What a week

Boy, am I glad this week is basically over. The cold that started just after Thanksgiving got completely full-blown, so I've been sniffling/unable to breathe without nose spray, coughing in periodic fits, having massive headaches, etc. There was much Cancellation of Stuff.

Juno is a perfect dog to have around when you're sick. Okay, who am I kidding, she is a perfect dog to have around at any time ever. She just lies quietly next to wherever I am, for as long as I feel like being there. The past few days, Kaline has been doing basically the same thing! Only he lies on me, not next to me, usually. Yesterday I actually got both dogs to lie on the bed with me. I have a teeny bed, so it was a little crowded, but very warm.

Both dogs on the couch, be still my heart.

It's been storming a bit since Wednesday, so that hasn't helped the cold any. All the dogs have been miserable going out and having to be wet (raincoats only help so much). Poor Kay will stand and shiver whenever we have to stop. I am constructing his Official Cozy Horse Coat™ in my mind, trying to make it as warm as possible. Can't have it at least until after his birthday. And I may get him a Cloudchaser to go underneath it. Because I am insane, and my little dog is wimpy.

I've been experimenting with giving Kaline more access to rooms when we're home, meaning he and Juno are not closed into the kitchen/den with me. I keep everything upstairs closed, so he can't go into bedrooms and get shoes and socks to chew, but now he has access to the dining room and the living room downstairs where he and Juno like to wrestle. It's going okay, I think. We'll see how I feel a week from now, haha!

Kaline is close to giving himself a hot spot on his right front paw from obsessive licking. I got this spray called Bitter Lime to stop him licking. Well, he hates being sprayed with the stuff and will run away, but even if his paw is soaked in this nasty stuff (I got some on my hands, then nibbled a finger, and holy shit, EW) he will lick as though it tastes amazing. Gaaah. 

In addition to continuing to work on opening the fridge, I've been focusing on hold, out, and take it with Kaline. Whenever he gets annoying at night, I grab one of the few toys left to him (blue rubber bone, Nylabone, antler, cookie ball) and we practice hold and out for a few minutes. His hold is getting very nice; he'll hold whatever it is for a pretty long time, and all I have to do is stroke his chin every once in a while to remind him to keep his mouth closed. Anne doesn't want us to work on take it too much until his hold is solid, so we only do that a little bit.

Fridge work is highly amusing. Usually on the first try, Kaline just picks up the tug and then drops it. It takes him a little bit to actually get the fridge open. Once he does get it open that first time, though, it's like he wants to make sure that first part where he messes around ineffectually doesn't happen again. I'll leave with whatever I wanted out of the fridge, and Kaline will stay over there, yanking the fridge open dramatically, letting it close and yanking it open again. Of course, the next time the whole little drama plays out again, but I think it's getting progressively shorter. It cracks me up.

Also quite funny: When I ask Kaline to open the fridge, telling Juno to stay back a little bit; then he messes up and Juno walks in and takes the tug from him and pulls the fridge open. See how it's done, young man.

There's also been unpleasant drama in the service dog world. Dani Woodson, who I am acquainted with through a couple SD groups on Facebook, was kicked out of a Whataburger in Pensacola, FL, by a police officer who refused to enforce the laws (state and federal) protecting disabled people from being forced to leave because of their service dogs. She got the whole thing on video and it's gone pretty viral.

 

Of course, when something like this gets on the news, the Whataburger FB page and the Pensacola Police Department FB page, it brings out all the stupid people. Who say things like, "I wouldn't want to sit next to a stinky dog in a restaurant" or "How do you even know it's a service dog?" or "Well, they got their food, it's totally okay for them to be kicked out because they weren't denied service". So the SD community has been rebutting the idiots. I got in there last night for a while, and it was just sending my anxiety through the roof. I watch videos like this, I read things like that, and it's like that stuff is happening to me right now. 

And without being asked, Kaline just draped himself across my lap and went to sleep. I'm extra super in love with him lately.

Rain is my least favorite weather

We had training in the rain today. It was not the most fun ever.

Kaline was (undeservedly, it turns out) in the proverbial doghouse from the time we got to training. After being good for a while, he started wrestling with the other puppy, who is much younger, in the back of the car. That crap drives me nuts, and I've been trying so hard to teach him that it's more rewarding to lie quietly right behind my seat and get fed little bits of bait. This other puppy though, will not take no for an answer. Hence, I was pissed at Kaline when I should've been pissed at the other pup. Ah well.

Sometimes it was just overcast, and sometimes we got poured on. Eventually Kaline needed the big coat. I was cold and wet and grumpy. Nonetheless, both my dogs did pretty well when I worked them. Kaline, understandably, did not want to do anything but stand in the wet grass, but when asked, he grudgingly did sit and lie down. Then when he realized we were going to play "up-down" he got more and more into it. Heeling went quite well. Recalls were interesting. He came nicely enough, but he kept looking away when I'd back up. Freddie had me pop him toward me and call him if he looked away when given the watch cue, and lo and behold, much better attention pre-recall!

