The Ear Saga of Woe

The Ear of Woe. Spot the injury—if you can!

Holy crap. Most exhausting, stressful week in quite some time.

After Kaline got the sutures in his ear, he had to be in a bandage, snood, and cone for three days. On day two, I noticed the snood's mesh starting to cut into the exposed underside of his ear, so back we went to have that off. The bandage and cone remained. Kaline, on sedatives, stayed mostly quiet and actually had a fairly good appetite. We got the poor little invalid some baby food to tempt his palate. Mom has been especially solicitous, even to the point of telling off her “girlfriend” Juno for barking at Kaline!

Sunday was day three, and we took Kaline back to the e-vet to have the bandage completely off. He was in the back an interminably long time. I heard the ominous sound of him being allowed to do a whole body shake. A long while after that, a vet (not the last one we had) came out to talk to us.

He had, indeed, busted his ear yet again. They'd glued it and were bandaging him again. I was extremely frustrated that they had allowed him to shake off as hard as he wanted right after the bandage came off. I was frustrated that they only wanted to leave the bandage on three days. (The reasoning for that—limiting the risk of other problems arising due to moisture in the ear—was explained to me by one of the excellent techs.) The vet just said we needed to be patient. Which was also frustrating, because I for one would've been happy to leave the bandage on for a week! (Before learning that that would be bad.)

Then came the kicker. The vet goes: “Well, he is a Doberman. You could always crop his ears.” Were I a cartoon character at that moment, my face would've turned bright red, smoke would've come out my ears, and my eyes would have zoomed about a foot out from my face. Kaline's cut is measured in millimeters. And somehow a solution to that would be cutting off most of his ears? Also, HELLO, you don't crop the ears of a fifteen-month-old dog. Twelve weeks old is considered late to do it. I was just furious and way overwhelmed with anxiety and worry. And I'd been stupid and left Juno home with Mom.

When Kaline finally came out, with a bandage that looked like a diaper on his head in addition to his cone, I immediately went to hug him because I was just so relieved to see him. Despite being sedated and probably in some pain or at least discomfort, Kaline immediately started deep pressure into my chest. I almost started sobbing right there. I couldn't believe he was trying to take care of me when he was the one all the bad things were happening to.

Diaper bandage and cone.

Everything just looked disastrous—we might have to cut off a piece of his ear (again, explained by the tech as to why that could be helpful/necessary—the techs are unfailingly excellent over there), the entire trip to Michigan could be off, Kaline was back in the cone and clearly not a happy camper.

Three more days of tense waiting commenced. The appetite stayed fairly good, amazingly, and somehow my family were all able to work our schedules so Kaline was almost never by himself. The sedatives were a really big help, because it stopped him wanting to shake so often and also meant that the 20-30 minutes of exercise he was allowed per day were enough. I shudder to think of an un-sedated Kaline forced to endure days with that little exercise!

Poor little invalid.

Yesterday, we headed to our regular vet to have the bandage off. I formulated a plan, we followed it exactly, and it worked!

When we went in, Noel carefully slid the cone off and cut the bandage off Kaline's head. He had a ring of adhesive residue around his neck and some irritation from the bandage on the front of his neck, but the ear looked pretty good. I kept a good hold on his collar, preventing him from shaking, and gently held his bad ear in a piece of gauze. Dr. Mihalek came in with the little plastic vials of glue and applied that while I held Kaline and his ear. Once it was dry, we let him go but I still didn't let him shake. Brilliant.

Yay, Real Kaline™ is back!

We got home, and I gathered my supplies bought earlier in the day: wound cream, wound powder to stop bleeding, and liquid bandaid. All we needed was liquid bandaid. I applied it liberally to his ear and since then, it has held up beautifully! I've been watching Kay carefully, and he's always either on leash or on an e-collar so we can nip any shake in the bud. Nonetheless he's managed about three full-body shakes (mostly in the car) since yesterday afternoon, and his ear is still intact! Liquid bandaid, you are my hero. The trip to Michigan is back on, and boy, is it ever wonderful to see my puppy's beautiful face framed by his marvelous, silky ears again. I feel like I worked really hard to get those ears! I don't want anything bad to happen to them. Kaline is clearly so much happier out of the cone (shocking, I'm sure). I'm still a little on edge and checking his ear obsessively anytime he gets a good shake in, but I feel loads better.

