Winter Break Update #4: Kaline goes on errands

On the final Sunday of our little break, Kaline came with me (and Mom) on a couple errands and did an excellent job. After a quick stop at Town & Country shopping center, we headed to Stanford for Nordstrom and Macy's.

Because I'd gotten spoiled by Juno's precision with handicap buttons, I worked with Kaline on every button for his accuracy. I don't reward him for the door actually opening, because sometimes those buttons don't work, and in that case I don't want Kaline to think he's failed. But on that outing, Kaline only got a c/t if his paw squarely hit the button. He started doing a lot better after a couple repetitions, and we undoubtedly annoyed several people sitting on benches just inside all these various doors. Oops!

Inside, we worked on walking with a loose leash and settling, as well as the dropped-leash down-stays. He only had a couple opportunities to work on blocking but he did well at those, too. I had Mom nudge him in the butt to see if that would make him switch position, but it didn't! Yay! His settle is getting better every day (or so I like to think). Most of the time he'll not only go down, he'll pillow his head on one of his paws and sometimes do the Big Sigh.

To finish up, we did a quick run to Safeway and again, Kaline was very good. Barely any air scenting, even though we were in the dairy aisle, and good blocking while we were in line. Some guy stopped us by the yogurt to try and convince me that Kaline was a hound. This, after being told he was a Doberman and agreeing that he was a very good-looking specimen of his breed. I totally agree with that, although I may, just perhaps, be biased.

Loudness desensitization continues in tiny bits every day. The high voice still makes him get an instant scared face, so we necessarily are doing this in really short sessions, after when we then go do fun obedience games or open a bunch of cupboards. I'm trying to do the weird loud sounds in places other than the kitchen (he is guaranteed to start a freakout if we work in there), so I've been looking a little ... silly ... on our walks in quiet residential neighborhoods.

Someone looking out their window might see a kid in a hoodie with five dogs, grinning maniacally at the one in the middle and making some damn bizarre sounds.

“EEEEEEEEEEE! Good boy! OOOOOOOOGHHHHH! Good boy! SQUEEEEE! Good boy! AAAAAAAAAAH! Good boy! Ohhhh, you're such a good puppy!”

Winter Break Update #3: Kaline gets freaked out

On Saturday, without getting into too much detail let's just say I had a loud episode. I guess it's just one of the ways my depression expresses itself. Something tiny and annoying becomes the straw that breaks the camel's back (to use a horribly overused metaphor—please accept my apologies) and the energy has to go somewhere. About the healthiest thing I do during one of these is to scream bloody murder into a pillow or blanket, which is what happened.

Well, Kaline got completely terrified by this. I'm fairly certain it's not the first time this has happened since I got him 6+ months ago, but it's the first time he reacted like this. When I had collected myself, Kaline had run to the top of the stairs and was lying there unhappily. Whenever I'd get him down into the family room (where I'd had the episode), he'd walk around in a crouch, not want me to touch him, and not want to come away from his corner where he used to have timeouts for inappropriate barking. He wouldn't take treats from me. He wouldn't do any of his little tasks that usually get him pumped up.

I was totally heartbroken seeing him like that. I was convinced I'd wrecked our bond forever, even though the whole thing was about me being mad at myself, not at him. Thankfully, I have wonderful friends, especially Sonja. She assured me he'd live, just ignore him till he got over it—and then even made me videos so I could see the kind of loudness to practice with him in order to desensitize him.

An hour or so after the episode, Kaline seemed a bit more normal. When I asked him and Juno if they wanted to go out, they both ran briskly downstairs to get their jackets and leashes put on. He was great on the walk, and then when we got home, he and I had a lovely, gleeful roughhousing session, with Juno egging Kaline on whenever he flagged. I was very relieved to see he was fine.

We tried working on loudness Sunday—while the Republicans were repeating “The problem is spending cuts” like broken records on the morning news programs. Perfect, I thought. Oh shit, thought Kaline. He was fine when I was loud with a deep(ish) voice, but when I made my voice a bit high, suddenly he got that look back on his face—huge scared eyes, ears flat back, etc. He came out of it so much faster, because when I saw the scared face, I immediately switched gears and we played Up-Down, did touch, did high five/other hand, and then opened the fridge and various cupboards. We finished up with a snuggle and all was well.

