big deal, this will definitely work.

And then Dad steps in, going, "You know, if you're going to pay this much for a collar, you should get something you really like."

"But he needs to have this on his neck now."

"Just a few more weeks in the prong won't kill him. He'll live."

Salesguy looks at me with a little smile, hands me a Paco catalog. Kaline stares up at me with melty eyes. Probably due to wearing the headcollar, but my resistance was at a low ebb so everything felt like a guilt trip. Do you love your puppy enough?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

"Okay, okay, let's do custom."

We are not going to talk about how much this collar cost. Subject is off limits. So let's talk about how freaking gorgeous this collar is going to be.

I found a collar style called the Simon, and tweaked it a bit to make it just right. It has the pretty conchos from the collar I was thinking about buying, but it's black, two inches wide instead of one (and wider will also reduce rubbing), with a nicer pattern of nickel hardware. And instead of all nickel hardware between the conchos, they're going to put a blue rhinestone in the center of each little cluster. Hopefully it doesn't take terribly long. It's gonna be so neat. Plus it should really be nice on his neck—Paco has made collars for hairless dogs, so they know about sensitive doggies. They're even doing extra conditioning for it before they send it off to me. I promise pictures as soon as I get it.

In other news, Dad decided he didn't want to do obedience class today, so I left him with the wee monster and took my awesome girl to class. It was so much fun—I loved having one of the advanced dogs in class again! She did very well, of course, and had herself a great time. She was so waggy and enthusiastic the entire time. And Kaline had a nice morning taking a leisurely walk with Dad. He was super wiggly and adorable when Juno and I came home.

Kaline's been charming our company-for-the-weekend, my mom's best friend Wendy. She absolutely loves him. He is super cute, I must admit! Sometimes he can get a bit overenthusiastic with her, but mostly he's been a very good boy. She's sleeping in my room, so Kaline's her roommate and he's been his usual quiet self in his crate every night. Hurrah.

Juno and Kaline have also been doing a bit better at holding off on the wrestling. (Again, worries over Kaline's neck. Ya know.) If I just say NO sharply right when they start, usually they stop. Thank goodness.

Oh, and don't feel too bad for Juno not getting a Paco collar. She has, currently: a Tigers collar, a Michigan collar, a Giants collar, a 49ers collar, a homemade Menlo Park Legends collar, and my favorite, her 2-inch-wide, beautifully embroidered 2HoundsDesigns martingale collar. And I just got her a Ruffwear Cloudchaser cause my Pro Purchase Plan came through (50% off on everything).

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!

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.

Saturday Class No. 7 and our new car

Pretty long day, but we now have a proper car! There are still a few more formalities to be finished up, but I am no longer in possession of Faithful Little Tygs On Top (sniffle), and I am in possession of newly named Trumbull, the 2007 Lexus. (Lots of Internet points if you get the reference in the name!) Love this car.

First order of business today was Saturday class. Kaline did nicely again at heeling without the treat in his mouth. He didn't stay 100% watching me, but I don't want him to—he has to look where he's going at least a bit! He was awesome at slowing down to my pace when we worked on that, and at keeping focused as we walked through the middle of the circle with all the other dogs. We worked on the moving down; he does better when I swoop out in front of him (windmill down) rather than giving him the signal from the side. Kaline also did well in the figure eights; totally focused when he was working, and when the little yellow terrier mix was working, yet super fascinated by Percy, the colored bull terrier, when he was working. I have no idea.

Recalls were interesting. My brain is starting to scramble during those, because I'm both trying to get Kaline to watch and stay focused while really concentrating on my technique—my hand signal, how my hands are supposed to move as I draw him in, do I need to bring my knee up to thwart the crotch-bashing, how fast I'm supposed to straighten up, etc. Kaline did fine when we did recalls on the big circle; then we brought all the dogs in to the center of the circle and left them all in a tight little knot with all their butts together.

