Michigan Trip, Day 2

15 August 2013

Our second day in the Mitten State, we got to sleep in. How delicious. When I finally got up, the first order of business was a walk for Kaline. Our hotel had a nice little walking path behind it, plus a pond, with geese, and this big grassy strip where I later let Kaline get all his running ya-yas out. That day we did a regular walk plus some basic obedience practice.

Morning walk.

Morning walk.

We met my mom's old college roommate and her husband for lunch at a place called Sava's. The first thing the waiter brought was a bowl of water for Kaline (I didn't ask for it) which my puppy happily lapped up. He was excellent through the meal, snoozing under my chair quietly. After lunch we exchanged the car at a nearby Hertz outpost and talked dogs with all the employees (haha).

Kaline the rock star at Sava's.

Next we went to the mall (our hotel was basically across the parking lot from Briarwood) where I worked a lot with Kaline on matching my pace—sudden stops and turns, changes of pace, etc. He did a nudge alert right before I went all fibro foggy. He pulled pretty well once that started but I was still only about half-functional. We came back to the hotel for a break after that.

Kaline at Briarwood Mall.

When we got up, Dad and I took Kaline in the back on his e-collar and just let him run himself out. He also wriggled hilariously on his back in the grass. He was just having so much fun.

Getting the ya-yas out.

 After the run, we went to State St. for some shopping and dinner. In Nickels Arcade, we saw a guy approaching with an Airedale, so I got Kaline out of the way and was keeping his attention on me. Once the Airedale saw Kay, it began lunging and basically screaming, trying to get to him. I shoved treats in Kaline's mouth and just waited for the guy to go away. But of course, when he got close, he goes, “Can he say hi?” I replied pretty sharply, “Absolutely not.” Probably offended him, but better than getting my dog hurt.

Other than that guy and one other, though, basically all the people I encountered in Michigan were politely curious about Kaline, rather than the intrusively curious folks you get in Northern California. It was really pleasant to be asked things about his training rather than about my personal medical information. And Kaline was a great Dober-ambassador, since a lot of people had never seen a Dobe SD before.

We went to Buffalo Wild Wings for Boneless Thursday, and actually saw another SD team! It was a Golden Retriever and a man in a wheelchair. I generally don't go up and talk to other teams I see unless it's a meetup, so I was just quietly happy they were there. Kaline was again excellent, the food was very tasty, and we got to see part of the Tigers game.

At B-Dubs, yum yum!!

After dinner there was yet more shopping and a stop at Insomnia Cookies on South U. And then, the obligatory Meijer run.

Shopping at the M Den. Yes, I bought this, I never put things in his mouth that aren't mine/I don't intend to buy.

Meijer is this store in Michigan (well, chain of stores) that has everything. I am not kidding. Everything. Food, clothes, hardware, pet supplies, you name it, they probably sell it. My parents used to take me on Meijer runs when they'd visit me at school, and we still do a run each trip. It is ridiculous. Somehow we always manage to fill up the cart with stuff. You wouldn't think we'd need groceries and such but apparently we do. Kaline did awesome, even though he was pretty tired.

Kaline and Faygo, the best pop ever. Many flavors, but Rock & Rye is by far the best. It's a Michigan thing.

Filling up the cart!

Slow stuff

Not a ton going on around here since the dog show. Our new hectic walking schedule just started, so we've been running ragged. For example, today we had four pack walks, all back to back. And it was cold in the morning, and wet, so for the first walk my whole left arm and shoulder were spazzing with pain. Thank goodness that pack needs hardly any correction and the walk is quiet.

We're definitely loving our new pair of Boxers. Kaline especially enjoys them, because their enormous flews fascinate him and they share his enjoyment in licking anything their tongues can reach.

Kaline got to do some work-work Sunday morning in downtown Menlo Park. Got kind of an offensive question to start out: “Is he a legit SDIT, or did you just get him a jacket?” But the guy was curious and just ignorant, not being nasty, so I educated him about the fact that it's illegal to fake a service dog. Anyway, Kaline did fine in the Farmer's Market, but took a while to settle at the bagel place. Finally he did, and then of course it was time to get him up and go to Trader Joe's. In there, all of a sudden I got “fibro fog” where your brain goes a bit fuzzy and you somehow can't comprehend things at normal speed. Kaline was super attentive, peering up at me constantly and carefully matching his pace to mine, which basically never happens. He was a very good boy in there, and we got to talk to a kid who just learned about guide dogs in school and was super excited to meet Kaline.

