Kaline and I just finished up the six-week package of “classic” movies at the local Cinemark 20 theatre. It was a great help with his long-down consistency. The first couple movies, he'd pop up a bunch, starting mid-movie. By the final couple, pop-ups were down to two or fewer per movie!
He also got to do a lot of practice with hitting handicap buttons, not rushing into or out of elevators, and going at a measured pace down the stairs. He is great at pulling up the stairs, just needs to work on going in a straight line, haha.
I've been working with both dogs, but especially Kaline, on various Rally exercises as well. Kaline has several different things he needs to get down before he competes in Advanced on March 22. He's doing really well with the new finding-heel exercises, but having more trouble with finding front when I don't move my feet. Next week, we're going to work on learning the broad jump!
I'm totally preoccupied right now with new Paco collars for Juno and Kay, as well as new tags to go with them from Aggie's Anvil. I have to wait, however. Kaline's birthday is on April 23, and Juno's Gotcha Day is May 12, so that's the soonest I'm allowing myself to get this new expensive stuff, haha. The new collar for Kaline was supposed to be for his graduation, but yeah, I can't wait that long.
If you couldn't tell, we haven't done a whole lot of exciting stuff lately. Oh well!
Showing posts with label handicap button. Show all posts
Showing posts with label handicap button. Show all posts
14 February 2014
20 September 2013
A SD handler riff on an interesting article
I just read this article. To sum up, it explains why it's important to reward both effort-success and results in narcotics dogs (and by extension human children). I say effort-success because they're rewarding the dog doing the search properly, even though it didn't find narcotics (result). The dog's not doing a sloppy search (just effort).
But anyway, my whole point here was to do a service dog take on the article without all the jumbly language. It made my brain hurt a little.
My example of a task where it's important to reward both effort-success and results is pushing the handicap button in order to make a door open. I actually know of a handler whose dog got (momentarily) bummed out because he pressed the button the way he was supposed to, and the door didn't open. The button was broken—the dog had done his job right, but since the result (door opening) hadn't happened, he thought he'd failed.
The way I teach my dogs to hit the button is, first, by seeking out a button that will not open the door. A closed shop works well because I can tell if they've hit the button squarely by the little clicking the door makes as it tries to open against the lock. (As opposed to a malfunctioning button.) Using the clicker, I go from rewarding just a touch of the button all the way up to hitting the button firmly and squarely. I don't really care if they use their paw or nose, although I am glad that Kaline has switched to using his nose since he got tall.
So the dogs start out learning that they're being rewarded for hitting the button accurately. At this point, the door actually opening hasn't entered into it.
When we move on to open stores/working buttons, the reward comes for both hitting the button accurately and for the door opening. This means if they hit the button right and the door doesn't open, they get rewarded. If they hit the button a bit sloppily and the door opens, they get rewarded. Hitting the button accurately is the “effort-success,” the dog doing the task correctly. The door opening is the "result," the thing I want to happen.
I think I've probably oversimplified a little, but the basic gist of this is that with service dogs or narcotic detection dogs or kids doing math problems, it's important to reward both the effort-success and the result. If you only reward effort, you're eventually going to get sloppy work because the result doesn't matter. If you only reward the result, you'll kill your student's motivation, because even if they do everything you taught them correctly, they may still "fail" if that doesn't produce the result.
When you reward both, you get a dog who is motivated to hit that button squarely, or do a thorough search. You basically vaccinate the dog against depression over “failure.” And I think that's a pretty cool thing!
But anyway, my whole point here was to do a service dog take on the article without all the jumbly language. It made my brain hurt a little.
My example of a task where it's important to reward both effort-success and results is pushing the handicap button in order to make a door open. I actually know of a handler whose dog got (momentarily) bummed out because he pressed the button the way he was supposed to, and the door didn't open. The button was broken—the dog had done his job right, but since the result (door opening) hadn't happened, he thought he'd failed.
The way I teach my dogs to hit the button is, first, by seeking out a button that will not open the door. A closed shop works well because I can tell if they've hit the button squarely by the little clicking the door makes as it tries to open against the lock. (As opposed to a malfunctioning button.) Using the clicker, I go from rewarding just a touch of the button all the way up to hitting the button firmly and squarely. I don't really care if they use their paw or nose, although I am glad that Kaline has switched to using his nose since he got tall.
So the dogs start out learning that they're being rewarded for hitting the button accurately. At this point, the door actually opening hasn't entered into it.
When we move on to open stores/working buttons, the reward comes for both hitting the button accurately and for the door opening. This means if they hit the button right and the door doesn't open, they get rewarded. If they hit the button a bit sloppily and the door opens, they get rewarded. Hitting the button accurately is the “effort-success,” the dog doing the task correctly. The door opening is the "result," the thing I want to happen.
I think I've probably oversimplified a little, but the basic gist of this is that with service dogs or narcotic detection dogs or kids doing math problems, it's important to reward both the effort-success and the result. If you only reward effort, you're eventually going to get sloppy work because the result doesn't matter. If you only reward the result, you'll kill your student's motivation, because even if they do everything you taught them correctly, they may still "fail" if that doesn't produce the result.
When you reward both, you get a dog who is motivated to hit that button squarely, or do a thorough search. You basically vaccinate the dog against depression over “failure.” And I think that's a pretty cool thing!
24 June 2013
Another leg for Juno, and Kaline's first trip to a trial
Yesterday was Kaline's first Gotcha Day—I've had him a whole year, which is pretty unbelievable—and we went to a Rally trial for Juno with friends Mary, Marissa, and Kristin. I brought the big purple pop-up crate for Kaline to chill in, along with his breakfast and a Bento ball with an actual cookie in it. (Usually Kaline finds the Bento ball so fascinating on its own that I don't bother with the cookie.)
As you might have guessed, Kaline was absolutely not interested in the diversionary things and whined a lot in the crate. Juno was her usual excellent self. It was fantastic getting to meet Mary in real life, and both the dogs quite liked her also. Juno even favored her with a kiss, which is big coming from her. It was really nice to have a friend there that one dog could stay with while I did things with the other. And Mary took a bunch of fantastic photos of both dogs, but mostly the gorgeous Juno.
I tried to do things better than last time, given it was the same venue. We got a much better course, full of things that Juno is fairly good at, and sans broad jump. (YAY!) It was overcast, so I could warm Juno up in a figurative sense without really doing it in a literal sense. And for actual SD work, I had Kaline there, so Juno didn't have to worry about that.
Well, we again had jump issues, since on the first pass Juno decided to cut around the jump rather than go over it. Not knowing that you're not supposed to repeat a jump (I learn new things at every Rally trial, and always because I've done something incorrectly, haha), I got her back and had her take it properly. We lost ten points right there, but only one point on the entire rest of the course! So I was really happy with that. All four of the dogs who got ribbons for Advanced B got scores of 100, how insane! First through fourth was decided based on speed. An awesome toy poodle got second. All of us sitting together were commenting on how nice it is to see a little dog that's treated like an actual dog. All of us with dogs competing in Advanced (me, Kristin and Marissa) got legs! WOOHOO!!!
