Open open open open open

I am so crazy excited. Kaline has finally learned to open a cabinet door using a tug!

I was having a bad day, feeling very depressed and just overwhelmed by everything. I was getting ready to go to my afternoon puppy trainings, cutting up bait. I realized I was pretty early, so I set aside one stack of bait and decided to work with Kaline for ten minutes on opening the door.

It's actually a very easy door that I don't really ask Juno to open, because it doesn't give much resistance. We have other cabinets in the kitchen that you really have to yank to get them open (and I don't yank). Anyway, the ease of opening made it perfect for Kaline.

We started where we left off, with the door magnets already disengaged. Quickly, Kaline understood what he only dimly got the last time—he was being rewarded for getting the door to move using the tug. He did that readily several times in a row, so I let the door close all the way. And he opened it! I made much of him, had a little party for him. And he totally had a lightbulb moment. I'd been feeling crappy about myself as a trainer (I have an absolutely repulsive tendency to mentally compare Kaline's training progress to that of other dogs I know, and it drives me nuts), but now my faith in myself and Kaline is restored!

Here is video:

Even after I stopped the camera and stopped asking Kaline to open, he kept opening the door and then happily nudging it closed. He really likes to close things, which is why we're working on doing it gently. Sometimes he is, shall we say, overzealous.

I'm going to try something new. Each week, I will focus on a different task, and work on it a little every day. We do basic obedience every day, but I have been slacking on tasks other than deep pressure and blocking. Clearly, a quick session every day can accomplish a lot! Kaline got "open" between Saturday and today.

Repeat as mantra: This is not a race. This is not a race. This is not a race.

Slow is fast. Slow is fast. Slow is fast.

Kaline learns "close" and other fun things

Milestone for Kaline tonight! I finally got around to actually working on "close" with him (as in close the door) and he picked it up super quickly. That's now on my list to video, along with his old-man jaw-tremblers. Don't get your hopes up too much though, cause on my list doesn't necessarily mean it'll actually happen. I have crappy short term memory in my brain, and almost no memory left in my stuffed iPhone.

Kaline has the "touch" command down pat, so we just did a few repetitions of that to start. Then I took an orange Post-It note and put it in my palm. We did touch with that, and then I stuck the note on a cabinet door. Our kitchen is, um, elderly, so the cabinets are varying degrees of easy to open. Some don't really stick (bad magnets?) so I can open them without doggy assistance; others stick way too well and those I need Juno to open. So for tonight, obviously we chose an easy door.

Kaline has been watching Juno do cabinets since he was nine weeks old, and sometimes if they don't close the first time, Juno will use her paw to slam them shut. Therefore, our first order of business was reinforcing to Kaline that he should only use his nose to touch the door, not his paws. He's going to be a really big dog, so I really don't want him using his paws for things where his nose will work just as well or better. Gentler and less likely to cause any damage.

The clicker, as usual, really sped the learning process along. First he got c/t'd for just touching the door, and I'd jackpot him if he actually got it closed. Soon he was hovering over the door, and every time I opened it he'd immediately push it closed. He was so cute. He got pretty consistent at that door, and just for giggles I switched to another door (generalization). He picked it up really fast on that one. We kept the session really short (10 minutes, tops) and he really enjoyed it. During the session with him, Juno was on the mat in the kitchen, practicing honoring. Every time Kaline successfully closed a door, Juno got a treat for staying in her down. Something she did not do today at training!

I got to work my dogs a lot at the park because we didn't have that many client dogs today. Juno was excellent and just great fun except for doing down stays. Possibly because she's so damn cute when she gets up—she either beelines to me or goes to the nearest trainer and just leans into you, tail waving and eyes huge and sad and pleading. And everyone gives in ... Yeah, wonder what behavior is getting reinforced! At the end, when I was taking The Blondes to the car (two poodle mixes and a Golden), Juno was supposed to be staying; but when I closed the car door, there came Juno, slinking toward me from behind the nearest car. She's stealthy and adorable, that one.

