Our last Michigan day was another long one. Mom and I got up early to walk Kaline and do some errands. I ran him behind the hotel to take the edge off a bit. We walked from South U. across the Diag again in beautiful weather to State St. On the way back to the car we stopped at Ray's Red Hots, formerly Red Hot Lovers (a much better name in my opinion), so I could get a delicious red hot and waffle fries. Delicious. Kay again did great momentum pull.
Morning walk, stopping at my favorite restaurant, Charley's.
We got a courtesy driver to the airport (yay Hertz!) so we didn't have to do luggage unloading twice. There was really no line at security. Kaline got my hoodie off, refused the first shoe retrieve, then did the second one. Progress. He was the best yet at his pat-down, holding his stand very nicely. We really lucked out getting all dog-lovers on the pat-downs.
We went to Max and Erma's for a bite and Kay settled perfectly. When we boarded the plane he was fine, but he started to tremble when I sent him into our row. He stopped, then started again during takeoff. He sat up and all three of us were stroking him and making soothing sounds. As soon as we started cruising, he relaxed and went to sleep for most of the flight. Huge improvement! This one flight attendant kept coming by to just check on how Kaline was doing, how sweet. He did fine on the landing and did mostly nice, sometimes too hard, pulling through the airport. Super antsy on the car ride home, but I couldn't blame him. He went from being cooped up five hours in a plane to being really cooped up in the car.
Kay on the plane home.
When we got home, I was the first one to go in. Hendrik had dropped Juno off earlier, and her welcome home greetings are the best! She jumped, she wagged, she kissed, she leaned, she even whimpered in glee. I kissed and hugged and rubbed and made squeaky sounds. Brilliant. When I released her to go outside, she raced to Dad and “attacked”; then she realized Mom was in the back seat of my car and jumped into the cargo area, trying to vault into the back seat. She was not terribly thrilled to find Kaline in the back seat. “I thought you got rid of him!”
To wrap up, Kaline exceeded my expectations for this trip. I asked a lot of him, and he was fantastic. I am super proud of him, and especially glad that both my parents noticed and acknowledged how well he did. And to put the cherry on top: I finally wore Mom down, and Juno will be coming with me to Michigan in October! I cannot wait.
What a long day our first one was. I got up quite early to make sure Kaline had a long walk before heading to the airport. I've never been quite so glad to have him do No. 1 and No. 2 with great efficiency! I basically let him pee on anything he wanted—I just wanted him empty.
By design, we did not get to the airport terribly early. It worked out perfectly. We had just enough time to check our bags, for me to whisk Kaline for one last pee at the far-away animal relief area, get through security, and board early.
On the way to the relief area, I had Kaline practice his momentum pull. He is still sometimes pulling too hard, but he did great in the few little crowds he had to navigate.
Security went okay, except for the shoe retrieve got botched. I will know for the future not to get caught up talking to the person behind me—while I was doing that, Kaline lost focus a bit and when I asked him to get the shoes, he looked at me like, “Ehhhh, you get 'em.” Dad got them. He did great getting both my jacket and hoodie off though. He held a nice down stay before his recall through the metal detector. A burly bearded guy did the pat down, and before starting he knelt in front of Kaline to get kisses and hugs. Kaline was thrilled.
In the short wait before we boarded the plane, Kaline, as I expected, had a nothing-vomit. Luckily, this was literally nothing (sometimes there is a tiny amount of yellow bile). He gave me so much warning with the heaving that I had time to search through my backpack, find the collapsible bowl, and position it in front of his mouth. Everyone was staring, it was a little embarrassing, but not too big a deal.
Kaline in the airport, post-nothing-vomit.
Kaline settled into his spot on the plane between my feet pretty well, but then got very scared by the takeoff. I was feeding his treats the whole time but it wasn't enough (then again, he never got so scared he wouldn't eat them!). For a while after we got in the air, he was trembling on and off, popping up, yawning, licking his lips, panting. Finally he settled down again and took a series of cat naps, mostly with his head on my knee. For his first flight, not too bad. He did pretty well on landing, just opened his eyes very wide.
On the plane, pre-takeoff.
Settled for a catnap.
My knee made an excellent chin rest.