Once Juno was finished, I left her to hang out with Mary, got Kaline vested, and decided to do a circuit of the trial. I had had him out a few times already, just in our area, and had no issues from anyone regarding his prong collar. (Prong collars may not be worn at AKC trials—unless your dog is a SD and it's part of his working gear.) That changed toward the end of our circuit, the rest of which went pretty well. Kaline apparently has more trouble ignoring single dogs than ignoring an entire area full of dogs.
Anyway, we had just spotted our Doberman friend, Sue Korp, and her lovely bitch who has All The Obedience Titles. As we went to say hi and chat a bit, a woman with an Airedale came up to yell at me about Kaline's prong collar. I didn't even let her finish her little diatribe, continually cutting her off with, “He is a service dog. He is not competing. The prong collar is part of his normal working gear.” (I wasn't going to get into the nuances of SD vs. SDIT with her, considering that in California, it doesn't really matter.) I was getting pretty worked up but not too badly, because I had expected someone, at some point, to do exactly what she was doing and had prepared for it. Kaline was doing really well, standing in a block in front of me, between me and the yelling woman.
So I reached down to stroke him reassuringly and tell him he was a good boy. The Airedale woman gave him a disdainful look and said, “Can't be much of a good dog if he's in a prong.” That hurt, big time. I'm proud that I didn't cuss her out, or say something stupid, instead responding that my tools are my business, not hers. But you don't hear from a stranger that basically you have a terrible puppy and not feel totally like crap.
We immediately came back to the area with our friends, where Kaline parked himself on my lap/against my chest for most of the next half hour or so. He'd get off momentarily but then he'd be right back up. Such a good boy. And later, Sue came over to chat and say that the Airedale woman was over the top. She said that nationals for Rally are in Pomona this year—bad half of California, but still, West Coast! Maybe we'll figure out a way to go. It's in October, so we have time, and it'd be fun to see Sue's wonderful bitch strut her stuff (somehow at Rally I never end up finding time to go watch regular obedience).
During Rally Novice, a nice woman and her elderly mom came over to us to talk SDs—the mother is training her next mobility dog, a pretty smooth collie. She asked about Kaline's Petjoy harness vest, probably my favorite piece of gear besides our BLD, and I got to evangelize about all its wonderful qualities and how nice the company is to work with in general. It was such a nice, friendly, happy note to end on, rather than Airedale woman.
After crashing away the whole afternoon with the pups, Kaline and I accompanied Mom to Stanford for a quick outing (Nordstrom and Macy's near closing time). Kaline's fear of elevators is all gone and he's blocking properly again in them. He was really accurate with all the buttons, and is mostly using his nose now instead of his feet because he is SO DELIGHTFULLY TALL. TALL, I TELL YOU. He (mostly) ignored three other dogs at the outdoor cafe where I got some tea, and was just a lovely boy all around. Everyone upstairs at Macy's gathered around him to fawn over him and his beautiful silky ears. They were super nice and asked all the un-intrusive, fun questions.
Let's see, other highlights from my undocumented week. At our last session with the tdoc, Kaline was fast asleep until I started to talk about the access challenge we had in Pennsylvania. Then he woke up and laid his head in my lap for a while. Win. We've been practicing retrieves, and he's done pretty well with different materials including metal.
Last Thursday, Juno and I got to go with Sonja and Chief to the JCC in Palo Alto to talk to a class of preschoolers about service dogs. That was super fun!! Normally I'm very afraid of small children, but the teachers had prepared them extensively for the visit, and of course Sonja took the lead in talking to them and doing demos. They were really well behaved and just fascinated by the dogs. Chief demonstrated opening a cabinet and retrieving Sonja's medicine pouch, as well as going to a target with people around it (foundation for going to get help). Both dogs did regular retrieves, and then we showed the kids how the dogs can “undress” us. Then we let each kid put one of our gloves on their hand (their tiny hands were swimming in our gloves!) and one or the other of the dogs would come and tug it off! They were totally enchanted. I hope we get to do something like that again soon! I can't wait to take Kaline and see how he does. He will definitely have fun—Juno tolerates and is very quiet with children, but Kaline just loves them.
Juno's other big outing was going to the Giants game against the Padres (extra innings, of course) with me and Dad for Dad's birthday/Father's Day. Mom and I chipped in for really good tickets on the club level. Junebug was excellent, natch. Our usher was so proactive in looking out for her—anytime someone wandered near our row, she'd jump in and go, “Find another way in, there's a dog here.” We were right below the broadcast booths (TV and radio) and got to wave to the broadcasters during the seventh inning stretch. Lots of fun. Unfortunately we had to leave before the game ended; with a SD, my general policy is not to stay past the end of the 11th inning at Giants' games. (A's games, I can leave the scorebook with Dad and get my dog out for a pee break if I have to, so we can stay later.) The game went thirteen innings and we lost, but hey, a fun night anyhow!
We're planning to go to the Pride Parade in SF this weekend. Juno will be in charge of that, and then Kaline will be on-duty for Dad's birthday dinner that night.
As you might have guessed, Kaline was absolutely not interested in the diversionary things and whined a lot in the crate. Juno was her usual excellent self. It was fantastic getting to meet Mary in real life, and both the dogs quite liked her also. Juno even favored her with a kiss, which is big coming from her. It was really nice to have a friend there that one dog could stay with while I did things with the other. And Mary took a bunch of fantastic photos of both dogs, but mostly the gorgeous Juno.
I tried to do things better than last time, given it was the same venue. We got a much better course, full of things that Juno is fairly good at, and sans broad jump. (YAY!) It was overcast, so I could warm Juno up in a figurative sense without really doing it in a literal sense. And for actual SD work, I had Kaline there, so Juno didn't have to worry about that.
Well, we again had jump issues, since on the first pass Juno decided to cut around the jump rather than go over it. Not knowing that you're not supposed to repeat a jump (I learn new things at every Rally trial, and always because I've done something incorrectly, haha), I got her back and had her take it properly. We lost ten points right there, but only one point on the entire rest of the course! So I was really happy with that. All four of the dogs who got ribbons for Advanced B got scores of 100, how insane! First through fourth was decided based on speed. An awesome toy poodle got second. All of us sitting together were commenting on how nice it is to see a little dog that's treated like an actual dog. All of us with dogs competing in Advanced (me, Kristin and Marissa) got legs! WOOHOO!!!