Loudness desensitization: another daily exercise to add to our list. Soon it'll be just as ho-hum as the "naughty bad dog" exercises that Sonja and I do with Kaline and Chief, where we pretend to be drunk or rude people being nasty to the dogs.

San Jose with Sonja and Chief

Me and Kaline with Sonja and Chief.

Yesterday morning, Juno, Kaline and I were moseying along on our morning walk when I got a text from Sonja inviting us to San Jose. Sounded like a much more productive way to spend my Sunday than vegging out around the house! Sonja picked up me and Kaline and off we went!

We had such great fun and got to work Kaline and Chief on all kinds of different things. We parked down near where our friend Nicole used to live so we had a nice walk to the convention center. There was a craft fair going on there this weekend—not something either of us humans are real keen on, but an excellent outing opportunity for our boys. Plus there was Christmas in the Park, in a park right near the convention center.

At the craft fair, we met up with another SD team. Manuela was the handler, Sadie the dog. Sadie is a gorgeous border collie/Australian shepherd mix with amazing ice-blue eyes. We walked through all the aisles. Kaline actually did better than I expected with having to walk very slowly and stop frequently, due to crowds, and once I even caught him doing a block on his own! Chief was having a little bit of an off-day in there (when he was on the carpet, coming in and going out, he perked right up and did his delighted rubbing and rolling celebration) so Sonja carried him some of the time. If Kaline has an off-day, too bad, buddy, I'm not carrying you!

Chief, Sadie and Kaline at the convention center.

Little bit of grounding at the craft fair.

Once we'd gone through the fair, we set the boys up and worked on distractions. They held off leash down stays nicely, so then we asked Manuela to move around them with Sadie. We worked on removing each other's dogs, which sounds kinda scary (most people put badges on their dogs, or carry cards, which say DO NOT SEPARATE DOG FROM HANDLER) but it's a good thing for the pups to be accustomed to. In an emergency, emergency responders might have to take our SDs off to the side for safety. In turn, Sonja and I laid down on the floor with our dogs on our chests, and then the other person would come take the dog off to the side. Neither boy had a problem with it, which is very good.

Off leash down stays.

Then we did "bad dog" scenarios—basically, each of us mimicked things that assholes sometimes do when they see service dogs, or things that people who are not paying attention might do. Shaking fingers in their face, saying they're naughty or bad, grumping, "No dogs allowed!", nudging their bottoms, straddling them, stomping around, etc. Kaline had no problem with me straddling him and stomping, but he popped up when Sonja did it, so she worked with him a lot on that. Mostly he did quite well though, and Chief was a total star.

We went to lunch at Johnny Rockets, where Kaline refused to lie down because the floor was too cold (not to mention kind of grimy). I didn't have his mat with me, so I just let him sit there with his head in my lap. He didn't beg or anything, so it was actually really nice. Then we headed over to Christmas in the Park.

Kaline at Johnny Rockets.

Doing a brief down at Johnny Rockets. Sonja took this shot blind!!

There were all kinds of beautifully decorated Christmas trees and displays, plus a mascot roving around. We saw two kids riding razor scooters, so Sonja got them to come over and ride around me and Kaline in circles, doing little tricks. He did so much better than I expected! Normally he hears the noise of scooters or skateboards and gets a little nervous, won't look away from them. But he was really good, focused on me, even did a down stay with the scooters going around!

Me and the boys with the mascot at Christmas in the Park.

Across the street from the park, there was an ice skating rink. One of Sonja's older dogs, Josephine, used to get spooked by the noise of skates hitting the walls. So we took the boys over there and asked a group of girls to bang on the glass with their skates. Neither of them minded, really, though Kaline did some blocking after they did it. Cutie.

At the ice rink with Kaline (blocking) and Chief.

Standing with the boys in front of a kids' ride.

On the way back to the car, we let the dogs run around in an empty dog park. Kaline is getting a bit big for Chief to play with ... how sad. But before Chief ran out of gas, he led Kaline on a merry chase. Kaline can probably run faster than Chief, but Chief is far more agile and can make all kinds of tight turns and thwart Kaline. They both had a fabulous time.

Car shopping and skateboards

Big day yesterday, mostly chilling out today. We were supposed to have class Saturday morning, but it got cancelled at the last minute. Since we were at the park anyway, we just worked the dogs a bit in the usual spot, then took them on two laps around the park. Kaline did pretty much all his stuff, including a bit of heeling and finding the heel position. I also did drops on recall with Juno, who had a lightbulb moment when I realized I should be taking a step toward her as I was giving the hand signal. She dropped way quicker after that.