Juno was my training dessert. She didn't care that it was wet and rainy and cold and shitty. She was stoked to work. We did finding heel exercises, which she is really good at and loves. I really need to do the rear-end exercises with Kaline that I did with her—it really helps, I think, with pivoting into position in many situations. I'd earlier been doing the same finding heel stuff with less experienced dogs, and trying to teach them where to be; with Juno, she sticks to you like ... something really sticky. (I can't stand the cliches that are popping into my head right now.)

We did long recalls, where she'd get going super fast and then put on the brakes so she could slide to a sit right in front of me. And then we did fun retrieving with a bumper. It's really neat to see how much her retrieving drive has increased. I just have to keep reminding myself that this didn't happen at all quickly, it took a long time.

But now, you whirl that bumper and she's amped. You chuck it and she goes for it like it's a steak or something, and then best of all, she comes lolloping back with it in her mouth and sits right in front of you, all proud of herself.

Everyone was much better on the drive from training, except of course our little troublemaker in the back who was chewing on Juno's good leash. (Looks like BLD will be getting some more of my money soon.) This time, Kaline ignored him and stuck right to his spot, gleefully gobbling up his tidbits. And once the puppy was gone, everyone else—Juno, Kaline and Lucky the Golden Achiever—crashed.

When the three of us finally got home, we had a hot shower. Yes, I know, hot water is not ideal for bathing dogs. But I don't think any of us were really up for adding more cold. So far, dandruff hasn't appeared, so I'm going to cross my fingers and just hope that we've escaped this time. Afterward, there was much group cuddling with blankets and such. Also, I apologized for Kaline for being pissed at him: little tastes of mashed potatoes and a piece of cheese.

I can't wait till he's grown up enough to have his own Cozy Horse coat. He and Juno are going to look so awesome when they match!

Other news from today: We started a new walking dog, a female yellow Lab who is the littermate of one of my absolute favorite dogs, who I unfortunately don't walk anymore. She accomplished in about two seconds what Juno still can't do: she made Kaline give her a respectful amount of space in the car. All she had to do was curl her lip a little, and he was like, "Ack! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

It was pretty hilarious to see how the dogs grouped themselves on the walk. Our new Lab and Juno walked on the outside, with plenty of space. The three boys mashed themselves together next to me—Kaline did an excellent job shouldering the other two away so no one was mashed against me. The doodle was constantly getting his head smushed between the other boys. Maybe it's the blondes! The whole squishing business doesn't happen with the Black Dogs.

Really though, it probably comes down to girls just being smarter than boys. Hehe.

Bad blogger

Yeah, it's been spotty lately and it's about to get dead for a while. On Wednesday Mom and I head to Ann Arbor, and I'm not taking a computer. It's at least felt like I've been busy lately—in the sense that I don't have much energy when the day is done. Kaline has been trying everyone's patience, especially over the weekend, probably because he doesn't get as much exercise as he's accustomed to (yes, my bad. Definitely my bad). Even when Juno and he wrestle, I still end up in trouble because Juno makes very loud wounded-bear sounds during the play. (Kaline is a very quiet player.) Also we've been watching a lot of baseball. Can't believe my two favorite teams are going to face each other in the Fall Classic!

The dogs are real quiet right now because they both have pressed rawhide. I got Juno to "start" Kaline's new one, then ended up finding his rawhide stub under the couch and gave that to Juno as an exchange. Normally she is the tidy one, and Kaline isn't, but HOLY CRAP, she is making ten times the mess with that thing that Kaline does. It's really quite disgusting, but at least no one is bothering anyone. Mom came home, saw the white gooey mess, and declared she was totally nauseated.

We had ton of rain this morning, which was very unpleasant. I hate rain more than any other kind of weather, and that includes snow. (And yes, I know about snow, I lived in Michigan for five years.) Kaline saw it from the doorway and gave me a look like, "You must be joking. I am not going out in that." He was wearing Juno's Cozy Horse coat, and when he protested about going out in the wet, he looked like a wee horse bucking and rearing. He stoutly refused to pee in his favorite spot across the street, standing there pathetically with his little hocks knocking together unhappily. I put them in the car un-emptied, and Kaline stood back there whimpering in the most gut-wrenching way.

When we got to our first walk, the only one that was truly wet and miserable, Kaline did fine. Maybe it was the addition of his friends Teddy and Bentley? Teddy, who like Kaline lacks a proper coat and shivers at the slightest provocation, was pretty much as unhappy as Kaline to be outside. But I guess anything is more tolerable if you've got buddies who are as bummed as you are. They did look cute—I have so many raincoats left over from Angel, my first dog, that I can outfit my entire pack. I even have a raincoat that fits Jett, the Swissie (barely).

So yeah, today was all walking and training. Kaline's fave new client is wee Lupo, a three-month-old Lagotto Romagnolo. Lupo is this little fluffy guy who looks like a brown and white teddy bear. Kaline holds back a bit, but they still play pretty rough-and-tumble.