Anyway, we had just spotted our Doberman friend, Sue Korp, and her lovely bitch who has All The Obedience Titles. As we went to say hi and chat a bit, a woman with an Airedale came up to yell at me about Kaline's prong collar. I didn't even let her finish her little diatribe, continually cutting her off with, “He is a service dog. He is not competing. The prong collar is part of his normal working gear.” (I wasn't going to get into the nuances of SD vs. SDIT with her, considering that in California, it doesn't really matter.) I was getting pretty worked up but not too badly, because I had expected someone, at some point, to do exactly what she was doing and had prepared for it. Kaline was doing really well, standing in a block in front of me, between me and the yelling woman.
So I reached down to stroke him reassuringly and tell him he was a good boy. The Airedale woman gave him a disdainful look and said, “Can't be much of a good dog if he's in a prong.” That hurt, big time. I'm proud that I didn't cuss her out, or say something stupid, instead responding that my tools are my business, not hers. But you don't hear from a stranger that basically you have a terrible puppy and not feel totally like crap.
We immediately came back to the area with our friends, where Kaline parked himself on my lap/against my chest for most of the next half hour or so. He'd get off momentarily but then he'd be right back up. Such a good boy. And later, Sue came over to chat and say that the Airedale woman was over the top. She said that nationals for Rally are in Pomona this year—bad half of California, but still, West Coast! Maybe we'll figure out a way to go. It's in October, so we have time, and it'd be fun to see Sue's wonderful bitch strut her stuff (somehow at Rally I never end up finding time to go watch regular obedience).
During Rally Novice, a nice woman and her elderly mom came over to us to talk SDs—the mother is training her next mobility dog, a pretty smooth collie. She asked about Kaline's Petjoy harness vest, probably my favorite piece of gear besides our BLD, and I got to evangelize about all its wonderful qualities and how nice the company is to work with in general. It was such a nice, friendly, happy note to end on, rather than Airedale woman.
After crashing away the whole afternoon with the pups, Kaline and I accompanied Mom to Stanford for a quick outing (Nordstrom and Macy's near closing time). Kaline's fear of elevators is all gone and he's blocking properly again in them. He was really accurate with all the buttons, and is mostly using his nose now instead of his feet because he is SO DELIGHTFULLY TALL. TALL, I TELL YOU. He (mostly) ignored three other dogs at the outdoor cafe where I got some tea, and was just a lovely boy all around. Everyone upstairs at Macy's gathered around him to fawn over him and his beautiful silky ears. They were super nice and asked all the un-intrusive, fun questions.
Let's see, other highlights from my undocumented week. At our last session with the tdoc, Kaline was fast asleep until I started to talk about the access challenge we had in Pennsylvania. Then he woke up and laid his head in my lap for a while. Win. We've been practicing retrieves, and he's done pretty well with different materials including metal.
Last Thursday, Juno and I got to go with Sonja and Chief to the JCC in Palo Alto to talk to a class of preschoolers about service dogs. That was super fun!! Normally I'm very afraid of small children, but the teachers had prepared them extensively for the visit, and of course Sonja took the lead in talking to them and doing demos. They were really well behaved and just fascinated by the dogs. Chief demonstrated opening a cabinet and retrieving Sonja's medicine pouch, as well as going to a target with people around it (foundation for going to get help). Both dogs did regular retrieves, and then we showed the kids how the dogs can “undress” us. Then we let each kid put one of our gloves on their hand (their tiny hands were swimming in our gloves!) and one or the other of the dogs would come and tug it off! They were totally enchanted. I hope we get to do something like that again soon! I can't wait to take Kaline and see how he does. He will definitely have fun—Juno tolerates and is very quiet with children, but Kaline just loves them.
Juno's other big outing was going to the Giants game against the Padres (extra innings, of course) with me and Dad for Dad's birthday/Father's Day. Mom and I chipped in for really good tickets on the club level. Junebug was excellent, natch. Our usher was so proactive in looking out for her—anytime someone wandered near our row, she'd jump in and go, “Find another way in, there's a dog here.” We were right below the broadcast booths (TV and radio) and got to wave to the broadcasters during the seventh inning stretch. Lots of fun. Unfortunately we had to leave before the game ended; with a SD, my general policy is not to stay past the end of the 11th inning at Giants' games. (A's games, I can leave the scorebook with Dad and get my dog out for a pee break if I have to, so we can stay later.) The game went thirteen innings and we lost, but hey, a fun night anyhow!
We're planning to go to the Pride Parade in SF this weekend. Juno will be in charge of that, and then Kaline will be on-duty for Dad's birthday dinner that night.
06 June 2013
Kaline gets back to work
Let's just say I wish I were still on vacation. Now that that's out of the way ...
Kaline was a bit depressed his first day back from Party Central. Then he mostly got back to normal and my faith in him as a baby service dog was fully restored. Our first outing was to Walgreens, and he was superb.
I have mostly gotten his “new” vest (Juno's Petjoy harness vest) to fit right, and he looks really good in it. We practiced the usual things in the store: pressing the buttons for the door, not sniffing things, lots of loose-leash walking around. He only swatted Mom's little pull-cart once, so that's progress, right? At the end we randomly bought some vitamins that are supposed to help you sleep, and I had Kaline carry them all the way from the back of the store up to the checkout line. I even got a terrible video! You can't see the part where I held it out and told him “take it” and he did, but trust me, that also happened.
So that was really fun and uplifting.
Walks this week have been wearing me out for some reason. Soon they're going to tail off for the summer, and while that will be good for my body, it is not good for my anxiety (over income) or, obviously, my income itself. Hopefully we'll get some new pack members soon. In a couple weeks we are adding a new wee Labrador, so that will be lots of fun.
Juno had a nice outing to Red Robin with me and Dad last night, and of course she was perfect. I think she is getting the hang of her new harness (when I talk about her getting the hang of it, I mean that she is positioning herself right and pulling when asked without someone she likes in front of her). Despite the fact that our table really had no under to speak of, the girls one table over had no clue Juno was there until our waiter started to coo at her. (He was having a harried night, and Juno won't respond to that stuff from a stranger, so I just let him do it.) Pretty fun. I love it when people don't realize my dog is there—that's how it should be!
Today at training they were both good. Kaline is finally learning to do a recall without crashing into me or doing a drive by (to avoid the crashing) at the end. Hurrah! He also did really, really nice off leash heeling through this insane pattern Freddie had made up with many weave poles. They both were rock-solid on the recall with distraction—I found a tennis ball, hehe. Oddly, given that Juno is the only one of the two with actual (well, probable) retriever genes, Kaline is the one who really likes balls. So it wasn't surprising that Juno ignored the ball being tossed all along the line of waiting dogs, but I was really pleased that Kaline just looked at it and then looked back at me! Woohoo! When we were working the Labs and Goldens, a little different story, haha. Although with the gun dogs, all you have to say is No Bird and they're like, “Okay, must not chase moving object.”
Hopefully this weekend I'll get to do a lot of work with Kaline—there's a carnival at a local elementary school, we may go to the city, and we'll probably do our usual Sunday morning routine. We also need to focus on his learning positions around me and trying to develop his body awareness ... yeah, I know. Lots of luck on that last one!