In the Detroit airport, he was fantastic, just a bit overzealous with his momentum pull. We got our bags, then got the Hertz bus. Kay was very good on there. Getting the car took forever—I gave Kaline a long potty break, reapplied liquid bandaid to his ear, etc.—and Dad ended up getting a hulking Escalade (we exchanged it the next day because it was so monstrous).
Kaline on the Hertz bus.
We drove to TownePlace Suites, a hotel by the mall, which is not only pet friendly (so no hassle at the front desk about paperwork, ID, certification, or anything else) but also gave us an accessible room which had a separate bedroom, yay! We got dinner at nearby Red Robin and Kaline slept under the table.
In a kind way at dinner, the parents asked if I felt I would ever not need to use a SD, if I could “conquer” the psych stuff. I explained that since a SD works for me, that would be a reason to keep going, not stop. If I were on medication that treated my conditions, I would continue to take it, because it's doing what it's supposed to. I wouldn't see the fact that meds were working as a reason to discontinue them. Since medications don't work for me, I treat myself using a service dog. But it's the same basic idea. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
I dressed Kaline in his Tiger pajamas when we got back to the hotel and he looked unspeakably adorable. He also tried to take over both the regular bed and the fold-out bed. Attaboy.
This Saturday, in preparation for our upcoming trip to Michigan, Kaline and I met Sonja and Chief at San Francisco International Airport to practice going through airport security. Handily for me, Sonja already had to be there to meet Hendrik, so I got to tag along. We not only got to do security, we explored the international terminal and got to take the Air Train (like an easier version of BART) over to the domestic terminal, where we did Delta security.
I dressed Kaline in the big vest with saddlebags (which contained barely anything, but tend to cut down on drive-by pets) for realism, and wore a jacket he'd have to get off me. We'd been practicing his retrieves a lot around the house, as well as his tugging.
First we visited the Delta Special Services desk. The first lady we talked to was exceedingly nice and wanted to help us get a pass for security. The supervisor didn't want to, but she did say they'd issue the pass if TSA approved it. So our new friend took us over to security while she chatted with TSA. I know we don't normally think of TSA folks as pleasant, but boy, were they. It was slow at the airport, and you must admit, two adorable SDITs go a long way in making people nicer. The TSA supervisor had no problem approving a pass for me, so our Delta friend printed it at her desk and off I went with Kaline.
We went in the express line to get the pass and ID (mine, not one for him) checked, then got in the actual security line. I quickly discovered that several of the surrounding people were Michiganders, who were delighted to meet a cute boy named Kaline. I took off my shoes; Kaline played with them a little, but eventually delivered them to hand. When we got closer to the bins, I asked him to help me take off my jacket, and he did that flawlessly. He blocked pretty nicely in line. We had a little issue with his saddlebags—one guy wanted me to take them off, which is rather hard for me, and we compromised by emptying them into one of those little dishes and sending them through the X-ray. Otherwise, the TSA folks continued to be super nice.
For the metal detector, I left Kaline in a sit-stay originally while I headed through. He started to slide almost immediately, either because of the way the harness fits or because of the carpet, so I told him to down. Lesson learned for Wednesday, leave him in a down to start with. Once I went through, I called him through—perfect. A female TSA agent came to pat him down (I am not sure why “female assist” was required when my male dog was getting the pat down, and I was getting no pat down at all). Kaline stood nicely for her but did want to kiss her; she assured me that he could and that she loved dogs, so I didn't mess with him too much about it. Kaline plopped under the table while I got all my stuff back on and in my pockets, and then we made an about turn and headed out to Sonja and Chief!
Part of my anxiety involves constructing elaborate catastrophe scenarios in my head about future events. That's why I really, really, REALLY, like to do dry runs! This one definitely increased my confidence, although obviously we still have the plane ride itself to get through. On my own, I am pretty confident in Kaline's ability to handle it, but then I get the doubters and they make me doubt him. Which is stupid, but anyway.
Sunday Kaline did his usual public access work, which was generally very good. He got some looks for doing spontaneous DPT in the bagel store, but he was right—I needed it. He did pretty well in the market, which was freaking full of pets on flexis who aren't supposed to be there. He gets a little distracted by them, but I get huge spikes in anxiety, because generally the people who use flexis and bring their dogs to markets where they don't belong are the people with really badly behaved dogs, and I constantly fear some random dog attacking Kaline and ruining him. (See? Catastrophe.) But it's happened to a lot of people with SDs and SDITs, so it's not an unreasonable fear.