I don't know what Kaline's objective was, but every time I would move away from him, his head would just start sinking, like a giraffe carefully leaning down to drink water. Only once did he actually sink into a down; mostly his head was the only part of his body that moved. My dad and Teddy's owner were just cracking up. It was pretty hilarious. We worked through it, and he did fine. The anxiety level among the humans, though, just goes through the roof the longer Anne and Freddie make us wait to call the dogs. That's pretty funny too, I'm not going to lie. With Kaline, I figured there was no point getting anxious about it, just move in if I have to to get his attention back. I ended up only about two feet from him, but who cares, he's a baby.

Last thing was long sits and downs, with the handlers and dogs in pairs. For the long sit, I left Kaline with my very unfamiliar partner and his dog: Dad and Juno. (It felt like cheating, but it was also fun.) Kaline did fine, though when I came back Anne informed me she'd had to correct him back into a sit because he was going down, and my partner wasn't doing the correction himself. Haha! Then Dad left and I had both my pups for the long down. That definitely was cheating, and after a little while Anne had me leave too. They were chilled out, like size 20 and size 16 font in their cute little relaxed downs.

After class we came home with instructions to play a lot more of the recall game in the house, and to work on leave it for Tuesday. Kaline hung out with Dad while Juno and I had a nap; then I took both dogs out individually to do grooming. Tomorrow, they get baths. At least, this is my plan.

Around 3:00, Mike the Car Guy showed up with the car. We signed some more paperwork, then began the long process of cleaning out my little Honda of all its gear. Fitting it into the Lexus was interesting as well—it has all that space for the dogs, but obviously that means there's no trunk. Mom found this secret compartment in the floor of the official cargo area, so I used that for all my obedience gear (stuff I don't necessarily use constantly throughout the day; and when I do need it, I tend not to have extra dogs in the car). Most of my other stuff went in the backseat footspace; the console up front now contains like fifty rolls of poo bags and two spare prong collars; and the glove compartment has my three spare leashes, sunglasses, and other normal glove compartment things. I even was able to transfer a couple of my window clings.

Kaline and Juno chilled in the driveway while all this was going on. Juno was pretty amusing—she hopped into the new car when the back hatch was open, and then when she got hot and I happened to open the door to Dad's car (in the shade), she just slid in there and went to sleep. Kaline and I discovered he can hop into the new car on his own, he just needs a running start!

Dad and Mike took my car to get washed, and then Mike drove away with it. Sniffle sniffle. We took my car, loaded up a little, to the storage unit with both dogs. I just chilled with the dogs in the car when we got there, because to go into the actual building they have to wear their vests. Kaline got some crate time while the rest of us went to dinner. We had to ride a really crowded elevator and Juno did a fantastic job blocking people out of my space. Phew.

Kaline is apparently developing a bad new habit, although I can't trick him into doing it while I'm present to save my life: pulling things off the counter. Since I can't catch him in the act (yet!) I've just been doing things that might entice him to get up there—squeaking toys and setting them up on the counter, deliberately leaving treats there—and when he doesn't, I praise him. We'll see how it goes.

The dogs have also been having actual play sessions. It's still way loud, but instead of Juno barking, she's making her raaaah! sounds that mean she's having an excellent wrestling session. For now, being smaller, Kaline is getting the worst of it, but he never even yelps, just rushes back for more every time she lets him up, batting her with his enormous feet.

Hopefully I should get a lot of time to work on Kaline by himself tomorrow. Should be a fun day!

Saturday Class No. 6, etc.

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!

Saturday Class No. 5 and Tour of Gymnastics Champions

Saturday class was back on yesterday, and Kaline did pretty well. There was a ton of heeling going on, and toward the end of class, Kaline even did some of it off-leash! I was really excited about that. He kept looking up to check in with me, as I've been rewarding him for on walks when he's on a "let's go," not a "heel," and that was awesome. We did regular heeling on the circle, except everyone was going different directions (on purpose). That made for some very useful chaos, as dogs were constantly having to speed up, slow down, and go past other dogs. Kaline has no trouble really ignoring dogs moving past in class ... just have to transfer that to the real world!