Kaline was a bit depressed his first day back from Party Central. Then he mostly got back to normal and my faith in him as a baby service dog was fully restored. Our first outing was to Walgreens, and he was superb.
I have mostly gotten his “new” vest (Juno's Petjoy harness vest) to fit right, and he looks really good in it. We practiced the usual things in the store: pressing the buttons for the door, not sniffing things, lots of loose-leash walking around. He only swatted Mom's little pull-cart once, so that's progress, right? At the end we randomly bought some vitamins that are supposed to help you sleep, and I had Kaline carry them all the way from the back of the store up to the checkout line. I even got a terrible video! You can't see the part where I held it out and told him “take it” and he did, but trust me, that also happened.
So that was really fun and uplifting.
Walks this week have been wearing me out for some reason. Soon they're going to tail off for the summer, and while that will be good for my body, it is not good for my anxiety (over income) or, obviously, my income itself. Hopefully we'll get some new pack members soon. In a couple weeks we are adding a new wee Labrador, so that will be lots of fun.
Juno had a nice outing to Red Robin with me and Dad last night, and of course she was perfect. I think she is getting the hang of her new harness (when I talk about her getting the hang of it, I mean that she is positioning herself right and pulling when asked without someone she likes in front of her). Despite the fact that our table really had no under to speak of, the girls one table over had no clue Juno was there until our waiter started to coo at her. (He was having a harried night, and Juno won't respond to that stuff from a stranger, so I just let him do it.) Pretty fun. I love it when people don't realize my dog is there—that's how it should be!
Today at training they were both good. Kaline is finally learning to do a recall without crashing into me or doing a drive by (to avoid the crashing) at the end. Hurrah! He also did really, really nice off leash heeling through this insane pattern Freddie had made up with many weave poles. They both were rock-solid on the recall with distraction—I found a tennis ball, hehe. Oddly, given that Juno is the only one of the two with actual (well, probable) retriever genes, Kaline is the one who really likes balls. So it wasn't surprising that Juno ignored the ball being tossed all along the line of waiting dogs, but I was really pleased that Kaline just looked at it and then looked back at me! Woohoo! When we were working the Labs and Goldens, a little different story, haha. Although with the gun dogs, all you have to say is No Bird and they're like, “Okay, must not chase moving object.”
Hopefully this weekend I'll get to do a lot of work with Kaline—there's a carnival at a local elementary school, we may go to the city, and we'll probably do our usual Sunday morning routine. We also need to focus on his learning positions around me and trying to develop his body awareness ... yeah, I know. Lots of luck on that last one!
03 April 2013
Birthday fun
Sunday was my birthday, and of course I did a bunch of things with my two best friends, Juno and Kaline.
Kaline got to do his usual morning of work. He was a little spacey in the Farmer's Market—he didn't sniff or really do anything naughty, but he just wasn't as focused as he usually is. He settled in though; after we had worked the market a while, we went to the bagel store and he settled immediately under the table, without being told. And he only had one pop-up, a little while before we were ready to go. I got to do some fun education with this lady who wanted to know how long it takes to train a service dog.
Trader Joe's was not nearly as much fun as usual. At least two separate sets of kids (I assume siblings) had been given miniature carts by their parents, so they could push them around and pretend like they were being useful. Instead, the little trolls were racing the tiny carts around, screaming and yelling as they went. Kaline was understandably unnerved by just the running and screaming. Maybe unnerved is the wrong word. He wasn't frightened, but he was clearly concerned and distracted. Then, in addition to the running and screaming and general racket of multiple tiny carts, one of the kids almost hit Kaline twice, once with his cart, once with a flailing fist.
If it wasn't obvious, badly behaved children annoy me. A lot. I feel like a 9-year-old should definitely be able to behave as well in public as my 11-month-old puppy. Who despite his distraction, never barked, whined, play-bowed, or lunged. We ran into our usual friend, who complimented Kaline on not reacting to the kids beyond the staring. In a moment of passive-aggressiveness, I recounted the misbehavior of the various children to him knowing that just behind him was the mother of the kid who'd almost hit my puppy. Hopefully the semi-indirect calling-out will inspire her to put her spawn on a leash. Or just leave them in the car.
We finished up on a positive note, with a great mini-outing to Walgreen's. I love having Kaline do the buttons there. There are all kinds of fun challenges to work on, and in the absence of the crazy offspring, Kaline was his usual awesome self.
We broke up the day with a double-dog outing to the grove. Juno didn't run much, but I think she enjoyed herself nonetheless. Kaline made several new friends, including a little five-month-old Australian Shepherd named Sierra.
For dinner, my parents took me to Buffalo Wild Wings in San Jose. I know, I should have higher standards. But I absolutely love the food there! I took Juno, and was super glad I did, because once our server found out there was A DOG under the table (Dad told him), he took every opportunity to squat down and try to interact with Juno. Juno wouldn't even make eye contact with him, merely staring off, head comfortably on her paws, while he made a bit of a fool of himself. “You are beneath my notice,” she was clearly saying. He didn't get the message. I probably should have said something, but Juno did such a good job of it nonverbally! It was too funny.
Mom gave me money for my birthday, so I could order the custom 8x8 BLD leash for Kaline that I've been wanting. Woohoo! Definitely a good birthday! Except for the whole getting older part. Boo on that.
Kaline got to do his usual morning of work. He was a little spacey in the Farmer's Market—he didn't sniff or really do anything naughty, but he just wasn't as focused as he usually is. He settled in though; after we had worked the market a while, we went to the bagel store and he settled immediately under the table, without being told. And he only had one pop-up, a little while before we were ready to go. I got to do some fun education with this lady who wanted to know how long it takes to train a service dog.
Trader Joe's was not nearly as much fun as usual. At least two separate sets of kids (I assume siblings) had been given miniature carts by their parents, so they could push them around and pretend like they were being useful. Instead, the little trolls were racing the tiny carts around, screaming and yelling as they went. Kaline was understandably unnerved by just the running and screaming. Maybe unnerved is the wrong word. He wasn't frightened, but he was clearly concerned and distracted. Then, in addition to the running and screaming and general racket of multiple tiny carts, one of the kids almost hit Kaline twice, once with his cart, once with a flailing fist.
If it wasn't obvious, badly behaved children annoy me. A lot. I feel like a 9-year-old should definitely be able to behave as well in public as my 11-month-old puppy. Who despite his distraction, never barked, whined, play-bowed, or lunged. We ran into our usual friend, who complimented Kaline on not reacting to the kids beyond the staring. In a moment of passive-aggressiveness, I recounted the misbehavior of the various children to him knowing that just behind him was the mother of the kid who'd almost hit my puppy. Hopefully the semi-indirect calling-out will inspire her to put her spawn on a leash. Or just leave them in the car.