In case they're reading: Big, big thanks to all my friends who supported me through all the stress and offered excellent advice. Especially everyone who said, “Just GLUE IT already!” Should've listened to you much earlier. And extra super special gratitude to Maura, Kaline's breeder, leader of the Glue It Already group, who is always there with super helpful advice and encouragement. 

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!!

Muir Woods

Oh, we had a fun weekend. Saturday was class and such; I ended up getting to work mostly Kaline but Juno for a little while. Kaline was really good except for whining during Circle of Chaos recalls. His heeling was really nice, and he did well on the meet and greets. He was awesome for the supervised separation, couldn't have cared less that I left. After class, Dad stayed with Kay while he romped with Lupo, and I took Juno off to the side and let her have fun bumpers. She's so damn cute.

Later in the day, Kaline and I did clicker training, trying to work on basics of starting the retrieve (yep, that again), opening cabinets, and rear-end awareness. I tried filling a tiny treat bag with treats to help Kaline with the whole getting-something-I-point-at. He went to it all right—and promptly plumped down to try and open it! Oh puppy. So we worked on hold and out, which went really well. He's doing hold with only gentle stroking fingers under his jaw, no hand on the back of his head. And as soon as you say out, he lets go and backs away from the object (in this case his tennis ball dumbbell, since Juno's obedience dumbbell is MIA).

We made some progress on open. It took forever to teach Juno this task, so I anticipate a similar quest with Kaline. About halfway through, I finally came up with the brilliant idea of not having the door clicked shut, but technically open, so I could reward Kaline for any pull that made the door move. Of course, we just started with rewarding for mouthing the tug, then tugging it enough to get it off my hand, and then tugging enough to make the door move, however slightly. That's about as far as we've gotten, haha.

Last we did rear-end awareness, which, like Juno, Kaline really seems to enjoy. Well, at least he likes the part where he gets treats for putting his front paws up on the stool. He's still at the point where I'm rewarding for each single step of his back feet to either side. Also where he falls off the stool a lot, because he's puppy clumsy! It's freaking adorable when he falls off and then rushes to get his front paws up again, looking expectantly for his treat.

This training took at most thirty minutes, with breaks included ... Kaline passed out for the rest of the evening. It was glorious.

Dead to the world.

Dad found out that there were no fees to go to Muir Woods on Sunday (Armistice Day), so we planned to do that. I still ended up going to the Farmer's Market with Kaline. He did really well, meeting four people dressed up as mice (with scary mice heads) and realizing they weren't going to eat him, and calmly not reacting to an enormous dog who charged us out of nowhere. Yes, the market is technically a no-pets area. I smacked the dog's face away from Kaline's—once my SD is getting charged, I don't mess around with being nice. Then I grabbed his collar and yelled, "Does this dog belong to someone?" After what seemed like forever, someone came to fetch him. Gaaah.

Kaline was unfazed, even if I was having figurative heart palpitations. He did absolutely rock-solid blocking for me at every stall. I still have to show him where to be, which I expect to have to do for many, many more months, but once he is in place, he stays there, sometimes leaning a little bit into the backs of my legs. Such a good boy.

In the afternoon, we headed to the woods. The woods are also a no-pet area, so both dogs needed to be on duty. My aunt, who lives up in Marin near(ish) the woods, told us there was horrific traffic, no parking, etc. We went anyhow, of course, and though at points the traffic was bad, it never stayed bad, and right as we pulled into the parking lot, someone else pulled out! It was very good luck.

Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge.

Kaline began shivering the instant he jumped out of the car, so into the Cozy Horse coat he went. Juno wore her big harness-vest and did most excellent momentum pulling all through the forest. She had a ton of distractions to ignore, clusters of people, screaming, running kids, strollers, not to mention all the fascinating smells of the beautiful forest. She was a star.

