Kaboose Comes Home

July 26, 2009

This afternoon we picked up Kaboose at the weekly training session. As you can see from the picture several other puppies also went to their homes, some to puppy raiser homes, others to homes where they will be trained by their final families. Very exciting. Kaboose remembered us and Pat and Chloe pretty well from our few days with him before our trip back East, but he certainly didn't remember our house routine (not that it's all that routine) and we went through several accidents. Once again, I go into hypervigilance mode. It's both easier and harder this time--easier because I know it will pass, harder because I remember how good Kruizer was at the end and want Kaboose to be there now.

Ed has made two 2' x 3' boxes of dirt and sod that we've put just outside the door on the main floor porch and the upstairs porch. Kaboose seems willing enough to pee in them, but not the rest, so he has to maneuver the stairs down to the gravel below the porch. We go up to the cabin tomorrow so hopefully things will be smoother up there.

A heart-warming note about Kruizer: One of the new families who have taken a puppy to train for their child on the autism spectrum made the decision to do so after seeing Matthew and Kruizer together. The mom watched them in a one-way mirror behavioral training session at Children's Hospital. The bag on Kruizer's leash was making lots of noise so the nurse asked Matthew to drop the leash. He did, but then started playing with the curtains and generally disregarding the session. The nurse clued in and let him take up Kruizer's leash again (without the bag). Matthew settled down immediately. Being connected to Kruizer and responsible for him clearly gave Matthew focus and grounding. Hearing this story made us feel so good about the time and love we put into Kruizer to help make this happen.