Sneaky puppy

It's been kind of a long day, so here's a funny from yesterday. We did our hopefully-to-become-routine walk with Dad to Borrone's for Sunday breakfast. I worked on not pulling with Kaline there and back. He was a ton better today, but we'll have to see if it really sticks.

Anyway, Kaline was under my chair, Juno under the table outside at Borrone's. Kaline kept popping up, because there were Dachshunds under the next table. I kept replacing him in the down. This happened enough that by the time we were almost done, he had no illusions about me wanting him to hold the down.

But now he was cold. I think Lizard (shortened from Lizard Sounds) will be an excellent nickname for Kaline. With his very shiny but not very warm Doberman coat, he's like some cold-blooded reptile. It's August, for crying out loud, and he's shivering in the shade.

I wanna go in the sun. But Mommy told me not to break my down. But I'm cooooolllld! 

Ahhh, warmth.

So my clever little man compromised. I watched the whole process and for some reason it did not occur to me to take video. He'd push his little but up very close to his front legs (not up enough to be considered breaking the down), then crawl forward on the front legs, then repeat. Finally, he was completely in the sun. Also completely in the aisle that servers were using to bring food to people, and people were using to get to their tables. He'd worked so hard though that I let him stay there for a bit while I giggled and marveled at him. Then we worked out a compromise where he got to lie in the sun but was right behind my chair, where there was less chance of him getting stepped on.

Today, Kaline's been on four freaking walks and still had energy up to about ten minutes ago. One walk was just with Juno, and we did some training in the park, like double-dog recall drills. (One dog has to hold a sit stay while the other dog does a recall past him/her; then the positions are reversed.) Kaline seems to have lifted his limit on recalls and is doing more than three, hooray! Sometimes he gets up speed though and chooses to do a drive-by rather than crash into my legs ... While I appreciate the consideration, it's definitely not a habit I want him to get into!

Juno, Teddy and Kaline after pack walk No. 2 (Bentley not pictured).

He then did two pack walks with the different groups, had crate time, snuggle time, more crate time while Juno got her snuggle time, then went on a training walk all by himself back to the park. We worked on "here" aka the informal recall—he doesn't have to sit in front of me, he just has to come back and put his nose in my right hand, and then he can go play again. We did a couple formal recalls too. Remote sits and downs, leave its, walking nicely next to me. In the right situation (i.e. low to medium distraction), he has such fabulous eye contact while walking next to me! We just have to work on him remembering to look out as well, so he doesn't faceplant.


The 'rents babysat Kaline while Juno and I met my buddy Danny for dinner at the Goose. I had briefly considered taking both, because Danny hadn't met Kaline, but I wanted to talk to Danny and find out what's been going on with him, not spend half the time under the table keeping Kaline in a down and peace between the babies. It was a good choice. Got a smart-ass in line who was like, "Didn't I just see you drive into the parking lot?" (As in, how can you be blind and need a guide dog if you can drive?) Other than that, it was great. Juno even managed to resist the peanut shells under the table. (That is one of the charms of the Goose, you can toss your peanut shells on the floor. But Juno really likes to eat peanut shells.)

Danny got to meet Kaline after dinner and my little man was kind of a pest. Okay, he was REALLY a pest. Sigh. But now both dogs are asleep. And I still have to take Kaline's 17-week picture. Oops.

ETA: Here is the 17-week picture!

Oh yeah! Milestone of the Day: It has now been THREE WHOLE WEEKS since Kaline had an accident in the house. Rejoice. And Juno's new pretty dog tag came!

Stuff I have to work on

Pups ready to go to training! Yeah, not the best picture ever ...

Kaline had another good day at training this afternoon. Perhaps it helped that before we went, he had about half an hour to wrestle with Baxter. Kaline sometimes yelps because Baxter is pretty rough, but then he immediately goes back for more. He's nuts.

We worked on heeling and recalls, as well as the usual sit-stays and such. I really need to work on not moving into Kaline (or anyone else I happen to be working) when we stop. It pushes the dog away and back, which obviously isn't what I want, especially in Kaline and Juno. I want to compete in obedience with them, plus their SD work requires a certain closeness. And it's not just remembering not to do obvious stuff, like take steps into him. I have to control myself so I don't lean toward him, or slide my left foot at him, or turn it into him. Argh.