We finished up on a positive note, with a great mini-outing to Walgreen's. I love having Kaline do the buttons there. There are all kinds of fun challenges to work on, and in the absence of the crazy offspring, Kaline was his usual awesome self.
We broke up the day with a double-dog outing to the grove. Juno didn't run much, but I think she enjoyed herself nonetheless. Kaline made several new friends, including a little five-month-old Australian Shepherd named Sierra.
For dinner, my parents took me to Buffalo Wild Wings in San Jose. I know, I should have higher standards. But I absolutely love the food there! I took Juno, and was super glad I did, because once our server found out there was A DOG under the table (Dad told him), he took every opportunity to squat down and try to interact with Juno. Juno wouldn't even make eye contact with him, merely staring off, head comfortably on her paws, while he made a bit of a fool of himself. “You are beneath my notice,” she was clearly saying. He didn't get the message. I probably should have said something, but Juno did such a good job of it nonverbally! It was too funny.
Mom gave me money for my birthday, so I could order the custom 8x8 BLD leash for Kaline that I've been wanting. Woohoo! Definitely a good birthday! Except for the whole getting older part. Boo on that.
24 February 2013
Kaline's ten months old!
Kaline turned 10 months old yesterday, and did great today in his usual round of Sunday morning public access. First was the Farmer's Market. Just as we were heading in, we saw a super adorable Large-Eared Black-and-White Dog tethered at the entrance: Max! I of course had to say hi to him and love him up, so Kaline got to practice a little self-control and try to hold a sit while I did so. He was great at heeling and blocking through the market and only did a little illicit sniffing.
We were in the part of downtown with several handicap buttons, so Kaline got to work on those, including the difficult one at Walgreen's which is mostly blocked by a trashcan. (He will usually hit the trashcan at least once before figuring out how to orient himself to aim at the button.) In there, Mom and I did things with the small rolling baskets to work on proofing. I had him do a block and then got Mom to gently nudge him from different angles with the little basket (came up to about his thigh). I also had fun flipping it around in front of him, sometimes clipping his toes gently. No problems.
In Village Stationers, we ended up having a big training opportunity. Kaline was lying at my feet while Mom talked to one of the cashiers when a lady with a Basset hound came in. Kaline had no clue the dog was even in the store until she started barking at him. At first he was startled and jumped up with a little growl. Then he was like, “Oooh, a dog! Playtime?” The Basset continued barking away (no, I have no idea why the owner didn't find a way to shut her up) so I decided to take advantage of it—I turned Kaline away, so he was facing me, and just had him do very basic commands that he knows well and likes, such as touch and the “up-down” game. Once he was mostly focused again, we headed out.
Trader Joe's was the best. As I've noted, Kaline is always really on in there. He was being really great and we were almost done. Mom sent us to the other side of the store, and for some reason my anxiety just started rising. Kaline stared up at me and then started nudging my leg (yay!!!), then my drooping sweatshirt pocket for more emphasis. Once I stopped he leaned into me with his whole body. I was so thrilled with him. And then soon after that, I started getting all foggy like I sometimes do, where it's like my brain is on a seven-second delay. We were standing in line and Kaline jumped up on me, trying to press into my chest. It wasn't like when he's being a goofball and leaping up at me; he came up pretty carefully, for him, and just tried to stay there. I acknowledged him, cause I definitely want him to be proactive, but then I got him down, had him do some leg nudges, and gave him treats. Excellent little boy!
In retrieving news, Kaline continues to steal shit all over the house and deliver it to me with great pride. On command, he is very glad to retrieve clothing, but not my sneakers. (Mom's nice shoes, or Dad's leather dress shoes, not a problem!) He will also gleefully retrieve things like plastic water bottles or vitamin bottles, which I find a little odd just because Juno didn't want to get stuff like that for the longest time. When I dropped my chapstick (capped, thankfully) in the kitchen, both dogs went to get it for me and Kaline was the one who came up with it.
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| Kay doing deep pressure and looking extremely cute while doing it. |
This weekend we also headed up to Berkeley to pick up Juno's beautiful new Paco collar. It's a black rainbow Glow and she looks fantastic in it. She posed for pictures while we were there, which hopefully will end up in the Paco Gallery (fingers crossed!). Kaline was uninterested but Juno did a paws up on the lowest shelf with collars and then when asked looked fetchingly over her shoulder to show off both the collar and her insanely cute face. She got to come along to Johnny Rockets later that night, teehee.
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| Hard at work in her new bling. |
Bizarrely, after the movie, when Ben and I headed to Pizza My Heart across the street, Kaline blocked fairly well (he wanted to sniff some people, and also to lie down sometimes), and then when we got to our table, he went under, curled up and didn't move till we were ready to go. Explain yourself, wee one! So he really ended the night on a good note.
07 January 2013
Winter Break Update #1: Juno at the movies
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.
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.
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.)
Ah, Junebug is the best.
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.
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| 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.
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| Juno at Lincoln, definitely the best movie we saw. |
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| Juno at Parental Guidance on New Year's Eve. |
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| 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.)
Ah, Junebug is the best.
09 September 2012
Saturday Class No. 5 and Tour of Gymnastics Champions
Saturday class was back on yesterday, and Kaline did pretty well. There was a ton of heeling going on, and toward the end of class, Kaline even did some of it off-leash! I was really excited about that. He kept looking up to check in with me, as I've been rewarding him for on walks when he's on a "let's go," not a "heel," and that was awesome. We did regular heeling on the circle, except everyone was going different directions (on purpose). That made for some very useful chaos, as dogs were constantly having to speed up, slow down, and go past other dogs. Kaline has no trouble really ignoring dogs moving past in class ... just have to transfer that to the real world!
We also did figure eights, great for getting dogs to keep pace with you, and meet and greets. The figure eights went quite well, I thought, and the meet and greet was good too. Kaline is still sitting about one step behind where the heel position actually is, but after I move him up enough times, I know he'll get it!
Recalls went pretty well too. He even did one or two off-leash! Of course, I didn't go very far away from him, and as soon as his attention started to wander, I'd move in really close to get it back. I just have to remember to keep both hands down to guide him in. Both hands, and he comes in straight. One hand, regardless of which hand, and he will do a drive-by on my right.
There was also a really cool bit of class where we were only allowed to use hand signals and the verbal cue for "watch." Any command other than watch had to be nonverbal. It was so neat to watch everyone work with their dogs in silence, and Kaline did fairly well. It was toward the end of class, so all he really wanted to do was lie down. So, whenever I would raise my hand in the down/drop signal, he'd drop, but for sit, even though he knows the hand signal, he'd lie there and look at me like, "Are you sure I have to get up? Positive?" Not too worried about that, since longer focus will come with age. I keep having to remind myself that he is only about 4 ½ months old, and I need to keep expectations reasonable. Sounds like a broken record, but it's so important, and I am so terrible sometimes.
