A friend and I were talking about how you know it's time to graduate your service dog in training to full service dog status, so I thought I'd do a post about it.
One thing that makes a big difference is whether your state gives the same access rights to handlers with SDITs as with SDs. Since California, our state, treats SDITs and SDs the same according to the law, there is no incentive for me, or any other handler, to rush graduation. I think that's a great argument for all states giving SDIT handlers more rights, but that's another discussion. In states where SDITs have limited or no access rights, one might lower the graduation standards to the minimum, just to have the benefit of the dog's help in more areas.
I'm not talking about graduation standards for anyone but myself. (Just wanted to make that clear.) Right now, I hardly ever remember to actually put Kaline's in training tag on whatever gear he's wearing. But if anyone asks, I will say he's in training. Sometimes, when we're working on a new skill or working through a problem, it's pretty obvious to anyone looking that he's in training. But a lot of the time, at least in harness, he's really starting to act the part of a full SD. (At home and off duty, he can still be a crazy boy.)
Here are some of the things I'll be looking to see before I'll officially graduate Kaline. No hard and fast numbers or anything, just a general idea.
Treats: Do I feel dependent on my treat bag, or can I accidentally leave it in the car and still feel like Kaline will do what he needs to? If the answer to the first part is yes, definitely not ready to graduate. At this point, I try to remember the bag just in case, but I've forgotten it several times and not felt remotely panicky. And Kaline has done everything he's been asked to do. So no, we are no longer treat-dependent for known/proofed skills.
Distractions: This is probably our hardest area. Kaline still wants to make googly eyes at people, especially if they talk to him. He also is still very interested in/distracted by children who are either loud or moving abruptly. He is generally good at ignoring being touched by strangers, although we are working on desensitizing him to being touched on the rear. He was fine with that until very recently, and now all of a sudden, if someone touches his butt, he has an out-of-proportion startle response. Recovers quickly though. Food distractions are not an issue. He doesn't go for food he sees around, and he doesn't beg from the table. Animal distractions ... well, I know small prey animals aren't a big issue because a squirrel basically ran under his feet the other day and he just looked at it interestedly for a second and then moved on. Other dogs, however, he still wants to look at for more than a second, and if the other dog is doing something interesting, like pulling toward Kaline or lunging at him, Kay can definitely lose his focus. This is a main reason why I feel Kaline is not ready for graduation.
General public behavior: I'm really quite pleased with Kaline's recent improvements in this area, especially when he's asked to lie down, settle, and be unobtrusive. His popups have decreased a lot. He's not rattled by much of anything, including, as I discovered a week or so ago, exceedingly loud screams at hockey arenas. He hardly ever sniffs inappropriately, and remains focused on his job most of the time. He definitely has a working mode and understands he has to meet higher standards of behavior when in harness. Basically, he acts professional. Different people have different definitions of what “professional” is ... Mine is a little fuzzy, but basically I want anyone looking at him to know, just by his demeanor, that he is a working dog. And now, they do (most of the time. Some people are just dense, what can you do?). Still, I don't feel the same way about him in public as I do Juno. She is my rock, and he just is not quite there yet. Still a bit higher maintenance, if that makes sense. Building that kind of bond and trust takes a very, very long time—we're almost there, I think.
Tasks: Before I graduate a dog, I want him/her to be able to do all of his tasks promptly and correctly the vast majority of the time. If Kaline needs a little extra help occasionally with accuracy on handicap buttons, I don't consider that a huge issue (for someone with a different disability, it might be a big deal). But when I need DPT, he is on it, no problem, no matter what position I'm in. If I ask him to do stairs, up or down, he's almost always doing it right. (Yes, we are still practicing the various components of going down stairs properly.) Momentum pull is practically perfect. His retrieve is getting pretty reliable, although it needs to be better before he graduates. Helping around the house in the kitchen is excellent, probably because we practice several times a day out of necessity. Kaline cannot learn counterbalance tasks until he is cleared by an orthopedic vet after his second birthday. So having that clearance will be a big milestone indicating graduation is near. I don't think the counterbalance tasks will be too hard for him to learn, but we'll have to get them solid before I will graduate him.
Maturity/endurance: This is a big reason why I think any dog under 18 months of age cannot, by definition, be called a full service dog. As a puppy or adolescent, a dog cannot handle day after day of full-time work without burning out. Burning out is kind of a subjective term, but to me it means a dog loses its drive to work and/or no longer enjoys their work. Puppies and adolescents have bouts of silliness, as well as teenage asshole moments—things that are expected and understandable in a SDIT, but pretty much unacceptable in full SDs. (I say “pretty much” because obviously even adult SDs are not robots, and can have bad days on occasion.) Kaline at this point does have the ability to be a full-time SD, at least for my lifestyle. Being a full-time SD for me involves a lot of off-duty time, given that dogs are my life. It also involves some day-long events, and Kaline has proven he can handle those too. Maturity ... Well, he at least manages to act mature when he's on duty. I guess it doesn't matter terribly much that he acts like a complete idiot sometimes on his own time!
None of this means that training stops. Training NEVER stops, not for service dog teams who want to stay sharp. We will always be working on our weak points, always trying to spice things up with new behaviors whether disability-related or not, and you never know what tasks you might need to teach in the future.
Showing posts with label training. Show all posts
Showing posts with label training. Show all posts
18 March 2014
23 February 2014
Blast from Juno's past
We were cleaning out some old stuff and found a bunch of Juno's shelter paperwork. I thought it was pretty fun! So here it is for your viewing pleasure. I should probably note that pretty much anyone actively looking for a SD prospect would not have adopted Juno, due to her dog reactivity. I was looking for a pet Doberman/Doberman mix, with an eye to a fun fixer-upper.
Juno's intake form (her first family dumped her):
Where does your pet stay during the day? Backyard At night? Indoors
What ages of people has your pet been living with? 39, 39, 12, 9, 8 months (explains why Juno has always been so chill and relaxed around kids of all ages)
How would you describe your pet's behavior around kids? Friendly, playful,
How does your pet react to strangers? Friendly
Has your pet ever bitten or snapped at anyone? No
Has your pet lived with other animals? No
Does this pet have any health problems or injuries? No
Have you ever had any behavior problems with this pet? No
Is this dog housebroken? No (she was, actually)
Does he ever have accidents? Never
Is your pet afraid of anything? Other animals
What type of training has your pet received? Home training (ha, yeah, surrrrre)
What commands does your pet know? Sit, down, stay, fetch (nottttt really)
Does your pet chase anything? She chases other animals when she or the family feels threatened; very protective of family
Words circled to describe pet's behavior: Friendly with people; friendly to other animals; affectionate; playful; shy; too much energy; doesn't like to be left alone (yep, very true); loves affection; good with kids; likes to be groomed; relaxed; likes treats; demands attention often; not used to other animals
Other good or bad habits? Very friendly, loving member of family
Is there anything else we should know about your pet: I as the owner is (sic) heartbroken. She loves my children and family. Deserves a loving, stable home.
Please describe your pet in your own words: I can always depend on her to be warm and happy to see me. Full of love.
Yup, the last part kinda kills me. Juno now has the best life possible—I bet her old family would be happy to know that. She is loved and all her needs are fulfilled to the best of my ability.
Juno was given the shelter name of Bocci. They listed her as a Doberman/Labrador mix. The evaluator found her to be gentle, cautious, reserved, attentive, tolerant, and friendly. They said she was good with some dogs, not good with cats. She was suggested for a home with a medium activity level; house with a yard; a very experienced owner; and someone who was physically strong.
The yard part amuses me and also pisses me off a little. You can have the biggest yard in the world, and if you don't make an effort to exercise your dog and give it mental stimulation, the yard ain't going to do it for you. If you have no yard but, say, walk your dog 2-4 hours every day plus training sessions, the lack of yard is not an issue. I feel like “yard” is a confusing euphemism for “commitment to physical and mental exercise.” The experienced owner part I agree with, but obviously I'm not physically strong now, and I wasn't that much stronger before I developed fibromyalgia. Dog training is not about physically overpowering the dog, it's about figuring out what motivates them, and how to teach them effectively what is and isn't acceptable. When I walk six-packs, they outweigh me by a considerable amount. I can't physically overpower them. But I use clear signals with body language, collar corrections, and treats, and we don't have problems. Conversely, I've seen ten-pound tiny dogs dragging their owners down the street. Physical strength ... Not really all it's cracked up to be!
Initial assessment:
Personality: Other (Other choices were Outgoing, Affectionate, Playful, Timid, and Attentive. I have no clue what they meant by “other.”)
Training: Jumps
Housebroken: Unknown
Relationships: Not friendly with dogs; reactive
Notes on Juno's interactions/training throughout her shelter stay:
29 February 2008
Bocci slipped her leash and went after Daisy. She becomes very agitated and aggressive with other female dogs. Very resistant to returning to her kennel, took 15-20 minutes to get her back inside. Very food motivated.
3 March 2008—2nd Chance Class
Bocci is very affectionate and walks nicely on leash when it is just her and the handler. She is reactive—pulling, barking, whining—when she sees other dogs. In class we worked on running by other dogs without barking. She seems to get anxious easily. She was reluctant to go back to her kennel, stopping in the lobby and at the door of the kennel. Once inside she immediately relaxed and was very affectionate and calm.
8 March 2008—2nd Chance Class
Bocci was nervous and agitated, couldn't/wouldn't focus on me or even on treats. We walked, spent time in play yard, then came into class. Gradually she became more focused and would sit, watch me, and touch my hand for treats. But every few minutes she'd stare at another dog and then bark and lunge at them. We practiced time outs! When she did calm a little, she loved being petted.
10 March 2008
Very affectionate with all people. Reluctant to go back to kennel, so worked on gradually approaching with treats and praise. Saw two Labs in the next play yard—barked at the fence, but with tail wagging and some bowing. I think Bocci's dog reactions are an unsocialized attempt to play—that she really wants to meet the other dogs.
