Saturday, we did the Farmer's Market, Greenfield Village, and dinner with one of my buddies from the gymnastics team who is now in med school at Michigan.
It took forever to get out to the market, but we finally did. It's way bigger and better than the one at home, not to mention more crowded. Kaline had a little more trouble with these crowds because they were so dense. Sometimes there was no path through, and he couldn't make his way without touching people somehow. We also ran into pets who shouldn't have been there. But it was still fun. Kaline even did an anxiety alert and response, which was pretty awesome.
Kaline at the market.
After the market we drove to Dearborn and the Henry Ford Museum, my favorite thing pretty much ever. America's Greatest History Attraction. Totally true. We headed out into Greenfield Village, located behind the museum, where all the historic buildings are. Kaline was a little spooky to start, because right as we got in he saw in succession a steam engine making all kinds of noise, a bunch of Model Ts puttering around, and horse-drawn omnibus. Not familiar things in his life!
Our objective was Walnut Grove and the Historic Base Ball game about to start. We got a nice spot on a hill overlooking the field but soon discovered there were innumerable flying insects in the grass which were constantly swarming over Kaline. He didn't seem to mind, but I was sure bothered! We only stayed for two innings. The game itself was very delightful—some of the plays they made barehanded (no gloves in 1867!) were just amazing. The game settled Kaline down nicely also.
After the game we headed to the Eagle Tavern for lunch. I love that place. They serve whatever foods would be available in Michigan at that time of year in about 1850. Way better than the fast food you get at the cafeterias elsewhere in the museum. I got a bunch of cornbread to save along with all my other delicious food. Kaline slept between my feet the whole time.
The weather was beautiful, warm but not hot, and there were way more people than we usually see in the fall. So many more stands were open too! It was really cool. We caught a horse-drawn wagon from the tavern, pulled by Percherons Amos and Edsel. Kaline was apprehensive about climbing on this contraption at first, but got used to it. Then we went to the carousel, where Dad held Kay while Mom and I rode. I pulled myself onto a horse and wrenched everything in my back and shoulders. Stupid, stupid me.
Next we went to the craft shops: glass blowing, tin making, print pressing, pottery making. In the tin shop, the other SD team we'd been seeing all day came in but left when they saw Kaline. I was a bit bummed at the lost training opportunity. Little white dog in orange, I assumed it was a hearing dog since generally that's their color.
Pottery is my favorite but that day I basically had to be a presenter, even though I really wanted to listen to the actual presenters. Everyone was asking me questions about Kaline. Nice questions, but I was bummed out that I didn't get to hear what the real presenters were saying. And then it was time to leave cause they were closing.
Kaline was so exhausted he just slept through dinner at Good Time Charley's, my favorite restaurant ever.
Lately we have been going to fairs and doing harness training with Kaline (what it says on the tin). Two weekends ago was the street fair in Menlo Park, where we live, and then last weekend was the street fair in Redwood City. Vendors at both were pretty disappointing, but it was definitely good for the pups.
I have discovered that while Kaline has no problem doing walks, or even trotting briskly, in shoes, he does not believe he should be asked to do what I think of as fine positioning work while wearing them. We're talking swinging into a block position or coming back to heel. He kinda freezes up and then you have to ... unfreeze him. Other than that, he was fantastic. We did a lot of going through crowds, and Kaline's sniffing was exceedingly minimal. Most of the time he didn't even turn his head at all. He mostly ignored the various other dogs around too. I won't get into a rant on those but let's just say a lot of people brought dogs who were not prepared to be in that situation, either in a physical or a mental sense.
Kaline at the street fair in Menlo Park.
People lost their marbles over Kaline and Juno's shoes. I enjoyed spreading the Gospel of Shoes to anyone who asked where they could get such awesome protection for their dogs' feet, but the pointing and squealing got tiresome very quickly. I told several adults curtly, “It's rude to point.” We met another Doberman, Duke, a month older than Kaline and significantly larger and goofier! So adorable. Kaline also worked on ignoring people petting him (I want to do a practice Public Access Test with him soon, just for shits and giggles).
The Redwood City fair had even worse vendors, was much smaller, and had great blues acts and freaking delicious barbecue. It wasn't that hot, but Kaline started doing the dance on the pavement so on went the shoes. We met up with Sonja, Chief, Hendrik, and their two friends from Germany, which was delightful. Later we all went to Crissy Field to let the dogs run about.
Kaline and Chief at the blues concert.
Kaline and Chief ignoring the delicious barbecue.