Kaline got to work on retrieving, plus his usual obedience stuff. Trying to get him to hold the object while he sits is proving difficult, but it was difficult with Juno too. He'll go get it, bring it back, give it up, and also walk while holding it. We're doing okay for nineteen weeks! We worked a lot on heeling (the real kind), which was a little inconsistent. He actually did really well though starting on moving backwards with me, and also doing left-hand turns in place (which requires him to back himself into the heel position). He did great on his stays. We had to take it back a couple steps on the recalls. He's starting to do drive-bys to the right if I call him from six feet, so we just did really short recalls so he could be successful. We'll have to build back up.

Juno was so much fun. We did formal retrieving—Juno had to remain in a stay at my side while I threw the bumper, then wait for my command to go get it; after picking it up, she had to come sit directly in front of me, out the bumper, then do a flip finish. Despite this being "formal," Juno clearly enjoyed herself. And she didn't have any hiccups. We also did finding heel, straight recalls, and drops on recall. It is just so nice to be able to take a break from puppy stuff, and go recharge working with a dog who really knows what she's doing. Kinda gives me a little more confidence whenever I feel like I've hit a wall with Kaline too. Juno started far later than he's starting (eighteen months vs. nine weeks) and from a much worse place. And I think she's turned out pretty darn well!

Palo Alto Craft Fair

The work on walking nicely and being attentive continues—Kaline was really good today! Our first order of business was the Farmer's Market, which is difficult because I have to work him and Juno together. It's always crowded, so it's hard to make your way through when you're walking three abreast; plus two dogs attract exponentially more attention than one, so you get stopped more often.

Nonetheless, it was quite productive! We worked on Kaline's stand/block with all those people around, as well as his attention. I spotted two cops, and they were happy to say hi to Kaline. I want him to be totally comfortable with people in uniform, and he quite liked these two. When we went to get our berries, Mikey (the guy who runs the stand) obliged me by doing his funky whistle repeatedly while I rewarded Kaline for ignoring it and watching me.

Then as we were walking through we ended up talking to a woman who had recently lost her dog, who she called her life companion. I did my usual recommendation of Peninsula Humane Society, and the woman said she was wary of going to a shelter because so many of the dogs might have "pit bull blood" and she didn't want a dog who was so "unpredictable."

I can't hear that kind of nonsense without trying to educate, so I went into my spiel about the true, wonderful nature of pit bulls. How cuddly and sweet and smart they are, and what great friends they make. I of course mentioned my various friends who have pit bulls or pit mixes as service dogs, and recommended exploring the website, StubbyDog. I think I at least made something of an impression. Gotta try. She was definitely surprised and impressed to learn that Stubby was a pit bull and a war hero, and that pit bulls used to be nicknamed the Nanny Dog. People used to think those stupid things about Dobermans; they're just as stupid when applied to pit bulls.

After the market we went to Borrone's for our Sunday breakfast; once I set up Kaline's mat properly (this took a little bit of experimenting) he did a fantastic under and stayed there, all curled up and adorable. The bustling cafe with all its people and dogs and food is becoming old hat to him.

We came home for a bit, had naps and all. We had a lot of cleaning up to do, since the house basically got taken apart yesterday for the rug cleaning. Once everyone was sufficiently recharged, we headed out to the Palo Alto Craft Fair.

The fair was way more dog friendly than the Menlo Park one simply because of its location and today's weather. University Avenue is very shaded, and is fine for walking dogs on all but the very hottest of days. Plus, today was pleasantly cool. No hot pavement to burn dogs' feet, and no scorching sun to heat them up and make them pant unhappily.

Dad took Juno and I worked Kaline, totally focused on attention and walking with a loose leash. Obviously this will be a work in progress for some time, but we definitely had stretches where Kaline was brilliant, walking along at exactly my pace and looking up at my face very attentively. There were tons of dogs and he did as good a job at ignoring them as you can expect from a baby; Juno also did very well at ignoring other dogs, and we ran into a bunch of shepherds, which she tends not to like.

We also ended up talking to a lot of different people about service dogs, including a woman who, like me, has fibromyalgia. She also has diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis (major drag!). So we definitely had a lot to talk about when it came to how a service dog might be able to help her. That stuff was fun.

Less fun: People who insisted that Juno and Kaline must both be part Rottweiler, which is ridiculous. Juno is 26 inches tall and weighs only 60-65 pounds, there's no way she's part Rottie. And Kaline is a Doberman, end of story. His ears confuse people so much. But I wouldn't have them any other way, because they're beautiful.