We also did figure eights, great for getting dogs to keep pace with you, and meet and greets. The figure eights went quite well, I thought, and the meet and greet was good too. Kaline is still sitting about one step behind where the heel position actually is, but after I move him up enough times, I know he'll get it!

Recalls went pretty well too. He even did one or two off-leash! Of course, I didn't go very far away from him, and as soon as his attention started to wander, I'd move in really close to get it back. I just have to remember to keep both hands down to guide him in. Both hands, and he comes in straight. One hand, regardless of which hand, and he will do a drive-by on my right.

There was also a really cool bit of class where we were only allowed to use hand signals and the verbal cue for "watch." Any command other than watch had to be nonverbal. It was so neat to watch everyone work with their dogs in silence, and Kaline did fairly well. It was toward the end of class, so all he really wanted to do was lie down. So, whenever I would raise my hand in the down/drop signal, he'd drop, but for sit, even though he knows the hand signal, he'd lie there and look at me like, "Are you sure I have to get up? Positive?" Not too worried about that, since longer focus will come with age. I keep having to remind myself that he is only about 4 ½ months old, and I need to keep expectations reasonable. Sounds like a broken record, but it's so important, and I am so terrible sometimes.

Last we did long sits and downs; predictably, Kaline had issues with the long sit because he was tired. Also, Juno kept lying down for Dad, because when he'd signal her to stay, he'd move his hand in such a way that it looked way too similar to the hand signal for down. And Juno is very accommodating, haha.

She also was one of the dogs who took off on a joyride during the off-leash portion (since she qualifies as an "advanced" dog—Kaline was the only one at class not ready for an entire off-leash section). Our class Whippet took off, and even after everyone got reminded to pay attention to their own dog, the Lab was next to go, and then I guess Dad was asleep at the wheel cause Juno bolted after them. Everyone was gotten back safely, the children's soccer game nearby wasn't harmed, and everyone got a good lesson on focusing in the right spot! Also Juno looked pretty gorgeous stretched out running as fast as she could. Whippets, shockingly, are super fast.

After class we went to see the Prius V and give it a test drive. To my dismay, it is pretty much out of the running. The setup inside is a bit weird; the surface in the cargo area is not completely flat like in the CRV and Rav4; the one with leather seats is the second-most expensive option, and with dogs you pretty much have to have the leather seats for clean-up-ability; and the kicker is I barely could close the hatch in the back. Just getting it down the one time hurt, and there is no way I could close it multiple times per day. Ah well. A used 2011 CRV in glacier blue has turned up, so we are going to check it out Wednesday and see if it might be a winner. Faithful Little Tygs On Top is already starting to make weird noises again. Sigh.

Last night, Kaline stayed home while Juno, the 'rents and I joined two friends for the Tour of Gymnastics Champions in San Jose. One of the friends was Amie, with wonderful Pilaf! We had a great time taking the dogs together—it's definitely a plus when you aren't the only one in the group who has to think about feedings, potty breaks and the like. We with dogs ended up in one of the cement boxes, but we could see fine and the dogs had a ton of room to stretch out; the other three were in the row below us.

Juno in the box.

Juno was a champ, and so was Pilaf. Juno has never had an issue with Caltrain, just went right to sleep on my feet on the way there. She did awesome momentum pulling basically the entire night. Once she knows a route, her pulling improves tremendously (a sign we should probably work more on directionals at some point). I was really glad I didn't bring Kaline cause this was definitely a show to pay attention to!

The Shark Tank before the show.

It was loud, with crazy lights, and a good dose of screaming (especially when Aly Raisman's distinctive floor music began to play and a spotlight suddenly picked her out on a corner of the floor). That bothered Pilaf at the beginning, but that was pretty much the only time she got unsettled. She was super. Juno is an old hand at the screaming (she only can't stand it if it comes from rollercoasters, as I discovered on a trip to Great America). She slept most of the time and I got to concentrate on the show. Sam Mikulak, Michigan Man, was not there, I assume because he has to be in school. (Jake Dalton is a junior too, though, and he was in it. Hmm.) Danell Leyva also was MIA. Figures, he does not seem to be much of a team player at all. All the Olympic girls were there, plus Jon Horton, John Orozco and Jake Dalton from the guys' team. Other National Team guys were some of my faves, like Chris Brooks, Steve Legendre and Josh Dixon (Stanford!). We tried to go down and say hi after, but no luck.