On to harness training. Kaline is going on the Michigan trip, due to the fact that all the people I know who normally would be able to take him cannot—and neither can a shit ton of people I don't know. Juno is going to have a delightful spa week with Sonja, Chief, and the “old ladies.” She's obviously much lower-maintenance than Kay and more importantly, can be trusted to be around Chief without a human hanging onto her front paws.
Obviously, going on the trip means Kaline's duties are going to expand, at least temporarily. He's not old enough to do counterbalance or brace work, but thankfully he is old enough to do what I need most in terms of mobility: momentum pull. Basically it's the same as when you see crazy dogs pulling like sled dogs in back-attaching harnesses, only Kaline will be paying attention, pulling at an appropriate level, and not going nuts. And instead of pulling on a leash he'll be pulling against a handle. Point is, doesn't hurt a young dog.
Our first session was really short and kind of feeling things out. I just took Kaline outside with the Petjoy harness on, and any time he made the floppy handle taut, I rewarded him. Then Juno decided to come participate, so I put her in a down stay by our house walkway and took Kaline away from her. Then I just let him walk back to her—he pulled beautifully and slowed to a stop right in front of her, so we started practicing a stop command too. Saying “easy” was not so good at first as a slow-down cue because that usually means he's about to be told to sit. We've worked on it since, and now he's just slowing down, and not turning to face me as much.
We did another session where I gave Kaline a target like I give Juno. BAD IDEA. Well, bad idea in the sense that I used Juno as the target. Kaline practically pulled my arm off in his frantic efforts to catch up to the Holy Grail of his big sister. He freaking hates it when he can see her pulling away from him and I make him keep heeling or whatever. Yeah, need to work on that. I took the harness off and just made him do very basic obedience with Juno far in front. Any time I asked him to sit, for like fifteen minutes, the word “sit” would elicit the most agonized shriek from my puppy. It was almost funny.
Our latest session went really nicely. I had gotten a lot of great suggestions on harness training from others with mobility SDs, and one of them was to take Kaline on a routine walk (i.e. he knows the exact path already) with the harness. So we did that, and mostly it went really well. Without the target, he did not pull nearly so hard. We worked on our various harness commands: forward, easy, stop, left, and right. For left and right, I'm making these huge ridiculous hand signals right now, exaggerations of the ones I do when we're heeling. Kaline got a break in the middle of the session to pee and sniff and all that; I had to hype him up about pulling afterward. Like Juno, he seems to like having a sidewalk to follow, and we were in a parking lot. So, I made a fool of myself, got Kaline all bouncy again, and off we went home. I was really pleased with his progress!
Juno has been busy as well. She came to a play with me and my bestie, Rachel, in Aptos. We did a walk along the beach, where a little girl saw Juno and said, “That dog is alllllllll princess!” Most adorable thing ever. I was stiff and in a lot of pain after the play ... something about the seats. Juno supported me carefully and slowly down the stairs, and in the lobby afterward. She's just the best.
Last Friday was a little too interesting, if you know what I mean.
One of the local elementary schools, Nativity, has a little carnival at the end of each school year, so this year, I decided to take Kaline. It was his first carnival, and he did really well, except for being a little spastic right at the beginning. Note to self: Warm up Kaline before entering places such as carnivals.
Once he got in his groove, he was awesome. I kept the expectations pretty low, not asking for a lot from him. All I wanted was general calm, ability to focus when asked, basic obedience like sit, down, and touch. We did several passes through the various crowded corridors and visited all the rides. I thought he'd be a little more unsettled by their weirdness.
Our basic M.O. was to get pretty close to the ride, as close as possible with Kaline still acting relaxed and focused. Which turned out to be right up against the fences most of the time. I'd let him look at the ride for a while if he wanted, and then start rewarding for switching his attention back to me. After about one or two rides, he didn't even really want to look at them. He was just staring at me, like, “Okay, we're close to this thing, where's my food?” I was very pleasantly surprised.
We did the spinning apples, the little planes that go up and down, the Ferris wheel (which was in the very long process of loading), the Zipper, one of those crazy rides where the seats are on long ropes and as it spins you rise up in the air, that whirly one where you get pressed against the walls, etc. We also checked out the various food booths, went by the little concert, and browsed the various loud games. None of it fazed Kaline; he was perfectly happy to focus, or do a down stay at a distance with the crowd just behind him. There were a couple attempted drive-by pets, but nothing major. A lovely man came over just to ask how Kaline was doing with the chaotic atmosphere and to ask nice questions about his training.
