Wild Child to Perfect Puppy

Dec. 14, 2008

Today Kruiser went from "Wild Child" at the cabin--playing ferociously with Pat, bothering the cat, begging for us to throw sticks--to "Perfect Puppy" on the groomed cross-country ski trails at Devil's Thumb. I had taken both him and Pat on the dog trails at Devil's Thumb the day before and it was total chaos--tangled leashes, lots of tugging, having to pick up after them, my hands freezing in the wind chill. Then on Sunday went to ski with Ed on the regular non-dog trails. At the last minute I decided to at least give Kruiser a try. I put on his vest, his self-correcting collar, leash and started out. He was PERFECT. He stayed in a heel, watched me the whole time, stopped when I stopped, switched sides when I asked him to (my arms got sore poling on just one side.) It was like he needed to work, that he was bored at the cabin.

Here's a staged picture of him in his vest and me on skis and wearing a goofy hat in front of the cabin--we didn't have the camera with us at Devil's Thumb.

Another Puppy Raiser

November, 2008



Judy from my yoga class is now a "puppy raiser" to one of Kruiser's litter mates. Here she is with Kookie at training. Kookie is more challenging than Kruiser, if only because she hasn't had a continuous puppy raiser the way Kruiser has had. However, she definitely has the aptitude--she brings Judy her keys, the remote, the paper, almost without asking. A great litter!

This month Kruiser went through a lot of teenage behavior. He unlearned "down stay" and we had to remind him of it over and over. On the other hand, he learned how to retrieve the paper (Kookie & Judy gave us the idea) for Ed in the morning after only 5 minutes of teaching him using an old paper. His only issue was that he wanted to play with it on the way up the stairs. It just took attaching him to a long lead and giving him a gentle tug along with a "come" and he got it. Since then he's been getting the paper every morning. The first big Sunday paper threw him, but now he can even handle that. It's almost as if he says, "Why didn't you teach me this sooner!" He's also getting better with handicap buttons, though I still don't think he's made the connection between pressing the button and opening the door--his connection is between putting his paws up on the button and getting a treat and lots of praise. The women working at credit union and the city hall get a kick out of the training and have loved to see him progress at opening their doors.

Learning New Skills

Nov. 10, 2008
We're working on a couple of new skills. "Pull" is one. I started by getting Kruiser to pull on a double knotted cotton dog pull and then worked up to a macramé plant hanger attached to the refrigerator door hand. It took a couple of days, but as you can see above and below Kruiser can now reliably open the fridge door.
I learned something too--I need to unattach the plant hanger when we're done practicing. Ed came home the other day and the fridge door was wide open. Fortunately, Kruiser hadn't figured out there's food inside!

The other skill we're working on is opening handicap doors. I started by lifting Kruiser's paw and pressing the handicap button with it. He didn't get it. At home I came up with a plan. If I could extend his "up" command (we use that to invite him onto the bed) by putting a treat on the edge of the kitchen counter then he would put his paws up and get the treat. Wrong. He jumped ALL the way onto the counter (hey, just like getting "up" on the bed, right?) Oops. A neighbor suggested a "paws up" command. That seems to be working well. Today at the post office I put a treat on the ledge over the handicap button and as he went for the treat with the "paws up" command he managed to push the button with one of his paws. However, the next time I put the treat on the ledge, he snatched it without touching the button. Finally I tried holding the treat right against the surface of the button. It worked--he pushed the button going for the biscuit. But despite my rapturous praise I don't think he realized he opened the door. At least I think we have a system that works now and maybe if we practice it enough Kruiser will make the connection between pushing the button and the door opening. Fun stuff!

Wheelchairs

Oct. 16, 2008

We were at the doctor's office today and I saw a bunch of wheelchairs in the entry with "Kaiser Permanente" written on the backs. When I checked in, I asked if I could use one for training. It ends up I was a klutz, but Kruiser just walked alongside my drunken path, looking at me the whole time to see if I was okay (or nuts perhaps). By the time I got my coordination down, he was less attentive, but I just asked him to heel and he did. He also was great at hanging behind me as I went through the doorway. A few people must have wondered about my miraculous recovery as I jumped up out of the wheelchair and strode into my appointment.


Here's a picture from last weekend. Kruiser is really into sticks these days...BIG sticks.

Vets Are A Breed Apart

Oct. 13, 2008

I am so impressed with vets. Kruiser needed neutering and Deborah's vet wouldn't have her office up and running until January. We called our vet in town and our vet at the cabin asking if they might be willing to donate a neutering. Both of them said "yes." We went with the one in town for simplicity and Kruiser came home a bit groggy but in great shape. Now maybe he won't hump small dogs on the creek path! (It was his humping a little whippet that prompted us to do this.) He now weighs 67 pounds.

Puppy Raising as Therapy

Sept. 28, 2008

A cool story from a woman in my yoga class (where Kruiser is now a regular and adding to the mellow vibes of the class by sleeping through it or watching non-plussed as people contort their bodies in interesting ways)--

A friend of hers adopted a girl many years ago, and when the girl reached 15 she wanted to find her birth mom. The adopted mom supported her in her search and they located the birth mom in Florida. By then the girl was 16 and planned a trip to Florida to meet her face-to-face. At the last minute, the girl backed out, too afraid to carry through with her plans.

The adopted mom wanted to find some way to help the girl understand her biological mom and came up with the idea to become a puppy raiser for an assistance dog. They did this. The puppy grew up and they gave it to the training organization for its final training, the girl seeing how you can love someone but still give them up for all sorts of good reasons. Lesson learned.

There's a nice postscript to the story, too. In the end, the puppy, now dog, failed as an assistance dog and the adopted girl and her family got to keep it.