This handler (wrote on 3 and 10 March, then almost every entry thereafter) worked Juno the most and I think had the best read of her character. She still doesn't have great dog social skills, but has been taught to ignore/avoid rather than her old reaction of barking and generally being annoying. When Juno first started obedience class with me, she'd have a meltdown at the 45 minute mark and have to leave for a little bit. It took a good year or so to get her over her dog reactivity.
10 March 2008—2nd Chance Class
Worked on dog reactivity using 18 (probably refers to another dog, unnamed). Gradually approached play yard while he was in it, entered and did some meetings; and walked in the parking lot. She was reactive and hard to settle, barking, lunging, and mouthing him. He stayed calm. She was able to do “walk by” exercises in the parking lot and remain calm.
17 March 2008—2nd Chance Class
Worked on meeting dog-dog. I took Bocci to the outdoor GAR for lots of play (loves squeaky/tuggy toys), treats and pets to get happy and relaxed. Then John brought in Georgia. We worked on treats/praise when she saw Georgia, then had Georgia leave. Then worked on brief sniffing while Georgia was distracted with treats, followed by lots of praise. In just a few repetitions, Bocci was able to ignore Georgia and sit near her for treats. Did this in brief sessions with some time outs to relax. Great progress! Bocci's language was playful, great play bows and no growls. Otherwise she is playful and affectionate.
21 March 2008
Tried introducing Bocci to Ricky. After a lot of initial barking and excitability, she calmed down and was able to be in the GAR with Ricky without reacting to him.
24 March 2008—2nd Chance Class
Repeated above meeting exercise with Tenilla. More energetic introduction for both of them with Bocci doing a lot of barking and mouth but no growling/aggression. Bocci needs now to learn to play and to have more meetings like this.
26 March 2008
Just did regular TLC today. Bocci was reactive (barking/jumping) when she saw other dogs, but settled quickly when we had passed. Playful and very affectionate.
28 March 2008
Fantastic progress in a play session with Tenilla. Bocci is calming much more quickly. Although they are energetic players, there was no aggression or escalation. At one point they seemed saturated (??) and we worked on leash proximity. They did great! Bocci finally seemed tired.
31 March 2008—2nd Chance Class
Another play session with Tenilla. Her play patterns (sheet cut off, argh!)
3 April 2008
Much calmer on leash today than previously. Play yard with tennis balls. Friendly to everyone but a little unsure about the field service uniform. OK on leash, seeing some dogs at a distance—could be refocused. In the big GAR she was very excited (a lot of barking and jumping) when another dog walked past.
14 April 2008
Play session with Tenilla. Went very well. her play style is very energetic but is able to calm/refocus much faster and able to break the play behavior and show calm behaviors.
20 April 2008
Amy and I took out Bocci and her kennel mate (the German Shepherd/pointer). Bocci doesn't really know the language of play—she goes from 0 to 60 (i.e. growling) very fast. Reactive (barking esp.) with every dog she saw today. Great with people, but her dog manners need a lot of work.
23 April 2008
Typical Bocci—sweet and affectionate. Very energetic today, ran around the play yard with toys. Reactive when she saw dogs—but we know this is her play style. She just needs another dog who knows it too. Some fence fighting on the way back to the kennel. She needs a lot more exercise.
Once I got Juno home, the first thing I did was start giving her a ton of regular exercise. It was like magic. Within just a few days, she was incredibly calm the majority of the time.
28 April 2008—2nd Chance Class
Attempted to intro Bocci to Shasta, but both were so reactive we did not have a meeting. Worked on approaching and returning. Both seemed frustrated and overly excited, but no growling.
2 May 2008
Played in the big yard. Was distracted when she saw other dogs in the nearby yard, but her attentiveness improved after a lot of exercise (energetic game of fetch). Also spent time calming and getting lots of affection. Bocci needs exercise to help her calm. Some fence fighting on the way back to the kennel.
12 May 2008 (the day we took her home)
Played a good game of fetch (with a fuzzy toy—not interested in tennis balls) in the play yard and also chased each other around. Loves affection and likes to lean and be in contact with you while she chews on toys. Alert and interested in surroundings. Barked at chickens and got excited; may have some small animal prey drive. A sweet girl who needs lots of exercise and interesting things to do.
Huh ... Lots of exercise and interesting things to do? I think we got that covered! You can tell how much time and love the shelter staff put into Juno. I love Peninsula Humane Society to pieces. Anytime I hear of someone looking to rescue, I always point them to PHS.
I must reiterate that reactivity like what Juno had (note past tense) is not acceptable in a working dog. We adopted Juno in May of 2008 and she did not start her SD training until January 2011—after her dog reactivity had been worked through. Obviously dogs are not robots, and will have bad days every once in a while, but reactivity on a regular basis is, at the very least, a reason to pull the dog from public work until it's resolved. If it can't be resolved, the dog must be washed out. A reactive SD puts both its handler and the public in danger.
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| The shelter where we adopted Juno. |
Juno's intake form (her first family dumped her):
Where does your pet stay during the day? Backyard At night? Indoors
What ages of people has your pet been living with? 39, 39, 12, 9, 8 months (explains why Juno has always been so chill and relaxed around kids of all ages)
How would you describe your pet's behavior around kids? Friendly, playful,
How does your pet react to strangers? Friendly
Has your pet ever bitten or snapped at anyone? No
Has your pet lived with other animals? No
Does this pet have any health problems or injuries? No
Have you ever had any behavior problems with this pet? No
Is this dog housebroken? No (she was, actually)
Does he ever have accidents? Never
Is your pet afraid of anything? Other animals
What type of training has your pet received? Home training (ha, yeah, surrrrre)
What commands does your pet know? Sit, down, stay, fetch (nottttt really)
Does your pet chase anything? She chases other animals when she or the family feels threatened; very protective of family
Words circled to describe pet's behavior: Friendly with people; friendly to other animals; affectionate; playful; shy; too much energy; doesn't like to be left alone (yep, very true); loves affection; good with kids; likes to be groomed; relaxed; likes treats; demands attention often; not used to other animals
Other good or bad habits? Very friendly, loving member of family
Is there anything else we should know about your pet: I as the owner is (sic) heartbroken. She loves my children and family. Deserves a loving, stable home.
Please describe your pet in your own words: I can always depend on her to be warm and happy to see me. Full of love.
Yup, the last part kinda kills me. Juno now has the best life possible—I bet her old family would be happy to know that. She is loved and all her needs are fulfilled to the best of my ability.
Juno was given the shelter name of Bocci. They listed her as a Doberman/Labrador mix. The evaluator found her to be gentle, cautious, reserved, attentive, tolerant, and friendly. They said she was good with some dogs, not good with cats. She was suggested for a home with a medium activity level; house with a yard; a very experienced owner; and someone who was physically strong.
The yard part amuses me and also pisses me off a little. You can have the biggest yard in the world, and if you don't make an effort to exercise your dog and give it mental stimulation, the yard ain't going to do it for you. If you have no yard but, say, walk your dog 2-4 hours every day plus training sessions, the lack of yard is not an issue. I feel like “yard” is a confusing euphemism for “commitment to physical and mental exercise.” The experienced owner part I agree with, but obviously I'm not physically strong now, and I wasn't that much stronger before I developed fibromyalgia. Dog training is not about physically overpowering the dog, it's about figuring out what motivates them, and how to teach them effectively what is and isn't acceptable. When I walk six-packs, they outweigh me by a considerable amount. I can't physically overpower them. But I use clear signals with body language, collar corrections, and treats, and we don't have problems. Conversely, I've seen ten-pound tiny dogs dragging their owners down the street. Physical strength ... Not really all it's cracked up to be!
Initial assessment:
Personality: Other (Other choices were Outgoing, Affectionate, Playful, Timid, and Attentive. I have no clue what they meant by “other.”)
Training: Jumps
Housebroken: Unknown
Relationships: Not friendly with dogs; reactive
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| Juno on her first day at home. |
Notes on Juno's interactions/training throughout her shelter stay:
29 February 2008
Bocci slipped her leash and went after Daisy. She becomes very agitated and aggressive with other female dogs. Very resistant to returning to her kennel, took 15-20 minutes to get her back inside. Very food motivated.
3 March 2008—2nd Chance Class
Bocci is very affectionate and walks nicely on leash when it is just her and the handler. She is reactive—pulling, barking, whining—when she sees other dogs. In class we worked on running by other dogs without barking. She seems to get anxious easily. She was reluctant to go back to her kennel, stopping in the lobby and at the door of the kennel. Once inside she immediately relaxed and was very affectionate and calm.
8 March 2008—2nd Chance Class
Bocci was nervous and agitated, couldn't/wouldn't focus on me or even on treats. We walked, spent time in play yard, then came into class. Gradually she became more focused and would sit, watch me, and touch my hand for treats. But every few minutes she'd stare at another dog and then bark and lunge at them. We practiced time outs! When she did calm a little, she loved being petted.
10 March 2008
Very affectionate with all people. Reluctant to go back to kennel, so worked on gradually approaching with treats and praise. Saw two Labs in the next play yard—barked at the fence, but with tail wagging and some bowing. I think Bocci's dog reactions are an unsocialized attempt to play—that she really wants to meet the other dogs.
This handler (wrote on 3 and 10 March, then almost every entry thereafter) worked Juno the most and I think had the best read of her character. She still doesn't have great dog social skills, but has been taught to ignore/avoid rather than her old reaction of barking and generally being annoying. When Juno first started obedience class with me, she'd have a meltdown at the 45 minute mark and have to leave for a little bit. It took a good year or so to get her over her dog reactivity.
