Big weekend

I am exhausted! Juno is about to fall asleep standing up ... and Kaline has a second wind. We just got back from an awesome fundraiser for the Menlo Park Legends, a semipro baseball team run by one of my friends from high school, David Klein. I worked for them for their first summer, so it was a nice little reunion for me.

Yesterday was obedience class day. Kaline figured out, within minutes of class starting, how to escape from his playpen. First you pull up the “floor,” which is velcroed to the walls of the pen. Then you throw yourself at the walls until one of them caves inward, and finally you squirm out from under the now-breached wall. Sometimes he is a little too smart! Luckily, another dog parent (whose significant other was handling their Whippet) was overjoyed to have a puppy to look after. Kaline got to be a distraction several times (yes, he was a planned distraction).

To my great joy, Kaline seemed totally on board with napping away the afternoon. I'm still very sleep deprived even though he is basically sleeping through the night now (massive sleep debt and all) so I needed major naptime! Juno did too.

In the evening, we went on a big walk. We walked all the way over to the rec center, where there was a big barbecue going on and where the local skate park is located. Kaline is a kid magnet—as soon as we appeared on the outskirts of the barbecue, every kid in attendance came over wanting to pet the dogs. I tried to keep it to one at a time for Kaline—luckily Juno loves kids, so she was able to take some of the focus off the puppy—but eventually we got surrounded. This wasn't good for him or me, so we said our goodbyes and headed to the skate park.

I found a bench outside the fence, put Juno in a down-stay, and lifted Kaline onto the bench so he could see the skaters. He started trembling. I was like, “Oh crap, he's totally scared of the skaters.” Then I realized that his trembling didn't change regardless of noise/lack thereof, or proximity of skaters. The bench had very smooth slats ... I put Kaline down next to Juno, and presto! No problem with skaters. The bench and his lack of traction on it was what had him freaked out. He was so nonplussed by the noisy skaters that he was fully able to concentrate on doing sit, down, watch, even high five. We're going to keep going back periodically though, just to make sure he stays cool with skaters of all sorts.

Today, Kaline had two big outings, one to my cousin's house in Berkeley, and then the other to the fundraiser. There was a little family gathering at my cousin's. It was one of the longest car rides Kaline has done, and he did pretty well. I mean, he was in the backseat with me and Juno, so there wasn't too much to be unhappy about!

We had to stay on the porch due to allergies, but we still got to hang out with pretty much everyone, and the weather was gorgeous. The backyard is amazing as well—it took forever for Kaline to pee because he was so busy checking things out, and this is a puppy who pees nearly instantly when you tell him to. We worked on training several different times with both dogs. They got to meet my cousin Harris' new baby, along with various other adult cousins and my aunt. Kaline and Juno both got to sunbathe a lot and seemed to enjoy the relaxation. My aunt and her husband had a great time entertaining the pup—they have two Labs at home, one just a year old, so they're definitely puppy people!

In the car on the way home.

Both dogs slept on the way home; everyone took a nap for a while once we got here, and then around 5:30 we left for the Legends fundraiser. It was at a local park. There were tons of people there, lots of activity and food. I was super impressed at Kaline's behavior in the food line. Obviously it's not something we've had a chance to work on before. Kaline sat whenever I paused (not next to me or anything, but hey! he sat!) and even though there was food on the ground, he didn't move to go for it. What a good boy.

He did get a bit antsy while we were eating. He was great at mingling, going to meet all these different people (men, women, children, woohoo!), but sitting still, not so much. Periodically there'd be these agonized yelps coming from under the table. I had brought Kaline's dinner in my bait bag though, so whenever he did a down, he got rewards and started offering that more. Like at my cousin's, we periodically did quick training sessions. Just for shits and giggles, I taught him to high five with his other paw (cue: other hand). Everyone was in love with him and Juno.

Juno was a huge hit because in 2009, my summer with the Legends, she ended up becoming the mascot. All the guys from then are still crazy about her. She used to chill in the dugout every game. I always tried to enforce a no-dip zone around her, because she would usually manage to lie down in a little puddle of it if the opportunity arose. Ew. Once, we were in a dugout that featured a ton of yellow jackets. Juno was avidly following the insects with her eyes. We kept telling her not to try anything, she'd be sorry. Eventually, she lunged, snapped, caught a yellow jacket in her mouth, killed it, and spat it out. Then she gave me a look like, “Really? I'm not sorry!” Juno's a badass, what can I say.