After the carnival (we were there no more than 30 minutes), Dad picked us up to meet Mom for dinner. Juno was at home, and Dad was in charge of Juno-proofing the house before he left. Well, while we were at dinner, Juno nosed open a closet that had been left ajar and which happened to contain all the chocolate my parents bought in Holland. Naturally, she proceeded to eat it all, leaving the living room and dining room strewn with a festive assortment of wrappers. I wish I'd taken photos, but Mom was absolutely irate and probably wouldn't have looked on that very kindly.
Normally when Juno eats chocolate, it's not a huge deal. She's a big dog and in the past has been able to handle it with no effects beyond being a little extra peppy. But this was about a pound and a half of chocolate, much of it dark, so I took her to the emergency vet. Vomiting was induced, and she was given activated charcoal and subcutaneous fluids.
I called home to say we were on our way back, only to learn that while Kaline was under Dad's supervision (nominally), he attempted to eat a plastic measuring cup. He broke the handle into a bunch of jagged little shards and swallowed at least a few. Back to the emergency room. At least this time Dad drove us.
I was more worried with Kaline, because I didn't know if the shards he swallowed were enough to puncture any of his innards. Luckily, he threw them all up ... along with a squeaker! Which could have actually been more serious than the plastic. He tore up a toy while at Freddie's (he doesn't have the opportunity here) so I assume that's how he got the squeaker.
Needless to say, it was a very long and tiring night. Happily, both dogs are completely fine and back to work after a weekend of very light activity, and the emergency vet even gave me a discount on Kaline's bill. Bulk discount for two dogs in one night, haha!
Last Thursday, Sonja and I met up in the City to take Chief and Kaline to Pier 39 (among a few other destinations). Our boys were absolutely awesome and we had a great time.
Kaline and I took Caltrain into San Francisco. I wore this big blue jacket with a ton of pockets so I didn't have to carry a bag for him. My little paperback even fit in the pocket so I'd have something to read on the train, woohoo. We were lucky to find a pair of empty seats so Kaline had plenty of room to lie down.
Kaline on the way to the City.
On the train, he showed that he is really beginning to understand the concept of working/not working. The girl in front of us turned around and just started petting him. Normally that's Kaline's cue to be all wiggly and over-social. But he just lay there, didn't really respond to her, and looked up at me! I was very pleased with his response so I only rewarded him, didn't tell the girl off or anything. Later she turned around and stroked his feet, which I thought was odd but he gave the same reaction, or lack thereof. So hurrah.
We met Sonja and Chief at Philz, a coffee shop she likes, then set off for a leisurely stroll to catch the historic F Line to Pier 39. I took off Kaline's vest so he could pee and say hi to the various friendly, calm, off leash dogs who came over. Sonja knows them so I wasn't worried about it, and of course Kaline was glad to say hi and make new friends. It sucked I couldn't take him off leash but there was no fencing and we were right next to the Embarcadero. Chief got to run a bit.
Kaline still pulled, but not nearly as much as the last time we went to the City. That was a relief. I rewarded him for loose leash and for check-ins, which were pretty frequent (score).
The F Line was definitely a challenge for me, just because it is so crowded. Like a moving sardine can. There was barely standing room. However, aside from the crowding, it was a really positive experience.
As soon as Sonja and I got on with the dogs, people got up from the disabled seating so we could sit. I let Kaline get on and go ahead of me, so he could kinda poke people out of the way with his nose and general Doberman-ness. As soon as I sat down, Kaline did a lap-up and stayed there until we were almost at our stop. Two nice tourists blocked for him, after Sonja asked, so that no one would step on him. And when this couple with two little kids got on, the tram conductor called out, “Make sure you keep him”—one had made a beeline for us—“away from the dogs! He can't touch them!” Sonja and I looked at each other with happy surprise and made sure to thank him on our way out.
Pier 39 was also crowded but there was much more space. We had a grand time. Near the bungee jump, we had the boys do a harder version of the stay exercise from IKEA. We left Kaline and Chief mid-walkway and let the waves of people flow around them. Kaline couldn't have cared less about the people, he just wanted to watch the birds and maybe kill a pigeon.
Next stop was Le Beastro, a pet accessories shop that has various items featuring natural-eared Dobermans. (Crazy, I know!) I got a pretty keychain.
Browsing at Le Beastro.
Then we headed to the sea lions, where I fully expected Kaline to get all aroused and end up barking. Well, he was very interested, definitely, but he had no trouble working on watch, touch, etc. I was so happy about that!
He and Chief even did a stay practically inside a player piano!
Kaline, Chief, and the player piano. I love those things!
For dinner we went to In N Out. The boys were exhausted and curled up together under the table. They were so cute. We hung out there for a long time, till Hendrik came to pick us up.
Sleepy boys at In N Out.