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| Juno at her first obedience class. |
10 March 2008—2nd Chance Class
Worked on dog reactivity using 18 (probably refers to another dog, unnamed). Gradually approached play yard while he was in it, entered and did some meetings; and walked in the parking lot. She was reactive and hard to settle, barking, lunging, and mouthing him. He stayed calm. She was able to do “walk by” exercises in the parking lot and remain calm.
17 March 2008—2nd Chance Class
Worked on meeting dog-dog. I took Bocci to the outdoor GAR for lots of play (loves squeaky/tuggy toys), treats and pets to get happy and relaxed. Then John brought in Georgia. We worked on treats/praise when she saw Georgia, then had Georgia leave. Then worked on brief sniffing while Georgia was distracted with treats, followed by lots of praise. In just a few repetitions, Bocci was able to ignore Georgia and sit near her for treats. Did this in brief sessions with some time outs to relax. Great progress! Bocci's language was playful, great play bows and no growls. Otherwise she is playful and affectionate.
21 March 2008
Tried introducing Bocci to Ricky. After a lot of initial barking and excitability, she calmed down and was able to be in the GAR with Ricky without reacting to him.
24 March 2008—2nd Chance Class
Repeated above meeting exercise with Tenilla. More energetic introduction for both of them with Bocci doing a lot of barking and mouth but no growling/aggression. Bocci needs now to learn to play and to have more meetings like this.
26 March 2008
Just did regular TLC today. Bocci was reactive (barking/jumping) when she saw other dogs, but settled quickly when we had passed. Playful and very affectionate.
28 March 2008
Fantastic progress in a play session with Tenilla. Bocci is calming much more quickly. Although they are energetic players, there was no aggression or escalation. At one point they seemed saturated (??) and we worked on leash proximity. They did great! Bocci finally seemed tired.
31 March 2008—2nd Chance Class
Another play session with Tenilla. Her play patterns (sheet cut off, argh!)
3 April 2008
Much calmer on leash today than previously. Play yard with tennis balls. Friendly to everyone but a little unsure about the field service uniform. OK on leash, seeing some dogs at a distance—could be refocused. In the big GAR she was very excited (a lot of barking and jumping) when another dog walked past.
14 April 2008
Play session with Tenilla. Went very well. her play style is very energetic but is able to calm/refocus much faster and able to break the play behavior and show calm behaviors.
20 April 2008
Amy and I took out Bocci and her kennel mate (the German Shepherd/pointer). Bocci doesn't really know the language of play—she goes from 0 to 60 (i.e. growling) very fast. Reactive (barking esp.) with every dog she saw today. Great with people, but her dog manners need a lot of work.
23 April 2008
Typical Bocci—sweet and affectionate. Very energetic today, ran around the play yard with toys. Reactive when she saw dogs—but we know this is her play style. She just needs another dog who knows it too. Some fence fighting on the way back to the kennel. She needs a lot more exercise.
Once I got Juno home, the first thing I did was start giving her a ton of regular exercise. It was like magic. Within just a few days, she was incredibly calm the majority of the time.
28 April 2008—2nd Chance Class
Attempted to intro Bocci to Shasta, but both were so reactive we did not have a meeting. Worked on approaching and returning. Both seemed frustrated and overly excited, but no growling.
2 May 2008
Played in the big yard. Was distracted when she saw other dogs in the nearby yard, but her attentiveness improved after a lot of exercise (energetic game of fetch). Also spent time calming and getting lots of affection. Bocci needs exercise to help her calm. Some fence fighting on the way back to the kennel.
12 May 2008 (the day we took her home)
Played a good game of fetch (with a fuzzy toy—not interested in tennis balls) in the play yard and also chased each other around. Loves affection and likes to lean and be in contact with you while she chews on toys. Alert and interested in surroundings. Barked at chickens and got excited; may have some small animal prey drive. A sweet girl who needs lots of exercise and interesting things to do.
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| Juno with her new tiger stuffie on her first day home. We still have the tiger! |
I must reiterate that reactivity like what Juno had (note past tense) is not acceptable in a working dog. We adopted Juno in May of 2008 and she did not start her SD training until January 2011—after her dog reactivity had been worked through. Obviously dogs are not robots, and will have bad days every once in a while, but reactivity on a regular basis is, at the very least, a reason to pull the dog from public work until it's resolved. If it can't be resolved, the dog must be washed out. A reactive SD puts both its handler and the public in danger.
28 January 2014
Service dog meetup at the Golden Gate Kennel Club Dog Show
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| Left to right: Bella, Kiyah, Baja, Rhydian, Juno, Kaline, Delphine, and Bruce. |
Saturday, Juno and Kaline both got to go, since Sonja's Chief was still recovering from a paw injury and wasn't supposed to walk a lot on concrete. Juno won't work for most people, but she adores Sonja and will work for her. She was absolutely delighted to be able to go. Especially since Sonja gave her french fries.
We hung out a lot with our new friends Lindsay and Bruce the Painted Doberman (lots of people wanted photos of the Doberman service dogs in training) and with Ashley and her insanely cute Shar Pei-shepherd mix, Delphine. Probably the most commonly asked question of the whole weekend was, “What kind of dog is that?” We also met Tiffany and Baja, a German shepherd; Hillary and Kiyah, a pit bull; Heather and Bella, an Ibizan hound who won Best of Breed on Sunday; and Clara and Rhydian, another German shepherd.
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| Kaline and Bruce |
We watched the Dobermans show, and among them was a stunning, all-natural, eight-month-old male Doberman from Poland. It was his owner/handler's first time ever showing in conformation and it was just so sweet to see all the experienced handlers coming over before they went in the ring to try to help her prepare. Argo won some ribbons, being the only one in his age group. Such a sweet, cute boy. Makes me want a Polish Doberman, haha! He had a much thicker coat than Kaline and the other Dobermans—looked like it might actually help him keep warm. What a concept!
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| Argo! |
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| Kaline at his first men's gym meet. |
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| Lindsay and I are both Paco addicts. WIN. |
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| All the cute. |
Five of us—Ashley, Lindsay, Heather, Clara, and I—ended up at our dinner, which we did at Buca di Beppo in the city. It was interesting getting five service dogs/service dogs in training all under or next to the table, but the staff were quite nice and set us up in a less crowded area. It was very yummy, and definitely a lot of fun to hang out with people who just get it. By the time I got home, though, I was totally zonked! Waking up the next morning to a full schedule of four pack walks: Not the best thing ever. But the exposure and distraction work are great for Kaline, and it's always wonderful to meet up with other handlers.
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| Snuggles at dinner. |
20 January 2014
Rally Overdose! (Humiliating photos galore)
This past weekend, Juno, Kaline, and I did three Rally trials in two days. This was not, in fact, the best idea ever. Nonetheless, Juno earned her Rally Excellent (RE) title, and Kaline earned his Rally Novice (RN) title! Very exciting.
We had a new setup this year. Juno and I are minimalists and show up at trials with a folding chair and a travel mat, with a collapsible travel bowl hooked onto my belt loop so I can give her water at some point. Thanks to Kaline, we added to that: an enormous, exceedingly light and easy to pop-up Noz2Noz crate, a Ruffwear Mt. Bachelor pad to make the crate cushy, extra traffic lead and snake chain, Tigers jammies, etc etc. I felt slightly ridiculous, until I remembered that this is how “normal” people pack for trials. (Normal in quotes because ... yeah, if you do any kind of trialing, you're not normal.)
The first day, we got up at 4:30 in order to be at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds by 6:00 to set up and get our course map and start practicing. Juno was going to be first in the ring for Excellent, the first class of the day. So yeah, I was freaking out a bit. We got our favorite setup spot, and though the stewards were really slow/late handing maps out and checking people in, Juno and I were able to pace around the ring as the judge laid out the signs, and start practicing. Kaline snuggled down in his crate and was largely quite good about it. I think he realized it was the warmest, coziest, comfiest place he could really be (the building this trial happens in is SO cold, always).
The course was pretty nice for us, except for having a broad jump. Usually Juno does not believe in the broad jump. She just walks on it, which is a ten-point deduction. Since you can lose 30 points and still qualify, I don't fight her on the broad jump. We had practiced the send to jump (I'm not going to explain it, suffice it to say that it's really hard if your dog isn't in agility) a lot but that wasn't on the course. Anyway, I did my best to do Juno's usual warmup and got her really amped. Apparently, a little too amped.
We got in the ring and Juno was so excited that she flubbed things she's normally very precise about by just bouncing out of position. I just had to giggle at her, because she was so enthusiastic. We got to the broad jump and I gave her the “over” cue—and she sailed over it like a pro! I was so surprised I almost tripped over myself. She did the other jump fine and we qualified with room to spare, getting 82. That was her last leg for her RE title, and I was so thrilled. Little bummed that they didn't have the little medallions you usually get for a title, but still, it was cool.
We had to wait a long time for Kaline's debut in Novice. Outside of his crate, he was quite a pill, since he's collar-smart and knows he can get away with all kinds of things on his flat collar. He was most annoying. In the ring, he still got distracted and a little scatterbrained a couple times, but he was largely a very good boy and ended up with an 88 and his first leg!
Had lunch, second trial commenced. Juno and I had a terrible time in our Excellent run. She was tired—I think that was the issue. Her main problem in general is lagging, and the lagging was extreme in that run. And she refused both jumps, probably because we had done too much jump practice outside the ring. Too many demerits and we NQ'ed. I was so bummed out I scratched from Advanced. (After you get the RE title, the next title is RAE, where you have to get qualifying scores in both classes in the same trial in order to get a leg. You need ten legs for the title). Kaline had a better run than in the morning and got a 93 for his second Novice leg.
The next morning, I was super excited to see that the Excellent and Advanced courses were really nice, in terms of playing to Juno's strengths. As I did the walk-through for Excellent, I noted that the sign for station 11 was in a weird place where it was easy to just miss it entirely. I spent the practice time repeating to myself not to miss that sign. So what happened when we did the course? Juno did rather nicely, other than refusing the second jump—and I missed station 11. Automatic NQ. UGH! Nothing feels worse than a massive handler error. We did Advanced just for giggles and though Juno lagged horribly and trying to motivate her was like pulling teeth, we still got an 89.