At the fundraiser, Kaline also experienced his first concert. He was basically asleep by then, so the lovely sounds of Windy Hill didn't wake him up. He got chilly in his thin little Dobie coat (Juno, with her nice double coat due to her Lab and/or GSD heritage, was fine), so I ended up wrapping him in a nice blanket that David let us use for the remainder of the concert.

Windy Hill!!!

Two days of Gracie!

Kaline is having a most excellent time, and Juno is getting a bit of a break from puppy pestering: Miss Gracie is here! She was in “daycare” yesterday and again today, and she and Kaline just play nonstop. Really quietly too—when Juno and Kaline are “playing,” it's a nonstop barkfest that will give you a headache in 15 seconds. Because Juno cannot manage to play without barking incessantly. To that end, I finally found her old bark collar in the recesses of my trunk. No idea if it actually still works, but while wearing it, there's no barking! So yay.

The pups had a good time at training yesterday in the park, though I was preoccupied most of the time with the fact that Kaline had still not had his post-breakfast poop. He'd had a walk, an awesome play session with Gracie, then fun before training actually began, yet still, no poop. I worry about these things. (He finally went after “jumping”—4-6 inches, worry not.)

The big dogs were excellent. We had every single dog out doing an off leash down-stay except for one seriously spastic poodle-mix. (I won't rant here ... yet ... but “Labradoodles” and “Goldendoodles,” these are not actual breeds.) First they were in a long line, so one or two working dogs at a time could practice weaving and heeling, and then they were in two parallel lines, so we could do The Gauntlet, a recall exercise where the one working dog does a recall between the two lines of dogs in downs. The Gauntlet is probably my favorite exercise ever.

Dogs on left, front to back: Ben, Gracie, Shadow, Tex, Juno; dogs on right, front to back: Xena, Phi, Rocky, Lucky, Peter, Rio.

After the stays, weaving and recalls, most of the dogs got to go play in the sprinklers. I use sprinkler time mostly as a way to work on Juno's recall some more, teaching her to come even when having tons of fun. And once she comes, she gets to go play more. She gets all gleeful and soaking wet. I must figure out a way to get Kaline to love sprinklers as well.

As usual, Kaline got to participate in what we jokingly call the Kumbayaya Session, where most of the dogs come out and do group down-stays in a loose circle. He worked on his sit, down, watch, stay, stand and newest one, high-five. (I realized a bit belatedly that for him I would like “shake” to mean shake like after a bath.)

He was so not tired after his long day though. It was kind of insane. He even got a visit, after training, from two of my former Kepler's colleagues, who gleefully played with him and entertained him for half an hour or so. Everything he did was the New Cutest Thing Ever. He got handled everywhere, and was cool with it. But still, there was much leaping onto couches (he has never been invited onto the couch, only lifted there when sleepy, so I don't know why he thinks he can go there), and much chewing of things that are not his toys. Sigh. Even his last walk did not do much to curb the zoomies.

Happily, he slept through the night. This seems to be becoming, dare I say it, a habit. I love.

I got up extra early this morning so I could go get Gracie before Juno and Kaline's walk. Another mini-pack experience for Kaline. He did well again, though we still have to work on not licking other dogs' ears while walking. We ran into the UPS man, who Juno loathes for no good reason, and Kaline loves, just like Angel did. UPS man loves dogs back and was quite happy to see his little buddy. Oh yeah, and yesterday Kaline met an older lady with a walker. Not fazed in the least.

It's kind of interesting, Kaline changes my whole approach toward other people. Generally I try to avoid contact of all kinds. No touch, no talk, no eye contact, right? But with Kaline, I'm always thinking, “Oooh, that person totally fits a demographic I want to make certain Kaline is comfortable with! Oooh, ze is looking at the puppy with interest! Let's go meet hir!!!” Basically, I'm looking for humans who are not completely able-bodied women (because I have so many of those in my life that Kaline is in no danger of being underexposed to them). Obviously, if such a woman wanted to meet Kaline, I would never say no! Men, children, extra tall men, people in wheelchairs, people with crutches, people with walkers, people in uniform, people with strollers—all these people have become targets (I mean that in the best way possible!). So I constantly find myself asking, “Can he say hi?” And the answer is pretty much always yes.