He got me to the train station with perfect timing, and Kaline conked out for the whole ride home.
The past couple weeks have been pretty light in terms of dog duties (we're talking dogs who don't belong to me). So I've been trying to rest and sleep more, as well as do various things with Juno and Kaline.
Juno's work has been going to the movies, which she's exceedingly great at. (Kaline, of course, is not so great.) I have hardly gone to the movies since we got Kaline, so it was kinda nice to go back. And of course it's always fantastic being out with Juno.
Almost always, the approach to the theatre and the theatre itself are crowded, so Juno does a lot of crowd work. I love watching her weave through all these people, barely turning her head even if they pass really close. She did great at the handicap buttons as well—she always bats them firmly and squarely with her paw. She is very precise about it. Kaline is working on that, haha.
Except for the last movie we went to, Django Unchained, each one had a line you had to wait in to get into the actual auditorium. Even with Junebug to block, I didn't need to be in those. We'd go hang out at a table until it was time to go in. Once, there were elementary-school-age kids racing around; Juno was totally unperturbed. She's a rock.
Juno waiting with me in the lobby, ignoring every distraction.
We'd go in and I'd set Juno up on her mat for the duration. For Django, she had to lap-up before settling down, because we'd come through a huge, pressing crowd and I was not doing well. She barely had to be told to leave the popcorn alone. At the first movie she almost got stepped on twice by these crazy people who decided that climbing the rail to the first row behind the disabled seats was a better idea than going up the stairs. Gaaah. After that happened, I always turned her light (the one on her Cloudchaser) on during the credits so people would know someone was there.
Juno at Lincoln, definitely the best movie we saw.
Juno at Parental Guidance on New Year's Eve.
Checking in on me after her lap-up at Django Unchained.
She also came to New Year's Eve dinner at Izzy's, a yummy steakhouse. She came along yesterday to Vino Santo, another restaurant that's just a little too nice for Kaline. (Unless the wee man has been sufficiently exhausted.)
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!
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.
The dogs got out and about a bunch today. We got up early and walked downtown, planning to meet Dad at the Farmer's Market. On the way, we stopped at Peet's, where we saw Max with his mom, and another dog we know, Darby, a poodle mix. Darby is working on his dog reactivity, so it's great for him when other dogs in training (as opposed to crazy MDIFs—check out this post if you don't know what I mean) come by. He did very well and didn't bark at Juno or Kaline. Max went crazy when he saw me, was glad to see Juno, and told the puppy in no uncertain terms to behave himself, hehe.
After our impromptu doggy meetup, we headed to the Farmer's Market. I vested both dogs and took them through, and I must say, it's pretty tough trying to work two dogs in a slow crowd like that. They did fine, behavior-wise, but we definitely have to figure out some sort of system regarding positioning. It doesn't help that I really want Juno not to sit, in those situations, and I do like it when Kaline sits. It's a tail thing.
We then did a quick in and out at the bagel store—a sit-stay by the door, then a quick loop to the back of the store and out again. Kaline did well at not sniffing and not soliciting attention. Then we headed to Cafe Borrone for some breakfast. I didn't vest the dogs, because we were going to sit outside and I wanted Kaline to be able to go say hi to people. There were, of course, a lot of people who wanted to pet him and love on him. He took a little while to settle down on his mat, partially because of all the people coming to say hi, and partially because just across the way was a little Catahoula puppy!
We met her foster mom after breakfast—the puppy is up for adoption, along with her six brothers and sisters—and found out the little girl is about Kaline's age. She had very similar coloring as well, though more of a blunt face. And a tail, of course. The hilarious thing was, once they started to kind of play with each other (as much as they could on leash and basically under a table), we suddenly noticed how much bigger Kaline's paws were. Overall, he really wasn't much larger than the Catahoula, but his feet were probably at least twice as large!
After a while, Kaline finally settled on his mat, right at the end of it so he was close to his beloved Juno. A couple times he rested his head on her back, but I was never fast enough with my phone to get a picture. Drat!
We came home briefly after breakfast, then headed out again to the Michigan Alumni Student Send-off. Supposedly this event is for the kids heading off to Michigan at the end of the month, but really it's for the alumni to get a much-needed taste of "home." The club ships in Cottage Inn Pizza, breads, meats and cheeses from Zingerman's Deli, and best of all, ice cream from Stucchi's! It's fabulous.
I was hoping this would be sort of a chill-out event for the dogs, but as we drove into the park where the event was held, we saw a ton of No Pets signs. I was so bummed. You've got this absolutely gorgeous big park, and no one can bring their pet dogs! How awful! So the pups had to go vested. No biggie for Juno—I actually think she likes it better when strangers leave her alone. She really doesn't have any interest in them unless they scratch her Happy Spot or they have food for her. Kaline, though, is my little social butterfly and would have loved getting to go schmooze with everyone.