Last we did long sits and downs; predictably, Kaline had issues with the long sit because he was tired. Also, Juno kept lying down for Dad, because when he'd signal her to stay, he'd move his hand in such a way that it looked way too similar to the hand signal for down. And Juno is very accommodating, haha.
She also was one of the dogs who took off on a joyride during the off-leash portion (since she qualifies as an "advanced" dog—Kaline was the only one at class not ready for an entire off-leash section). Our class Whippet took off, and even after everyone got reminded to pay attention to their own dog, the Lab was next to go, and then I guess Dad was asleep at the wheel cause Juno bolted after them. Everyone was gotten back safely, the children's soccer game nearby wasn't harmed, and everyone got a good lesson on focusing in the right spot! Also Juno looked pretty gorgeous stretched out running as fast as she could. Whippets, shockingly, are super fast.
After class we went to see the Prius V and give it a test drive. To my dismay, it is pretty much out of the running. The setup inside is a bit weird; the surface in the cargo area is not completely flat like in the CRV and Rav4; the one with leather seats is the second-most expensive option, and with dogs you pretty much have to have the leather seats for clean-up-ability; and the kicker is I barely could close the hatch in the back. Just getting it down the one time hurt, and there is no way I could close it multiple times per day. Ah well. A used 2011 CRV in glacier blue has turned up, so we are going to check it out Wednesday and see if it might be a winner. Faithful Little Tygs On Top is already starting to make weird noises again. Sigh.
Last night, Kaline stayed home while Juno, the 'rents and I joined two friends for the Tour of Gymnastics Champions in San Jose. One of the friends was Amie, with wonderful Pilaf! We had a great time taking the dogs together—it's definitely a plus when you aren't the only one in the group who has to think about feedings, potty breaks and the like. We with dogs ended up in one of the cement boxes, but we could see fine and the dogs had a ton of room to stretch out; the other three were in the row below us.
Juno was a champ, and so was Pilaf. Juno has never had an issue with Caltrain, just went right to sleep on my feet on the way there. She did awesome momentum pulling basically the entire night. Once she knows a route, her pulling improves tremendously (a sign we should probably work more on directionals at some point). I was really glad I didn't bring Kaline cause this was definitely a show to pay attention to!
It was loud, with crazy lights, and a good dose of screaming (especially when Aly Raisman's distinctive floor music began to play and a spotlight suddenly picked her out on a corner of the floor). That bothered Pilaf at the beginning, but that was pretty much the only time she got unsettled. She was super. Juno is an old hand at the screaming (she only can't stand it if it comes from rollercoasters, as I discovered on a trip to Great America). She slept most of the time and I got to concentrate on the show. Sam Mikulak, Michigan Man, was not there, I assume because he has to be in school. (Jake Dalton is a junior too, though, and he was in it. Hmm.) Danell Leyva also was MIA. Figures, he does not seem to be much of a team player at all. All the Olympic girls were there, plus Jon Horton, John Orozco and Jake Dalton from the guys' team. Other National Team guys were some of my faves, like Chris Brooks, Steve Legendre and Josh Dixon (Stanford!). We tried to go down and say hi after, but no luck.
On the way home, the girls tucked themselves (or got tucked, as the case may be!) under the seats and Amie and I got to talk service dogs the whole way. It was quite nice, though we were very tired. Poor Amie had no sleep to look forward to either—she had to go to work for ten hours, then a meeting! Yikes.
I came home to a zoomie baby Doberman, so we played fetch a bit before we had to head back to bed. I was very proud of him that he hadn't made any mess or destroyed anything in his crate, because he was in there for a long time. I tired him out beforehand and made sure he was empty, but still!
Today we did downtown Menlo Park and hit all our favorite handicap buttons. Juno reminds me of Hermione when we're doing buttons. She watches Kaline flub around with this look of mounting frustration on her face, then finally shoulders him out of the way and smacks the button right on with her paw. She knows the answer, dammit! He's getting better at the buttons though, probably because he's getting taller every day. Maybe a little more coordinated too ... I hope!
We also had our usual Borrone's walk/outing with Dad, and today we met Freddie there to talk about dogs as a business. I always end up really discouraged after such conversations, even if they're not meant to be discouraging. I always feel so limited in what I can do, because of my limitations from fibro. The fatigue is a huge problem, almost as big as the problems with my hands. So now I'm wondering if I can ever make it work ... and by the same token, I wonder how I could ever get a "normal" 9-5 job when I probably could not actually work such a schedule long term, spoons-wise.
But anyway, the dogs were good; Juno even let Kaline cuddle with her a bit under the table. We're having a quiet afternoon and I'm just trying to stave off the latest edition of the funk. Another hell week begins tomorrow, and maybe after that things will be a little better.
We also did figure eights, great for getting dogs to keep pace with you, and meet and greets. The figure eights went quite well, I thought, and the meet and greet was good too. Kaline is still sitting about one step behind where the heel position actually is, but after I move him up enough times, I know he'll get it!
Recalls went pretty well too. He even did one or two off-leash! Of course, I didn't go very far away from him, and as soon as his attention started to wander, I'd move in really close to get it back. I just have to remember to keep both hands down to guide him in. Both hands, and he comes in straight. One hand, regardless of which hand, and he will do a drive-by on my right.
There was also a really cool bit of class where we were only allowed to use hand signals and the verbal cue for "watch." Any command other than watch had to be nonverbal. It was so neat to watch everyone work with their dogs in silence, and Kaline did fairly well. It was toward the end of class, so all he really wanted to do was lie down. So, whenever I would raise my hand in the down/drop signal, he'd drop, but for sit, even though he knows the hand signal, he'd lie there and look at me like, "Are you sure I have to get up? Positive?" Not too worried about that, since longer focus will come with age. I keep having to remind myself that he is only about 4 ½ months old, and I need to keep expectations reasonable. Sounds like a broken record, but it's so important, and I am so terrible sometimes.
Last we did long sits and downs; predictably, Kaline had issues with the long sit because he was tired. Also, Juno kept lying down for Dad, because when he'd signal her to stay, he'd move his hand in such a way that it looked way too similar to the hand signal for down. And Juno is very accommodating, haha.
She also was one of the dogs who took off on a joyride during the off-leash portion (since she qualifies as an "advanced" dog—Kaline was the only one at class not ready for an entire off-leash section). Our class Whippet took off, and even after everyone got reminded to pay attention to their own dog, the Lab was next to go, and then I guess Dad was asleep at the wheel cause Juno bolted after them. Everyone was gotten back safely, the children's soccer game nearby wasn't harmed, and everyone got a good lesson on focusing in the right spot! Also Juno looked pretty gorgeous stretched out running as fast as she could. Whippets, shockingly, are super fast.