We did Trader Joe's at the end and Kay did really nice blocking there as well. Carts can come within inches of him, and he doesn't even turn his head. He did get surprised by the pop of a guy breaking down cardboard boxes, so we turned around and stood there watching the box breakdown and having cookies. No big.
Oh man, this is a big test coming up. I am excited but nervous to see how Kaline does in Michigan.
In which I shall make up for long inactivity with a marathon post about how freaking fantastic Juno and her amazing harness were on our trip to Pennsylvania.
We left last Wednesday, having dropped Kaline off with Freddie the previous evening. He was so happy playing constantly with Rio, he didn't even notice we left. Most of our stuff at the airport went fairly smoothly, but I was still left with a bad impression of United.
When we arrived at the security line, I asked the woman directing people where the express line was. She put me and my parents in the line resembling the one for Space Mountain in Disneyland, only at the end you get groped instead of going on a rollercoaster. Noting this issue, I then approached the guy in charge of the express line. In order to get into that, he said, I'd have to talk to his manager. The woman who put me in the wrong line in the first place.
So I went instead to a security guard. She rolled her eyes at the manager and most efficiently put me and Juno in the proper line, then rounded up my parents as well. When I thanked her, she snorted dismissively and said it shouldn't be that difficult for the other ones to just put us in the right line.
Once that was solved, we moved smoothly through security. Juno picked up my shoes for me after I took them off, then helped me get my hoodie off. I went through the non-scary metal detector (the full body scan, which I have to use if I'm dogless, invariably triggers an anxiety attack), then called Juno through, in all her gear. She stood like a statue for her pat-down, like we were in the obedience ring doing Stand for Exam. The TSA lady who checked her over was quite impressed. Juno's a pro now when it comes to air travel.
Through security at SFO.
When it was time for early boarding, Juno and I and my dad had no trouble, but boy, were the passengers rude in general. And another disabled woman, who didn't have a dog but did have a fused leg, got a ton of rudeness and snark from the gate agent.
We watched as tons of "first class" passengers cut in front of me and the other lady, just because they're special and we're peons. The gate agent did nothing, just let it happen. Then when the other woman said she needed to be switched to an aisle seat due to her leg, the gate agent, instead of accommodating her as the law requires, told her she could either sit in her assigned seat or not fly. She did it in the most nasty, humiliating way possible. When we got on, I talked to the woman and said they had to accommodate her, no matter what the gate agent said. I found the relevant part of the ACAA but by then the people who actually worked on the plane had done their job and found her a proper seat without being assholes.
Juno and I were in Economy Plus, because the bulkhead was an exit row. I was amazed that Juno fit so well! She slid herself under the seat and had plenty of room. Then the flight attendants moved my dad, who had the middle seat, because the plane wasn't full and then Juno would have even more room to spread out. As usual she slept through most of the flight.
Curled up on the plane to Philly.
Adorable face!
When we got to Philadelphia, Juno did amazing momentum pulling on her guide handle, with and without a target.
She charmed our rental car bus driver. Then we had a two-hour drive to Wilkes-Barre and our hotel.
Juno on the bus.
We stayed at the Fairfield Inn & Suites, and they needed some serious education on the ADA. At least I had some warning. Dad had gone in to check in, and came back to the car with an evil grin. “They want to see paperwork for the service dog,” he said, knowing I was about to kick ass verbally. It's the only time I'll really stand up to people and have a conflict.
So in I went with my ADA business brief. I was told I needed to show ID or certification. I passed my ADA brief across the counter, reading aloud the portion that says ID, certification, demo of tasks, etc. may not be required. In response, I got, “Okay, but ...” I said, “No ‘but.’ This is federal law.” Eventually I had to talk to an assistant manager, because the girl at the counter had clearly been told she needed to ask for this paperwork, and the higher ups needed the education. So I educated him too. Not sure how well it worked, but Juno and I had no further trouble after that, and hopefully they'll know better how to treat future teams. I walked Juno “nekkid” through the lobby a lot ... it was sometimes unintentional but not always. Hehe.