On the way home, the girls tucked themselves (or got tucked, as the case may be!) under the seats and Amie and I got to talk service dogs the whole way. It was quite nice, though we were very tired. Poor Amie had no sleep to look forward to either—she had to go to work for ten hours, then a meeting! Yikes.

Juno and Pilaf on the ride home.

I came home to a zoomie baby Doberman, so we played fetch a bit before we had to head back to bed. I was very proud of him that he hadn't made any mess or destroyed anything in his crate, because he was in there for a long time. I tired him out beforehand and made sure he was empty, but still!

Today we did downtown Menlo Park and hit all our favorite handicap buttons. Juno reminds me of Hermione when we're doing buttons. She watches Kaline flub around with this look of mounting frustration on her face, then finally shoulders him out of the way and smacks the button right on with her paw. She knows the answer, dammit! He's getting better at the buttons though, probably because he's getting taller every day. Maybe a little more coordinated too ... I hope!

We also had our usual Borrone's walk/outing with Dad, and today we met Freddie there to talk about dogs as a business. I always end up really discouraged after such conversations, even if they're not meant to be discouraging. I always feel so limited in what I can do, because of my limitations from fibro. The fatigue is a huge problem, almost as big as the problems with my hands. So now I'm wondering if I can ever make it work ... and by the same token, I wonder how I could ever get a "normal" 9-5 job when I probably could not actually work such a schedule long term, spoons-wise.

But anyway, the dogs were good; Juno even let Kaline cuddle with her a bit under the table. We're having a quiet afternoon and I'm just trying to stave off the latest edition of the funk. Another hell week begins tomorrow, and maybe after that things will be a little better.

Dogs cuddling.

Saturday Class No. 4 and a San Francisco trip for Juno

Used up all my spoons for the day, oh boy. We got up early because the parents were having the carpets cleaned. Dad, the pups, and I went to Borrone's to grab breakfast before class. Kaline worked on under and attention with other dogs around; I tried to follow Sonja's advice but sometimes it's hard, when Kaline is just staring away at other dogs. I'll work on myself.

Kaline on the way to class. He looked like an alien.

Class was great fun. We did retrieving stuff at the beginning; Juno got to demo hold and out, and then I got to play with Kaline. He's too little to really do hold and out yet, but I had a stuffed anteater for him that he could work on fetching. He had an excellent time.

Heeling didn't go as well as it has been, for some reason—I worked with him on informal loose-leash walking after class though, with the clicker. We gotta get cracking on that for the CGC in mid-September! We did a ton of different recall stuff and Kaline did pretty well. Still working on coming in straight, but his sit-stay was rock solid and at least he came gleefully in my direction. One time Percy, the young colored bull terrier, practically sat on Kaline and my guy didn't get up, just shifted a little. He got compliments on his confidence—we had the dogs in really close quarters, in down-stays, and Kaline just rested his head on his paws, chilling out. Not a lot really bothers him.

All through class, whatever we were doing, I had my clicker in my hand and was c/t-ing Kaline for choosing to give me attention. It was really fun, it was like our own little class within a class. And our loose-leash work was cool too, he really seemed to be having a good time and understanding what I wanted. We'll get it in time for the CGC!

We came home, everyone's brain fried, and had naptime, Kaline in his crate and Juno snuggling with me on my bed. Then I did grooming for both dogs—I got their nails so short, what a great triumph! (Yeah, I know, my life is super exciting.)

There was a San Francisco Atheists event in the city at 4:30, so Juno and I took BART there. I was already getting hyper-anxious; Juno had to do a lap-up before we even got on the train.

Juno keeping watch before BART scared the crap out of her.