Nonetheless, both dogs did very well. Kaline settled much more quickly at the picnic than at the cafe. It was on dirt, so everyone's gear has to get washed, but hey, it's an occupational hazard. The kids got in a bit more crowd work, and just relaxed with all the people around. We got to do some service dog education, and I even met (in person) someone I had met years ago online when we were both part of a Brad Ausmus-obsessed Yahoo group! That was really cool. I was pretty pleased with how Kaline did, given all the people he wasn't allowed to say hi to, and all the food he wasn't allowed to have. He pawed at his head collar a bit, but that was about all.
And an update on Kaline's neck: The hair loss isn't getting worse, at least. I emailed Maura about it, and she said that fleece-lined flat collars or no flat collar at all would be the way to go. Kaline can go naked at home, but outside a lot of the time he needs to be wearing a collar with tags, so I guess we'll be getting a fleece-lined collar soon. Also coming soon: two spare, magnetic closure, super awesome bait bags! Hurrah!
This morning was super exciting to me, because Kaline got to have his first vested outing! It lasted all of about 15 minutes. Before we left the house, I had to kind of jerry-rig the vest, safety-pinning the long straps up so they don't dangle (obviously, at this point I have both straps as short as they'll go). I put Kaline and Juno's vests in Dad's car—he drove to the Menlo Park Farmer's Market, and the dogs and I walked, to take the edge off Kaline's morning energy.
Kaline models his vest up in my room. Still needs to grow into it a little more!
We met Dad at the fish stand, and he had already completed the shopping! So he held Juno at that end while I vested Kaline and then headed in. We made one circuit of the market, just up and back. I was well-armed with treats, and Kaline was excellent. We wove through the crowds and he was interested, looking around, but anytime I asked him to watch, he did, pretty much immediately. He didn't sniff too much, and only pulled a little to go say hi to people. I was pleased at how he handled the quick up-and-back, and very pleasantly surprised at the fact that no one even asked to pet him, much less molested him without asking. Woohoo!
Dad had to pick up a few things at nearby Trader Joe's, so the pups and I followed him across the parking lot and just sat on a bench outside. I didn't think Kaline was ready to go inside TJ's, but I kept him vested, put him in a down next to Juno, and we just did some quality people watching. People-with-carts watching, even better. I admit, I feared that Kaline would have a cart phobia. Thankfully, he does not. He was very cute. Okay, fine, he's always very cute. But he just looked so adorable and businesslike in his vest!
Good settle, buddy.
We came home for a while, and then Dad started going on about finding somewhere for Kaline to run. Basically he had two ideas, dog park or tennis courts. I nixed the dog park because I will never allow either of my dogs into one; the benefits don't come close to outweighing the risks. Tennis courts got nixed because Kaline is way too young to be running on such a hard surface. Then he suggested the beach, and I thought, "Hey, that's an awesome idea!"
So, if you've known me more than five minutes you know I absolutely hate, loathe, and abominate Flexi leashes. However, when we go to the beach, I make a rare exception. I want the dogs to have a lot more freedom and play than on a normal walk, and it's appropriate for them to have more freedom. I don't want to let them completely off leash, though, because obviously the baby doesn't have a solid off-leash recall, and even if both dogs did, sometimes it's pretty hard to hear right by the ocean. So a Flexi, much as I hate to admit it, is a good compromise.
We ended up at a Half Moon Bay beach and had a lovely time. Juno likes to go walk around in the waves—not interested in swimming or getting in deep water, but definitely doesn't mind getting wet up to about her hocks. Kaline very plainly did not want to get wet. He had a good time running around though and after watching me scrabble in the sand with my feet, he went nuts digging. It was hilarious, because instead of alternating front feet, he tries to dig using both front feet at the same time. So there are frequent faceplants and he ended up with a lot of sand on his nose and in his mouth. A lot of it was in his mouth because he, um, was trying to eat sand. I have a silly puppy.
My goobers!
Wee Kaline on the beach.
Yooooo-no!
Diggin' a hole!
Which one of ...
... these is cuter?
I tried to get photos of Juno and Kaline's pawprints next to each other, cause they're practically the same size. Unfortunately, while Juno leaves beautiful clear prints, Kaline doesn't really weigh enough to do that yet. Ah well! Everyone seems to be pretty zonked now; Kaline is being a more muted pest than normal, haha.