Juno's drawer o' stuff at the hotel.
Juno in our hotel room with Froggy.
On Thursday, we ended up spending the day at Harvey's Lake, where my parents used to spend their summers. Of course, this was after the first of many Dunkin Donuts runs. I am addicted to Dunkaccinos and wouldn't you know it, there are no Dunkins anywhere near me.
Dunkin!!!!
At the lake, my parents were pointing out houses where various people used to live. We got to one that belonged to Gary Frank, with a guy working outside. “That looks like Gary Frank,” said Mom. It was Gary Frank, and we ended up spending the afternoon with him and his wife on their dock and in their boat on the lake. He was good friends with my mom's older sister.
Harvey's Lake.
Juno did awesome on the boat ride. I thought she might be a little unsettled at first, especially when we went fast, so I popped some cookies in her mouth. She was totally fine. She even enjoyed the wind whipping her ears around.
I'm on a BOAT!
Chilling on the boat.
We got ice cream on the way home, and the girl working there made Juno her own bowl, with two scoops of vanilla topped with a Milk Bone. Juno was most appreciative.
I'm mean and like to torture my dog.
Nom nom nom.
We went to dinner with Dad's old buddy Pete and his wife Gail. Right as we got in the restaurant, some lady started reaching for Juno, belatedly asking if she were a “Seeing Eye dog.” I blocked for Juno and told her she wasn't, and please not to touch her. Urgh. Dinner was good though. Juno sacked out completely next to my chair until the end. Guess her harness is pretty comfy!
Friday we got to do family history stuff. In the morning, we went with my Uncle Larry (Dad's youngest brother) and Aunt Nora to walk Juno in Kingston, starting from Dad's old house. Dad will call family members by wrong names a lot, and it got hilariously worse with Uncle Larry around. Every time he wanted my attention, it was, “Larry! No, Donnie! No, Nancey! No, COLT!” At least once I was also Juno. We walked all around the old neighborhood, with Mom, Larry and Dad all pointing out the houses of their old friends and of various family members. I love that kind of stuff! And Juno enjoyed her nice walk.
Juno at Dad's old house.
In the afternoon, we went to the Lackawanna Coal Mine. I was on the tour of the actual mine when I was about nine, and I didn't really feel like taking Juno down in there. So Mom and I did the museum while Dad, Larry, and Nora did the mine tour. It was good fun and I was especially tickled to see that one of the electric coal locomotives had come from the Henry Ford.
That night, we went to our first actual family event, the Shabbat dinner for my cousin Noa, who was having her Bat Mitzvah the next morning. Juno did her best at blocking when we came in, but I was getting swarmed from all sides. Yes, by family I was excited to see, but still swarmed. It was too much and we had to go off and do deep pressure so I could calm down. I got to chat with a bunch of my favorite cousins, and Juno did really well when a very tiny cousin screamed bloody murder at the sight of her standing up. Totally ignored it. She's such a rock.
Saturday was awesome. I spent the morning killing some time with Juno, going to PetDumb, Barnes and Noble, and of course, Dunkin, before heading to a tack shop in Dallas to meet up with Francine and her SD, Rocket, an amazing pit bull/Lab mix. I also got to meet Francine's lovely husband, Chris. We've been talking online for quite a while, and it was really neat to get to meet them in real life! We got to talk shop a lot, and the dogs did great working in each other's presence. We had a delicious lunch out in the middle of nowhere at a grill that had shockingly delicious burgers. Juno got an amazing compliment from Francine that I will treasure forever, that she seems like she was raised to be a SD from puppyhood. (Actually, I got her at 18 months and she was totally insane.) We had a marvelous time!
Francine with Rocket; me with Juno.
In the evening was Noa's party by the pool at the hotel where most of the family were staying. Again with the overwhelming crowding; eventually I was able to get a spot at a table, where the crowding would be minimal, and again I got to talk to a lot of favorite cousins who I don't get to see much. Juno conked out under the table once I was settled. Everyone was amazed at how calm and well-behaved she is. I really hope one day Kaline is like that. Juno and I had such a great time bonding on this trip, and I just wish she never had to retire and that we could be a working team forever.
Outside the hotel with this awesome car.