After class we went to see the Prius V and give it a test drive. To my dismay, it is pretty much out of the running. The setup inside is a bit weird; the surface in the cargo area is not completely flat like in the CRV and Rav4; the one with leather seats is the second-most expensive option, and with dogs you pretty much have to have the leather seats for clean-up-ability; and the kicker is I barely could close the hatch in the back. Just getting it down the one time hurt, and there is no way I could close it multiple times per day. Ah well. A used 2011 CRV in glacier blue has turned up, so we are going to check it out Wednesday and see if it might be a winner. Faithful Little Tygs On Top is already starting to make weird noises again. Sigh.
Last night, Kaline stayed home while Juno, the 'rents and I joined two friends for the Tour of Gymnastics Champions in San Jose. One of the friends was Amie, with wonderful Pilaf! We had a great time taking the dogs together—it's definitely a plus when you aren't the only one in the group who has to think about feedings, potty breaks and the like. We with dogs ended up in one of the cement boxes, but we could see fine and the dogs had a ton of room to stretch out; the other three were in the row below us.
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| Juno in the box. |
Juno was a champ, and so was Pilaf. Juno has never had an issue with Caltrain, just went right to sleep on my feet on the way there. She did awesome momentum pulling basically the entire night. Once she knows a route, her pulling improves tremendously (a sign we should probably work more on directionals at some point). I was really glad I didn't bring Kaline cause this was definitely a show to pay attention to!
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| The Shark Tank before the show. |
It was loud, with crazy lights, and a good dose of screaming (especially when Aly Raisman's distinctive floor music began to play and a spotlight suddenly picked her out on a corner of the floor). That bothered Pilaf at the beginning, but that was pretty much the only time she got unsettled. She was super. Juno is an old hand at the screaming (she only can't stand it if it comes from rollercoasters, as I discovered on a trip to Great America). She slept most of the time and I got to concentrate on the show. Sam Mikulak, Michigan Man, was not there, I assume because he has to be in school. (Jake Dalton is a junior too, though, and he was in it. Hmm.) Danell Leyva also was MIA. Figures, he does not seem to be much of a team player at all. All the Olympic girls were there, plus Jon Horton, John Orozco and Jake Dalton from the guys' team. Other National Team guys were some of my faves, like Chris Brooks, Steve Legendre and Josh Dixon (Stanford!). We tried to go down and say hi after, but no luck.
On the way home, the girls tucked themselves (or got tucked, as the case may be!) under the seats and Amie and I got to talk service dogs the whole way. It was quite nice, though we were very tired. Poor Amie had no sleep to look forward to either—she had to go to work for ten hours, then a meeting! Yikes.
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| Juno and Pilaf on the ride home. |
I came home to a zoomie baby Doberman, so we played fetch a bit before we had to head back to bed. I was very proud of him that he hadn't made any mess or destroyed anything in his crate, because he was in there for a long time. I tired him out beforehand and made sure he was empty, but still!
Today we did downtown Menlo Park and hit all our favorite handicap buttons. Juno reminds me of Hermione when we're doing buttons. She watches Kaline flub around with this look of mounting frustration on her face, then finally shoulders him out of the way and smacks the button right on with her paw. She knows the answer, dammit! He's getting better at the buttons though, probably because he's getting taller every day. Maybe a little more coordinated too ... I hope!
We also had our usual Borrone's walk/outing with Dad, and today we met Freddie there to talk about dogs as a business. I always end up really discouraged after such conversations, even if they're not meant to be discouraging. I always feel so limited in what I can do, because of my limitations from fibro. The fatigue is a huge problem, almost as big as the problems with my hands. So now I'm wondering if I can ever make it work ... and by the same token, I wonder how I could ever get a "normal" 9-5 job when I probably could not actually work such a schedule long term, spoons-wise.
But anyway, the dogs were good; Juno even let Kaline cuddle with her a bit under the table. We're having a quiet afternoon and I'm just trying to stave off the latest edition of the funk. Another hell week begins tomorrow, and maybe after that things will be a little better.
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| Dogs cuddling. |
17 August 2012
Outings with Chief
Kaline and Chief are fast becoming best friends. They will play with each other until one or both basically collapses from exhaustion. Yesterday, Chief and Sonja came out to training in the park. Kaline's face when he saw Chief arrive was priceless. He was stoked.
Juno and Kaline didn't get a ton of work in yesterday—we had a lot of dogs. Kaline did a pretty good job doing figure eights for the first time, though. It's a great heeling exercise, because the human has to work very hard on keeping a smooth, steady pace regardless of the turns (I usually hum "Do You Remember" in my head because it has a good beat to match my pace to), and the dog has to work on maintaining the heel position through an inside turn (slow down) and an outside turn (speed up). So Kaline got to do figure eights, and Juno got to do jumping and recalls and down-stays. We say it lovingly and jokingly, but her nickname, from all the broken down-stays, is Goddammit Juno. (Just like Peter is Jesus Peter.) We have a little too much fun cracking up and joking about at training.
We left training at exactly 4:30 to get home and be ready for our Animal Control appointment. They were scheduled to come between 5:00 and 8:00. Because Kaline is Canadian, there were all kinds of incredibly preposterous restrictions on him from Customs. Apparently rabies is just rampant there, and all puppies, even from great breeders, are exposed. (That's sarcasm.) Seriously, the restrictions on Kaline were identical to those he'd have had if he were an unvaccinated dog who'd been in contact with a confirmed rabid animal. If one actually followed those rules with a puppy from 9-17 weeks old, you'd have the most maladjusted, antisocial dog ever. Basically no going outside except to pee in the backyard, no contact with any humans or dogs outside the immediate family.
Anyway, yesterday was the day we got our figurative walking papers. The lovely man from Peninsula Humane Society came, I opened the door, he cooed over Kaline, and then said, "Okay, you're all set!" I was a little confused and said, "Um, don't you want to see his rabies certificate?" He shrugged and said, "Sure, if you have it." Clearly enforcing these insane rules is not a huge priority for them (he asked if Kaline had been through puppy classes yet, even though he wasn't ever supposed to set foot outside the house). And that's as it should be, because there are a lot of dogs actually in need of their attention! We had a great time chatting with the Animal Control officer about the improvements made at PHS (Juno is an alum) and about the two wonderful dogs he adopted from there. He just loved Kaline. Of course.
Today we had our pack walks in the morning, then came home for lunch and a lovely snuggly nap. Our tdoc appointment got cancelled, so we went on adventures. First we stopped by Mr. Choo's, the tailor, to introduce Kaline to him (he's crazy about Juno and has been asking my mom to get me to bring Kaline by). He loved the puppy and made sure to lavish attention on Juno too. Kaline was a little more distracted than normal because there was a big mirror; he still doesn't trust that strange dog who looks just like him and keeps copying him without fail!