Last stop was Draeger's, where we just had to run in and pick something up. It took a little bit for me to figure out what exactly I needed, during which time Kaline was blocking behind me. Juno has a habit of switching the direction of her block based on where the most people are coming from, and for the first time, Kaline did the same thing! I was super proud of him.

Juno did a movie on Saturday and was her usual excellent self except for goosing a woman as we came out! Gotta admit, I laughed a little. She also came to Auntie Jen's to watch the Super Bowl, looking very pretty in her 49ers collar. Too bad they lost, eh?

We're registered for a rally trial in two-ish weeks. Woohoo!

Why is it Monday again?

Despite having a "job" I really love, I still don't like Mondays. They're long. Three hour-long walks in the morning—four-pack, five-pack, four-pack—followed by an afternoon siesta and then a training session, which is supposed to be an hour but always ends up being two, not that I really mind. It seems like not that much when I write it that way. But it's a lot.

Anyway, Monday is over (yay!) but I'm still way stressed. Obviously the election is tomorrow. I need Barack Obama to win. Aside from all the multitudinous reasons I like him tons and absolutely despise, loathe, and abominate Romney, if Obama is elected, one day I will be able to get my own health care. If Romney is elected, I will never be able to get health care on my own. So tomorrow is going to be a little bit of hell. Hopefully I will get to go to bed knowing I don't need to think seriously about how to move to the Netherlands.

Moooooving right along. We had a decent weekend. Kaline is working really nicely, I must say. We didn't do a ton Saturday because I felt crappy. Sunday though, we did the Farmer's Market and Trader Joe's and the bagel store. I took both Juno and Kaline into the bagel store and they practically spooned. It was really cute and they did really well. We definitely got some looks, but whatever. Dad took Juno on a walk while Kay and I went with Mom to the market.

For some reason, after breakfast, my brain got really slow and fuzzy. I have heard people talk about "fibro fog," but I have never had that happen to me and I am not sure if that is what actually happened. Nonetheless it really sucked. I would be trying to talk to someone and it took three times as long to just process what they were saying, and then it was really difficult to respond appropriately. Kaline did his job even though I wasn't totally there. Yeah, he was doing more than the usual amount of sniffing, but otherwise, he was great. He did great blocking, even when rude people basically walked right into him (one woman huffed her way by and conked him with her enormous bag—I actually said, "Yeah, just walk right into him like he's not there!" in a slightly loud voice, but she didn't notice). He did "touch" when I asked but it wasn't enough, unfortunately, to bring my brain back into focus. Usually if I can feel myself getting out of it, repeated hand-touching will get me back again.

Oh yeah, right as we walked into the market, some guy shouted after us, "NO PETS!" Kaline had on his bright blue vest, which shows up very nicely against his gleaming black coat, and is covered in service dog patches. If I'd been thinking fast enough, I would've really given him an education; all I could get out was "He's not a pet." Damn you, failbrain.

Kaline was awesome in TJ's. About a minute after we came in, someone working there dropped one of those big plastic crate-type things. It was a big loud noise. Kaline didn't flinch, just stopped and then looked up at me—"Treat?" Yes, indeed, young man. Of course we had to go to the cheese aisle (second in challenging-ness only to the meat aisle) because I am totally addicted to Gouda. (Side note: NEVER call it "goooooo-duh." It's "chhhhh ow dah." You have to kinda hock up a loogie for that first sound.) He blocked, then sat when I asked and did an adorably alert down-stay while I stocked up. A guy in the checkout line said it was very hard to resist petting such a beautiful dog. Heehee.

And then we had Monday. Kaline was good; of course a few of the others were annoying. Naughty naughty children. Our midday siesta was not enough but it was very lovely. Kaline's presence was requested for our training session; the puppy loves him and thus so does his owner, even though Juno is a much better demo dog.