Juno, for pulling, went on my left, so Kaline walked on my right. He really didn't seem to mind walking over there, even though he basically never does it. He did a pretty good job ignoring all the kids too (he has a lot more trouble resisting them), but did have some totally understandable trouble resisting smelling all the forest stuff. With a dog on either side, I felt like I was in my own little parade or had really adorable bodyguards. We definitely got some looks, but mostly had no issues. I was surprised we didn't get any problem at the gate, with two dogs and Kaline "dressed" the way he was. It was a very pleasant surprise. And thanks to Juno, when I came out of the woods, I wasn't worn out and I wasn't in a ton of pain.

Me and the pups!

Between two trees.

Looking up between those two trees.

Tamalpais Valley on the way home.

I attempted to get cute pictures of the dogs with paws up on the rail of a bridge. Juno apparently decided she needed to be an overachiever. Instead of doing paws-up, which is a command she knows, she put her paws up and then attempted to vault over the freaking rail and into the creek! I practically died (thankfully she was on a very short leash and her little vault got aborted real fast). Kaline is basically Juno's size now (seven pounds to go!) but he acts shorter, so when he did paws up he didn't try to do ... more. Yeesh, Junebug!

The one picture I got of Juno, before she decided "paws up" meant "please jump over this railing."

Kaline, my little ham.

Oooh, water!

After our "hike" we went to meet my aunt and cousin for a bite to eat. Normally I don't really like working both dogs in a restaurant, but I didn't really have a choice. We went to California Pizza Kitchen and once Kaline settled, everything went incredibly well. They both passed out, hurrah, except for a couple times when Kaline decided that my anxiety levels were getting a little high and did a lap-up. He's very proactive about lap-ups, which I quite like.

In less lovely news, Kaline had to go to the vet today. For the past week-plus, about every other day, in the wee hours of the morning, I wake up to Kaline making awful vomiting noises. Then all that comes out is a white foam. I know, I know, TMI. Anyway, Saturday night he barfed up his whole dinner plus a squeaker. We have no clue where he got it, because he is no longer allowed stuffies of any kind, and the one we keep in Mom's room for Juno is in mint condition. Then he vomited that foam again this morning, so I took him in in the afternoon.

I was really proud of how calm and quiet he was during Dr. Harish's exam. Dr. Harish was looking in his eyes, ears and mouth, prodding and poking his belly, etc. I wasn't holding Kaline at all and he just stood there and took it. Apparently he was not as good when he had to go off with a tech for an X-ray, but that's cause they had to hold him on his back. Thankfully, all the X-ray showed in his innards was food. So the current theory is the squeaker was in there for a while, irritating his stomach and causing the nothing-vomiting. Hopefully we're done with that for now!

Why I haven't been writing

We've had kind of a rough couple of days. Also, there was the Democratic National Convention, which I was obsessed with and seemed to give me an extra spoon every night cause it was so exciting.

But yeah, Kaline got stung by a yellow jacket, I ended up with a massive fibro flareup partially due to the temporary dogs who live in an area with hills on steroids, and now I'm having flareup plus migraine symptoms. Thank goodness I found my prescription migraine pills a while ago and knew exactly where they were.

Perks of the temporary dogs: We saw three deer (one a fawn!) on our walk today!

The area is also really gorgeous. My entire body, though, hates the hills. At least they make my eyes happy.

Also, Juno is having issues with her mouth. We've been at the vet a bunch (I feel like we live there sometimes—all either of the dogs has to do is whine at a weird time and we head to the vet). She is clearly uncomfortable about something in there, making weird motions with her jaw like a human might if they had popcorn stuck in their teeth. We can't see anything though, and her breath is enough to knock you out. Juno gets her teeth brushed every night, but it definitely seems to be time for a special cleaning. She's scheduled to go in on Monday, and for now she is on painkillers and antibiotics in case of infection. She's eating fine and mostly acting okay, but sometimes she just lies on the couch and makes pathetic sounds. Which could be related to Kaline existing, but I'm not sure.

The sting was no biggie; Kaline's only physical reaction was a slight swelling on his left ear right where he got stung. Little ice and some Benadryl fixed that right up.

