Retrieving and other adventures

The pups had a good day of training yesterday, and are now zonked from three successive pack walks today. The first thing we did at training was try to start all the dogs on retrieving: getting them excited about one of a variety of toys, then throwing it for them and calling them back. Didn't matter if they brought the toy back, but the recall was paramount.

Before working Juno (who knows the retrieve already), I worked Kaline, two Labs, a Golden Retriever-poodle mix and I think one other dog. One of the Labs had already had a bunch of retrieving work—her dad eventually wants her to be able to go hunting with him. So, I was pretty stoked about Kaline when he showed absolutely the strongest retrieving drive of the dogs who really don't have retriever training. My little Doberman retriever! He was on that stuffed lobster every time I tossed it; the coming back was questionable, but that's why everyone was on leash, haha. Juno was the most fun, of course, because she knows her stuff, but I was very encouraged about Kaline.

Big props to Maura, Kaline's breeder—one of the most important tests to see if a puppy will end up being a good service prospect is the retrieving test. If you throw a ball of paper and the puppy goes for it, then at least makes the attempt to bring it back, that's a great sign. She picked me a great one!

Later, Juno got to work in the "big dog" group, as usual. At training, "big dog" refers to our personal dogs. We did lots of heeling, with moving stands and moving downs. I worked Juno on either her shark line or completely off leash, and she did pretty well! Gotta love those moving stands; we had so much fun working on those when she was first learning how to do it. Then we did remote sits and downs, and Juno was held up as the example of how to go properly from a down to a sit (push up, no picking up the butt and creeping forward). Woohoo!

Kaline got to do a bit of heeling and weaving through the advanced dogs on down-stays. He was a bit ADD—Look! There's Chief! Oh, hi Mom, yes, I'm watching. CHIEF! Hi! Oooh, leaves. Right, right, I'm watching ... We have been working a lot though on him responding to his name with eye contact while we're walking, so I think eventually that'll pay off. He's been doing great at that on pack walks, even when he's in the middle of the pack.

We had a bunch of training opportunities on our walks today—seriously, everything feels totally manageable when I'm wearing a bait bag! Multiple times, we either had to pass or got passed by dogs who were growling and/or showing other reactive behaviors. Every time, I was like, "Oooh, yay! Time to reinforce proper behaviors!"

In my first pack, I have a lovely but somewhat reactive dog—he won't start crap, but he will definitely respond if the other dog keeps on long enough. At one point, we got passed by a pack of four dogs, way out in front of the woman walking them, growling and straining toward my guys. Well, my guys were all sitting and staring at me, getting little yummy morsels popped into their mouths. Definitely the message I want to get across: See a reactive dog, look at human, get food—nothing bad will happen and the human will handle it.

On the second pack walk, the one that goes to downtown Palo Alto, we got passed by lots of loud buses and trucks; Kaline's reaction to them is getting more and more muted. We didn't even run into any idiots on that route today, it was fantastic!

We did get an idiot, I think, on the third walk, which was the most relaxing one: just Juno, her boyfriend Ellis, and wee Kaline. Some guy kept asking me which dog was the MGM Lion, and when I was confused, he assumed I didn't know what MGM was, or that a roaring lion is their symbol. Let me assure you that that's untrue, I don't live under a rock! If anyone reading this happens to know what three dogs have to do with the MGM Lion, please tell me so I can retract my statement that this guy was an idiot. (One other idiot: Saw me passing with three dogs trotting at my heels—they were all tired—and said, "Who's walking who?" Um, I think that should be pretty clear.)

Big boy at training

Kaline is running with the big dogs! Or at least getting treated more like one. Yesterday at training, he got tethered like everyone else, instead of put in the playpen (from which he is quite adept at escaping). Unlike everyone else, he had a tire with a rope, and a stuffed lobster to play with. He also got to participate more actively than before. Instead of just coming out for the Kumbayayas, he worked on some loose-leash walking around four or five dogs in down stays, as well as recalls, and “meet and greets” with all the tethered dogs.

He did pretty well! Our new strategy for recalls is to call him in, then make a ninety-degree turn either left or right so he has to follow me and still come in straight. I have no issues getting him not to rock back when I do that, so we'll keep on.

Juno really improved on her down stays yesterday—she didn't break nearly as often as she has been doing, so hooray! She did an excellent job as usual with the jumping (26 inches). I was really happy with her. But later that night, when we went to My Fair Lady, she leaked on her mat. Very worrisome. This is the second time in recent history that she has leaked on her mat. It's not like an accident, because she was calmly lying down when it happened. She doesn't know it's happening.