Sunday was brutal. We had to get up at 3:00 am to get on the road to Philly by 3:30. Our flight was a little before eight. Juno was excellent in the airport again, doing momentum pull with Dad as her target, blocking when she needed to, ignoring randoms trying to distract her. We got Dunkin again, naturally, and once we were on the plane (much better experience) Juno absolutely crashed. She was quite a tired girl!
Juno riding the luggage cart because 3 am is too early to walk around.
Juno crashed out on the plane.
Our flight seemed to take forever, but finally we were home. I picked up Kaline, and he was super mellow all day, probably out of exhaustion from a weekend of nonstop bromance with Rio. It was super convenient for me and the parents and Juno, because all of us pretty much passed out for the afternoon.
Yesterday was the big day! Obviously, there was kind of a lot going on.
We picked up Kaline around noon (we being me, Danny, Dad and Juno). He was at Air Canada Cargo—we could hear him yowling as soon as we walked in. They gave us paperwork there that we then had to drive over to Customs down the road, and then we drove back for the puppy.
Kaline in his crate at Air Canada Cargo.
He is so tiny! Well, except for his paws, of course. I know he won't stay that way for long, but he is little enough that I was able to pick him up yesterday. (I now know that was a bad idea ... well, I knew it at the time too, just didn't care! All muscles are in mutiny today.) He's fun to carry around, because he hugs onto your neck like a little monkey. He cried part of the way home in his crate—he is not a fan!—but then fell asleep. I guess it's a puppy thing, but I find it just so adorable: how Kaline can be totally into something one second, and then the next second, he's asleep!
We came home and mostly had a playful afternoon. Juno wanted/wants nothing to do with Kaline—I think she's afraid of him. He'll go up to her, kissing or playbowing, being very polite for a puppy, and she just walks away. She wasn't talking to me for a while but I think we're friends again as of this morning's training session.
Kaline and Danny!
Kaline smelled kinda bad after his trip, even though he didn't mess in the crate as far as I could tell, so I took him upstairs and gave him a bath. He hadn't peed since we got him, even though we gave him chances (he was distracted). I expected he'd end up going in the tub, but I was slightly off and he peed in the bathroom. Easy cleanup, totally not his fault.
Kaline in the bathtub.
He was very good in the bath, partly because he couldn't jump out no matter how hard he tried, being too small, and mostly because Maura did such a great job accustoming him to being handled. He didn't mind being touched anywhere or having his feet washed or getting his face wet. I loved how I could wrap up his entire body in the towel once I got him out.
What a face!
Danny, Dad and I hung out with Kaline in the living room (Juno wasn't having any of it) for a long time. He was like the Energizer Bunny for a while. We worked a little on sit, down, watch, get busy, and wait. He's really getting the hang of going potty immediately, outside, and on his leash. Hurrah. He had one more accident later that night—because he'd just woken up from a long nap, but instead of getting outside promptly, he got sidetracked being cuddled by Mom!
My stuffie!!
After Danny left for work, Kaline pretty much crashed. He had no problem sleeping in his crate if the door was open, but the minute I shut it, he would go ballistic. You can imagine how attempting to sleep last night went! Not so awesome. But we just have to ride it out; he absolutely can't learn that if he just cries LOUD enough, and LONG enough, he'll get what he wants. I've only been letting him out once he's quiet, and I'm trying to get him to wait. We need to do some crate exercises with the clicker ... First I have to introduce the clicker! (I've just been luring and treating so far.)
Asleep in the crate.
Today, Kaline's sit has been awesome. It's one of his defaults already, and he's starting to make nice eye contact. He'll stay a bit too, long enough for me to get from facing him to the heel position. He goes into a down very easily, but so far doesn't really want to stay there. He comes wonderfully (we're not doing the formal recall yet, just “Puppy puppy puppy!” and the like) and is starting to wait at the doors.
Walks are interesting. I don't know how much time Kaline has had on a leash. So far, he mostly will not walk ahead of me (big plus), but he kind of weaves around behind me. Sometimes he'll just stop ... so yeah, we're having fun on the walks! We've just gone around and back on the back streets here. Kaline was a little surprised by the train when he first heard it outside (inside, he couldn't care less) but he recovered really fast. He's catching on fast with the stairs too—we have a lot of stairs. Watching him go up and down like a little uncoordinated jackrabbit is way too much fun.