Kaline did great in his final Novice run. He did all the stations so nicely, except for in the serpentine where we kept knocking into each other. He got a 94 and he got his title! That was a really nice end to the weekend.
I'm going to enter them both in one more trial (at a date to be determined) and if Juno is lagging and lackluster again, I'm just going to bag RAE for her. If she's not having fun and it's a chore and three jumps to practice for and then perform are just too much for her at this point, then it's too much. I'm not going to force her through all this for a title that is supposed to be “just for fun.”
Stay tuned for lots of training with Kaline on how to behave nicely on a flat collar.
We had a new setup this year. Juno and I are minimalists and show up at trials with a folding chair and a travel mat, with a collapsible travel bowl hooked onto my belt loop so I can give her water at some point. Thanks to Kaline, we added to that: an enormous, exceedingly light and easy to pop-up Noz2Noz crate, a Ruffwear Mt. Bachelor pad to make the crate cushy, extra traffic lead and snake chain, Tigers jammies, etc etc. I felt slightly ridiculous, until I remembered that this is how “normal” people pack for trials. (Normal in quotes because ... yeah, if you do any kind of trialing, you're not normal.)
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| Trumbull packed and ready to go, except for the dogs! |
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| Our setup at the show; red camp chair courtesy of our very kind friend, Laurie, cause mine is MIA. |
We got in the ring and Juno was so excited that she flubbed things she's normally very precise about by just bouncing out of position. I just had to giggle at her, because she was so enthusiastic. We got to the broad jump and I gave her the “over” cue—and she sailed over it like a pro! I was so surprised I almost tripped over myself. She did the other jump fine and we qualified with room to spare, getting 82. That was her last leg for her RE title, and I was so thrilled. Little bummed that they didn't have the little medallions you usually get for a title, but still, it was cool.
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| Juno and her green ribbon for qualifying in Excellent. Her official title is now (Queen) SD Thundercats Are Go CGC CD RE. |
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| Kaline's first green ribbon! |
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| Second leg! |
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| You can tell she's really thrilled. |
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| Look Mom, I got a medal to go with my ribbon! His official title is now (Princess) SDIT Gatehouse As Time Goes By CGC RN. |
Stay tuned for lots of training with Kaline on how to behave nicely on a flat collar.
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!
27 August 2013
Michigan Trip, Day 6
19 August 2013
Our last Michigan day was another long one. Mom and I got up early to walk Kaline and do some errands. I ran him behind the hotel to take the edge off a bit. We walked from South U. across the Diag again in beautiful weather to State St. On the way back to the car we stopped at Ray's Red Hots, formerly Red Hot Lovers (a much better name in my opinion), so I could get a delicious red hot and waffle fries. Delicious. Kay again did great momentum pull.
We got a courtesy driver to the airport (yay Hertz!) so we didn't have to do luggage unloading twice. There was really no line at security. Kaline got my hoodie off, refused the first shoe retrieve, then did the second one. Progress. He was the best yet at his pat-down, holding his stand very nicely. We really lucked out getting all dog-lovers on the pat-downs.
We went to Max and Erma's for a bite and Kay settled perfectly. When we boarded the plane he was fine, but he started to tremble when I sent him into our row. He stopped, then started again during takeoff. He sat up and all three of us were stroking him and making soothing sounds. As soon as we started cruising, he relaxed and went to sleep for most of the flight. Huge improvement! This one flight attendant kept coming by to just check on how Kaline was doing, how sweet. He did fine on the landing and did mostly nice, sometimes too hard, pulling through the airport. Super antsy on the car ride home, but I couldn't blame him. He went from being cooped up five hours in a plane to being really cooped up in the car.
When we got home, I was the first one to go in. Hendrik had dropped Juno off earlier, and her welcome home greetings are the best! She jumped, she wagged, she kissed, she leaned, she even whimpered in glee. I kissed and hugged and rubbed and made squeaky sounds. Brilliant. When I released her to go outside, she raced to Dad and “attacked”; then she realized Mom was in the back seat of my car and jumped into the cargo area, trying to vault into the back seat. She was not terribly thrilled to find Kaline in the back seat. “I thought you got rid of him!”
To wrap up, Kaline exceeded my expectations for this trip. I asked a lot of him, and he was fantastic. I am super proud of him, and especially glad that both my parents noticed and acknowledged how well he did. And to put the cherry on top: I finally wore Mom down, and Juno will be coming with me to Michigan in October! I cannot wait.
Our last Michigan day was another long one. Mom and I got up early to walk Kaline and do some errands. I ran him behind the hotel to take the edge off a bit. We walked from South U. across the Diag again in beautiful weather to State St. On the way back to the car we stopped at Ray's Red Hots, formerly Red Hot Lovers (a much better name in my opinion), so I could get a delicious red hot and waffle fries. Delicious. Kay again did great momentum pull.
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| Morning walk, stopping at my favorite restaurant, Charley's. |
We went to Max and Erma's for a bite and Kay settled perfectly. When we boarded the plane he was fine, but he started to tremble when I sent him into our row. He stopped, then started again during takeoff. He sat up and all three of us were stroking him and making soothing sounds. As soon as we started cruising, he relaxed and went to sleep for most of the flight. Huge improvement! This one flight attendant kept coming by to just check on how Kaline was doing, how sweet. He did fine on the landing and did mostly nice, sometimes too hard, pulling through the airport. Super antsy on the car ride home, but I couldn't blame him. He went from being cooped up five hours in a plane to being really cooped up in the car.
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| Kay on the plane home. |
To wrap up, Kaline exceeded my expectations for this trip. I asked a lot of him, and he was fantastic. I am super proud of him, and especially glad that both my parents noticed and acknowledged how well he did. And to put the cherry on top: I finally wore Mom down, and Juno will be coming with me to Michigan in October! I cannot wait.
26 August 2013
Michigan Trip, Day 5
18 August 2013
We were at Greenfield Village basically from opening to closing! It was glorious. Perfect weather, so Mr. K did not have to wear shoes, and no one was chilly or overheated. Woohoo.
Dad had twisted his ankle the night before, so for the day he rented a scooter. We told him he looked like Dr. Nefario from Despicable Me.
We had planned to take the train to the back of the village and work our way forward, but the wait for the next one was too long—we had a long list of things to do! This ended up happening repeatedly and we never actually took the train. Ah well.
We walked all the way back to the Daggett Farmhouse, one of my favorite stops. Kay did excellent momentum pulling to get there. We stopped off at the Logan County Courthouse, where Abraham Lincoln once practiced law. We'd seen the outside but never the inside, and the door was open so we went in to learn more about it. When we came outside, I noticed that Kaline's liquid bandaid had all worn off and his ear looked pretty good! I was still super careful with it and the bandaid has since been reapplied, because he shook his head too hard and I could tell it wasn't going to hold. Maybe it will once the hair grows back?
Once we went inside the farmhouse, we had a lot of things to work on! The fire inside was crackling merrily as usual—the Daggett Farmhouse presenters cook their meals there and much of their food comes from the garden in the back. It's so cool that it's still at least kind of a working farm. But the open flame scared the crap out of Kaline (not literally) who had no clue what the heck it was. He froze, hackles up, and gave a little wuff.
The presenters were super nice and supportive about me working Kaline through it. We went outside to calm down, first of all. Did some easy commands (sit, touch, stand). Once he was a bit calmer and more focused, we went back inside. He was still not happy about the flames but I took him as far away from them as I could to sneak past and get him into the kitchen area. There, he chilled out nicely. I let all the presenters say hi to him and pet him because he also seemed unsettled by their period dress.
We met a guy, also in period garb, outside splitting wood. Kaline warmed up to him nicely, after being a little unsure at first. Then we spent a long time at the candle-making demo. The two ladies there were very informative and very happy to help Kaline with his aversion to period dress. One even took off her straw bonnet so he could make a closer inspection. He really relaxed after that interaction. Yay.
Next we went to the beautiful Cotswold Cottage for tea and scones, something that is never an option when we go in chilly October. There were tables set up in the side yard with little umbrellas over them, and flowers all around. English gardens are awesome. Kaline chilled out next to my chair for the most part (till we got him up for a wee photo shoot—Mom can't resist the combo of gorgeous flowers and dogs). I got a pot of hot English Breakfast tea in a tea cozy, with a full honey bear on the table just for me. The scones with jam and clotted cream were to die for.
We came back to the Town Hall for a fun Gershwin medley performance, during which Kaline warmed my feet. The parents went to ride the carousel while Kaline and I waited in vain at the town hall for the baseball parade to begin. (Dammit.) After that, Dad went to watch the game, while Mom, Kaline and I went off on our own.
We ended up at Liberty Craft Works again, where I was actually able to watch and very much enjoy the pottery demonstrations. Kaline also met a tiny little girl who was so cute and polite I let her pet him and love him up. He'd been doing so well all day I thought he deserved a reward.
A little later, we met back up with Dad and decided to ride the Model T even though there was a really long line. Kaline did pretty well in line except when he accidentally did a tail clamp on one of the chains that marked the line's serpentine. Did some blocking, some lying down with all the humans blocking for him. We ended up in basically a Model T woody, known as a hack. Kaline was a little nervous at first because of how loudly the gears shifted and how much vibration there was, but soon he settled into a down at my feet.
After our ride we explored the Miller School, another building we'd never been in since it's rarely open to the public. The man at the door advised that there was a tiny steam engine inside, so I'd be ready to work Kaline through it if it bothered him, but he totally didn't care. Just flopped on the floor while Dad and I talked to one of the presenters about steam engines and the war for Toledo (Michigan “lost” but got the Upper Peninsula, full of copper and other awesome things. Ohio got ... Toledo.)