After the first walk, Kaline went for crate time and Juno, Gracie and I went on our two pack walks. Then Kaline and Gracie had a massive play session. It's unbelievable the things Gracie will put up with! I find it hilarious that Kaline ended up tiring her out, not the other way around. I feel kind of accomplished though—I devised a morning that crashed out a one-year-old Labrador! Hurrah!

Everyone is currently crashed for their afternoon siesta. Sounds like a plan to me.

We are very tired

Well, “we” being me and Juno. Kaline is in his crate, hopefully having a cooldown. He was doing all the tired, cranky puppy things, so I figured it was time for a nap.

Yesterday, Kaline actually got to participate in training. It was super exciting. We did his basic things, but this was in a far more interesting environment—grass underfoot, dogs all around, birds, squirrels, etc. But Kaline was pretty awesome.

He did watch, sit-stay, down-stay, and stand pretty well. One time he was doing a down stay and I was walking around him, and he was paw-to-paw with Rocky, a little Golden-Poodle mix (basically the only representative of his mixture that I actually like). We also worked on recalls, alongside two other dogs. Kaline came, but when he goes to sit, he will rock way back. So Freddie said to work on having him run all the way through—throwing a toy between my legs for him! That's gonna be fun.

Kaline's idea of where he should sit in the car. (Worry not, my ancient car lacks passenger-seat airbags. All airbags, actually.)

Juno and I had a lovely time at the park as well. At training, since Juno has to be tethered when I work other dogs, she gets all stoked about being with me. (At home right now, she is still giving me the doggie silent treatment most of the time.) She did fantastic recalls, and we practiced finding the heel position. I love doing that with her. I can get her to adjust where her butt is in her sit by just peering at her from different angles. She also, oddly, responds to the words “move up” and “tuck it in, eh?” I never meant to use those as cues but they just happened. You have to say “eh” or it won't work, by the way. (Yay Canada.) We also did remote sits and downs, and worked on her doing sits and downs in heel position without rolling her hip over.

When we came home, everyone crashed.

Awww.

We worked on the front position (where Kaline should end up in the recall) a bunch today, though not with the toy because all we had was the kitchen/family room, and there's just not enough space. I was just clicking and treating for touching my knees with his nose, sitting close to me, etc. It was kinda haphazard, I admit ... but hey, we'll figure it out.

Kaline also got to work on: sits and downs with no food lure, just hand signal; sit from a down position; stand from sit and stand from down; leave it; settle; flip finish (going to heel position from front position); and his first trick, shake. It started with me holding a treat in my closed fist, waggling it under his nose in an annoying manner (if I hold it still, I want him to leave it, generally). Eventually he pawed my fist with his left paw, the one I want (!). C/T, and off we went. He's not quite to the point where I can hold out my hand and ask for a “shake” and it'll happen, but we are thiiiiis close. Touch, with his nose, is going really well now. He will take several steps to get to my hand and touch it, and will turn to either side as well. Usually the touch comes with a lick. I sure don't mind.

I can't wait till next week when, hopefully, Kaline can start coming out on pack walks. I was a little worried about him today because he had to spend about three hours in the big crate while Juno and I were out with the packs. He just graduated to an actual bed in there (I really hope I don't regret that!), and he didn't rip it apart or anything. He was trying to remove the tags when I got back, but otherwise, no issues. (I removed the tags. Kaline is industrious but his jaws are, as yet, not very effective at destruction.)

Kaline in his new bed. Don't destroy it!!!!

The bed makes the crate look so much more comfy than the towel/pad combo. It has this roll around three sides of it—we originally got it for Juno when she was blind and suddenly had to stay home more, and she is all about chin rests, let me tell you—so Kaline can lean his back against something that's not the wire side of the crate. Seems warmer too. Not that it's been cold here. I've been walking dogs early because of the heat.

Anyway, going on pack walks means 1) Kaline will spend less time alone being bored and 2) he will get a ton more exercise and exposure! It's going to be super exciting. It will be interesting to see who gets more attention downtown, Kaline or Jett, the Greater Swiss Mountain Dog. So far, a succession of baby Labradors have not been able to pull passersby's eyes away from enormous handsome Jett, so we'll see how Kaline does.