The flareup yesterday was so bad we didn't even go to training. My whole left hand and arm were basically out of commission. It's a bit better today but having the Labs with the hills is not the best medicine ever.

Better news: A dark horse candidate is now tops in the running for My New Car. Mom ripped a page out of one of her magazines doing comparisons on small SUVs, basically the car I want. And there it was, the Prius V, which I didn't even know existed. Same price as the CRV, almost as much cargo space, TWICE THE MPG!!!!, and oodles more features. Methinks we have a winner. It would have to be freaking awful to drive (we definitely need to do a test drive) for me to go back to one of the others.

And we're going to see the Tour of Gymnastics Champions in San Jose tomorrow. That should be awesome.

Evening cuddles.

Training opportunities

Kaline at 16 weeks!

 First things first: Sixteen-week-old Kaline finally got his last set of shots! I am super stoked about this for reasons I don't think I should put on a blog ... If inquiring minds want to know, PM me. He did fine at the vet—was fairly stoic for his DHPP shot, and then wriggled a little about the rabies vaccination. He also (sort of) met Dr. Ulla's beautiful big black and rust Doberman, Anchor. Anchor has some leash reactivity, so they didn't actually get to sniff or anything. Anchor barked, and Kaline got treats for not barking back, and for watching me and ignoring Anchor, and for coming toward me and away from Anchor.

Which leads ever so nicely into what I wanted to write about, training opportunities! I try (unfortunately I don't always succeed!) to view pretty much everything that happens as a training opportunity. It's a lot easier to do when I am carrying my bait bag, so I've been putting that on pretty much every time we go outside. It really helps to see the world in general in a more positive way.

I actually got excited today when I was out with a four-pack in Palo Alto, and saw a woman coming along the sidewalk with what looked like two Chow mixes (or full Chows, I don't know). Clearly they were walking her, and they were staring daggers at my dogs. She saw my dogs and took an extra few wraps of leash around each of her hands.

Practically grinning with delight, I sidled my four off the main part of the sidewalk and right up next to a store's front window. I was ready with the bait bag, all four were maintaining excellent eye contact, and I was just thinking, YES! We are going to have a great reinforcement of how we don't interact with this kind of energy!

Then I realized I'd been standing there for much longer than it should've taken for the dogs to pass us. They'd crossed the street. Drat.

It's so confidence-building to see everything as an opportunity to reinforce what you want from your dog(s). I get happy when we come across barking dogs in cars or behind fences, skateboards on the sidewalk, hissing garbage trucks, creaking buses (or is it busses?), or people using various potentially scary (to dogs) mobility aids. Instead of seeing these things as things to avoid and protect the dogs from, I can see them as a chance to show them how I want them to react—and to show them that when such scary things happen, they're not actually scary, because they mean cookies.

A side note: You may remember that Juno and I won a super-awesome tag from Jen and Elka! Well, I finally got around to doing a wee photoshoot with Juno today. If you like one of the photos more than the others, let me know! I'll probably choose one for the custom tag by Wednesday or Thursday. And yes, the tag will be going on the wide 2HoundsDesigns collar Juno is wearing in the photos.

Some of the photoshoot contenders:

1

2

3

4

5

Big boy at training

Kaline is running with the big dogs! Or at least getting treated more like one. Yesterday at training, he got tethered like everyone else, instead of put in the playpen (from which he is quite adept at escaping). Unlike everyone else, he had a tire with a rope, and a stuffed lobster to play with. He also got to participate more actively than before. Instead of just coming out for the Kumbayayas, he worked on some loose-leash walking around four or five dogs in down stays, as well as recalls, and “meet and greets” with all the tethered dogs.

He did pretty well! Our new strategy for recalls is to call him in, then make a ninety-degree turn either left or right so he has to follow me and still come in straight. I have no issues getting him not to rock back when I do that, so we'll keep on.

Juno really improved on her down stays yesterday—she didn't break nearly as often as she has been doing, so hooray! She did an excellent job as usual with the jumping (26 inches). I was really happy with her. But later that night, when we went to My Fair Lady, she leaked on her mat. Very worrisome. This is the second time in recent history that she has leaked on her mat. It's not like an accident, because she was calmly lying down when it happened. She doesn't know it's happening.