We checked out the World's Fair exhibit in the actual museum, but it wasn't that exciting, unfortunately. Even Mom agrees that the best special exhibit we've ever seen there was the baseball one put on by the Hall of Fame in 2006 (I think). None of the others have even come close, though we never did get to see the Titanic one. I bet that one was pretty cool.
Dinner was yummy, and when I was feeling particularly tense and anxious, Kaline got up and laid his head in my lap for a while. Both my parents commented on how excellently he'd done on the trip. Sure, he was a little annoying in his teenager way when off duty, but during his working time, he was pretty much everything you could possibly ask from a nearly 16-month-old pup. Very professional.
We were at Greenfield Village basically from opening to closing! It was glorious. Perfect weather, so Mr. K did not have to wear shoes, and no one was chilly or overheated. Woohoo.
We had planned to take the train to the back of the village and work our way forward, but the wait for the next one was too long—we had a long list of things to do! This ended up happening repeatedly and we never actually took the train. Ah well.
We walked all the way back to the Daggett Farmhouse, one of my favorite stops. Kay did excellent momentum pulling to get there. We stopped off at the Logan County Courthouse, where Abraham Lincoln once practiced law. We'd seen the outside but never the inside, and the door was open so we went in to learn more about it. When we came outside, I noticed that Kaline's liquid bandaid had all worn off and his ear looked pretty good! I was still super careful with it and the bandaid has since been reapplied, because he shook his head too hard and I could tell it wasn't going to hold. Maybe it will once the hair grows back?
Once we went inside the farmhouse, we had a lot of things to work on! The fire inside was crackling merrily as usual—the Daggett Farmhouse presenters cook their meals there and much of their food comes from the garden in the back. It's so cool that it's still at least kind of a working farm. But the open flame scared the crap out of Kaline (not literally) who had no clue what the heck it was. He froze, hackles up, and gave a little wuff.
The presenters were super nice and supportive about me working Kaline through it. We went outside to calm down, first of all. Did some easy commands (sit, touch, stand). Once he was a bit calmer and more focused, we went back inside. He was still not happy about the flames but I took him as far away from them as I could to sneak past and get him into the kitchen area. There, he chilled out nicely. I let all the presenters say hi to him and pet him because he also seemed unsettled by their period dress.
We met a guy, also in period garb, outside splitting wood. Kaline warmed up to him nicely, after being a little unsure at first. Then we spent a long time at the candle-making demo. The two ladies there were very informative and very happy to help Kaline with his aversion to period dress. One even took off her straw bonnet so he could make a closer inspection. He really relaxed after that interaction. Yay.
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| One of the lovely, super helpful dog-loving candle makers. |
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| Town Hall. |
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| Greenfield Village Omnibus. |
A little later, we met back up with Dad and decided to ride the Model T even though there was a really long line. Kaline did pretty well in line except when he accidentally did a tail clamp on one of the chains that marked the line's serpentine. Did some blocking, some lying down with all the humans blocking for him. We ended up in basically a Model T woody, known as a hack. Kaline was a little nervous at first because of how loudly the gears shifted and how much vibration there was, but soon he settled into a down at my feet.
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| On the Model T ... Kaline is hard to see but he's there! |
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| Kaline and I with my favorite poster. Bennett Park is where the Tigers played before they had Navin Field/Briggs Stadium/Tiger Stadium. |
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| Itty bitty steam engine. |
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| Momentum pull FTW!! |
12 August 2013
Practicing airport security
This Saturday, in preparation for our upcoming trip to Michigan, Kaline and I met Sonja and Chief at San Francisco International Airport to practice going through airport security. Handily for me, Sonja already had to be there to meet Hendrik, so I got to tag along. We not only got to do security, we explored the international terminal and got to take the Air Train (like an easier version of BART) over to the domestic terminal, where we did Delta security.
I dressed Kaline in the big vest with saddlebags (which contained barely anything, but tend to cut down on drive-by pets) for realism, and wore a jacket he'd have to get off me. We'd been practicing his retrieves a lot around the house, as well as his tugging.
First we visited the Delta Special Services desk. The first lady we talked to was exceedingly nice and wanted to help us get a pass for security. The supervisor didn't want to, but she did say they'd issue the pass if TSA approved it. So our new friend took us over to security while she chatted with TSA. I know we don't normally think of TSA folks as pleasant, but boy, were they. It was slow at the airport, and you must admit, two adorable SDITs go a long way in making people nicer. The TSA supervisor had no problem approving a pass for me, so our Delta friend printed it at her desk and off I went with Kaline.
We went in the express line to get the pass and ID (mine, not one for him) checked, then got in the actual security line. I quickly discovered that several of the surrounding people were Michiganders, who were delighted to meet a cute boy named Kaline. I took off my shoes; Kaline played with them a little, but eventually delivered them to hand. When we got closer to the bins, I asked him to help me take off my jacket, and he did that flawlessly. He blocked pretty nicely in line. We had a little issue with his saddlebags—one guy wanted me to take them off, which is rather hard for me, and we compromised by emptying them into one of those little dishes and sending them through the X-ray. Otherwise, the TSA folks continued to be super nice.
For the metal detector, I left Kaline in a sit-stay originally while I headed through. He started to slide almost immediately, either because of the way the harness fits or because of the carpet, so I told him to down. Lesson learned for Wednesday, leave him in a down to start with. Once I went through, I called him through—perfect. A female TSA agent came to pat him down (I am not sure why “female assist” was required when my male dog was getting the pat down, and I was getting no pat down at all). Kaline stood nicely for her but did want to kiss her; she assured me that he could and that she loved dogs, so I didn't mess with him too much about it. Kaline plopped under the table while I got all my stuff back on and in my pockets, and then we made an about turn and headed out to Sonja and Chief!
Part of my anxiety involves constructing elaborate catastrophe scenarios in my head about future events. That's why I really, really, REALLY, like to do dry runs! This one definitely increased my confidence, although obviously we still have the plane ride itself to get through. On my own, I am pretty confident in Kaline's ability to handle it, but then I get the doubters and they make me doubt him. Which is stupid, but anyway.
Sunday Kaline did his usual public access work, which was generally very good. He got some looks for doing spontaneous DPT in the bagel store, but he was right—I needed it. He did pretty well in the market, which was freaking full of pets on flexis who aren't supposed to be there. He gets a little distracted by them, but I get huge spikes in anxiety, because generally the people who use flexis and bring their dogs to markets where they don't belong are the people with really badly behaved dogs, and I constantly fear some random dog attacking Kaline and ruining him. (See? Catastrophe.) But it's happened to a lot of people with SDs and SDITs, so it's not an unreasonable fear.
We did Trader Joe's at the end and Kay did really nice blocking there as well. Carts can come within inches of him, and he doesn't even turn his head. He did get surprised by the pop of a guy breaking down cardboard boxes, so we turned around and stood there watching the box breakdown and having cookies. No big.
Oh man, this is a big test coming up. I am excited but nervous to see how Kaline does in Michigan.
I dressed Kaline in the big vest with saddlebags (which contained barely anything, but tend to cut down on drive-by pets) for realism, and wore a jacket he'd have to get off me. We'd been practicing his retrieves a lot around the house, as well as his tugging.
First we visited the Delta Special Services desk. The first lady we talked to was exceedingly nice and wanted to help us get a pass for security. The supervisor didn't want to, but she did say they'd issue the pass if TSA approved it. So our new friend took us over to security while she chatted with TSA. I know we don't normally think of TSA folks as pleasant, but boy, were they. It was slow at the airport, and you must admit, two adorable SDITs go a long way in making people nicer. The TSA supervisor had no problem approving a pass for me, so our Delta friend printed it at her desk and off I went with Kaline.
We went in the express line to get the pass and ID (mine, not one for him) checked, then got in the actual security line. I quickly discovered that several of the surrounding people were Michiganders, who were delighted to meet a cute boy named Kaline. I took off my shoes; Kaline played with them a little, but eventually delivered them to hand. When we got closer to the bins, I asked him to help me take off my jacket, and he did that flawlessly. He blocked pretty nicely in line. We had a little issue with his saddlebags—one guy wanted me to take them off, which is rather hard for me, and we compromised by emptying them into one of those little dishes and sending them through the X-ray. Otherwise, the TSA folks continued to be super nice.
For the metal detector, I left Kaline in a sit-stay originally while I headed through. He started to slide almost immediately, either because of the way the harness fits or because of the carpet, so I told him to down. Lesson learned for Wednesday, leave him in a down to start with. Once I went through, I called him through—perfect. A female TSA agent came to pat him down (I am not sure why “female assist” was required when my male dog was getting the pat down, and I was getting no pat down at all). Kaline stood nicely for her but did want to kiss her; she assured me that he could and that she loved dogs, so I didn't mess with him too much about it. Kaline plopped under the table while I got all my stuff back on and in my pockets, and then we made an about turn and headed out to Sonja and Chief!
Part of my anxiety involves constructing elaborate catastrophe scenarios in my head about future events. That's why I really, really, REALLY, like to do dry runs! This one definitely increased my confidence, although obviously we still have the plane ride itself to get through. On my own, I am pretty confident in Kaline's ability to handle it, but then I get the doubters and they make me doubt him. Which is stupid, but anyway.
Sunday Kaline did his usual public access work, which was generally very good. He got some looks for doing spontaneous DPT in the bagel store, but he was right—I needed it. He did pretty well in the market, which was freaking full of pets on flexis who aren't supposed to be there. He gets a little distracted by them, but I get huge spikes in anxiety, because generally the people who use flexis and bring their dogs to markets where they don't belong are the people with really badly behaved dogs, and I constantly fear some random dog attacking Kaline and ruining him. (See? Catastrophe.) But it's happened to a lot of people with SDs and SDITs, so it's not an unreasonable fear.