Kaline did pretty well with his loose-leash walking; good stays, good remote sits and downs. Semi-decent recalls, sigh. We're having trouble coming in straight still.

After training, Kaline went into his crate for a nap and Juno came to the Honda dealership to check out the CRV. I definitely like the 2012, but of course it's pretty out of my price range unless I can get a good lease or something. It's got these very easy to pull handles that make the seats flop down; basically I was checking it out to see what would hurt my hands and what would be easy on them. Putting the seats back together definitely hurt, plus they separate into two parts, the second of which needs a lot of force to go back into place. Juno had no trouble hopping up into the back, so yay.

We also went to the used Honda place across the street, but they only had a 2004 CRV with almost as many miles on it as Faithful Little Tygs On Top. The point in getting a new car is not to have to keep bringing it in for repairs that basically cost more than the car is worth, so that one is out. They also showed us this fire-engine-red Scion which was pretty much the ugliest car I'd ever seen. Plus the seats didn't go flat. Also out.

We came home, Juno went upstairs to join Mom's nap in progress, and grabbed Kaline to go check out Toyotas. He did great. We saw a used 2011 Rav4 which was practically perfect, but obviously we are still in research mode and not ready to get a car. The back opens to the side, instead of up, which is easier for me, and has the same seat levers that the CRV does.

Kaline could almost get himself into the back—he couldn't because he's uncoordinated, and cars for sale have this smooth plastic on the floors so he couldn't get any traction. Any adult, non-senior dog his size or a little smaller won't have a problem leaping in. He was also able to hop into "his spot" in the front seat foot space. When he wasn't being called upon to test the car's dog friendliness, he just lay down on the ground and waited patiently. What a good pup.

The used Rav4 was right in the target price range too. Dad has a car guy in one of his business groups, so hopefully we can set him on the trail of a used 2011 CRV (cause yeah, I like those better). Either one will work just fine though, I think. They both have their good points and drawbacks.

Both dogs were quiet and lovely while I was home with them and the parents went out to dinner and a movie. We went on a long walk to downtown Menlo Park, and had an impromptu skateboard desensitization session.

Three boys from the nearby middle school were coming toward us, two on skateboards, and Kaline shied away from the sound. (I'm pretty sure it's the sound, because when bikes or scooters go by—wheels, similar speed—he doesn't really care.) As soon as they saw us, the very considerate boys immediately got off their boards and picked them up to walk past. I asked them if they'd mind riding past slowly, and maybe letting Kaline smell their boards. They were happy to oblige, and the encounter ended with Kaline eagerly picking treats off their boards. He even put both feet on one board and sent it rolling away; he was not at all fazed when it clattered off. What nice kids!

Kaline all of a sudden became a total pill later in the night when the parents came home. Once I got him out of one place he wasn't supposed to be, he'd immediately go to another. Oh, puppyhood. Nights like that make me long for the day when he turns two (or three) and gets his grown-up brains. Or whatever passes for grown-up brains among male Dobermans, haha!

Today we did our usual walk to the Farmer's Market, the walk-through, and Borrone's. No problems, very little inappropriate sniffing on the puppy's part. Positioning is always a problem at the market, though, because I've got both dogs, both fair-sized now, and it's always crowded. I heard one guy (not the kids' parent, but their babysitter, I guess) explaining to the children why they mustn't touch my dogs, and thanked him profusely for doing so. Then we let the kids pet Kaline while I rewarded him for maintaining focus on me. 

Chilling at the Farmer's Market.

At the cafe, I tried to put Kaline in the sun because we didn't have a mat for him today. Of course he immediately moved to the shade! He did well though, didn't eat a tempting strawberry that was on the ground near his paws, and didn't go for the plate the kids at the next table kept leaving one body length away from him. The kids also kept throwing random crap in the fountain; the splashes didn't bother Kaline either. (The kids sure bothered my dad though!)

By the fountain.

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.

Horses, ponies, grocery store, and other fun things!

Kaline finally got some good exposure to horses yesterday. We live about 30 minutes (walking) from the Menlo Circus Club, which has a big charity horse show each year. After the two morning walks and a nap, I took the pups over there to see the horses.

Five-pack waiting for their treats at Mills Florist on University Avenue in the morning.