So today we went to the vet. Junebug got her favorite vet, Dr. Ulla, and she took a urine sample to test to see what we've got. I'm hoping for an easily cleared up UTI, rather than early-onset incontinence. Dr. Ulla was so sad she didn't get to see Kaline, that after we got home, we just set out on a walk with him and went back to the vet's office so she could meet him. (Dr. Ulla has a black and tan Doberman named Anchor.) No one was in, so we just let Kaline gambol around the office in his adorably clumsy way. Everyone was commenting on his lovely temperament and obvious confidence. Whee.

Kaline also got to go on his first real pack walk today, with Juno, Gracie and Wilson. Four-dog packs are my most common, although that will change when Kaline becomes a regular. (Five is my limit, and will become most common.) Wilson and Kaline will just egg each other on in silliness, so I put Gracie between them. She is only a year or so old, about the same age as Wilson, but you'd never know it. She is such an old hand when it comes to dealing with other dogs who need to learn the ropes. She was a fantastic buffer between the boys and made everything go far more smoothly.

Kaline of course did fine. I don't think he's going to have an issue with pack walking in the mental/emotional sense—it doesn't faze him. I just don't know where in the pack I'll put him when I've got Jett too! Normally in packs the least-trained/experienced dog goes on the extreme inside, but since I started with Jett, that's been His Spot, regardless of who else is walking. Mostly because even though he knows what's expected of him now, he can still unintentionally leave huge swipes of drool-slime on passersby if the opportunity presents itself. If I put Kaline to Jett's right though, I have a feeling he'll get smushed. He may end up in the middle, next to my No. 1 Puppy Wrangler Max. That'll be fun.

I shall leave you with a most adorable sequence of photos. Yesterday after training, we all came home tired as usual. Juno flopped on her blue bed, and after a few minutes, Kaline's eyes lit up: Snuggle Opportunity!

So brazenly, he marched over to Juno and curled up in the curve of her body. Then he started scootching around, trying to find the exact perfect spot with the absolute largest area of his body in contact with hers. Would it be better with his head over her neck, or against her shoulder? It was hilarious. Juno grumbled the whole time, naturally, then quieted once she realized he had no interest in chewing on her feet.

Most adorable picture ever, methinks!!

Last bit of news: I finally know Kaline's registered name! It's my first choice—Gatehouse As Time Goes By! Woohoo!

Let the mostly sleepless marathon begin!

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!

Stacked photos, 8 weeks, 1 day

There are new stacked photos of most of the pups, and wow, do the cropped pups ever look different and grown-up. It turns out three of the six pups are being left natural (Kaline of course is one), which makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I can appreciate the look of a beautifully cropped Doberman, but to me, there is nothing more gorgeous than a natural-eared pup! Just four days!

My boy Kaline! I cannot wait to stroke those silky ears.

Olive, the black female who the breeder will co-own. Show pup! :)

Red collar boy (blue collar boy was asleep! Red boy probably was too.) Love the face on this little one.

Red girl.

Puppy evaluations and grading

The pups are supposed to get evaluated (temperament) and graded (physical conformation) today or perhaps tomorrow. The testing is super important, at least to me, in ensuring I have the best service dog candidate of the bunch.

The temperament test will likely be the Volhard Test, or something similar. There are ten parts to the test, and they are as follows (from http://www.volhard.com/pages/pat.php):

1. Social Attraction—degree of social attraction to people, confidence or dependence.   
2. Following—willingness to follow a person. 
3. Restraint—degree of dominant or submissive tendency, and ease of handling in difficult situations.
4. Social Dominance—degree of acceptance of social dominance by a person. 
5. Elevation—degree of accepting dominance while in a position of no control, such as at the veterinarian or groomer. 
6. Retrieving—degree of willingness to do something for you. Together with Social Attraction and Following a key indicator for ease or difficulty in training.
7. Touch Sensitivity—degree of sensitivity to touch and a key indicator to the type of training equipment required.
8. Sound Sensitivity—degree of sensitivity to sound, such as loud noises or thunderstorms. 
9. Sight Sensitivity—degree of response to a moving object, such as chasing bicycles, children or squirrels.
10. Stability—degree of startle response to a strange object.

Puppies are evaluated on a scale of 1-6. What kind of scores are “good” depends on what kind of dog you're looking for, and what you hope to do with the dog. For service work, you want a dog who scores mostly 3's, and who does well especially on the retrieval test. You also want a dog who, when startled, recovers quickly and heads off to investigate whatever scared him. (You don't want a dog who either cowers and never recovers from the startling, or a puppy who doesn't startle at all and just pounces on the thing.)

The tester is not the breeder, but an independent third party. The important part is that the person is someone the puppies don't know (obviously they'd be pretty willing to follow the breeder, etc.) The puppies are also tested individually, not together.