We did Trader Joe's at the end and Kay did really nice blocking there as well. Carts can come within inches of him, and he doesn't even turn his head. He did get surprised by the pop of a guy breaking down cardboard boxes, so we turned around and stood there watching the box breakdown and having cookies. No big.
Oh man, this is a big test coming up. I am excited but nervous to see how Kaline does in Michigan.
01 July 2013
Kaline meets his cousin; Juno goes to Pride
We had a very exciting weekend! The week was mostly a slog due to a disgusting heat wave, lots of walks in said heat, and the air conditioning not functioning properly. (WHY?!) But then Kaline's cousin Rowan, and his mom Amber, arrived in town after a very long drive from the magical land of Canada, and that made everything wonderful and exciting.
Saturday was a little bit crazy. I got up early to take Kaline to class (Dad and Juno skipped), and he did pretty well. There was a lot of stationary stuff because it was so hot. We came home and I did his nails at warp speed, because I had to get Juno to her massage appointment. (Don't judge me, it definitely helps her not have soreness.) After her massage, I switched dogs yet again and took Kaline up to Berkeley to meet Sonja, Chief, Amber, and Rowan at Paco Collars! Did I remember to get the keeper I've been needing for Kaline's collar for MONTHS? No, I did not!
We arrived and there was Rowan in all his glory. He and Kaline were immediately friends. Kaline licked Rowan's ears and face and Rowan seemed to find this delightful. He also did not mind Kaline swatting him with his paws, and swatted happily back. The cuteness was just overwhelming. Sonja and I were exceedingly distracting while Amber was trying to order Rowan's Paco, which will be totally gorgeous. Alas, she did not choose to have Canadian flag conchos put on it. I cannot imagine why!
I was allowed 15 minutes of comparing Kaline to Rowan, so I will do a little of it here too. Rowan is five months older and looks (and acts) so much more mature. His chest is much broader and he's definitely taller. The boys' paws are the same size though! I actually hope Kaline doesn't grow much more vertically, because right now he is the perfect height. They have just the same play style and a lot of the same happy scratching spots. Rowan is so freaking snuggly and cute, and gives lots of kisses if you ask. I was kind of cheating on Kaline and Juno with him, it must be said.
After Paco, we took the dogs to Cesar Chavez Park to play off leash. Kaline did well except for a really annoying interlude where he would not hold a down-stay for love or money. This after a morning where he did perfect out of sight down stays. I definitely got overly frustrated with him, and must work on not doing that. Otherwise, everyone had a complete blast. Well, maybe not Chief, who had to be carried a lot or the Dobermans would have broken him with their insane crashing about. They absolutely loved playing together and racing around like maniacs! Whenever there was a lull Kaline would practically put his face into Rowan's mouth. So much cute. We exposed the dogs to a flapping kite at the end, right in their faces ... didn't care. Woot.
Sunday was the Pride Parade in San Francisco, which was extra festive and huge because of the recent Supreme Court rulings. Originally Sonja wanted to have our own contingent to march, consisting of owner-trainers of service dogs. But we couldn't get enough people or monitors, so when the Atheist Advocates of SF sent out an email asking for more marchers, I volunteered us. I went up with my high school friends Rachel and Lia, and we met Sonja, Hendrik, Amber, Chief, and Rowan in Brisbane, where we caught a bus.
Juno looked super, with rainbow ribbon wrapped around her guide handle and a big rainbow bow on the saddle of her BLD. She also wore her rainbow Glow collar from Paco and a rainbow bandanna from Rachel. At the parade, the only thing people could talk about was her boring, grey Ruffwear boots. Le sigh.
It was Rowan's first time on a bus, and he did wonderfully. Juno even let him touch her. The bus driver on the way there was amazing. He made all the people in the disabled seats move for us, and kept looking out for us the whole ride. Definitely planning to write a complimentary letter!
We got to the assembly area at the appointed time, found the atheists, who were absolutely LAST in line to march ... and waited. For over two hours. The dogs met a lovely cockatoo named Casper and got lots of oohs and ahhs. Did really well in the crowds also. Juno's pulling was, shall we say, spotty. But we all have our off days, right?
We waited in various places around the bus plaza, keeping the dogs and ourselves cool and hydrated. Unfortunately, Rachel and I both had to be back in Menlo Park in time for 6:00 dinner plans, so we reached a point where even if our group started marching that second, we wouldn't make it back in time. And thus we didn't get to march. Sad face. We still had a good time!
Since Juno had done Pride, Kaline came to Dad's birthday dinner. It was his first time at a really nice restaurant (I think). He was so good. He stayed under my legs quietly the whole time, ignoring dropped french fries and such. On the way to the bathroom (TMI, I know, but there's a point!), he was very deft at swiveling his butt out of the way of doors opening and closing. Maybe he's finally getting some body awareness! Wouldn't that be wonderful.
Other developing stuff with Kaline: His anxiety/panic alert is supposed to be a leg nudge. We're working on this. But he has other thoughts. For a while, it was jumping on me in a non-excited way. I would tell him “off” and then get the nudge, and then he got to do DPT, which is basically a reward for him. So he's not really doing that anymore. Now, he's freezing in place and staring hard at me. Absolutely will not move. I appreciate the alert, but even after DPT he's reluctant to move, and that's a little inconvenient. So we need to figure out how to get to that elusive leg nudge. Homework!
Saturday was a little bit crazy. I got up early to take Kaline to class (Dad and Juno skipped), and he did pretty well. There was a lot of stationary stuff because it was so hot. We came home and I did his nails at warp speed, because I had to get Juno to her massage appointment. (Don't judge me, it definitely helps her not have soreness.) After her massage, I switched dogs yet again and took Kaline up to Berkeley to meet Sonja, Chief, Amber, and Rowan at Paco Collars! Did I remember to get the keeper I've been needing for Kaline's collar for MONTHS? No, I did not!
We arrived and there was Rowan in all his glory. He and Kaline were immediately friends. Kaline licked Rowan's ears and face and Rowan seemed to find this delightful. He also did not mind Kaline swatting him with his paws, and swatted happily back. The cuteness was just overwhelming. Sonja and I were exceedingly distracting while Amber was trying to order Rowan's Paco, which will be totally gorgeous. Alas, she did not choose to have Canadian flag conchos put on it. I cannot imagine why!
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| Canadian Dobermans! Rowan's mother, Lucy, is a littermate of Kaline's mother, Dolce. |
After Paco, we took the dogs to Cesar Chavez Park to play off leash. Kaline did well except for a really annoying interlude where he would not hold a down-stay for love or money. This after a morning where he did perfect out of sight down stays. I definitely got overly frustrated with him, and must work on not doing that. Otherwise, everyone had a complete blast. Well, maybe not Chief, who had to be carried a lot or the Dobermans would have broken him with their insane crashing about. They absolutely loved playing together and racing around like maniacs! Whenever there was a lull Kaline would practically put his face into Rowan's mouth. So much cute. We exposed the dogs to a flapping kite at the end, right in their faces ... didn't care. Woot.
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| Kaline and Rowan at Cesar Chavez Park, photo by Sonja. |
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| Juno in her Pride gear! |
It was Rowan's first time on a bus, and he did wonderfully. Juno even let him touch her. The bus driver on the way there was amazing. He made all the people in the disabled seats move for us, and kept looking out for us the whole ride. Definitely planning to write a complimentary letter!
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| Rowan and Juno on the bus to Pride. |
We waited in various places around the bus plaza, keeping the dogs and ourselves cool and hydrated. Unfortunately, Rachel and I both had to be back in Menlo Park in time for 6:00 dinner plans, so we reached a point where even if our group started marching that second, we wouldn't make it back in time. And thus we didn't get to march. Sad face. We still had a good time!
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| Rowan with rainbow ribbon and stickers. |
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| OHMIGOD LOOK AT THOSE SHOES!!!!!!! |
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| Adorable Chief. |
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| Juno looking less than thrilled about holding this ... |
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| Amber & Rowan; Sonja & Chief; me & Juno |
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| Rowan, Chief, and Juno. |
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| Rowan on the bus back--such a fantastic boy! |
Other developing stuff with Kaline: His anxiety/panic alert is supposed to be a leg nudge. We're working on this. But he has other thoughts. For a while, it was jumping on me in a non-excited way. I would tell him “off” and then get the nudge, and then he got to do DPT, which is basically a reward for him. So he's not really doing that anymore. Now, he's freezing in place and staring hard at me. Absolutely will not move. I appreciate the alert, but even after DPT he's reluctant to move, and that's a little inconvenient. So we need to figure out how to get to that elusive leg nudge. Homework!
19 May 2013
Juno gets a Rally Advanced leg!
Also, I'm a lazy blogger. Today was our first entry into Rally Advanced B, and despite it being atrocious, we managed a qualifying score. The judge kindly went through the deductions with me, so I can't honestly say I have no clue why we passed ... but still. How did we pass???
First mistake, it was an outdoor trial on grass. This has never been a good thing for us. Second mistake, not actually knowing that they could have a broad jump in Rally. The broad jump is a big reason we're not in regular obedience anymore! I saw that thing when we walked in, and was like, “Well, we're gonna NQ!” Juno walks on/through broad jumps. I was told by one of the stewards that that'd be an NQ. But, remembering that we do Rally not to win things but to have individual fun bonding time, I figured who cares if we totally screw up.
Another mistake, I realized later, was that we may have done too much warming up right before our run. It was a rather warm day and when we got in the ring, Juno was panting. We had a bad start, too. Right as I told the judge we were ready, a huge green bug landed in the middle of Juno's back and at least tickled, perhaps even bit her. So instead of being focused, she was twisted trying to get it off. I flicked it off but she kept stopping to try and scratch throughout the run. And of course there was the usual lagging that happens when she does heeling off leash. So we got a lot of handler error deductions and points off for being out of position. And Juno walked over the broad jump.