So today we went to the vet. Junebug got her favorite vet, Dr. Ulla, and she took a urine sample to test to see what we've got. I'm hoping for an easily cleared up UTI, rather than early-onset incontinence. Dr. Ulla was so sad she didn't get to see Kaline, that after we got home, we just set out on a walk with him and went back to the vet's office so she could meet him. (Dr. Ulla has a black and tan Doberman named Anchor.) No one was in, so we just let Kaline gambol around the office in his adorably clumsy way. Everyone was commenting on his lovely temperament and obvious confidence. Whee.

Kaline also got to go on his first real pack walk today, with Juno, Gracie and Wilson. Four-dog packs are my most common, although that will change when Kaline becomes a regular. (Five is my limit, and will become most common.) Wilson and Kaline will just egg each other on in silliness, so I put Gracie between them. She is only a year or so old, about the same age as Wilson, but you'd never know it. She is such an old hand when it comes to dealing with other dogs who need to learn the ropes. She was a fantastic buffer between the boys and made everything go far more smoothly.

Kaline of course did fine. I don't think he's going to have an issue with pack walking in the mental/emotional sense—it doesn't faze him. I just don't know where in the pack I'll put him when I've got Jett too! Normally in packs the least-trained/experienced dog goes on the extreme inside, but since I started with Jett, that's been His Spot, regardless of who else is walking. Mostly because even though he knows what's expected of him now, he can still unintentionally leave huge swipes of drool-slime on passersby if the opportunity presents itself. If I put Kaline to Jett's right though, I have a feeling he'll get smushed. He may end up in the middle, next to my No. 1 Puppy Wrangler Max. That'll be fun.

I shall leave you with a most adorable sequence of photos. Yesterday after training, we all came home tired as usual. Juno flopped on her blue bed, and after a few minutes, Kaline's eyes lit up: Snuggle Opportunity!

So brazenly, he marched over to Juno and curled up in the curve of her body. Then he started scootching around, trying to find the exact perfect spot with the absolute largest area of his body in contact with hers. Would it be better with his head over her neck, or against her shoulder? It was hilarious. Juno grumbled the whole time, naturally, then quieted once she realized he had no interest in chewing on her feet.

Most adorable picture ever, methinks!!

Last bit of news: I finally know Kaline's registered name! It's my first choice—Gatehouse As Time Goes By! Woohoo!

Twelve weeks old!

Today Kaline turned twelve weeks old! How exciting. He went and got his second set of shots, which I was super stoked about ... and then the vet said I should still wait another two weeks to take Kaline on the big pack walks and such. Argh. I have a lot of walks with this one dog, however, who lives in a beautiful, quiet neighborhood, and I generally have to walk him by himself because he's a bit of a spaz, so Kaline will be able to go along for those walks. No treks to downtown Menlo Park or Palo Alto yet though.

Our big exposure for today was the train station. I thought I was so prepared—I checked the schedule when we got to the station, and in a few minutes there would be a northbound train stopping. We were on the southbound side, so the train would be kind of distant and it would be slow, plus Juno couldn't care less about trains no matter what they do, so she would provide a great example for the wee one.

I didn't factor in the express.

We were just hanging out on our bench when a southbound express (our side of the tracks) came whooshing through. I was not expecting it, and obviously neither was Kaline! Juno stood there as though nothing out of the ordinary was happening, and her wee brother scooted under our bench until the bad nasty train went away. I felt so awful. Poor little man!

Nonetheless, I waited for the “good” train, and while we were waiting, Kaline finally got to meet a person on a bike. I still am on the fence about Kaline and bikes: is he scared of them, or just very interested? After asking permission, I let Kaline sniff this guy's bike all over, and meet the guy himself, of course. After a few minutes, the next train came through, the one I'd been planning on. Kaline sat between my feet and shook a little while I rubbed his chest. He didn't whine or try to run away though, and he definitely recovered his happy-go-lucky-ness very quickly.

Trains: Another thing to keep working on.