I took Kaline's 13-week photo yesterday, finally remembering that maybe I should take these things from the same angle every week. Check this out! A comparison of Kaline at 9 weeks and at 13 weeks:
He's so huge! Look at those crazy long legs.
He used to fit on one step.
Yesterday Kaline got his first little taste of crowd work. It wasn't intentional, but it ended up being a great beginner crowd for a pup. This pup anyway! Mom had this brilliant idea to go to a small gathering of food trucks over by Willows Market. The gathering itself ended up being disappointing: cramped, my favorite food truck wasn't there, the ones that were there were subpar, etc. But I was pleasantly surprised with Kaline!
There weren't that many people, but they were all packed in the long, narrow space between the trucks and the market. So it was kind of a baby crowd. Kaline handled it superbly. (I hated being in it, baby crowd or not. I hate crowds, and unfortunately Kaline is not big enough or trained enough to really help me in one.) But at least he was cool—if he hadn't been, we'd have had to hang on the periphery for more than one reason.
Kaline met a baby, and was great with her, super gentle. The way the dad introduced the two of them annoyed me a little, and reminded me of an article I read once, on the crazy crap people let their kids do to their dogs, and proudly say, “He'll let them do anything with him.” (And then eventually the dog has enough of it and bites someone. Here is a similar article.)
This man just plopped his child down in front of my puppy, who he'd never met before, without asking. (Luckily I was paying attention.) And then, when Kaline was licking the baby's face and she clearly didn't want him to, I redirected him and put him in a sit; yet the dad kept insisting the baby was fine with being slurped. She clearly liked having her hand kissed better than her face. Like many dog people, I don't get why people think it's acceptable either for dogs to invade children's space, or children to invade dogs' space, willy nilly.
Kaline also met a bunch of adult men who were very lovely to him and complimented his ears. (I have not yet met a person who thinks he'd look better cropped. Everyone says, “Oh, I'm so glad you left his ears alone!”) When we were in line for food, he just downed by my feet and dozed there, oblivious to all the big feet around him. At our table, he again lay down, with Juno this time, and calmly chilled under the table. Good puppy.
Juno and Kaline under the table.
Both dogs did well at training today, though Juno's down-stay-breaking continues. How can you get mad at her, though, when after she breaks she comes over and squeezes her head between your legs? She's so damn cute.
With Kaline, I worked on heeling and recalls, his two weaker areas, as well as attention, which he's good at. It was hot and we were doing recalls partially in the sun; after three pretty decent ones, he'd had it. Freddie could tell, and just told me to give him water and put him up. I really need to work on knowing when to work through something, and when to just stop for a bit, with Kaline. (With Juno, the answer is almost always “work through it,” because she's an experienced adult.) I always tell people, and now I have to take my own advice: You have to have different, and reasonable, expectations for young puppies.
Heeling went okay, and will definitely get easier as Kaline gets taller. Which he's doing at an alarming rate, of course. I have to make sure I don't turn into the puppy as we're halting, and try to get him to sit up with me, rather than rocking back into his sit (same problem as we have on the recalls).
His attention was excellent, especially for a baby as young as he is. At training, there are lots of distractions—dogs, both silent and annoyingly whiny/barky; grass; trees; leaves; the wind; sounds of kids playing on the playground nearby; multiple people with bait bags; the list goes on. But when we worked on sit and down stays, Kaline was pretty darn focused for a pup! I can go the length of the leash away from him when facing him; I can go in a complete circle around him, both directions; and I can stand behind him without him breaking his stay, either kind. Little smarty pants!
Juno and I did a lot of heeling work, along with Kristin and Ben. Juno is actually better at left about turns, which at least in my view require tougher footwork from the dog, than she is at regular about turns, where she always lags. She did well at transitions and at the moving stand. Remote sits and downs, with verbal and without, went pretty well too. One of Juno's favorite games, haha.
Both dogs got to have playtime in the sprinklers with Ben and Phi. Kaline is smitten with Phi and was chasing her all over the place. Juno just chased whoever was moving at that particular time. Both dogs also did really well in our abnormally crowded car—they were in the front, Juno on the seat and Kaline in the footspace, while on the backseat we had two poodle-mixes and a Golden, and in the backseat footspace we had Baxter. (Kaline had a grand play session with him in the afternoon; see video below.) I thought six dogs in the car would be utter chaos but we really didn't have any issues.
Terrifying thought of the day: Things like training really used to tire Kaline out, to the point where he'd need a couple-hour nap. Now he sleeps for maybe an hour, if you're lucky, and then he's raring to go again. He recovers way too fast! Thank goodness for bully sticks and pressed rawhide chews.