Juno had only been on BART one time before, and she did not at all enjoy her second trip. She does fine on trains, in cars, and on airplanes, but something about the BART train's noise and movement really bothered her. It makes kind of a high-pitched noise at some points, and then you'll go through tunnels and the crashing noise of the train on its rails reverberates all around. Juno's head was up, her ears were at attention, her eyes were wide, and she even whined a little, all very out of character for her.

Luckily, I had brought her dinner in a baggie, and Juno is about the most food-motivated dog int he whole world. I treated her whenever the weird noises happened and whenever she looked at me. Right at the end of our 40-minute ride, she finally sighed and put her head on her paws. Grin.

She was so stoked to leave the BART station that she did some of the best momentum-pulling she's ever done! Juno was excellent going to the pub, pulling steadily and following my directionals. Being in the city on our own ratcheted up my anxiety, but Juno kept me moving. We found the pub without too much trouble, but it was really crowded when we got in. Another lap-up. Then we settled in at a group table and listened to Greta Christina's excellent talk on Atheism and Sexuality. Juno curled up cozily on her mat and slept through the whole thing.

Chilling out at Schroeder's with the SF Atheists.

Greta Christina!

Juno on the way back to BART.

Getting back on BART was the absolute worst part. After sitting through the talk, I was having flareups in pretty much every joint I could think of, and I was basically out of spoons. I was anxious about how Juno would be on the train, anxious about going underground, riding in the toilet-smelling elevators ... And then the train arrived, crammed to the windows with people. It was all I could do just to get on.

Of course, did anyone sitting in the disabled seats get up for us—a clearly marked service dog team? Nope, not a chance. I couldn't grab any of poles or straps, cause my hands hurt. We were pressed in on all sides by people. Juno was doing touch, over and over, hard, on my open right hand because I was about to have a panic attack. The train lurched and to save myself from falling I went on my knees on the floor next to Juno, trying to ground myself by stroking her and concentrating on keeping her from sliding around. After one stop, when a couple people got off and we could get next to a wall, I moved us there, Juno blocking in front of me. The guy whose bike was behind me against the wall started yelling not to bend his spokes, and I almost just melted down. It was just really bad.

Juno doing grounding work on BART.

Finally we got an actual seat, and Juno laid down behind my legs and put her head on my feet—more grounding. This third time on BART, she was the cool, collected one. It was like she'd gotten all her scared-ness out on the previous ride, and she was back to normal for the ride home. I was really proud of her. She did an awesome job today. Best dog ever.

Cuddling to keep warm waiting to get picked up at the BART station.

Going to the horse show (and Saturday Class No. 4)

I think Kaline and I were both a bit tired for Saturday morning class—we stayed up really late watching the Olympics! So I was not too surprised when 10:45 hit and he couldn't concentrate very well anymore. He did a lot better on his heeling! I'm trying to use "let's go" for when I want him to just walk with me informally (i.e. not looking directly into my face 95% of the time) and "heel" for the formal heel we'll use in (hopefully) obedience competitions. I've been having to lure his face back up a lot, but at class he pretty much stayed locked on that treat and kept his head up! Hurrah.

Recalls went okay. He's not breaking when the other dogs go, which is really nice. He still has issues coming in though. We're working on it! Every time he did kind of a half-assed front, I'd back up little steps (sometimes repeatedly) until he was in straight and close, where he was supposed to be. Meet and greets went pretty well; long sit-stays and down-stays at the end of class were kind of beyond him.

After class, Kristin got out the dokken she just got (a pair of fake ducks with floppy heads) and Freddie tossed one for Kaline. He was so intrigued! He would chase it down with great enthusiasm and then bark and playbow to see if it might be alive. On the last throw, he finally mouthed the duck and we all cheered for him.

In the afternoon, Sonja and Chief came and she, Dad, Juno, Kaline and I all went over to the Circus Club to see a bit of the horse show. I was amazed at the number of people who came over to me and said they had Dobermans at home! They're just not real common here. Sounded like everyone had reds though, haha.