I'll admit, I am excited but a little apprehensive about the Michigan trip. Mom is incredibly possessive about it, and has never let me bring Juno on said trip. So she has to be my service human, the whole time, and while she is a lot better at that than my dad is (sorry, Dad), she still sometimes doesn't get stuff, like why I am not going to wander the mall alone while she has her nails done. My anxiety goes through the roof just thinking about the things about which she'll say, "But why can't you ... ? But two years ago, you did ... so why not now?" I am going to feel totally incomplete without Juno. I went through that earlier this year, when she was temporarily retired, and boy did it suck. Being without her makes me feel like a baby, having to be so dependent on another person. I hate asking help from people; I love asking Juno.

But the good stuff: We get to spend two days, instead of one, at the Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village, which is basically my favorite thing in the world. I used to be super hot on the old-car-museum part, but now Greenfield Village is my love. I think about it ALL THE TIME. And we get to do Hallowe'en Nights there on Friday (please, please, no rain). My big fear there is not so much an anxiety or panic attack, because it's very spread out and not likely to be crowded, and everyone is super laid-back and nice. I'm worried I'll have a fibro flareup and might have to use one of those scooters. Which likely won't happen but I worry about it anyway.

We also get to go to all my favorite restaurants, see my poetry professor who is a huge Tigers fan, have dinner with one of my former gymnasts who is now in med school at U of M, and oh yeah, watch the Tigers in the World Series in Michigan. That will be rather marvelous, I think. But that's another thing I can't do—I can't go out by myself at night to my favorite pub and watch the game, because it will be packed wall to wall and 1) a panic attack will inevitably ensue and 2) I will have no way to stop it quickly and will have to leave.

One thing I can, I hope, do on my own, will be visiting men's gym practice at the Newt Loken Training Center. Being in the gym is like being in a cocoon where nothing can get to you. I don't know too many of the guys anymore, and there's been a bit of remodeling, but it's still my place. When my mom called me to tell me that Angel had died, when I was a senior, I went to the gym as soon as I could, because that was the only place where I could feel anywhere approaching okay. I probably spent almost as much time there as I did in my dorm or apartment.

Anyway, I didn't mean to make this a bunch of complaints about the trip. It's going to be really awesome, I think. Just could be awesome-er with Juno, ya know?

Latest "news"

Well, we've had our first bit of rain the past few days, and thankfully, Kaline does not seem to be fazed by it. He heard his first thunder the other night—he boofed once, as if to say, "Go away!" and then decided he didn't really care anymore. Juno doesn't care either. Yay. Their predecessor, Angel, would attempt to dig through the floor to China whenever it thundered, or if fireworks were set off anywhere in the county.

Since the game, we've had a quiet week, just walks and training as usual. Kaline's gotten in a lot of leave it work—showed up a Golden Achiever a little bit at the park. It must be noted that the Golden Achiever hasn't had nearly as much practice, though.

Dad and I took the pups to the Tony LaRussa event at Kepler's, which was pretty fun. Juno was off-duty, Kaline was on-duty, as you can see from the picture. Kaline did well, although he started to lose it toward the end. He'd been working on holding a quiet down-stay for a really long time (for him), so it was understandable that he got restless. He whined a little; also tried to snuggle up to Juno, who objected a little loudly. "Is there a dog here?" asked Mr. LaRussa, sounding a little eager—he has an excellent organization, Animal Rescue Foundation (ARF). "Two!" I replied. Eventually I took Kaline in the back of the crowd and let him stretch his legs a bit. There were three pet dogs there as well (Kepler's is extremely and delightfully pet-friendly) so Kaline was definitely a bit distracted. He had a good time though, and was a good boy.

Because of the cold, we've been doing even more snuggling than normal. Can't complain about that! Today, Juno was on my chest and Kaline was between my feet, a nice little reversal of the usual order of things. Juno is still pissed off if Kaline "screws around" in the kitchen/family room (I have mocking quotes because her definition of screwing around encompasses such innocent acts as walking near her, or sniffing in a way she deems inappropriate, or touching her ever). However, whenever I unleash them from a walk, she'll wait for him at the top of the stairs and pounce, then gambol off invitingly so he'll come wrestle with her. The couches are all out of whack down there because they will bodyslam each other into them. Kaline always ends up with his ears and neck covered in Juno slobber, haha.

They do well in the car together when it's just them. Kaline is still having issues being settled when friends jump into the car. Friends who are not Max, that is; my beloved puppy wrangler enforces order most effectively. Today I found them snuggling adorably.

Isn't Kaline's Hallowe'en sweater cute?

I guess there's not too much news lately. Funk seems to have lifted, at least, and we've got a couple fun things planned for the weekend. Juno gets to see her bestest friend in the whole world, my former coworker Alex, tomorrow. Should be hilarious. Maybe I'll take video!