After that, we went to meet Sonja, Hendrik and Chief over in Burgess Park. We let the puppies play off leash—they ran each other ragged and had a brilliant time. There was one point where their play drifted into a little soccer area for the kids, and one of the kids took off and Kaline took off after him ... I was of course a bit horrified and ran after Kaline to get him. No one seemed worried but me! Turned out, the kid's mom was laughing the whole time because they have two German Shorthaired Pointers, and the kid loves having them chase him. Other than that they did pretty well. Ate some mud, but hey, what are you going to do.
Sonja, who is a dog training genius, taught Juno to bark on command in about two minutes. I have been trying to figure out how to teach her that for years, and could never do it! It was no trouble getting the Labs to do it, but Juno, no way. Apparently you have to make woofie noises (I was doing that) while showing lots of open mouth and teeth (I wasn't doing that). Then they think you're playing and get excited and eventually bark back at you. It was so awesome!
Our last big adventure was going to the Stanford campus, which I've never taken much advantage of despite living here my whole life. It's almost as pretty as Michigan! And it's super service-dog/handicapped friendly. Every building not only has at least one door with a handicap button; there are always two buttons, one at the normal level and one almost at ground level, for people who either use their feet to push the buttons or who have short/small service dogs.
We walked around campus a bunch, then found a set of buttons to practice on. Juno was freaking awesome. I got her to push the button with both her paw and her nose. And since I was using the clicker, she'd get her treat and immediately bounce back to hit the button again (her cue is "Hit that"). Fabulous girl. Chief worked on the low button and did great, and I tried Kaline on both. He actually had a much easier time with the higher button; he's already tall enough that when he puts his paws on the wall, he can either hit that high button with his paw or his nose. He got the door to open once and I jackpotted him. It was a lot of fun.
We went to another courtyard and sat on the ground while the little boys wrestled some more. Damn, they're cute. Kaline is so clumsy and yet gentle with Chief, and they do tons of bitey face. And of course they really didn't have much traction on the smooth cement, so if they got up any speed chasing, they'd slide for a while if they tried to stop. Chief finally decided he was done, so we made our way back to our cars with our very tired babies. We're going to make a weekly thing of this—it's going to be great for the dogs!
Pictures hopefully to come ... Next week I'm gonna try and remember to take my Real Camera™, not my little phone.
Juno and Kaline didn't get a ton of work in yesterday—we had a lot of dogs. Kaline did a pretty good job doing figure eights for the first time, though. It's a great heeling exercise, because the human has to work very hard on keeping a smooth, steady pace regardless of the turns (I usually hum "Do You Remember" in my head because it has a good beat to match my pace to), and the dog has to work on maintaining the heel position through an inside turn (slow down) and an outside turn (speed up). So Kaline got to do figure eights, and Juno got to do jumping and recalls and down-stays. We say it lovingly and jokingly, but her nickname, from all the broken down-stays, is Goddammit Juno. (Just like Peter is Jesus Peter.) We have a little too much fun cracking up and joking about at training.
We left training at exactly 4:30 to get home and be ready for our Animal Control appointment. They were scheduled to come between 5:00 and 8:00. Because Kaline is Canadian, there were all kinds of incredibly preposterous restrictions on him from Customs. Apparently rabies is just rampant there, and all puppies, even from great breeders, are exposed. (That's sarcasm.) Seriously, the restrictions on Kaline were identical to those he'd have had if he were an unvaccinated dog who'd been in contact with a confirmed rabid animal. If one actually followed those rules with a puppy from 9-17 weeks old, you'd have the most maladjusted, antisocial dog ever. Basically no going outside except to pee in the backyard, no contact with any humans or dogs outside the immediate family.
Anyway, yesterday was the day we got our figurative walking papers. The lovely man from Peninsula Humane Society came, I opened the door, he cooed over Kaline, and then said, "Okay, you're all set!" I was a little confused and said, "Um, don't you want to see his rabies certificate?" He shrugged and said, "Sure, if you have it." Clearly enforcing these insane rules is not a huge priority for them (he asked if Kaline had been through puppy classes yet, even though he wasn't ever supposed to set foot outside the house). And that's as it should be, because there are a lot of dogs actually in need of their attention! We had a great time chatting with the Animal Control officer about the improvements made at PHS (Juno is an alum) and about the two wonderful dogs he adopted from there. He just loved Kaline. Of course.
Today we had our pack walks in the morning, then came home for lunch and a lovely snuggly nap. Our tdoc appointment got cancelled, so we went on adventures. First we stopped by Mr. Choo's, the tailor, to introduce Kaline to him (he's crazy about Juno and has been asking my mom to get me to bring Kaline by). He loved the puppy and made sure to lavish attention on Juno too. Kaline was a little more distracted than normal because there was a big mirror; he still doesn't trust that strange dog who looks just like him and keeps copying him without fail!
After that, we went to meet Sonja, Hendrik and Chief over in Burgess Park. We let the puppies play off leash—they ran each other ragged and had a brilliant time. There was one point where their play drifted into a little soccer area for the kids, and one of the kids took off and Kaline took off after him ... I was of course a bit horrified and ran after Kaline to get him. No one seemed worried but me! Turned out, the kid's mom was laughing the whole time because they have two German Shorthaired Pointers, and the kid loves having them chase him. Other than that they did pretty well. Ate some mud, but hey, what are you going to do.
Sonja, who is a dog training genius, taught Juno to bark on command in about two minutes. I have been trying to figure out how to teach her that for years, and could never do it! It was no trouble getting the Labs to do it, but Juno, no way. Apparently you have to make woofie noises (I was doing that) while showing lots of open mouth and teeth (I wasn't doing that). Then they think you're playing and get excited and eventually bark back at you. It was so awesome!
Our last big adventure was going to the Stanford campus, which I've never taken much advantage of despite living here my whole life. It's almost as pretty as Michigan! And it's super service-dog/handicapped friendly. Every building not only has at least one door with a handicap button; there are always two buttons, one at the normal level and one almost at ground level, for people who either use their feet to push the buttons or who have short/small service dogs.
We walked around campus a bunch, then found a set of buttons to practice on. Juno was freaking awesome. I got her to push the button with both her paw and her nose. And since I was using the clicker, she'd get her treat and immediately bounce back to hit the button again (her cue is "Hit that"). Fabulous girl. Chief worked on the low button and did great, and I tried Kaline on both. He actually had a much easier time with the higher button; he's already tall enough that when he puts his paws on the wall, he can either hit that high button with his paw or his nose. He got the door to open once and I jackpotted him. It was a lot of fun.
We went to another courtyard and sat on the ground while the little boys wrestled some more. Damn, they're cute. Kaline is so clumsy and yet gentle with Chief, and they do tons of bitey face. And of course they really didn't have much traction on the smooth cement, so if they got up any speed chasing, they'd slide for a while if they tried to stop. Chief finally decided he was done, so we made our way back to our cars with our very tired babies. We're going to make a weekly thing of this—it's going to be great for the dogs!
Pictures hopefully to come ... Next week I'm gonna try and remember to take my Real Camera™, not my little phone.
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