Kaline's 11-week-old photo.

Practical training and Kaline's first mini-pack walk

Sunday was our last day "off," and today I went back to work. Which just means being around a lot more dogs than my two, so it's fun. All of a sudden, Kaline is way more interested in his puppy kibble (which I switched him back to, at the vet's suggestion), so I used a ton of it yesterday for training. We worked on two things which should serve him well In Real Life™: settling and not crossing the threshold at the front door.

Kaline got settle so fast and was even doing it throughout the night when he wanted some attention. A much nicer attention-getting behavior than pawing, or barking, or tearing up inappropriate objects, don't you think? What I wanted from him was a relaxed down—one hip rolled—and head on the floor. At first I was clicking as soon as his head touched the floor, but then I made him wait longer and longer. I moved to different places and just waited for the behavior; he kept offering it, quicker and quicker! Whee.

Working on the front door was a ton of fun. First I just kept leading him up to the door, clicking and treating as we reached the threshold. Then I'd c/t while I walked out and he stayed. He was really getting it, so I did silly things outside the door, like dancing terribly around, or baby talking at him, gently patting my legs, and c/t-ing when he didn't move. Then I started leading him back, and then jogging (then running) at the door. He'd stop at the threshold and I'd keep going. Eventually he just downed there. I ran past him, bounced past him, did recalls with Juno past him. He broke maybe twice. Good boy!

He slept through the night (well, we did have to get up at 7:30). Juno, Kaline and I went out for an hour, and then it was time to go to work. We did two pack walks sans Kaline (he was in his crate, but Mom was home with him to get him out for a potty break), then came home with Teddy, whose schedule had gotten a little messed up.

Kaline, Teddy and Juno waiting nicely to come inside.

When I came in, Kaline gave my jeans such a thorough sniffing. Who have you been hanging out with? Wow, they smell so interesting! He was super gleeful to see Teddy—I had to calm him down before we could really go. Eventually, he'll learn to walk with four other dogs, but a pack of three is a good place to start. Teddy's kind of an old hand, as well. Not as experienced as Max, my No. 1 puppy wrangler, but still quite good at ignoring any distracting puppy antics. Kaline did pretty well as the inside man in the pack of three (good rule of thumb is to keep the least-trained dogs on the inside, best-trained on the outside).

I tried to give him a potty break in the middle of the walk, but he wasn't interested; thus, he continued his habit of stopping dead in his tracks to pee about two blocks from home. I need to nip this habit in the bud. It's important for Kaline to learn that he only eliminates on command (and when off-duty ... not that he has an "on-duty" yet).

After all our dogs were walked, my dogs and I went on a drive to BK and back. I had Kaline's lunch with me, so I treated him whenever he was being cool and calm, lying down in the front seat foot space. Which was a lot (yay!) so he ate about a quarter of his lunch. Hardly any whining today.

Once we got back it kinda all caught up to us. Juno and I had been on four hour-long walks, Kaline on two. So we crashed.

Clicker training fun

Tonight the pups and I had a great clicker training session. Juno's part may have looked like not very much—lying calmly on her blanket on the couch while I actively worked with Kaline—but for her, it's actually a big deal. Juno is an amazing dog to work with, obviously, but she still has problems "honoring the working dog." As far as I know, it's mostly a field-dog term, describing the part of a test where the dog must sit calmly by as another dog works in the field. It's tough to learn it's not all about you!

Anyway, Juno's general M.O. when I'm working another dog is to whine and yodel in the most pitiful manner. So this is something we have to work on. She got periodically rewarded with the same treats I was using for Kaline—Just Chicken!—for holding a nice quiet down-stay. She was awesome, even when I was migrating around with Kaline, doing recalls and downs in different locations.

With Kaline, my main focus was down. My end goal is for his feeding ritual to be like Juno's, which is exactly like Angel's before her. No mugging the human around the food bin or during food preparation; just lie down next to your food bowl and wait for your release cue. Since Kaline's a baby, I've been having him just sit and wait for his food. He's excellent at sitting—he sees me go to the food, sits about three to four feet away, and then when it's ready he races out to his bowls and sits again with great expectation.