It turned out that it was just a warmup day, so we didn't have to pay admission. It's a dog friendly event, they just have to be on leash. (Should be common sense, having dogs on leash around a ton of horses, but some people are idiots. There's a big sign as you walk in that if your dog is loose, they'll call the SPCA to come pick him/her up.) The big polo field was divided into several smaller rings, with shady corridors in between with bleachers in them. We went in the first corridor and plopped down in the cool grass.

 On one side were the big jumps, and on the other side people were just putting their horses through their paces. Horses would come cantering by fairly regularly on the jumping side. At first, every time Kaline heard thundering hooves he'd startle. I kept treating him for lying down, for looking calmly at horses, anything good. Pretty soon, a fast-moving horse didn't concern him. Two people just let their horses stand, hanging out, near the dogs, which was also great.

Once Kaline was calmly lying down and not paying much mind to the horses, I kind of got to enjoy myself looking at them. In middle school and high school, I used to ride and work with horses (I liked working with them on the ground much more than riding). So I miss them a bit, especially the way they smell. And these horses were just gorgeous. I was especially taken with this exquisite pony. I guess normally I expect ponies to be little chunky, shaggy, somewhat ungainly creatures; this pony was just a small horse. Delicate legs, a gleaming coat, and a fine and sensitive face. So, so pretty.

Pony from far away.

After about half an hour, Juno had had enough and was whining softly (she is still not completely convinced that horses are not enormous dogs). Kaline was a little antsy, too. So off we went back home.

We ended up going out to dinner at Milagros. We ate outside, because there really wasn't sufficient space for the dogs to both be inside. They still went vested, so Kaline would have a signal that it was work time. There were many crushed tortilla chips under our table, so I spent about fifteen minutes not paying attention to anything but Kaline, and trying to redirect him off the chips. Eventually he curled up nicely on his mat, facing away from the crumbs. He will get the hang of this!

The Milagros patio is very pretty.

Training today went really well. I got to work Kaline briefly on a ton of different commands. The only thing we're really struggling on outside is the recall—he can count, I'm convinced. Three recalls, when it's warm outside, and then he is done. On those first three, at least, he is coming in closer, not rocking back as much, and sitting a bit straighter. After three, he'll come in grudgingly, won't sit, and won't even make eye contact. Maybe when the weather cools off, and his attention span gets bigger. Plus, my new bait bags just came, and they have hidden pockets where you can keep super high value treats separate from the rest. Maybe I'll start taking some hot dogs or something, just for recalls.

Other than recalls, he was great. We worked on heeling—right and left turns, about turns both ways, five-step halts, quarter-turns in place. We did remote sits and downs; I think he's ready for me to start separating the verbal cue and the hand signal. We did touch, both hands, with him having to take several steps to get to my hand. For fun, we also did "high five" and "other hand." Last we worked on stand, and I was actually able to stand up and move around him without him moving any of his feet! And he maintained eye contact! Very exciting. A solid stand is key for blocking, which Kaline will need to do when he gets bigger (blocking = standing in a designated position relative to me to keep strangers out of my personal space/keep them from sneaking up on me).

Juno did heeling and off-leash long recalls, which are always great fun. She finally got to do the flyball jumping (four low jumps in a row). Once she was doing all four, running to me at the other end, we started working on getting her to go out and get the dumbbell. This proved to be harder than expected. I think it's partially due to Juno's eyesight, which is good but not great. She's also not a trained retriever—she's locked on my face, while you can tell the trained retrievers to "mark" and they'll pay attention to where the bumper/dumbbell lands.

So we backed off a bit. I put the dumbbell in her mouth, then went to the other end of the jumps and had her do the jumps with it in her mouth. Then I stood with her and only threw the dumbbell over one jump, sending her while it was in the air. She has a much easier time if you send her while the dumbbell is still moving. She did fine on that, so then I threw it over two jumps and she did that too. Then we decided she'd jumped enough for one day!

Kaline and Juno both did nice Kumbayayas with the crazy doodles, plus Peter the Poodle, who has come incredibly far in his training. (Speaking of doodles, Freddie just found out that some idiots calling themselves "breeders" are now producing—I won't say breeding, because that implies actual thought of a breed's well-being—things called "double doodles," Lab x Poodles combined with Golden Retriever x Poodles. How insanely dumb can you get.)