There were also people who would say something nice about Kaline's behavior and then go, "And, he's a Doberman!" As if you wouldn't ever expect to see a Doberman be focused and calm. I don't think I'd even say that to a poodle-mix owner (at least, not to their face!). All these people kept telling me how Dobermans are ADD, how they're crazy, etc. I was kind of like, How many Dobermans have you met? I could understand if they said something referencing his age, but not his breed. Oh yeah, one person asked if Kaline was nine months old, because he's big. Ha! (Side note: Kaline's brother Montgomery is 45 pounds already! Way bigger than Kaline.)

Back to good stuff. There was a guy playing an accordion at one of the intersections, and he was in a full body suit! Even covered his face. It was bright pink and black, with little puffballs attached at various places and just crazily designed. He was kind enough to let me bring Kaline up to sniff his hand; the pup didn't seem all that impressed by the getup. I thought it might at least give him a bit of pause or something. When I first saw him, I jumped, not gonna lie. But no, apparently Kaline got that it was a person and no big deal.

Kaline also had to deal with golf carts passing really close by, and of course smothering crowds when we'd hit one of the many bottlenecks. The only issues we had were nearly running into lots of different people, because we were both working on eye contact, haha.

Just measured him tonight—as best I could, using a miniature flag as a ruler on his back with him wriggling in a stand next to the wall—and he is approximately 21 inches tall already! Woohoo!

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.

IKEA!

Let's begin with a disclaimer: I dislike IKEA. You might even say I loathe IKEA. So easy to get lost (getting there, in there, getting out of there ... ), clogged with people, too many tempting smells of cinnamon buns ... I avoid the place.

But there is one thing that must be said for IKEA. If you are looking for a training ground for future service dogs, there is absolutely no better place. (All photos courtesy of Sonja)

Chief and Kaline playing in the car ... shhhh.

This afternoon Sonja and I took Chief and Kaline to IKEA for the first time. Well, it was Kaline's first time anyway. I think both Kaline's and my brains were on fire by the end! We both worked hard. Sonja is an amazing person to do outings with. (I know, should be "with whom to do outings," but it sounds so stilted!) She is incredibly creative about training and creating opportunities for training. Unlike me, she has no qualms about asking strangers to participate in our training. Kaline and I really got a workout being with her and Chief! And it was lots of fun to use the clicker so much, though I ended up having to mooch treats off Sonja after I ran out. (Oops!)

Right as we got in, Sonja noticed a pair of people checking out some furniture. She asked them to call to each of our puppies in turn, after telling them their names; then we rewarded our boys for maintaining their focus on us, not the strangers. I kind of wait for real life situations to happen and then respond; Sonja creates them on her own terms so Chief can always be practicing. Awesome. She also helped me with getting and rewarding Kaline's attention: Instead of immediately trying to get his focus back when he looks at something, I should let him look, and then reward when he looks back to me on his own. Clearly it's a method that works, because Chief is constantly looking to Sonja for direction. I think I got the hang of it as we moved through the store.

Pups in IKEA!

More things we did with strangers: Multiple times, we got people to pet the dogs in vest and rewarded the boys for maintaining their focus (yeah, that's gonna be a theme). We set up the dogs about one stride apart, in downs, and after we stepped over them repeatedly, we had a stranger do it. (They were great.) When we came across three little boys with their parents, Sonja got the boys to come up near the dogs and wave their stuffed animals. Other times we had kids run past and make noises.

Sonja also worked on other scenarios that might happen. She and I made weird noises at the dogs, trying to be a little scary, waved our hands around their faces, pretended to scold them, all kinds of things that grouchy and/or drunk people might do when they see them. We stomped, we jumped around, we made sudden movements. Chief and Kaline mostly just sat there and looked at us like we were crazy, utterly nonplussed. The whole time, amusingly, Kaline kept slithering into downs, both because he was tired from the morning (three pack walks, running around with Juno, short outing to Jan's Deli) and because he had little to no traction on the floor. Poor guy, those cat feet are freaking cute but the lack of hair doesn't help him much.

This happened a lot.

