Kaline's long down work continues

Kaline's in the opposite of the doghouse right now!

Last night, I took him to a gathering of friends (one of the group who doesn't get a chance to come home a lot is in town for the holidays). If I were just thinking of which dog could handle the situation better, hands down it would be Juno. But 1) my mom doesn't appreciate being Kaline's babysitter and 2) Kaline needs a lot more work on that kind of situation than cool-as-a-cucumber Juno does.

So off we went to the restaurant/bar in Palo Alto. Before we left, I put Kaline on the treadmill for a good 45 minutes to try and tire him out. He wasn't perfect, but he did really well for being a baby in that environment. There were a lot of new people, it was crowded, and it was loud. I brought Kaline's cushy mat and a full bait bag, plus he wore his red Cloudchaser to make sure he stayed nice and warm.

We stayed about two and a half hours, and I was pleased with how both of us did. When I pretty much know Kaline isn't going to be a Completely Professional Old Hand Invisible Service Dog, I can get preemptively nervous and uptight. I stayed pretty cool last night, I thought! When Kaline alerted, I took it seriously and let him in my lap until he felt I had chilled enough for him to go back down. When he popped up from his down and got nudgy, I didn't freak, just put my foot on his leash so the only comfortable position was a down. I remembered to reward him periodically when he was good, and I didn't flip over normal puppy antsy-ness.

Kaline right after we arrived.

Kaline, for his part, spent a huge majority of the time in a calm, relaxed down, punctuated by little bits of popping up and being antsy. It's much easier to focus on the times he wasn't doing what I wanted, but when you think about it, he really did much more of what I did want than what I didn't. It's just easier to overlook a dog who is being "invisible"! It was a tough test for him, and I am definitely proud of how he did.

Kaline after he got more comfy.

After a long time I could tell he'd had enough, so I let everyone know I was leaving and said if anyone wanted to say hi, they could come outside and I'd take off his vest so Kaline could socialize. He had a great time getting to meet people! (Oh, and a great friend moment: When I first brought Kaline in, one of the guys started trying to get his attention. Before I could even say anything, one of my buddies leaned over and said, "You can't do that. Don't distract him, he's a service dog." WOOHOO!!!!)

Today is Christmas Eve, so we've got some stuff planned. The parents invited me to both lunch and dinner, so I decided Kaline would go to lunch, Juno to dinner. Mom was a bit worried about how Kaline might behave at lunch, which of course got me worried. We were going to Carpaccio which is a nicer place, so if he decided to be a pill it would not be good.

So we did the two pack walks, and when we got home early, instead of letting Kaline rest, I took him right out again to work in a hardware store until it was lunchtime. Worked like a freaking charm. I took him into the restaurant, put him on his mat next to my chair, and except for rising to a sit when Dad showed up, Kaline was silent and practically motionless under the table for the entire meal. I reached down every now and again to stroke him, praise him quietly, and/or give him a treat. He was so good. Even Mom was impressed!

Wearing a Christmas ruff and settling like a champ.

I think we all know Juno is going to be a star at dinner tonight. Grin.

Madly in love with Juno

Juno's been awesome today. Kaline too has been a very good boy, but oh my FSM, Juno! (Also, the Tigers won the pennant. A very good day.)

After a Trazodone-free night, I feel much better physically. We had two walks this morning, and on the second one, as we were in the little home-stretch, Juno's prong collar just popped off. It has a loose link, so it does that sometimes. Since it's on Juno, I don't worry. And clearly, I don't need to. When the collar fell to the ground, Juno hesitated a little, waiting for me to reel in the leash. Since we were close to "home" (Jett's house), I didn't even try to put it back on her. She stayed perfectly in position without her leash, keeping all three boys—Max, Kaline and Jett—in line as usual. Sped up, slowed down, all perfectly in step with me, all the way there. I was very gleeful!

Training was really good today as well. Freddie returned from the East Coast shows with a new car magnet for me—a silhouette not just of a Doberman, but a natural-eared Doberman! So exciting.

Kaline worked before Juno, and Freddie worked on proofing his down. I had a stuffing-less ferret of some kind, and Freddie had various balls; Kaline had to hold his down-stay or sit-stay while both Freddie and I in turn tried to distract him and make him break with the toys. He only broke once! Sometimes there was no warning when Freddie would throw something either.

Kaline did a beautiful figure eight (I remembered not to look down!). Freddie loves how elegant he looks when he's not being a galumphy pup, haha. Then he got to work on fun retrieves with the ferret, and finally he had his first hold and out session. You gently open his mouth and insert something to hold, in this case a tennis ball bumper, saying, "Hold." Then you keep one hand under his chin to keep his mouth closed, and put the other on the back of his head, where most Dobes have a knob (Kaline doesn't). Then you just kinda wait till he relaxes and holds the object calmly without chomping it or rolling it around. Once you get that, you put one hand on either end of the object, not pulling on it, and say, "Out." Most dogs, when you actually ask them to hold something, don't really want to do it, so they'll immediately let go and back their mouth off the object—exactly what you want when you say out. Kaline did that part perfectly every time. He'll get the hang of hold pretty fast, I think.

After Kaline, I got out Juno. She got to be a post while Peter did figure eights, and then when it was her turn to do it off leash, she went over by Freddie's chair, picked up the "tuff" toy that looks like a flattened doughnut, and handed it to me. I thanked her, then tossed it back to the chair. Whereupon she got it again. So I told her hold and we did the off-leash figure eight—all with the toy in her mouth! She looked so freaking cute. She did an even better off-leash figure eight without it though, haha. She then did perfect fabulous recalls alongside Peter. And then we got to do retrieves.

First we did formal retrieves, with Juno having to wait for me to send her to get the toy, then having to return to front with it, give it to me, then return to heel. So good, so cute. I took a couple videos, none of which were great because Juno gets a little confused when I hold the phone at her. Then we just did fun retrieves with the tennis ball bumper, and she had a total blast. She will only fetch if there are no other dogs around—I don't know why, but Juno will never refuse to give up a toy to another dog (that includes Kaline, and did even when he was very tiny). She was panting and grinning by the end and I just loved her up and told her she's the best dog in the whole world.