The judge said nothing as we left the ring, so I figured I didn't qualify. Then they called in all the qualifiers at the end, and they were missing one the whole time. So just for shits and giggles, I checked the list of scores, and there we were, with an 83 instead of an NQ by Juno's name! I was totally flabbergasted. But yay! Not gonna argue! Our next trial is going to be in the same place; I realize it's not even close to an ideal setup for us, but we need to trial once a month, and this place is only half an hour away, and our friend Marissa is going with her studly boy Hunter. So we gotta go.
The parents have returned, and training with Kaline/work with Juno continues apace. Kaline and I had a bit of a breakthrough about a week ago regarding loose-leash walking and it is going so much better now! I'm super happy about that. He's been doing pretty well on his outings, to various restaurants, stores, etc. Both dogs have basically only been going on short working outings lately, just because we walk the packs and then we crash. We sometimes do stuff at night but that's about it. Kaline also is over his elevator fear finally. We went through a few days where we'd just do about fifteen minutes of riding up and down, up and down, and I think that helped. Elevators are now exceedingly boring rather than scary. They've both been really great at training in the park—I'm working really hard on finding heel with Kaline and on polishing up his recalls.
Our BLD harness shipped this past Friday, so hopefully it will be here in plenty of time for our upcoming Pennsylvania trip! I would love to get Juno some practice in it before we use it on the trip, but it shouldn't be a huge change for her from her Petjoy harness vest in terms of how we'll use it. She's been getting massages lately from our local dog masseur, Carla, who has a Seeing Eye dog named Justin. Juno doesn't always enjoy the massages (it's hard to explain to her that it'll be uncomfortable for a minute and then she'll feel a lot better; she just feels the discomfort and wants to move away) but I can tell that they're helping, and it's great fun talking shop with Carla.
First mistake, it was an outdoor trial on grass. This has never been a good thing for us. Second mistake, not actually knowing that they could have a broad jump in Rally. The broad jump is a big reason we're not in regular obedience anymore! I saw that thing when we walked in, and was like, “Well, we're gonna NQ!” Juno walks on/through broad jumps. I was told by one of the stewards that that'd be an NQ. But, remembering that we do Rally not to win things but to have individual fun bonding time, I figured who cares if we totally screw up.
Another mistake, I realized later, was that we may have done too much warming up right before our run. It was a rather warm day and when we got in the ring, Juno was panting. We had a bad start, too. Right as I told the judge we were ready, a huge green bug landed in the middle of Juno's back and at least tickled, perhaps even bit her. So instead of being focused, she was twisted trying to get it off. I flicked it off but she kept stopping to try and scratch throughout the run. And of course there was the usual lagging that happens when she does heeling off leash. So we got a lot of handler error deductions and points off for being out of position. And Juno walked over the broad jump.
The judge said nothing as we left the ring, so I figured I didn't qualify. Then they called in all the qualifiers at the end, and they were missing one the whole time. So just for shits and giggles, I checked the list of scores, and there we were, with an 83 instead of an NQ by Juno's name! I was totally flabbergasted. But yay! Not gonna argue! Our next trial is going to be in the same place; I realize it's not even close to an ideal setup for us, but we need to trial once a month, and this place is only half an hour away, and our friend Marissa is going with her studly boy Hunter. So we gotta go.
The parents have returned, and training with Kaline/work with Juno continues apace. Kaline and I had a bit of a breakthrough about a week ago regarding loose-leash walking and it is going so much better now! I'm super happy about that. He's been doing pretty well on his outings, to various restaurants, stores, etc. Both dogs have basically only been going on short working outings lately, just because we walk the packs and then we crash. We sometimes do stuff at night but that's about it. Kaline also is over his elevator fear finally. We went through a few days where we'd just do about fifteen minutes of riding up and down, up and down, and I think that helped. Elevators are now exceedingly boring rather than scary. They've both been really great at training in the park—I'm working really hard on finding heel with Kaline and on polishing up his recalls.
Our BLD harness shipped this past Friday, so hopefully it will be here in plenty of time for our upcoming Pennsylvania trip! I would love to get Juno some practice in it before we use it on the trip, but it shouldn't be a huge change for her from her Petjoy harness vest in terms of how we'll use it. She's been getting massages lately from our local dog masseur, Carla, who has a Seeing Eye dog named Justin. Juno doesn't always enjoy the massages (it's hard to explain to her that it'll be uncomfortable for a minute and then she'll feel a lot better; she just feels the discomfort and wants to move away) but I can tell that they're helping, and it's great fun talking shop with Carla.
30 April 2013
Fun with Sonja, going to the doctor, and retrieving tribulations
Sunday we had lovely fun with Sonja after very efficient errand-running with Juno in the morning. I just wanted to get things done, not do real training, so I took Juno to the Farmer's Market, bagel store, and Trader Joe's. We finished everything in about an hour, maybe less. No one noticed I had switched dogs, which I found a little odd. But it was, as always, the best being out with Juno!
In the afternoon, we met up with Sonja on the Stanford campus. While Chief was working on his poolside down-stays, I took Juno and Kaline over to an empty field to romp. They were off-leash most of the time, with e-collars on. Not that I actually need one on Juno, I just had it in case other dogs showed up and she gave stinkeye. Which didn't happen. Kaline had a great time running around and retrieving sticks, and then we came back and moseyed off-leash with Sonja and Chief. It was so delightful. I love the freedom the collar gives me and Kaline.
Sonja, being the fabulous friend she is, drove all of us to Foster City to get my mom's car (she left it with a friend who drove her and Dad the rest of the way to the airport). And then we (Juno and I) got invited to dinner at Buca di Beppo! So freaking delicious. And it was good I brought Juno, cause one of the other people there is afraid of dogs touching her. Can you just imagine Kaline giving her a Doberpoke?! Aaagh! Someday though, we'll go back and I'll take Kay.
Yesterday everybody got to go to the doctor. After our three walks in the heat, Kaline and I headed to my doctor's office so I could get checked out for some things. Also, my wonderful GP totally understood my airport paranoia and wrote me a prescription for a service dog, just in case. Not that I would ever show it to anyone and make them think it was okay to ask for that. I just want to have it.
Kaline was good in the exam room but man, was he squirrelly in the elevator! Ever since he was in the transparent one in Palo Alto, we get the knocking knees. I tried to distract him by asking him to sit, stand, come, touch, all of which he did, but he was not happy. Urgh. And he was pulling and sniffing a bit while we were walking.
Nonetheless, I was proud of how he did at the exam. The nurse always does my damn blood pressure before the exam, which for some reason just sends my anxiety through the roof, plus it's painful. Fibro + squeezing = OW. I sat in the chair and asked her to wait to put on the cuff. I cued Kaline to lap-up, and he did it immediately, and so gently. He was perfect, and I haven't been that calm for the blood pressure ordeal in years.
He tested out our new mat on the slippery floor (not too much sliding, yay) and held a nice down stay during the rest of the exam. Of course, his highness refused to pick up the mat at the end. “Get that? What does that mean? I have never heard that command everrrrrr.”
Next we went to the pharmacy to pick up prescriptions, and since we had to wait, I decided to work on, you guessed it, not pulling and not sniffing. It was a little bizarre. After being such a puppy ass in the doctor's office, he was perfect in the pharmacy. I think I told him leave it once. And I always had a nice loop in the leash. Good boy.
Then later, I had to take Juno to the vet just to make sure nothing was wrong (she's been limping off and on). Kaline came for moral support and still weighs 69.8 pounds. Sigh.
And today we had training. Kaline worked on hold and out (good) and retrieves (AWFUL). So I got Juno, and Anne set up a little course of objects for her to retrieve, going from easy (plastic water bottle, leather dumbbell) to hard (keys with no leather tab, metal Coke can). She picked up every single one like it was the greatest pleasure in the world to do so. I loved on her BIGTIME. I got so spoiled. She learned retrieving so easily with the clicker. Not so for wee Kaline ... He only retrieves the things he likes. Somehow, we shall advance to metal, the leash, and the roll-up mat!!
In the afternoon, we met up with Sonja on the Stanford campus. While Chief was working on his poolside down-stays, I took Juno and Kaline over to an empty field to romp. They were off-leash most of the time, with e-collars on. Not that I actually need one on Juno, I just had it in case other dogs showed up and she gave stinkeye. Which didn't happen. Kaline had a great time running around and retrieving sticks, and then we came back and moseyed off-leash with Sonja and Chief. It was so delightful. I love the freedom the collar gives me and Kaline.
Sonja, being the fabulous friend she is, drove all of us to Foster City to get my mom's car (she left it with a friend who drove her and Dad the rest of the way to the airport). And then we (Juno and I) got invited to dinner at Buca di Beppo! So freaking delicious. And it was good I brought Juno, cause one of the other people there is afraid of dogs touching her. Can you just imagine Kaline giving her a Doberpoke?! Aaagh! Someday though, we'll go back and I'll take Kay.
Yesterday everybody got to go to the doctor. After our three walks in the heat, Kaline and I headed to my doctor's office so I could get checked out for some things. Also, my wonderful GP totally understood my airport paranoia and wrote me a prescription for a service dog, just in case. Not that I would ever show it to anyone and make them think it was okay to ask for that. I just want to have it.
Kaline was good in the exam room but man, was he squirrelly in the elevator! Ever since he was in the transparent one in Palo Alto, we get the knocking knees. I tried to distract him by asking him to sit, stand, come, touch, all of which he did, but he was not happy. Urgh. And he was pulling and sniffing a bit while we were walking.
Nonetheless, I was proud of how he did at the exam. The nurse always does my damn blood pressure before the exam, which for some reason just sends my anxiety through the roof, plus it's painful. Fibro + squeezing = OW. I sat in the chair and asked her to wait to put on the cuff. I cued Kaline to lap-up, and he did it immediately, and so gently. He was perfect, and I haven't been that calm for the blood pressure ordeal in years.