A “mostly 3's” puppy is friendly but not over-the-top, cuddly and not bitey, startles but recovers, is curious but not overly assertive. Basically a chill, middle-of-the-road pup who will probably be able to adapt quickly to new situations, and who enjoys working with people. Obviously Doberman puppies are not what most people would ever call “chill,” but a “mostly 3's” puppy will (I fervently hope!) learn to settle down readily. A big part of being a service dog, other than learning tasks, is going to distracting places and still managing to chill out or even sleep. The vast majority of dogs are not born able to do that, but a “mostly 3's” puppy will be a lot more able to learn than a big-time high-drive pup, or one who is scared by everything.

I expect that most of the pups will be in the 3 range—Gatehouse is known for producing smart dogs with solid temperaments. But one of those puppies is really going to stand out as a (relatively) calm, confident guy—and that'll be Kaline!

Puppies are four weeks old!

Today the pups turned four weeks old, and it was “moving day.” Maura moved them into the main room, where they'll get to be around more of the bustle of the household. They'll also start meeting more people, including children, and they'll get handled by these people.

The pups in their crate, moving to their new spot in the main room. Look at those squooshy little faces!

This is incredibly important for all puppies, but especially for my little guy in his development as a service dog. Service dogs can't be scared of certain kinds of people—they've got to be relaxed around people of different sexes, sizes, shapes, colors, and ages. Juno gets randomly touched all the time by different people, despite all her patches. I tell people not to touch her, and try to block them if possible, but she's got to be relaxed with it happening if it does happen. A service dog has to be able to ignore the idiots and keep focusing on his or her job.

So the more things puppies are exposed to, and become accustomed to, at a young age, the better! Damn, I wish I lived near Maura so I could go visit.

Why are you paying so much for a dog?

Purebred puppies cost a lot—that's why a lot of people, properly, adopt rescue dogs. It's also why a lot of people—stupid, lazy and/or ignorant people—buy dogs from backyard breeders, Craigslist, puppy mills and pet stores. I can definitely see why the initial price tag of a Doberman puppy would give a person pause.

So here are my reasons for going this route anyway—and why a dog like this costs what he does.

First of all, as should be obvious by now, this puppy is not going to grow up to be a pet if all goes according to plan. He is going to have an important job which requires him to have excellent health and temperament. Can you find a dog with excellent health and temperament in a shelter? Yes, you can. Can purebred dogs, bred by the most conscientious of breeders, still end up with health/temperament problems? Yes, they can. Still, going with an reputable breeder gives you an good chance of avoiding such problems. Plus, good breeders will stay in contact with you and can be an invaluable resource for advice throughout the dog's life.

There was a good article in Forbes a while ago about the true cost of a dog. If people are getting a family pet, I don't really think they should be going to a breeder, personally. I think they should be adopting from a shelter or breed-rescue. But some people really want a particular breed, for whatever reason. And if they are not going the breed-rescue route, then it's to the benefit of everyone (people and dogs) that they go to a reputable breeder, despite the higher price tag.

Not only is there the health and temperament consideration, but also the fact that when you buy a puppy from a backyard breeder, puppy mill or pet store—none of which do health testing, and which breed irresponsibly with no thought for bettering the breed, just for making money—you encourage such people to continue doing exactly what they are doing. A good breeder has maybe 1-2 litters per year; backyard breeders/puppy mill people view bitches as puppy-making machines, and want as many puppies out of each as they can get. Their puppies may be cheaper, initially, but likely not in the long run.

The people who think they're “saving” a puppy in these situations are flat-out wrong. You save a puppy when you adopt it from the shelter where this "breeder" has dumped it once it doesn't sell. When you "save" a puppy from a greeder, you encourage that person to put even more puppies in that unfortunate situation.

This explains why I went with a reputable breeder, and why anyone who chooses to go the breeder route should do so as well.

But why do the puppies cost so much?

Well, this post on Doberman Talk's forum does a great job explaining it. For those who would like a quick, dirty summary, here goes.

Good breeders spend a ton of money on their dogs. Showing in conformation is expensive, but generally no good breeder will breed an untitled bitch (there are some exceptions, of course—it's not always a red flag). Competing in dog sports is expensive—many breeders like to title dogs on "both ends" to show they really are capable of doing what the breed is supposed to do.

Other things are also very expensive. Like health testing. This is not just a vet check—we're talking hip X-rays, elbow X-rays, thyroid testing, DNA testing for von Willebrand's disease (a disease specific to Dobermans), CERF testing for eye problems and heart tests. No good breeder will breed dogs who are not health tested.

Then there are stud fees. And expenses for transporting the bitch. Then the expenses of caring for the bitch during her pregnancy (note, I'm not even talking about the general costs of just having a dog.) And then you have the newborn/toddler puppy expenses, which are considerable as well. No good breeder will skimp on these things.

After I read that post, I was amazed breeders don't charge more.