I wanted him to choose to lie down, eventually, but for the first two times, I lured him with the chicken, c/t-ing when he was down. Then I released him to reset him. At first he'd just sit and stare at me plaintively, maybe whining a little. Eventually he'd get bored and lie down, leading to much praise and chicken. He also got c/t-ed for remaining in the down and giving me nice eye contact. Soon, anytime I reset him, he'd sit, then when that only got verbal praise, immediately lie down. Yay! He's getting the concept!

So we started doing it in other places, with me in different spots in relation to Kaline. I did beat the clock, then circles around him. We went out of the family room to the kitchen, then to the dining room where his bowls are. There, we not only worked on down, but going into a sit from a down. If you've ever taught a dog to do this, you know it's hard to teach them that sit is a position, not a movement! Another thing to work on.

Last we went to the living room where we worked both on down and on stand. We have a low coffee table down there, which is actually where I taught Juno the stand cue. She's got an incredibly solid stand now, but when I first started working on it, she thought I had gone completely insane and why the hell was I touching her flank, etc. Being elevated, even less than a foot, changed everything.

Kaline, of course, does not have anything but good associations with stand because of the great work Maura did with him. Once on the table, he caught on real fast that I wanted him to just hold the position, and he stood so nicely as I moved around him and touched him all over. Nice eye contact too. I felt all accomplished.

Then he peed in the brown bed. No swelled heads with a puppy around!

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!

Fourth of July and aftermath

Kaline and Juno had a pretty fun day! We got invited, along with my parents, to the house of a family friend for a 4th of July party. They just redid their backyard and it looks so pretty! They've got a little mix named Joey who is about Kaline's current size, so Kaline was really excited to play with him. Joey, unfortunately for the pup, has a pretty one-track mind when there's food around, so Kaline was not high on his priority list! Nonetheless, Kaline had a good time following Joey around.

Kaline under one of the stools. Enjoy it while it lasts, buddy!

Juno hopes for a bite of hot dog.

Pretty backyard.

Kaline and Juno's paws.

Kaline fell asleep, as he is wont to do.

Oh the cuteness.

Kaline hanging out with Joey, the 4-year-old, and her grandparents.

Raaawwwrr, chase me!

Kaline and our lovely hostess.

Kaline and his new buddy.

Good puppy.

The noble, regal, dignified Doberman.

Joey.

Kaline and Joey playing.

Pooped puppy!

There was a low table with a bunch of food on it, and Kaline and Joey were around that a lot, but Kaline never really offered to beg or (worse) take any of the food. Good puppy! He did drink out of a plastic water cup that was on the ground, but can you blame him? There were two bunches of balloons as well, and it was a little windy—Kaline was a little curious, definitely not afraid. He seemed surprised that he would get treats for being around the balloons, but certainly wasn't going to refuse!

Black dogs by the balloons.

Juno was fantastic. She shadowed me the entire time, lying down whenever I stopped for a bit. She did her usual share of begging with her big, sad brown eyes, but that was it. She only begs from people she knows, anyway. At one point she was asleep next to my left foot, and Kaline was asleep between my feet. Too cute.

Juno supervises the playtime.

Juno and Kaline napping during lunch.

In addition to Joey, Kaline got to meet several tall men, a four-year-old girl, and a bunch more women. Hurrah. He did great with everyone, and everybody wanted to fawn over him. At the end he even played a little fetch with the four-year-old.

Later that night, we went out for a walk, during which we could hear firework booms. Neither Juno nor Kaline reacted at all. I taped the Boston Pops fireworks show for Kaline, to use as desensitization, but he slept through it. On our walk, we met many new friends, got charged (again) by the local Pekes, and met a carful of beautiful Greyhounds. Kaline is doing so awesome with meeting new people and dogs!

Today he's been kind of naughty. Lots of mouthiness, ignoring his own toys to go bite hands/electric blankets/power cords, pestering the crap out of Juno, etc. I took him on an evening walk with Juno, during which he peed and pooped, and then when we came home he promptly peed in the big blue bed. Twice. Sigh. At least we got three decent (not pudding) poops out of him today! TMI, I know.

Send back that puppy. He peed in my bed, you took it apart, and LOOK HOW SAD I AM.

But he was really good when we took him to lunch at a local burger place, just slept under the table. And he was very good about his couple of stints in the big crate. We're basically scrapping the little crate, even though he still fits. He will willingly go in his big crate, and he doesn't cry in there like he's being tortured.