Another thing we did, which sounds bad when you type it, was knock stuff off shelves onto the floor to "surprise" the boys. Obviously, we never did it with anything breakable or that would get scratched up. We're talking mousepads, wicker baskets, plastic baskets, plastic-wrapped whisks. We also banged some metal canisters together. If the pups did startle, it was pretty minimal, and they were quickly able to focus again.

We did "under" at different tables, let the dogs explore the multitudinous surfaces and objects all over IKEA. In various places, we had them practice their actual tasks. Chief retrieved a pouch and returned to settle on Sonja's chest as she lay on the floor; Kaline did lap-ups and even an on-me when I found a long chair just perfect for stretching out on. He worked on touch and leave it as well.

"under"

"lap up"

"on me"

My only gripe with the little man, who did a fantastic job today, was the pulling. Obviously in IKEA, when you are searching out training opps, you don't walk at the nice brisk pack-walking pace. Plus Chief was usually ahead of Kaline. Just for shits and giggles, I might review the Kikopup videos on no pulling and try to do a couple training sessions like that. I have to take my own advice—if what I'm doing (corrections on the prong and rewards for slowing down and giving me attention) isn't accomplishing what I want, and I have given it a good chance, it's time to try another tactic.

In the middle of our outing, Sonja found a secluded corner and we took the boys' vests off so they could have a little wrestle. Sonja thinks it's really important that SDs be able to play and then return to working mode quickly, and I couldn't agree more. They did pretty well, although Kaline can never pass up a chance to take a swipe at Chief with one of his massive paws. I figure when they can finally work side-by-side without losing their focus on their humans, they'll be able to work through any situation! It's so cute how much they like each other though.

The outing was wonderful and we need to do it more ... but oh man, was it a pleasure to put Kaline down for a nap in his crate and grab Juno so we could go to dinner with the parents. I'm sure this will come as a huge amazing revelation to everyone in the world, but puppies are a LOT of work! My brain could kind of turn off once I was with Juno—she knows her job and we just know how to work together. I know someday it will be like that with Kaline but I am so glad that Juno didn't have to retire, and will be here to get me through Kaline's training! Fabulous girl. She looked so pretty in her wide collar with its brand new DogTagArt ID tag.

Outings with Chief

Kaline and Chief are fast becoming best friends. They will play with each other until one or both basically collapses from exhaustion. Yesterday, Chief and Sonja came out to training in the park. Kaline's face when he saw Chief arrive was priceless. He was stoked.

Juno and Kaline didn't get a ton of work in yesterday—we had a lot of dogs. Kaline did a pretty good job doing figure eights for the first time, though. It's a great heeling exercise, because the human has to work very hard on keeping a smooth, steady pace regardless of the turns (I usually hum "Do You Remember" in my head because it has a good beat to match my pace to), and the dog has to work on maintaining the heel position through an inside turn (slow down) and an outside turn (speed up). So Kaline got to do figure eights, and Juno got to do jumping and recalls and down-stays. We say it lovingly and jokingly, but her nickname, from all the broken down-stays, is Goddammit Juno. (Just like Peter is Jesus Peter.) We have a little too much fun cracking up and joking about at training.

We left training at exactly 4:30 to get home and be ready for our Animal Control appointment. They were scheduled to come between 5:00 and 8:00. Because Kaline is Canadian, there were all kinds of incredibly preposterous restrictions on him from Customs. Apparently rabies is just rampant there, and all puppies, even from great breeders, are exposed. (That's sarcasm.) Seriously, the restrictions on Kaline were identical to those he'd have had if he were an unvaccinated dog who'd been in contact with a confirmed rabid animal. If one actually followed those rules with a puppy from 9-17 weeks old, you'd have the most maladjusted, antisocial dog ever. Basically no going outside except to pee in the backyard, no contact with any humans or dogs outside the immediate family.

Anyway, yesterday was the day we got our figurative walking papers. The lovely man from Peninsula Humane Society came, I opened the door, he cooed over Kaline, and then said, "Okay, you're all set!" I was a little confused and said, "Um, don't you want to see his rabies certificate?" He shrugged and said, "Sure, if you have it." Clearly enforcing these insane rules is not a huge priority for them (he asked if Kaline had been through puppy classes yet, even though he wasn't ever supposed to set foot outside the house). And that's as it should be, because there are a lot of dogs actually in need of their attention! We had a great time chatting with the Animal Control officer about the improvements made at PHS (Juno is an alum) and about the two wonderful dogs he adopted from there. He just loved Kaline. Of course.