He tested out our new mat on the slippery floor (not too much sliding, yay) and held a nice down stay during the rest of the exam. Of course, his highness refused to pick up the mat at the end. “Get that? What does that mean? I have never heard that command everrrrrr.”
Next we went to the pharmacy to pick up prescriptions, and since we had to wait, I decided to work on, you guessed it, not pulling and not sniffing. It was a little bizarre. After being such a puppy ass in the doctor's office, he was perfect in the pharmacy. I think I told him leave it once. And I always had a nice loop in the leash. Good boy.
Then later, I had to take Juno to the vet just to make sure nothing was wrong (she's been limping off and on). Kaline came for moral support and still weighs 69.8 pounds. Sigh.
And today we had training. Kaline worked on hold and out (good) and retrieves (AWFUL). So I got Juno, and Anne set up a little course of objects for her to retrieve, going from easy (plastic water bottle, leather dumbbell) to hard (keys with no leather tab, metal Coke can). She picked up every single one like it was the greatest pleasure in the world to do so. I loved on her BIGTIME. I got so spoiled. She learned retrieving so easily with the clicker. Not so for wee Kaline ... He only retrieves the things he likes. Somehow, we shall advance to metal, the leash, and the roll-up mat!!
18 March 2013
Fun stuff
Monday, 11 March:
We did four pack walks, tiring out both the dogs, and I got in a shockingly invigorating shouting match with a Crazy Lady in downtown Palo Alto. She took great offense at my dogs and I continuing on our usual route behind her. How dare I harass her with such nasty dogs, etc. I dunno, snapping back at Crazy Lady gave me all kinds of energy for the rest of the walks!
Tuesday, 12 March:
I was attempting to fix the DVD player and it was highly frustrating. Kaline came over to me—I was sitting awkwardly on the floor—slung his head over my shoulder and just licked my ear for a while. I found it delightful even though I probably stank of dog breath afterward.
Wednesday, 13 March:
Not as much fun. Lots of little delays combined to kind of fuck up our four pack walk schedule. Then I had big plans to take Kaline on an outing to Hillsdale Mall with the 'rents. But apparently only Juno was invited. I don't think it's a very good precedent to let others choose which dog I work, so I just stayed home with both and we had a calm, quiet evening.
Thursday, 14 March:
So. Much. Awesomeness. We had a bizarre encounter in the morning. I had my five-pack downtown, and we came to a red light. Across the crosswalk from us, suddenly, was a group of about eight Japanese tourists. First they shrieked and pointed at the dogs and then every single one whipped out an enormous SLR camera and began snapping away like paparazzi. Yikes.
After training and everything, Juno and I drove up to Berkeley to have dinner with Sonja and Chief and our friend Eva and her SD Coral! We had only “met” her online, so it was super exciting to finally meet in person! Eva has cerebral palsy and is nonverbal, so she uses a laser pointer attached to her hat to point at things, and has this fantastic board she made herself. It's covered in little colored boxes, each one containing a letter, number, word, or short phrase. She used her board to spell out things and her aide, Lauren, was super quick to figure out what she was spelling. Eva's aide and cousin joined us for dinner and we had a marvelous time. We had fun times discussing SD drama, and Eva threw back her head and laughed infectiously at the juicy parts. She has the best smile! And red Converse. Love those.
Eva was in town for a rehearsal of a performance which she will come back for in May. Hopefully she'll be able to stay longer and we'll get to go to the beach with the dogs! Sonja and I already put the performance date in our phones and are planning to go. It's going to be amazing.
Friday, 15 March:
Four walks again, and Juno and Kaline got to wear their St. Patrick's Day ties.
Saturday, 16 March:
With Mom out of town, Dad and I had lots of errands so Kaline got to do a lot of PA work. We had obedience class, then went to the post office, Hillsdale Mall, and later Target. At the mall, we worked on under, opening different kinds of fridges, roll (his hip), and the usual Stop Pulling Me and Leave It. We had lunch at a Mexican place that's very dog friendly, so we sat outside in the beautiful weather with both dogs unvested. Kaline did a lovely under and down stay beneath my chair!
Target was a little insane for me—first a kid came out of nowhere, pounding past us and freaking me out, and then we turned down another aisle and there was a pet Lab, lunging at Kaline against his flimsy harness. After that I needed some major deep pressure; then I informed an employee and the situation was taken care of very quickly. Target doesn't tolerate pets because they have such big food areas now. So Kaline was very good in there, very attentive to me especially because I was very edgy after the bad beginning.
Sunday, 16 March:
The usual morning of PA work. Farmer's Market was great except for this random old lady. She complimented Kaline on being handsome, then said, “That top collar. I don't like it.” She was referring to his pinch. At first I was a little taken aback, because we hardly ever get training comments of any kind. I was polite to her, restraining myself, but I wanted to say, “You don't like his collar? Quick, quick, ask me how much I care!” Kaline stood there clearly looking very traumatized as he blocked and didn't sniff people.
Trader Joe's was awesome. We always have a good time in there. We ran into our friend who loves watching Kaline work and always compliments him on his progress. As usual, he ignored Kaline himself and chatted with me. He ended up telling me about a woman who always brings her poodle in, vested, but doesn't have any control over it. The dog sniffs things, jumps on people, jumps on merchandise, some of which is food, and barks. I gave him a PDPM card and said if she doesn't take steps to control her dog, they have every right to make her take the dog out, and return by herself. She always yells at them when they ask her to control the dog or leave, saying she has papers/certification. TJ's people are so nice! Anyone who is mean to them deserves to be kicked out.
We did four pack walks, tiring out both the dogs, and I got in a shockingly invigorating shouting match with a Crazy Lady in downtown Palo Alto. She took great offense at my dogs and I continuing on our usual route behind her. How dare I harass her with such nasty dogs, etc. I dunno, snapping back at Crazy Lady gave me all kinds of energy for the rest of the walks!
Tuesday, 12 March:
I was attempting to fix the DVD player and it was highly frustrating. Kaline came over to me—I was sitting awkwardly on the floor—slung his head over my shoulder and just licked my ear for a while. I found it delightful even though I probably stank of dog breath afterward.
Wednesday, 13 March:
Not as much fun. Lots of little delays combined to kind of fuck up our four pack walk schedule. Then I had big plans to take Kaline on an outing to Hillsdale Mall with the 'rents. But apparently only Juno was invited. I don't think it's a very good precedent to let others choose which dog I work, so I just stayed home with both and we had a calm, quiet evening.
Thursday, 14 March:
So. Much. Awesomeness. We had a bizarre encounter in the morning. I had my five-pack downtown, and we came to a red light. Across the crosswalk from us, suddenly, was a group of about eight Japanese tourists. First they shrieked and pointed at the dogs and then every single one whipped out an enormous SLR camera and began snapping away like paparazzi. Yikes.
After training and everything, Juno and I drove up to Berkeley to have dinner with Sonja and Chief and our friend Eva and her SD Coral! We had only “met” her online, so it was super exciting to finally meet in person! Eva has cerebral palsy and is nonverbal, so she uses a laser pointer attached to her hat to point at things, and has this fantastic board she made herself. It's covered in little colored boxes, each one containing a letter, number, word, or short phrase. She used her board to spell out things and her aide, Lauren, was super quick to figure out what she was spelling. Eva's aide and cousin joined us for dinner and we had a marvelous time. We had fun times discussing SD drama, and Eva threw back her head and laughed infectiously at the juicy parts. She has the best smile! And red Converse. Love those.
Eva was in town for a rehearsal of a performance which she will come back for in May. Hopefully she'll be able to stay longer and we'll get to go to the beach with the dogs! Sonja and I already put the performance date in our phones and are planning to go. It's going to be amazing.
Friday, 15 March:
Four walks again, and Juno and Kaline got to wear their St. Patrick's Day ties.
Saturday, 16 March:
With Mom out of town, Dad and I had lots of errands so Kaline got to do a lot of PA work. We had obedience class, then went to the post office, Hillsdale Mall, and later Target. At the mall, we worked on under, opening different kinds of fridges, roll (his hip), and the usual Stop Pulling Me and Leave It. We had lunch at a Mexican place that's very dog friendly, so we sat outside in the beautiful weather with both dogs unvested. Kaline did a lovely under and down stay beneath my chair!
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| Poster for the shelter where I got Juno! |
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| Good under! |
Target was a little insane for me—first a kid came out of nowhere, pounding past us and freaking me out, and then we turned down another aisle and there was a pet Lab, lunging at Kaline against his flimsy harness. After that I needed some major deep pressure; then I informed an employee and the situation was taken care of very quickly. Target doesn't tolerate pets because they have such big food areas now. So Kaline was very good in there, very attentive to me especially because I was very edgy after the bad beginning.
Sunday, 16 March:
The usual morning of PA work. Farmer's Market was great except for this random old lady. She complimented Kaline on being handsome, then said, “That top collar. I don't like it.” She was referring to his pinch. At first I was a little taken aback, because we hardly ever get training comments of any kind. I was polite to her, restraining myself, but I wanted to say, “You don't like his collar? Quick, quick, ask me how much I care!” Kaline stood there clearly looking very traumatized as he blocked and didn't sniff people.
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| Ha! If only that rule were enforced. |
Trader Joe's was awesome. We always have a good time in there. We ran into our friend who loves watching Kaline work and always compliments him on his progress. As usual, he ignored Kaline himself and chatted with me. He ended up telling me about a woman who always brings her poodle in, vested, but doesn't have any control over it. The dog sniffs things, jumps on people, jumps on merchandise, some of which is food, and barks. I gave him a PDPM card and said if she doesn't take steps to control her dog, they have every right to make her take the dog out, and return by herself. She always yells at them when they ask her to control the dog or leave, saying she has papers/certification. TJ's people are so nice! Anyone who is mean to them deserves to be kicked out.
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