We had a training session out in the common area (grass, leaves, cement, etc.) Kaline did pretty well. We worked on his sit and down stays, watch, come, a little heeling, sit-down-stand, and not being mouthy. I started teaching him to lie on his side as well. He's finally getting touch! I even moved my hand from directly in front of his face to either side, and he still got it. Yay.

Kaline's post-meal cottage cheese face, before he licked it off.

How is he still awake?

I don't comprehend how Kaline is still bouncing around after the day he had. (Okay, maybe it had something to do with the 2+ hour nap he had ...) Right now he is writhing around on his back in the kiddie-pool bed adorably, growling to himself. Sometimes this can be an indication that a nap is in the offing. And sometimes it means he's just getting started.

Today Kaline got to meet Baxter, one of my favorite pups. I've known him since he was about five weeks old, and I've always thought of him as very small—until today! Next to Kaline, he looked enormous. He was a little overly rambunctious for Kaline, but the little guy kept going back for more. Baxter was constantly leaping into the pool, which is insanely cute. Any excuse and splash! Kaline was not real into the water (big shock), but I did get him on the first step, and supported him under his already-substantial chest as he did paddles in the water. When Kaline got tired, I held him on my lap a while as Juno and Baxter ran like crazy people all over the backyard, barking gleefully. Baxter could play really rough with her, and they had a blast.

After the playdate, we went to training in the park. My play yard for the puppy came last Friday, so today was the first time I got to use it. I thought it'd be a lot bigger, but it'll do. It's super spiffy, and Kaline took to it pretty quickly. Inside, he had his lunch, a little water bowl, his soft mat, his beehive and his chewy from Anne. A little puppy palace.

Juno next to the new playpen, with Kaline inside.

We had three client dogs today, and six trainer dogs, haha. Juno got to do a lot. She did fantastic recalls, never broke once and came in nice and straight. She did retrieves over the bar jump and retrieves on the flat. We did moving downs and moving sits, flip finishes, the "get around" for the first time (I like flip finishes much better), and sequences of sits and downs in the heel position. That's kind of hard for her, because when she does a down, she knows I expect her to roll on a hip and get comfy immediately. But when you're doing quick sits and downs, it helps if she stays in more of a sphinx position. Stuff to work on!

Juno just gets so stressed out at training ...

Kaline got to come out a little later and we worked on his basics some more, just in a much more interesting and distracting environment. He did pretty well at focusing on me, at least for the length of his baby puppy attention span. At the end, he got to play off leash with everyone. He really took to Shadow, Kristin's beagle, probably because they're about the same size (Shadow is not really into him). He also really liked her Sheltie, Phi, who has never met a boy dog she didn't adore. They played excellent games of chase. And of course Kaline had to go play with his big hero, Rio, Freddie's big black Lab. It was precious.

I'm so glad Kaline is so social! I know it's normal for puppies to be that way, but with Juno and her predecessor, Angel, they were both rescues who lacked a lot of dog social skills. Juno was so dog-reactive on leash when we first got her that the vet told me to get her evaluated immediately before I got attached and left her with my parents after going back to school. They each had to be taught, and you still kinda had to be vigilant about them and whoever they were playing with. With Kaline, I can just be so much more relaxed. It's not like I don't watch him and his playmates carefully, but I don't worry in the same way.

After training, I brought the pups home. Kaline said hi to Mom and Dad, then promptly trotted to his big crate and conked out. Gawd, he's just so freaking cute! Big day for him tomorrow—we're going to a 4th of July party, where he'll get to meet at least one dog-friendly kid, multiple tall men, and a dog almost his size to play with! Poor Juno has to stay on-leash and out of the play because no one wants to listen to fifteen minutes solid of non-stop barking.

Best training session so far!

Kaline and I had a great training session this afternoon. I finally feel like he's starting to get some of this stuff, rather than just following the treat. His sit-stay is getting really good! Well, except when he's supposed to be sitting and staying, waiting for me to put down his food bowl, but that's a bit of a different situation. So here's our progress.

Sit—Easily sits for lure; usually sits for verbal cue; oddly sits the slowest for hand signal. He will hold a sit-stay fairly well and for a decent length of time without distractions. If Juno gets up from her down-stay, usually all bets are off! I was able to circle Kaline both directions with him staying and watching, and play "Beat the Clock."