On the way home, I got a call that we needed eggs, so Kaline's first grocery store outing happened. I usually like to plan such firsts, but it went fine. He peed before we went in, and pretty much held his focus the whole time. He was fine with the cold aisle where the eggs were and sat nicely next to Juno while I picked a box.

Kaline being a focused, good little boy in Draeger's.

 Our only issue was waiting in line to check out. Kaline was sitting next to me in heel position, with Juno blocking behind me. Suddenly this woman came up and in an injured voice said, "I can't touch them?" Well, no, that's kind of why both dogs are covered in patches saying that very thing. I tried to be nice, explaining that they were working and that I was training the puppy. She smiled and nodded—and as soon as my back was turned, leaned down to Juno-face-level and said, "I can't touch you—but I can talk to you!" I was so tempted to say something snarky, but by then our eggs were paid for and we could just walk away. The pups actually did a decent job of ignoring her. Pissed me off a bunch though. Perhaps after this training entry I will post a wee rant. Grin.

Fourth of July and aftermath

Kaline and Juno had a pretty fun day! We got invited, along with my parents, to the house of a family friend for a 4th of July party. They just redid their backyard and it looks so pretty! They've got a little mix named Joey who is about Kaline's current size, so Kaline was really excited to play with him. Joey, unfortunately for the pup, has a pretty one-track mind when there's food around, so Kaline was not high on his priority list! Nonetheless, Kaline had a good time following Joey around.

Kaline under one of the stools. Enjoy it while it lasts, buddy!

Juno hopes for a bite of hot dog.

Pretty backyard.

Kaline and Juno's paws.

Kaline fell asleep, as he is wont to do.

Oh the cuteness.

Kaline hanging out with Joey, the 4-year-old, and her grandparents.

Raaawwwrr, chase me!

Kaline and our lovely hostess.

Kaline and his new buddy.

Good puppy.

The noble, regal, dignified Doberman.

Joey.

Kaline and Joey playing.

Pooped puppy!

There was a low table with a bunch of food on it, and Kaline and Joey were around that a lot, but Kaline never really offered to beg or (worse) take any of the food. Good puppy! He did drink out of a plastic water cup that was on the ground, but can you blame him? There were two bunches of balloons as well, and it was a little windy—Kaline was a little curious, definitely not afraid. He seemed surprised that he would get treats for being around the balloons, but certainly wasn't going to refuse!

Black dogs by the balloons.

Juno was fantastic. She shadowed me the entire time, lying down whenever I stopped for a bit. She did her usual share of begging with her big, sad brown eyes, but that was it. She only begs from people she knows, anyway. At one point she was asleep next to my left foot, and Kaline was asleep between my feet. Too cute.

Juno supervises the playtime.

Juno and Kaline napping during lunch.

In addition to Joey, Kaline got to meet several tall men, a four-year-old girl, and a bunch more women. Hurrah. He did great with everyone, and everybody wanted to fawn over him. At the end he even played a little fetch with the four-year-old.

Later that night, we went out for a walk, during which we could hear firework booms. Neither Juno nor Kaline reacted at all. I taped the Boston Pops fireworks show for Kaline, to use as desensitization, but he slept through it. On our walk, we met many new friends, got charged (again) by the local Pekes, and met a carful of beautiful Greyhounds. Kaline is doing so awesome with meeting new people and dogs!

Today he's been kind of naughty. Lots of mouthiness, ignoring his own toys to go bite hands/electric blankets/power cords, pestering the crap out of Juno, etc. I took him on an evening walk with Juno, during which he peed and pooped, and then when we came home he promptly peed in the big blue bed. Twice. Sigh. At least we got three decent (not pudding) poops out of him today! TMI, I know.

Send back that puppy. He peed in my bed, you took it apart, and LOOK HOW SAD I AM.

But he was really good when we took him to lunch at a local burger place, just slept under the table. And he was very good about his couple of stints in the big crate. We're basically scrapping the little crate, even though he still fits. He will willingly go in his big crate, and he doesn't cry in there like he's being tortured.

We had a training session out in the common area (grass, leaves, cement, etc.) Kaline did pretty well. We worked on his sit and down stays, watch, come, a little heeling, sit-down-stand, and not being mouthy. I started teaching him to lie on his side as well. He's finally getting touch! I even moved my hand from directly in front of his face to either side, and he still got it. Yay.

Kaline's post-meal cottage cheese face, before he licked it off.