Kaline meets Gracie; gets a snuggle from Juno

Yesterday (Friday), Kaline had a playdate with Gracie, Baxter's sister. Also a yellow Lab, she's a little over a year old. She and Baxter like to play pretty rough, but once Gracie saw that the puppy couldn't handle that level of play, she really toned it down and they had a great time.

Gracie is a most excellent retriever, so once she got going with her ball, Kaline was all about chasing her around the yard, and then leaping on her when she would lie down in the grass. She let him jump on her face, flop over her back, whatever he wanted. They had a fantastic time wrestling. Kaline got tired after a while so he employed the time-honored Doberman strategy of placing himself somewhere in Gracie's path and waiting for her to run over to him—that way he could jump on her without actually having to give chase. This is something my first dog, Angel, used to do; Kaline reminds me a lot of her.

After the playdate, Kaline crashed for basically the whole afternoon. He was one tired puppy. Late in the afternoon though, he had two appointments. He came along with me and Juno to see my psychologist, and did pretty well. It was his first time there. He was a little antsy at the start, but I had brought his new hit toy, a tiny tire with a rope attached (ropes are the new hot thing in Kaline-land), and soon he focused on that. And then he crashed again.

Kaline settling in the waiting room with his rope toy.

Then we went to see the vet, because Kaline's puppy acne has not gone away, and when the vet last saw him, he said he wanted to get him on antibiotics if the acne stayed longer than a week. So yesterday, Kaline got to see Dr. Cortesi. He is mostly retired now; but when I had Angel, he was the main vet there. It was really nice to have my brand new puppy seen by the same vet who treated Angel her whole life.

Dr. Cortesi prescribed a short dose of antibiotics for the acne, said to get Kaline back on only the puppy food until he has consistently good poops, and gave me the puppy pack I forgot last time. (It's got kind of a pre-heartworm preventive in there.) Kaline was a very good boy, and Juno suffered her role as moral supporter with mostly good grace. She got lots of treats, and with his sensitive stomach Kaline hardly got any, so she was a pretty happy camper.

Later that night, Juno sacked out on the brown bed that has become her main spot downstairs since Kaline commandeered the blue bed. Once her eyes were closed, Kaline very carefully crept over and snuggled in next to her. Juno opened her eyes in horror, but Mom and I both told her, "It's okay, just stay there." Kaline wasn't doing his usual routine of "How hard can I gnaw your feet?" He just wanted to sleep cuddled up and was being very good. So Juno went back to sleep. See photos for how this progressed!

First vet visit, etc.

Puppy zoomies just ended and Kaline has fallen asleep, so I thought I'd get in a little blogging.

Last night everyone got a lot more sleep, even me. Kaline and I worked on crate training during the day, and then last night, he slept in the kiddie pool bed with his leash tethered to a kitchen chair. I was on the couch up here, right next to him. He actually slept! I woke up a lot, worrying about whether he was awake and needing to pee, or chewing on the bed, or the towel, or the leash. (Despite having a fluffy bone, a Nylabone, a Kong and now a toothbrush thing, the leash remains the most popular thing to put in his mouth. Thank goodness it's not the BLD leash!)

But there was no yowling, so what sleep I got was a lot better. Kaline did some time in his crate today as well, when I went next door to feed my neighbor's cats, and later when I took Juno out on a walk by herself. She needs a lot more exercise than Kaline does at this point, and of course she really needs her individual time. Kaline did well in the crate—Mom reported that he yowled at the beginning, but by the time Juno and I got back, he was lying in there quietly and calmly.

Brief moment of sibling peace and closeness.

Can I just say, I cannot begin to imagine how much more stressed out I would be right now if Juno were still blind. It takes off so much pressure to know that I don't have to depend on Kaline for anything anytime soon, seeing as how I can't. Juno and I are going to go on a longer walk tomorrow, plus we'll have training in the park.

Kaline got more of his intro to the prong collar today, and he's doing quite well. He started pulling on leash last night (getting some more confidence!), so he wore the collar this morning. Juno is great at teaching new dogs to walk nicely, so between the two of us we really got Kaline going great! He looked so cute. He has the most gorgeous little trot, even at nine weeks.