Today we had our pack walks in the morning, then came home for lunch and a lovely snuggly nap. Our tdoc appointment got cancelled, so we went on adventures. First we stopped by Mr. Choo's, the tailor, to introduce Kaline to him (he's crazy about Juno and has been asking my mom to get me to bring Kaline by). He loved the puppy and made sure to lavish attention on Juno too. Kaline was a little more distracted than normal because there was a big mirror; he still doesn't trust that strange dog who looks just like him and keeps copying him without fail!

After that, we went to meet Sonja, Hendrik and Chief over in Burgess Park. We let the puppies play off leash—they ran each other ragged and had a brilliant time. There was one point where their play drifted into a little soccer area for the kids, and one of the kids took off and Kaline took off after him ... I was of course a bit horrified and ran after Kaline to get him. No one seemed worried but me! Turned out, the kid's mom was laughing the whole time because they have two German Shorthaired Pointers, and the kid loves having them chase him. Other than that they did pretty well. Ate some mud, but hey, what are you going to do.

Sonja, who is a dog training genius, taught Juno to bark on command in about two minutes. I have been trying to figure out how to teach her that for years, and could never do it! It was no trouble getting the Labs to do it, but Juno, no way. Apparently you have to make woofie noises (I was doing that) while showing lots of open mouth and teeth (I wasn't doing that). Then they think you're playing and get excited and eventually bark back at you. It was so awesome!

Our last big adventure was going to the Stanford campus, which I've never taken much advantage of despite living here my whole life. It's almost as pretty as Michigan! And it's super service-dog/handicapped friendly. Every building not only has at least one door with a handicap button; there are always two buttons, one at the normal level and one almost at ground level, for people who either use their feet to push the buttons or who have short/small service dogs.

We walked around campus a bunch, then found a set of buttons to practice on. Juno was freaking awesome. I got her to push the button with both her paw and her nose. And since I was using the clicker, she'd get her treat and immediately bounce back to hit the button again (her cue is "Hit that"). Fabulous girl. Chief worked on the low button and did great, and I tried Kaline on both. He actually had a much easier time with the higher button; he's already tall enough that when he puts his paws on the wall, he can either hit that high button with his paw or his nose. He got the door to open once and I jackpotted him. It was a lot of fun.

We went to another courtyard and sat on the ground while the little boys wrestled some more. Damn, they're cute. Kaline is so clumsy and yet gentle with Chief, and they do tons of bitey face. And of course they really didn't have much traction on the smooth cement, so if they got up any speed chasing, they'd slide for a while if they tried to stop. Chief finally decided he was done, so we made our way back to our cars with our very tired babies. We're going to make a weekly thing of this—it's going to be great for the dogs!

Pictures hopefully to come ... Next week I'm gonna try and remember to take my Real Camera™, not my little phone.

Much better day of training

Yesterday pretty much sucked, in terms of working with Kaline. He was great on pack walks, but oh man, when I tried to actually work on commands with him later, he was not having it. The clicker, which always seems to get Juno hyped up and eager to try out new things lest they yield treats, seemed to totally dampen Kaline. My goal had been to start him on directed retrieves, and the more I clicked him for literally any glance, even, at the bandanna we were working with, the less he wanted to have anything to do with it.

So while he sulked over by the couch—that was kind of shocking, that all he wanted to do was lie around and do nothing—I worked Juno, and that was great fun. Boy, was she up for working! She'd been butting in already, grabbing the bandanna and delivering it to hand with a flourish, like she was telling Kaline, "It's not that hard, see how it's done!" So we did some of that, worked on finding the heel position, finding front, recalls, various tricks. Good pup.

Anyway, hopefully we'll be getting together with Sonja this weekend, and she can magically teach Kaline a formal retrieve! We're planning to do the Circus Club horse show Saturday and a movie at the Stannie on Sunday. Kaline probably won't come to the second one, obviously.

Kaline looking all noble this morning.

Today was a lot better. We got to sleep in, had a great pack walk with the boys, then had lunch and headed to training. We had a lot of dogs, but also a lot of trainers, so I got to spend a lot of time working on things with Kaline.