Down—Generally, but not always, goes down for lure; still haven't moved on to verbal cue or formal hand signal. Watch/stay in a down is inconsistent but getting better. Once he rolled onto one hip, I was able to circle him and play "Beat the Clock" with success. I also straddled him with no issues. The way he's reacted to basically everything, I wasn't real surprised that he wasn't fazed by having me stand over him.

Stand—Goes into position with lure fairly easily, and tends to stay in position while nibbling chicken. Given his background as a show puppy, this is also not surprising (although super awesome from my point of view). I can stroke his back without him sitting, and pick up all his feet with no problems.

Come—Kaline comes with great enthusiasm! Since he's still little, I haven't started saying "Come" until he's already committed to doing it. He has stopped jumping up when he gets to me, and will either sit automatically or sit quickly in response to a verbal cue. He'll turn away from something he's interested in to come.

No Mouthing—Thank goodness for Kikopup, amirite?! We are, predictably, dealing with a ton of mouthiness from the pup. Gradually, using the clicker, I got him to where I was waggling my fingers ridiculously around his snout with no mouthy reaction, as well as giving him butt scratches. We're going to have to work on that a lot more and in more locations, but I'm encouraged! I also worked on him not mouthing his leash.

No Mugging/Leave it—Well, it goes. Sometimes I can't tell if he's actually leaving it, or if his puppy-ADD has kicked in and he's just having a *SQUIRREL!!* moment. But he did have a moment where I held out a piece of chicken in an open hand in front of his nose, and he just stared straight into my eyes and didn't go for it. Yay. So "leave it": not too bad, but "no mugging": gaaaah, still working on it.

Heel—Kaline walks nicely in the heel position already when he's on leash and we're just out walking, but today in the living room we worked on turning and automatic sits when I stop. I'm not terribly concerned about the auto-sit at this point, because he does stop when I stop, when we're out and about. He's quite good about that. And when he's actually working, in the future, I actually prefer stopping in a stand rather than a sit. Better for blocking, being there for me to put a hand on, keeping one's tail out of danger (yeah, that's more of a Juno concern!).

Kaline has also spent a decent amount of time in his crate today, napping. He just woke up though and is now yowling. Time for a pee break!

Quiet day

The second night of Kaline sleeping in the big crate in my room went better than the first. I ran him around with a "forbidden" toy, Juno's stuffed dragon—he's quite good at fetch! I call him my Doberman Retriever. Sometimes he doesn't want to give the toy up at the end, but that's the easy part to work on. He goes out to get the toy with great gusto and then comes lolloping back. So we did that until he seemed quite tuckered out, and then I brought him upstairs. He went right into his crate and set to work on the antler (doesn't make any progress whatsoever—that's kind of the point of antlers, I guess—but he seems to think he's doing well).

He only had to get up once during the night, really, and he made it across the street to pee. Then he didn't have to go until about 7 or so, which I feel like is a normal time for a puppy to want to get up. We went on our usual walk in Felton Gables for about an hour, thinking gleeful thoughts because Sam Mikulak and Jake Dalton, along with Jonathan Horton, made the Olympic team. (Chris Brooks and Steve Legendre, two other friends, along with Alex Naddour, are the alternates.)

Kaline is not having the runs as much, thanks to his cottage cheese. We just kind of hung around the house today, lots of naps. We had a really good training session, Kaline and I; I tried out Just Chicken, from Trader Joe's, and Kaline finds it quite acceptable as a high-value treat. (He also approves of Natural Balance Lamb, but that, I think, gives him the runs.) As the name might suggest, there is nothing added whatsoever to this chicken, so it should be very gentle on his tummy. I mean, when my dogs really have major tummy upsets, they get boiled chicken and rice. So this shouldn't be a problem!

I only had to use three pieces of chicken for a 15 minute training session, because he's so tiny and satisfied with itty-bitty shreds of chicken as rewards. We worked on sit, sit-stay, down, down-stay, watch, formal come, leave it/no mugging, and just for fun, the flip-finish and touch. My clicker was malfunctioning a little bit, which was very annoying, but Kaline did fine. Juno also did a great job "honoring" her little brother working, and got treats for that too. Bizarrely, the only one of those things that seems to really confuse Kaline is touch. But we'll get it!