Kaline was already tired, so he did pretty well at the show. I'd woken him up from a nap to go, and then the walk there was pretty hot, so he was perfectly content to lie down anywhere, pretty much whenever I stopped moving. We met some lovely people and dogs at the Muttville booth—Muttville is a rescue for senior dogs, how wonderful!

We took a stroll down the aisle of booths, most filled with insanely expensive horse stuff, and met tons of nice dogs. There was a baby black Lab about Kaline's age who was adorably asleep in his ex-pen; there was a very handsome Corgi with actual legs; and a nine-month-old stunning black Great Dane named Bella, who Kaline was a little unsure about. He'd go up and smell her, then kind of dive back under the table—"She's really big!" I joked with the owner that Bella could take some of the attention off of Kaline's enormous paws.

We had lunch from one of the stands, and all the dogs chilled out under the table. Chief had been a little unsure about Kaline at first, but soon they were great friends and Kaline was rudely swatting Chief's face with his paw under there. When he could find the energy, that is. Kaline handled all the people and dog attention with no problems.

Miss Junebug

Kaline

Adorable Chief.

I am so used to protecting Juno's space that I kind of have to remind myself I don't need to protect Kaline's in the same way. Juno does not appreciate strange dogs coming up in her face; Kaline really doesn't care, as long as they're nice, obviously. And pretty much all the dogs we met were nice—something about horsey dogs, Sonja says.

We went to watch the hunter-jumpers for a while, which was fun, and then we walked down past the ends of all the aisles of temporary stables. All the dogs did just fine with the horses, which seemed way larger than I remember (I used to do horsey things forever ago). The endcaps of these aisles were fascinating—they were like portable living rooms, from really nice houses. Nice couches, nice chairs, usually with bright green grass/sod underneath and possibly some nicely arranged bricks. There'd be tables and framed photographs and ribbons and usually a dog lounging on one of the very nice couches. One place had an actual fountain! Yes, we were among the 1%. The dogs had a good time, though they were definitely hot.

Portable living room with cute dog.

Kaline in the small-dog-sized judge's booth outside one of the endcaps. Soon he won't be able to masquerade as a small dog anymore!

Chief got to be carried most of the way home, because he was so tired (nothing better than a tired puppy). Somehow though, he and Kaline found the energy for a really long play session once we let them go on the grass in front of the apartments down the street! They were so cute together. I don't think Kaline's ever really gotten to play with a dog significantly smaller than himself, and it was nice to see that he didn't play overly roughly with Chief. He'd practically flatten himself into the ground (yes, there were many faceplants, not all of them intentional!). They chased each other around, but interestingly they confined themselves mostly to the grass right in front of me and Sonja. We have to make sure they keep having playdates—I want Kaline to stay very gentle, and to stay anything, you have to practice!

Post-play session.

After we finally separated the puppies (they would've kept going, I'm sure, until they collapsed) we both went home. Kaline basically slept away the evening, which Juno certainly appreciated. There was much cuddling, which is also practice for Kaline's eventual deep pressure tasks. I figure the more he sleeps on top of me, and enjoys it, the more he'll enjoy doing tasks like "on me" (lie completely on top of me, head under my chin), "cuddle" (lie next to me with your back pressed into my chest/stomach), and "across" (lie across my lap and lean into my chest while I sit on the floor). There's totally a method to my madness. Promise.

All the things, and Saturday Class No. 3

Thursday night, Juno was an absolute star. I had the worst lower-body fibro flareup that I've had in a long time, and it started in the middle of a University of Michigan alumni networking mixer. Once it started, I sat down, and that did nothing. To get up, I had to brace on Juno. To get up the stairs, she had to pull me slowly forward. Dad and I stopped briefly to get takeout Thai for dinner, and Junebug had to give me momentum pulling there too. My knees and calves were starting to burn like they were on fire.