I took Juno back to the fair on Sunday, in work gear because I knew there would be crowds. Dad and I were hungry, and we were like, “Hey, there's yummy food at the fair!” It was hot, though nothing like disgusting Saturday. Hot enough that the pavement would be uncomfortable to walk barefoot on. So I put on Juno's boots.
I don't think I had to answer a single of the usual unintentionally rude, sometimes annoying service dog questions. All I got was, “Why is your dog wearing boots?” It was actually kind of nice, in a way, since none of the people who asked had dogs.
The first person we met, in fact, turned to look at Juno and while I was bracing for the usual questions, she said with feeling, “Thank you for putting boots on your dog.” It's one of her pet peeves when people bring dogs to hot places and don't protect their feet; she will often, apparently, confront people about the fact that their dogs' feet are burning, and get nastiness back. Good for her for keeping on, though.
I don't understand why you'd be defensive about it. As soon as I saw pavement was starting to bother Juno (which it hadn't before), I got her shoes as quickly as I could manage. The idea that if I wouldn't walk barefoot somewhere, I shouldn't force my dog to do so, makes perfect sense. If it's hot, you prepare your dog for the environment with as much care as you would prepare yourself, or you leave the dog at home.
Anyway, Juno was the only dog at the whole fair wearing any kind of protection on her feet. We actually saw a big, very furry Collie-Shepherd-looking dog dancing his paws around because they hurt to touch the street. And people were asking why she was wearing shoes. “Why are you wearing shoes?” I sometimes retorted (in a gentle, laughing way).
Junebug did fantastically well. There was a much bigger crowd than in the morning, unsurprisingly, and she led me through nicely, if at a slower pace than normal due to heat. We tried to keep to the shade, took lots of breaks, didn't stay long. There were several areas where dog water bowls were available but Juno took a couple sips and was done.
People were better than normal about not touching her and not letting their dogs screw around with her, right up to the end. Then two people, who were together in some way, one after the other let their ill-behaved dogs run right up on Juno. I'd watched the dogs pulling their owners through the fair—we kept seeing them. In the crowd and trying to stay in the shade, there was no way to avoid them. The first one pulled the dog back as soon as I said, “Please don't let your dog run up on her.” The second one, the guy, let his bigger dog get his nose halfway up Juno's butt before listening to what I was saying, in a vastly peeved tone: “Do NOT let your dog run up on her! She's WORKING!” Grrrr.
Other than that, though, an excellent outing for Juno, an interesting one for me.
Juno had a great day today. Kristin came to babysit Kaline, and Juno, Dad and I headed to the Olympic Trials for men's gymnastics in San Jose!
I am obsessed with men's gymnastics. I got into the sport while I was at the University of Michigan, and ended up covering the Wolverines for four seasons. Most of the fifteen guys competing for spots on the Olympic team are guys who were in college when I was, who I saw all the time during the season and know to one degree or another. Juno now knows a bunch of them too, since she went to Winter Cup in Las Vegas this year. (That was actually right before her temporary retirement.) She has a special affinity for the Oklahoma guys!
We took the train down to San Jose. To a lot of dogs, a train squealing into the station might be a huge scary thing, but to Juno it's old news. She's great at trains. As soon as we got off we saw a bunch of the Stanford alums, which was lovely fun. Stanford, with three competitors, had the second-biggest contingent in the competition (Oklahoma had five).
Juno had to do a ton of crowd work today, her favorite kind. The command is “Follow Dad,” and she thinks it's great fun. She completely ignores everyone in the crowd, focusing intensely on where my dad is headed and leading me through, so I can ignore the crowd as well. Thanks to Juno, we got to sit in a nice area with folding chairs near the vault runway, instead of up in the nosebleed seats.
Before the competition we hung out as close to the floor as we could get, so we could say hi to people. We saw Kurt Golder, the Michigan head coach, and talked with him a bit about Sam Mikulak, the awesome Michigan Wolverine who may just make the Olympic team (!!!). Sam is a little past my time (he was a freshman two years after I graduated), but I still know him a bit. We also saw our old buddy Paul Ruggeri, a big Juno fan, and Juno's bestest gymnastics buddy of all, John Roethlisberger. They met at Winter Cup and Juno was in love! We also got to see my two Michigan buddies Evan and Scott, who are working for Inside Gymnastics and USA Gymnastics respectively. Men's gymnastics is such a small world that every meet is like a lovely little reunion.
The meet was amazing, and so was Juno. I have never been at such a loud gymnastics meet, even at NCAA championships—I mean, people were shrieking, en masse! And the floor where we were vibrated like it was going through an earthquake anytime someone walked on it. Juno took it all in stride and went to sleep. I love her so much!