First we worked on remote sits and downs, one of his strengths. It was hard to keep his attention today, though, because he was right next to a very attractive black shepherd mix named Nora. Nora looks very similar to Juno's boyfriend, Ellis; Kaline found her irresistible, haha. He did a lot better on recalls than I expected, given how hot it was.

We worked a ton on leave it, while I was keeping watch on him, Juno and another dog named Mancha (during jumping, since there were lots of us, we could have about six dogs out on supervised down-stays instead of tethered). Kaline got to where I could put treats on his paws and leave them alone. Now we need to work on him leaving it when the "it" is moving, or Kaline's moving. Still, progress!

Chilling with the Big Dog.

My favorite accomplishment of the day was his stand-stay. We worked on it in a couple different locations, and he held it pretty well! He even let me move his feet around, and on the second mini-session, he left them where I put them (wonder of wonders). Stand is super important—I'm glad he's getting that, at least!

Kaline doing a stand-stay!

Toward the end of training, we got a complete idiot in among the dogs. A paramedic or something. She walked in like she always comes by, which confused us, because she doesn't. Of course, she made a beeline for our most anxious dog, Peter, who has made incredible strides but still is far less tolerant of human rudeness than, say, one of the Labradors.

This woman did everything wrong. Peter was giving "please go away" signals as she approached, and they only got more intense. Instead of asking to pet him and/or coming from the side to let him sniff her, she dispensed with these niceties and just went for his head, no warning. Peter tried ducking away but she had him cornered against a wall. So what'd he do? He snapped, and she would have deserved the bite had it landed. Did she back away then? Nope, kept manhandling the clearly unhappy dog, until Kristin was able to get him out of there. The stupidity of some people fairly boggles the mind. 

We are very tired

Well, “we” being me and Juno. Kaline is in his crate, hopefully having a cooldown. He was doing all the tired, cranky puppy things, so I figured it was time for a nap.

Yesterday, Kaline actually got to participate in training. It was super exciting. We did his basic things, but this was in a far more interesting environment—grass underfoot, dogs all around, birds, squirrels, etc. But Kaline was pretty awesome.

He did watch, sit-stay, down-stay, and stand pretty well. One time he was doing a down stay and I was walking around him, and he was paw-to-paw with Rocky, a little Golden-Poodle mix (basically the only representative of his mixture that I actually like). We also worked on recalls, alongside two other dogs. Kaline came, but when he goes to sit, he will rock way back. So Freddie said to work on having him run all the way through—throwing a toy between my legs for him! That's gonna be fun.

Kaline's idea of where he should sit in the car. (Worry not, my ancient car lacks passenger-seat airbags. All airbags, actually.)

Juno and I had a lovely time at the park as well. At training, since Juno has to be tethered when I work other dogs, she gets all stoked about being with me. (At home right now, she is still giving me the doggie silent treatment most of the time.) She did fantastic recalls, and we practiced finding the heel position. I love doing that with her. I can get her to adjust where her butt is in her sit by just peering at her from different angles. She also, oddly, responds to the words “move up” and “tuck it in, eh?” I never meant to use those as cues but they just happened. You have to say “eh” or it won't work, by the way. (Yay Canada.) We also did remote sits and downs, and worked on her doing sits and downs in heel position without rolling her hip over.

When we came home, everyone crashed.

Awww.

We worked on the front position (where Kaline should end up in the recall) a bunch today, though not with the toy because all we had was the kitchen/family room, and there's just not enough space. I was just clicking and treating for touching my knees with his nose, sitting close to me, etc. It was kinda haphazard, I admit ... but hey, we'll figure it out.

Kaline also got to work on: sits and downs with no food lure, just hand signal; sit from a down position; stand from sit and stand from down; leave it; settle; flip finish (going to heel position from front position); and his first trick, shake. It started with me holding a treat in my closed fist, waggling it under his nose in an annoying manner (if I hold it still, I want him to leave it, generally). Eventually he pawed my fist with his left paw, the one I want (!). C/T, and off we went. He's not quite to the point where I can hold out my hand and ask for a “shake” and it'll happen, but we are thiiiiis close. Touch, with his nose, is going really well now. He will take several steps to get to my hand and touch it, and will turn to either side as well. Usually the touch comes with a lick. I sure don't mind.

