The Time Has Come

May 6, 2010


Well, the time has come. Yesterday Kaboose had his interview for service work with a 14-year-old girl with cerebral palsy and seizures. Deborah thinks it will be a good fit. So we give him up a week from tomorrow, on his first birthday. He'll do his final training with the girl and her father, but he's well socialized now and has a good foundation and actually obeys, at least when he's not being a teenager. And the seizure alert part may give him a chance to use his overactive nose for a constructive purpose.

As Ed keeps saying, passing him on to his family has the same bittersweet taste as sending a kid off to college. It's not as hard as saying goodbye to a dying pet, but we'll miss him. A lot.

Here's a photo of Kaboose, Pat, and Chloe.

We're Back

March 18, 2010

A long break from this blog. First, several of Kaboose's litter got sick and we had to quarantine Kaboose (he wasn't one of the sick ones, but we needed to be sure he didn't transmit whatever it was or pick up something else). This meant he didn't get much training for several weeks, and by the time we got back into it, he was pretty wild. At that point, Ed and I were convinced he couldn't make it as a service dog. Secondly, I've been distracted by my pottery--taking classes, fulfilling requests (including dog bowls to raise funds for Klassi Kritters see www.klassikritters.com), and getting ready with pots as Christmas gifts. Through all of this I kept on with Kaboose's training and...much to our surprise...Kaboose is doing really well now. He's still somwhat distractable and implusive, but we can now leave him alone in the house without the futon mattress being unstuffed or the cat traumatized. And he's doing very well in public. This week I took him to my eye doctor's appointment, something new for him. He lay down behind the exam chair and stayed down the whole time. He's better than Kruizer ever was at ignoring other dogs on command (though not perfect). Deborah thinks he's just slower to mature than Kruizer. In fact, she sees the whole litter as slower to mature than Kruizer's litter. I also think Kaboose is pretty bright--he needs to get his nose into everything and is very aware of his surroundings. If he works out, which we now have hope for, he could be a wonderful service dog for someone.

Here's a picture of Kaboose from Thanksgiving:

Growing Up

Sept. 4, 2009

Kaboose is growing up. He's a pro in public, having proved himself at church, shopping, test driving and buying a new-to-us truck, sitting/sleeping through critique groups, riding on a bus, climbing up open mesh metal stairs, and walking calmly alongside me while I weave an erratic course while driving a handicap electric cart. Here's a picture of Kaboose expecting his reward for an automatic sit as we wait for an elevator.



At home Kaboose has finally accepted that there are some things he's just not supposed to get into. Housebreaking is going well, though not yet perfect. And he's doing well with new commands like "wait," "down," "stay," "ignore," and, yes!, "no teeth." Best of all, Pat is finally wrastling with him. Was Pat waiting until Kaboose got bigger? Or was he holding out to see if we were really keeping this new pup? For the gazillionth time, I wish dogs could talk.

We still have a couple of challenges--Kaboose greets other dogs and people with excessive enthusiasm, complete with verbalizing (he loves to talk and occasionally bark, especially if Chloe, our old and grumpy cat, is within potential playing distance) and at night, just before he zonks out, Kaboose turns into a wild child. Overall, though, he's doing really well. It's good to remember how quickly the worst of the puppy stage ends.

Kaboose in the Mountains

Aug. 2, 2009

We've been at our cabin now for a few days, and as we expected Kaboose has settled down. We had one semi-sleepless night when he just couldn't get comfortable, but we've now figured it was because he was really hungry. Most likely that's because he's been getting lots of exercise up here--a couple of walks a day, one of which has been as long as 2 or 3 miles with just a few rest stops and short carries along the way. Here he is resting in the shade.


It's impossible not to compare Kaboose to Kruizer. There are lots of similarities, especially in looks and body movement, like the jerks he makes with his jaws as he yawns and his fascination with ants and balls and anything that moves. A huge similarity is that he is so good in public--we took him into Safeway and he was calm and sat whenever I stopped, all of this without any coaching on my part, and with no prior training. I think this is where his fantastic genes come through. Some differences between him and Kruizer are that Kaboose is more affectionate, but also more assertive. He'll bark at us if he's hungry and he pounces on toys and shakes them hard almost every time he plays with them. He may be a handful, but then again these two traits may balance out and he'll be interested enough in pleasing us that he will be very trainable. Pat's reaction to Kaboose has been different from his reaction to Kruizer, too. It's taking him longer to warm up to Kaboose, maybe because Kaboose is younger, maybe because he's still missing Kruizer. In any event, Pat's just now starting to play with Kaboose and let Kaboose lie on him. Here they are asleep in the back of the car.


Speaking of training, we're making good progress on house training (only a couple of accidents total at the cabin), crate training (he no longer whines inconsolably when we put him in and he even goes in voluntarily after toys or food), and on his "sit" and "come" commands. He can now sit without me making it happen by putting the treat back over his head, and he comes with enthusiasm every time we call him. Sometimes when he sits, he puts his front paws up in anticipation of the treat and Ed has named it his "kangaroo sit." With the crate training, we're trying really hard to make his times in the crate pleasant. We feed him in there. We put him in while we're around and he's already tired. Hopefully this will translate to his going in willingly and staying there happily even when he's not tired and we can't stay around. This is something we really want to work, for our sake and his.

Last night we had a good reminder that there are predators just waiting for tasty puppy meat around our cabin. After dinner a very bold fox came up to the fence we've put up for Kaboose in front of the cabin. This was within 10 ft or so of the door. Knowing foxes can jump chicken wire fences (fox-in-the-henhouse stereotype comes from somewhere!), we now know it's essential we always go out with Kaboose at night or in low light and that we can see him during the day, even if he's in the fenced area out front.

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.

A New Service Puppy

Kaboose's Journal--another journal of a truly fine service puppy in training

July 8. 2009

We have our new service puppy in training, borrowed for a few days before we head back East. We will get him full time starting in late July. His name is Kaboose, the 10th and last puppy of the litter born to Kruizer's mom & dad the day before we gave Kruizer to his boy (see kruisersjournal.blogspot.com and dogandhisboy.blogspot.com and www.klassikritters.com.) It's different being puppy raisers the second time around--we're more confident and know more of what to expect; Kaboose is a lot like Kruizer which is good and bad in that as I see Kaboose sit and yawn just like Kruizer I miss Kruizer all over again; we know how fast the different stages go by; and we know what it will be like giving him up when he is ready for his kid. Like Kruizer, Kaboose is targeted for a child with autism.

Enough of the talking...here are a bunch more pictures:

Here is Kaboose at 13 days old, his eyes still closed.


And here he is at about 3 weeks old with Pat. Pat really doesn't know what to do with this little furry thing on his back.


Here is Kaboose two days ago at 7 1/2 weeks up at our cabin.


Today we took him out for our first official, vested outing. We went to two hardware stores and a dog supply store. He did great, though my arms got tired from holding him the whole time (he's not yet vaccinated so we need to keep him off any ground or floors where dogs carrying diseases like parvo virus may have been in the last six months.)

We also went for a walk today, maybe 2 miles total, and Kaboose was a real trooper. Occasionally he needed help, though.

And finally, this is just a cute picture.



More after July 25th....