Juno finally talking to me again.
I really love Kaline's personality. He's bright, he's fun to do quick training sessions with (he has the attention span of ... a baby puppy!), he doesn't get frightened easily (just startled, and then curious) and he has an off switch! He's definitely up for relaxing/sleeping a lot. He also likes to chew his leash, but I've been redirecting him with a squeaky bone and a Nylabone. Fluffy bone is a big hit. Also sweet potato chews. Juno finishes those in about fifteen seconds; Kaline was still earnestly masticating his twenty minutes on.
Oh, speaking of earnest, have I mentioned his little head wrinkles? So precious. He looks so serious and pensive when he just plops down, cocks his head and wrinkles his forehead while looking at you in a quizzical way. He also makes gurgling noises when he sleeps.
And his ears. They are everything I thought they'd be and more!
I am excited out of my mind. Kaline will be here tomorrow. Since I got home from walking my packs today, I've been doing cleanup and puppy prep. Mom and I washed down our whole back patio—this will be the first place he learns to eliminate—and then sprayed the whole thing with a weak bleach solution. I'm hoping that soon Kaline can learn to hold it between his crate and getting outside in the morning/after naps, and then I can take him out the front door and across the street, to a nice big patch of gravel. Much easier cleanup!
All Juno's stuffies, except her current favorite, Mr. Rhino, are either hidden away in the garage or up on a high counter in the little bar area off the living room—no stuffies for the wee one until I know he's not going to kill them. Mom did a last Pet Place run while I was out with the packs, and came home with a ton of goodies. A little stuffie bone for Kaline (yeah, we'll see how long that lasts!); a couple free packets of little treats; a smaller, softer Nylabone (I already have a big one for Powerful Chewers); and of course, an enormous container of Nature's Miracle. We've got spray bottles now ready, one full of the bleach solution for cleaning up on the back patio, and one full of Nature's Miracle for accidents.
I got a bunch of little stuff up off the floor throughout the house. Filled up the smaller black Kong with peanut butter and some pieces of puppy kibble, and popped it in the freezer. Moved the thick awesome bed out of the big crate and into the guest room (Kaline can have it when he's not gonna destroy it, and when the crate no longer needs to be partitioned) and lined the crate with a big towel and the adorable soft pad Mom got for him when she was at a craft fair. We have grand plans for that thing. It's vaguely bone shaped, very soft, light blue with puppies on one side and red with puppies on the other. We're gonna take a photo of Kaline on the pad tomorrow, and then every Monday thereafter for a couple months. (Who knows, given my tendency toward obsession/sticking to routines, it could be every Monday for a YEAR.) Why Monday? Cause he was born on a Monday, and then I can say things like, "This is Kaline at nine weeks."
Juno got a bath, mostly because she was sticky from training yesterday at the park. She was tethered on the lawn when not working ... there were plums ... thus stickiness. Also she'll be all super-pretty now for the arrival of her new brother. I even put more ointment on her pads—such a gorgeous girl!
I also got in touch with Air Canada Cargo. I got a Real Live Person™ on the first try! It was amazing. The Real Live Person™ helpfully told me the address of Air Canada Cargo—a completely separate place from San Francisco International Airport—and said to arrive there about an hour after Kaline's plane is due to give him time to get transported from the airport to cargo. Once I get him at cargo, I have to take his health certificate over to customs, and then we can go home. Not entirely sure if I have to leave him (and his undoubtedly full bladder) at cargo while I do this; hopefully I'll at least be allowed to take him for a pee break first!
Man, tomorrow is just going to be insane and momentous. Gotta at least try to get a decent night's sleep, since I won't even have the opportunity to do so for the foreseeable future. I've done the first-day-with-a-new-dog thing twice, but Kaline is my first puppy. And like most people, I've wanted a puppy since forever. I'm actually really glad that I had to wait this long. I feel like I'm finally ready for a puppy.
Let's see if I still feel that way by the end of tomorrow!