I can't wait till next week when, hopefully, Kaline can start coming out on pack walks. I was a little worried about him today because he had to spend about three hours in the big crate while Juno and I were out with the packs. He just graduated to an actual bed in there (I really hope I don't regret that!), and he didn't rip it apart or anything. He was trying to remove the tags when I got back, but otherwise, no issues. (I removed the tags. Kaline is industrious but his jaws are, as yet, not very effective at destruction.)

Kaline in his new bed. Don't destroy it!!!!

The bed makes the crate look so much more comfy than the towel/pad combo. It has this roll around three sides of it—we originally got it for Juno when she was blind and suddenly had to stay home more, and she is all about chin rests, let me tell you—so Kaline can lean his back against something that's not the wire side of the crate. Seems warmer too. Not that it's been cold here. I've been walking dogs early because of the heat.

Anyway, going on pack walks means 1) Kaline will spend less time alone being bored and 2) he will get a ton more exercise and exposure! It's going to be super exciting. It will be interesting to see who gets more attention downtown, Kaline or Jett, the Greater Swiss Mountain Dog. So far, a succession of baby Labradors have not been able to pull passersby's eyes away from enormous handsome Jett, so we'll see how Kaline does.

Kaline's 11-week-old photo.

Practical training and Kaline's first mini-pack walk

Sunday was our last day "off," and today I went back to work. Which just means being around a lot more dogs than my two, so it's fun. All of a sudden, Kaline is way more interested in his puppy kibble (which I switched him back to, at the vet's suggestion), so I used a ton of it yesterday for training. We worked on two things which should serve him well In Real Life™: settling and not crossing the threshold at the front door.

Kaline got settle so fast and was even doing it throughout the night when he wanted some attention. A much nicer attention-getting behavior than pawing, or barking, or tearing up inappropriate objects, don't you think? What I wanted from him was a relaxed down—one hip rolled—and head on the floor. At first I was clicking as soon as his head touched the floor, but then I made him wait longer and longer. I moved to different places and just waited for the behavior; he kept offering it, quicker and quicker! Whee.

Working on the front door was a ton of fun. First I just kept leading him up to the door, clicking and treating as we reached the threshold. Then I'd c/t while I walked out and he stayed. He was really getting it, so I did silly things outside the door, like dancing terribly around, or baby talking at him, gently patting my legs, and c/t-ing when he didn't move. Then I started leading him back, and then jogging (then running) at the door. He'd stop at the threshold and I'd keep going. Eventually he just downed there. I ran past him, bounced past him, did recalls with Juno past him. He broke maybe twice. Good boy!

He slept through the night (well, we did have to get up at 7:30). Juno, Kaline and I went out for an hour, and then it was time to go to work. We did two pack walks sans Kaline (he was in his crate, but Mom was home with him to get him out for a potty break), then came home with Teddy, whose schedule had gotten a little messed up.

Kaline, Teddy and Juno waiting nicely to come inside.

When I came in, Kaline gave my jeans such a thorough sniffing. Who have you been hanging out with? Wow, they smell so interesting! He was super gleeful to see Teddy—I had to calm him down before we could really go. Eventually, he'll learn to walk with four other dogs, but a pack of three is a good place to start. Teddy's kind of an old hand, as well. Not as experienced as Max, my No. 1 puppy wrangler, but still quite good at ignoring any distracting puppy antics. Kaline did pretty well as the inside man in the pack of three (good rule of thumb is to keep the least-trained dogs on the inside, best-trained on the outside).

I tried to give him a potty break in the middle of the walk, but he wasn't interested; thus, he continued his habit of stopping dead in his tracks to pee about two blocks from home. I need to nip this habit in the bud. It's important for Kaline to learn that he only eliminates on command (and when off-duty ... not that he has an "on-duty" yet).

After all our dogs were walked, my dogs and I went on a drive to BK and back. I had Kaline's lunch with me, so I treated him whenever he was being cool and calm, lying down in the front seat foot space. Which was a lot (yay!) so he ate about a quarter of his lunch. Hardly any whining today.

Once we got back it kinda all caught up to us. Juno and I had been on four hour-long walks, Kaline on two. So we crashed.

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!