With recalls, it's kind of the same thing. As Kaline comes in, because he has that habit of rocking back when he sits, I tend to stay bent over toward him, not straightening until he has completely come in and has plunked his little butt down where I want it. What I really need to do is straighten and pull the treat upward in one motion, and get him to come all the way in that way. I also have to remember not to adjust to the dogs as they come in, and make them adjust to me (this was more an issue with a client's dog, not so much Juno and Kaline). Kaline either comes in straight, or he kind of loses his mind a few feet away—“Oh look! A butterfly, over there! Maybe I should saunter over and check that out ...” So yeah, if he actually does come in, he does it straight! Juno will sometimes lean to one side or another, but she's easy to adjust.

Juno did better on down-stays today; still had a couple breaks, but not constantly like it is some days. She did awesome bar jumps—we now warm up on 24 inches, then go to 26, the maximum on this particular jump. And she did the broad jump! Kristin helped us, tilting the middle two boards up so it was more of a jump and Juno wouldn't be as tempted to walk on it. Kristin also set up the target—today, a treat on a dog show program. Juno would jump over the boards, go grab the treat (this is to teach her to jump straight, not cut the corner to come to me), and after eating her treat she'd come to the front position. Woohoo, perhaps a breakthrough!

Kaline was a bit of a pest tonight. Also had another accident on a bed (only partially, at least). I can't figure it out—he has no problem anymore sleeping through the night, and holding it after I let him out of his crate until I can get him outside and across the street. Yet sometimes during the day he can't even go two hours! And his “I need to pee” signs bear a remarkable resemblance to his “I am bored” signs. In some ways, I definitely do want him to grow up a bit!

Clicker training fun

Tonight the pups and I had a great clicker training session. Juno's part may have looked like not very much—lying calmly on her blanket on the couch while I actively worked with Kaline—but for her, it's actually a big deal. Juno is an amazing dog to work with, obviously, but she still has problems "honoring the working dog." As far as I know, it's mostly a field-dog term, describing the part of a test where the dog must sit calmly by as another dog works in the field. It's tough to learn it's not all about you!

Anyway, Juno's general M.O. when I'm working another dog is to whine and yodel in the most pitiful manner. So this is something we have to work on. She got periodically rewarded with the same treats I was using for Kaline—Just Chicken!—for holding a nice quiet down-stay. She was awesome, even when I was migrating around with Kaline, doing recalls and downs in different locations.

With Kaline, my main focus was down. My end goal is for his feeding ritual to be like Juno's, which is exactly like Angel's before her. No mugging the human around the food bin or during food preparation; just lie down next to your food bowl and wait for your release cue. Since Kaline's a baby, I've been having him just sit and wait for his food. He's excellent at sitting—he sees me go to the food, sits about three to four feet away, and then when it's ready he races out to his bowls and sits again with great expectation.

I wanted him to choose to lie down, eventually, but for the first two times, I lured him with the chicken, c/t-ing when he was down. Then I released him to reset him. At first he'd just sit and stare at me plaintively, maybe whining a little. Eventually he'd get bored and lie down, leading to much praise and chicken. He also got c/t-ed for remaining in the down and giving me nice eye contact. Soon, anytime I reset him, he'd sit, then when that only got verbal praise, immediately lie down. Yay! He's getting the concept!

So we started doing it in other places, with me in different spots in relation to Kaline. I did beat the clock, then circles around him. We went out of the family room to the kitchen, then to the dining room where his bowls are. There, we not only worked on down, but going into a sit from a down. If you've ever taught a dog to do this, you know it's hard to teach them that sit is a position, not a movement! Another thing to work on.

Last we went to the living room where we worked both on down and on stand. We have a low coffee table down there, which is actually where I taught Juno the stand cue. She's got an incredibly solid stand now, but when I first started working on it, she thought I had gone completely insane and why the hell was I touching her flank, etc. Being elevated, even less than a foot, changed everything.

Kaline, of course, does not have anything but good associations with stand because of the great work Maura did with him. Once on the table, he caught on real fast that I wanted him to just hold the position, and he stood so nicely as I moved around him and touched him all over. Nice eye contact too. I felt all accomplished.

Then he peed in the brown bed. No swelled heads with a puppy around!