We got home, and I stayed on the couch. When I tried to get up again, everything was a million times worse. Dad took Kaline out for his last potty break, and I took Juno, thank goodness. She took tiny, tiny steps to keep pace with me hobbling around. Going down the stairs, she went one at a time so she could support me. I basically crawled back up the stairs, because it was easier to have my knees taking the pressure than my feet. I was kind of wondering about my options for becoming upright when Juno helpfully popped out of the kitchen and braced wonderfully for me to get up. What a fabulous girl. It's days like those when I'm like, "Gawd, I want a BLD!" But those days don't happen that often, and a BLD is very expensive, so at least for now I'm holding off.

Friday we tired the crap out of wee Kaline with three pack walks, back to back to back. After that, he took a big ol' nap, then came to the tdoc appointment with us—in his adorable vest—and after a little bit of being antsy, went to sleep again. How glorious.

Naptime!

 However, by about 7:30 or so, Kaline was fully recharged, so we went on a very long walk (Juno stayed home to beg dinner off my parents). We went to downtown Menlo Park, and Kaline met a ton of people, including two little girls. The girls were all over him, hugging and petting, and I would have said something if Kaline looked uncomfortable (most dogs don't like to be hugged). These kids hugged him, both at once, and he just closed his eyes and leaned harder against them. He looked positively blissful.

Kaline also finally encountered the stone dogs outside this one downtown store. It took a while before he was completely convinced that they weren't real. First he stayed back, stretching out his long neck and sniffing energetically. Then he got a little closer, for more sniffing. He went all over both the stone dogs, sniffing and sniffing. Then, as a final test, he playbowed before them and did his very best to get them to play, even barking and running in little circles. It was pretty amusing.

I took him to the park at the end, and he ran around me in circles, like he was a horse on a lunge line. More hilarity. He slept very well once I brought him home.

This morning we had obedience class. After starting in the back seat, this is where Kaline ended up by the time we got to the park.

Kaline did really well at the beginning, and of course started to lose focus toward the end. Now that I think back, I could just see the gas gauge getting to zero during the remote sits and downs, usually one of his best things. At first he was doing it, and then all of a sudden, he'd go down and he was down. Head on the ground, eyes saying, "Do not ask me to get up again."

I'm staying right here.

We did a lot of heeling work, especially in close with the other dogs. We also did a ton of individual recalls, and even when I dropped the leash, Kaline didn't break once. And that's a tough thing for a baby, to have to hold a sit when he sees all the other dogs running to their handlers. We did a lot of meet and greets with variation with a lovely German Shepherd named Harley (Juno, inexplicably, cannot stand either Harley or his biological brother, Wheeler). Kaline did all right there too—broke one sit when he got greeted by Harley's handler—but he was losing it, so all the sudden recalls started to not be tons of fun for him. He was totally fine when I left him in a down with Harley's handler and went out of sight for a few minutes. Woohoo!

After class, we did our first two-service-dog outing, to Red Robin. I was so nervous. What if they gave me a huge access challenge over having two dogs in the restaurant? What if Kaline peed in the restaurant? What if he suddenly barked at Juno and she barked back? What if he refused to hold any kind of a stay and just made a pest of himself?

Kaline on the way to Red Robin ... I was just hoping he didn't totally recharge by the time we got there.

It ended up being completely fine. Both dogs were very professional. Kaline wore his head collar, so I'd have more control if he started to go for something on the floor. We brought his new mat, which is (I kid you not) made of memory foam and has a super soft blue outside. Juno and Kaline walked in together, and I set their mats up on either side of my chair. I got Kaline settled, with Juno waiting patiently, then gave her the "on your mat" command. Kaline immediately snuggled down in his mat (hey, who wouldn't snuggle into that thing?) and only got up once or twice. I rewarded him periodically for his lovely settle.

And I must say, the staff at Red Robin were fabulous. They didn't ask any intruding questions, or give us trouble about the two dogs. Our server grinned at the dogs but never talked to or touched them. She was so sweet: "Yep, I could tell the little guy is in training—the big one is just cool." They sat us in an area with few other people, so there was plenty of space to put the dogs and have them out of the way of anyone walking.

Needless to say, I was very proud of the kids! Took them to Petco after (unvested, of course) to get some treats and loving up. Yay, our first real Juno-and-Kaline outing was a success!