This countdown is getting crazy! Okay, actually I'm the one who's crazy. Today I got Kaline's flight information. He should be arriving at SFO at about 10:35 on Saturday morning. I'm not entirely sure just yet where I actually pick him up, but I seem to remember seeing someone pick up a puppy in an office by the baggage claim. I wonder how long it will take to reach a live human being at the airport who can give me the one answer I need ...
I went back to observe puppy class again this past Sunday, this time with Danny in tow. I'm hoping that if I can get Kaline into the class, Danny will be able to come to help with the recall and stuff. Kaline may end up falling into a sort of limbo between classes—might be too young for any but the last meeting of the current five-week session, and may be nearly too old for the next one. It's not the end of the world, as Freddie also has puppy classes going on. I just have my heart set on Amy's!
The puppies are ever so cute, as always. This time around, there's a yellow Lab (my fave, of course); a Golden Retriever; a poodle/Golden retriever mix; a gorgeous blue Great Dane with the most hilarious ears; a Wheaten terrier; and a delightful little Bernese Mountain Dog. Hopefully Kaline can get his second-round shots at 11 weeks and make it to the final meeting. We'll see what the vet says, just one week from today!
Did I mention that the local vets are Doberman people? There is a married couple now in charge at Peninsula Pet Hospital (originally, Angel's and Juno's vet was Dr. Cortesi, but he's mostly retired now) and they have a gorgeous young black and tan male named Anchor. Juno likes Dr. Ulla a lot, which is a big deal cause she is not generally a vet fan. The techs are all stoked to meet the puppy, of course.
The parents have approved shipping Kaline early from Toronto! It may not be exactly on June 25, depending on the breeder's schedule, but it'll still be early! Freddie is over the moon and said she'll have me covered for the five or so hours on Saturday June 29 when I'm supposed to go to the Olympic men's gymnastics trials in San Jose. She has tons of great ideas already for things to which to expose the puppy. Exhibit A: Actual kiddie pool. (As opposed to Juno's enormous bed, nicknamed the kiddie-pool bed cause it's huge, rimmed and blue.)
Not that anyone cares but blogging may be out for a while—one of my training dogs slammed my hand in the car door by jumping on it while I was trying to open it. So typing is not fun right now.
When you live in California and you decide to get a puppy from eastern Canada, you know that travel is going to be A Thing.
We (my dad and I) are currently somewhat on the fence about whether to fly to Buffalo to get the puppy, or to have him shipped from Toronto. It's more expensive for people to fly from San Francisco to Toronto; Buffalo is a little further from the breeder, but cheaper and then we wouldn't have to cross the border. The puppy flying from Toronto, though, is way cheaper than us flying roundtrip to Buffalo. Toronto has direct flights to/from San Francisco; Buffalo doesn't. I wouldn't consider a non-direct flight for the puppy by himself. With shipping the puppy, you also have to consider heat ... So there is a small possibility I could get him a week early if we go that route.
Tons of people—people who know what they're talking about—have told me that puppies are shipped by themselves on planes all the time with no physical or psychological ill effects. A friend just had her new little SD candidate shipped to her, and he's doing great. But I still make up worst case scenarios in my head. It's kinda what I do. So all things being equal, I'd rather go get the puppy, despite the possible hassles of traveling with two dogs and attempting to do a potty break with a baby puppy on our return layover. Knowing exactly where he is and how he's doing the entire time would make me feel so much better.
However, flying both my dad and myself to Buffalo is, um, really expensive and thus makes all things not so equal. Not even counting in the pet ticket for the way back. And this is if we took a red-eye so we wouldn't have to spend a night in a hotel. It's considerably more expensive than shipping the puppy. But ... Dad all of a sudden is kinda excited about the prospect of staying over and going to see Niagara Falls. That could help in getting us to Buffalo! Decisions, I am so incredibly terrible at making them sometimes.
See how the fence sitting thing works? All right, enough of the agonizing over travel. Here, have a picture of 17-day-old puppies.
AND ... Here are the three picks I'm sending off to Maura for Kaline's registered name. She has final say, and might not choose any of these three. It was great fun picking them anyway!
Gatehouse Michigan & Trumbull (The Corner, where Tiger Stadium was located in Detroit)
Gatehouse As Time Goes By (cause his dad's name is Ambermark's Play It Again)
Gatehouse Lucky I'm Cute (cause this is the L litter)