Juno at the Shark Tank!
I have to admit, I was a little worried that Juno's poutiness over Kaline would carry over into her work. But that was decidedly not the case. She was her usual excellent self, and I think she appreciated the opportunity to work even more than normal because it was a chance for us to focus just on each other, and for her to get away from the puppy. We had such a wonderful time!
When we got home, Kristin said Kaline was a little star for her (yay!). Since he was awake and peppy, I took him and Juno over to a Kepler's event. I used to work at Kepler's (it's a bookstore, in case you're unaware), and it's closing for the summer, so all the current and former staff were invited back for a sort of indoor picnic. Of course everyone wanted to meet Kaline, and I thought it'd be a great chance for socialization for him (and for Juno to see all her friends!).
It went very well. While Kaline was awake, he mostly played with his chewy ball that I brought to occupy him. He was polite with everyone, not timid and not mouthy either. He met tons of new people, and got held on many different laps with absolutely no issues. He fell asleep on my lap for a while amidst all the hustle and bustle. He was extremely curious when he saw Juno go nuts over her best friend, Alex. If she even smells him in the store, she starts whining and dancing around; once they get together, she basically attacks him (in a very loving way), whimpering and growling and wagging her entire body as she pounces on him.
Everyone loved both the dogs, naturally. Kaline settled nicely on each person's lap, snuggling into their chests and making his insanely cute little gurgly lizard noises. They said he sounds like a baby dinosaur from Jurassic Park!
Kaline will be here in just seven days! Brown-collar puppy, now wearing a brown and blue collar, is for sure The One. I am so excited! He's super sweet and pretty sure of himself, which I love. The puppies met Maura's potbellied pig, Stella, this week, and Kaline went right up to her to check her out. The little red girl ran away when she realized how big Stella was, but Kaline was just cool. He and the red boy are both unfazed when they go exploring and find themselves without their siblings. I guess the others don't really like that.
I'm guessing this is before Stella was let out; all the pups going, “WHOA, what is that?!”
Handsome red boy, Wilson, in the yard with his black sister, Olive.
One of the black boys approaching Stella.
Puppy pile on a young friend! Kaline has been quite calm and friendly meeting all kinds of strangers. WIN.
More introductions to Stella!
Juno has had a busy week! On Wednesday, we went to the Giants game, likely our last of the season, and if you're a baseball fan, you know that Matt Cain pitched a perfect game that night! (If you're not a baseball fan: In a perfect game, the pitcher allows no baserunners. No hits, no errors, no walks, no dropped third strikes. NOTHING.) It was amazing, and Juno handled everything with her usual no-sweat attitude. She got to watch the game a little (we had several empty seats around us) and otherwise slept through pretty much everything. She worked the crowds like a champ.
Juno at the perfect game—“What do you want me to watch you for? I'm watching the game!”
She also got to go to a couple new pubs (new to her) to watch some Euro 2012 games. One was the Rose & Crown, where my friend Ben and I watched England play to a 1-1 draw with France. That one wasn't too crowded, but when the goals were scored, it got fairly loud. Then on Wednesday afternoon, we went to Rudy's for the Netherlands-Germany game. Rudy's is the local pub where all the Dutch fans gather to watch their team, so Rudy's was packed wall-to-wall with crazy people in orange. (Yes, I too was a crazy person in orange, though sadly I am not Dutch.) Juno, who had just been on two hour-long walks, sacked out under the bar with Ben and me standing behind her, guarding her paws from wayward human feet. Lots of loud noise, crowding, food everywhere—no big deal for Junebug!
Juno at the Rose and Crown.
It's been really hot here lately, so much so that Juno has been dancing about uncomfortably on pavement, so today I got her Ruffwear Skyliners—dog booties. She pranced hilariously when I first put them on her, but I think they will really make a big difference. Yet another small proof of global warming: Juno has never, ever had this issue with pavement before, even in summer. This year, it's hot enough around here that her paws are hurting and her nails were getting ground down to an uncomfortable point. But not anymore! Yay booties. I also got her some ointment for her pads.
We picked up Kaline's puppy food (Royal Canin), one of the last things I need for him. I also got him a Zoom Groom, cause they've been highly recommended and I certainly can't use a Furminator on him. (Juno, on the other hand, has been Furminated nearly every day in the past two weeks, and the amount of hair that's still coming out of her is absolutely preposterous.) I'm sure there'll be more things I have to get for him—dogs are 'spensive, jeez!—but I think I'm as prepared as I can be for now!