We also did clicker introduction. He gives such amazing eye contact! Before he gets distracted by Juno, of course. All he wants is to play with her ... Sigh. She barks at him and runs away. Or just stands there and barks. It's loud. Kaline is much less intimidated already, haha. He always goes for her tail, he's utterly fascinated by it.

This. All the time.

Anyway, I think he's getting the clicker ... I will have to use higher value treats tomorrow to make sure. I've been using his leftover kibble, because he's leaving a lot at each meal and I worry, but he is not terribly motivated by it. Damn, I knew Juno would spoil me. (She will work/train for vegetables.)

Kaline did a lot of sleeping. Thank goodness, cause then I can recharge! This afternoon, I pulled the extra downstairs dog bed into the family room (we now have literally no floor space) and ended up snuggling on it between Juno and Kaline. Kaline snuggled so wonderfully, and even pillowed his head on my neck. He also fell asleep in my lap at another point. He's so bloody cute when he sleeps. Okay, he's cute when he's doing practically anything.

Cuddling between my dogs!

This afternoon Mom and I took both dogs in to the vet. Kaline had to go for a puppy checkup, and we wanted to see what's up with Juno blowing her coat all of a sudden (she normally doesn't). Everyone thought Kaline was very cute, and commented on his enormous paws. We got our first, “What is he?” comment. First guess, if you can believe it, was DACHSHUND (admittedly, his face does look Doxie-like) and the second guess was Rottweiler. Third guess was mix. Nope. Kinda knew I was in for that with his natural ears. (The thing that is really annoying me, so far, is that everyone calls Juno “he” and Kaline “she.”)

Kaline was pronounced lookin' good by the vet, Dr. Harish, who also said that yes, walks around the neighborhood are fine, just no high-traffic areas. It's what I thought, but it's nice to get vet confirmation. Juno got blood drawn to make sure her thyroid is working properly. Kaline managed to almost fall off the exam table twice, and later tried to perch on my shoulders like a parrot. Oh, puppy.

Kaline at the vet on the exam table.

After the vet we went to Pet Place to get Kaline's play pen (turned out it was the wrong model, oops). Kaline waited in the car with Mom; Juno came with me and milked everyone in the store for treats. She's really good at convincing people she's starving, neglected, no one feeds her, etc. I love my girl. Lynn, who owns Pet Place, came out to the car to meet little Kaline and cooed over him. Teehee.

He got zoomies when we came home, sliding down the stairs a couple times, pouncing on all his toys like they were running away from him, running around in circles, etc. And then he crashed. I feel like I haven't done anything all day, yet I'm wiped. Guess this is puppyhood!

Five days!

This countdown is getting crazy! Okay, actually I'm the one who's crazy. Today I got Kaline's flight information. He should be arriving at SFO at about 10:35 on Saturday morning. I'm not entirely sure just yet where I actually pick him up, but I seem to remember seeing someone pick up a puppy in an office by the baggage claim. I wonder how long it will take to reach a live human being at the airport who can give me the one answer I need ...

I went back to observe puppy class again this past Sunday, this time with Danny in tow. I'm hoping that if I can get Kaline into the class, Danny will be able to come to help with the recall and stuff. Kaline may end up falling into a sort of limbo between classes—might be too young for any but the last meeting of the current five-week session, and may be nearly too old for the next one. It's not the end of the world, as Freddie also has puppy classes going on. I just have my heart set on Amy's!

The puppies are ever so cute, as always. This time around, there's a yellow Lab (my fave, of course); a Golden Retriever; a poodle/Golden retriever mix; a gorgeous blue Great Dane with the most hilarious ears; a Wheaten terrier; and a delightful little Bernese Mountain Dog. Hopefully Kaline can get his second-round shots at 11 weeks and make it to the final meeting. We'll see what the vet says, just one week from today!

Did I mention that the local vets are Doberman people? There is a married couple now in charge at Peninsula Pet Hospital (originally, Angel's and Juno's vet was Dr. Cortesi, but he's mostly retired now) and they have a gorgeous young black and tan male named Anchor. Juno likes Dr. Ulla a lot, which is a big deal cause she is not generally a vet fan. The techs are all stoked to meet the puppy, of course.