He Likes His Pool

Sept. 9, 2008

Kruiser likes his pool (even empty)


...and the cat.

Houdini

Sept. 9, 2008

A couple of days ago, I left Kruiser in his crate while I went to the Rec Center to swim. When I got back, he greeted me at the back door. I thought Ed had come home and let him out, but no, no Ed. I checked his crate. There were only 3 screws on to hold it together and the one on the back had pulled through. He had somehow nosed his way through the gap and pushed hard enough to slip the screw head through the plastic around the hole and then hopped out. He was totally unfazed by the whole thing and hadn’t gotten into anything in the house he shouldn’t have. The next time I went out for errands, I left him with Pat loose in the house. When I got back 45 mins later, he was asleep on the sofa and again no pillaged trash cans or torn apart stuffed animals. He’s growing up!

Adolescence

Aug. 31, 2008

In general, Kruiser has been doing really well. He's good in the house, no problems with toileting, loves chasing and retrieving balls, is a really strong swimmer. But we occasionally run into some adolescent behaviors like a sudden refusal to lie down, or retrieving a thrown ball but dropping it several feet away. Deborah had us go back several steps and use a tug down on the prong collar as we said "down" for a couple of days, and when playing fetch to have Kruiser leashed so we could reel him in closer on the "drop" or "give." The first correction worked well. The second had mixed success, but in general he's better about dropping the ball close now. His "wait" when we throw the ball isn't at 100% but so long as we're standing (in a position of authority) he will wait for a "take it" release. Of course, if Pat is nearby and eying the ball, Kruiser's self-discipline waivers. Solution? Put Pat in a sit and wait as well, and then all is well.

We took Kruiser to his first volleyball game last night. At first his head did the back and forth cartoon swivel watching the ball, but pretty soon he settled down and even slept until stomping in the stands woke him. A toddler took to him and gave him lots of pats and pokes--Kruiser handled it all well and even annointed the little boy with slobber on his hair. When we left, the boy ran up and asked to give Kruiser a goodbye hug. Very sweet.

Today at church Kruiser really took to the kids that came up to him, and once again Leah asked if she could pat him and if he was soft. Kruiser is really gentle with her and seems interested in engaging her, though when she sat on the floor next to him (he was in a "down") we had to watch that he didn't reach for her with his paw. It will be good to take him into more school settings soon so he has more chance to be around kids, but from what we can tell, he's going to do well with them.

So I took him to the vet's to pick up Pat's thyroid medicine and weighed him--59 lbs. Here's a picture of the growing boy from Sat. morning on a hike at our cabin.

Update

Aug. 13

No pictures this time but an update on how Kruiser is doing. First of all, he's getting even more relaxed and comfortable in public places. When we waited for Matt and Liyun to arrive at the airport, Kruiser lay down and rolled over to sleep on his back, belly exposed. I thought this might be too casual for public, but Deborah said it was great because it showed his lack of stress. And then last weekend we spent an hour or more at Best Buy and I forgot at times he was even with us--he sat whenever I stopped and if we were in one place for very long, lay down when I told him to. (After meeting with Deborah, we had to work on his 'sit' and 'down'--because he slides on smooth surfaces, I had been letting him go into a down without asking, and his sit was getting lazy as a consequence. I got on him right after that, and after an initial period of being confused and even a little scared, he finally understood. I'm at lot more careful now about keeping him in a sit and being sure to say 'down' if he has to keep it for very long on slippery floors.)

Kruiser's love of chasing balls and frisbees keeps growing. We still sometimes have to work with his bringing them all the way to us and dropping them (or "giving" them to us in our hand). Best method to get him to bring them all the way is to walk away and then he comes with them the rest of the way. Food doesn't begin to work when retrieving is involved. He likes the ball/frisbee and chasing after them way more than any treats.

Kruiser had his first bout with giardia a week ago. We hiked up to Columbine Lake, close to Arapaho Pass on the western side of the Divide with plenty of still water along the way and in the lake as well; he and Pat also sampled scat as usual (yuck), either of which could have been the source. They're both fine now. Kruiser's first shot against giardia meant he had it less severely than Pat. No fun regardless.

The seasoned traveler

July 23, 2008

We're back in Colorado. The trip East with Kruiser was a roaring (or is that barking?) success. He was near perfect on all three airplane rides and in the airport and car and hotels and restaurants and, of course, was a conversation piece everywhere he went.

Here's Kruiser diving into my mom's lake after a tennis ball (if he flunks as an assistance dog he could definitely pursue a career in water sports),


and on a canoe ride (he snatched at lily pads and pickerel weeds and only tried to put a paw into the water twice, but we managed to stay upright),


and at sunrise on Pemaquid Point (on the Maine coast) doing a perfect sit for Ed.


As he had on the trip East, Kruiser traveled like a pro flying home (and less stressed/tired than I was after the 5 am wake-up and hours of waiting in the Chicago airport.)

We flew standby on an earlier flight to Chicago to give him bathroom time there and then tried to get onto another earlier flight back to Denver (no luck) but at least Kruiser entertained some of the kids who were waiting as well.


At one point Kruiser saw a girl come off a plane holding an almost life-sized stuffed lab puppy toy. Kruiser sniffed the "puppy" and wagged his tail, bowing in play posture and then bouncing. He even licked its mouth and checked out the other end too. That entertained the adults as well. Not one of his more intelligent moments.

While at my mom's in Maine, Kruiser hit another full-of-himself stage. Worst was after he played fetch with the frisbee and decided chewing on the frisbee was more interesting than coming. Later when we were inside, I called him a couple of times with a "come" and he just gave me full-faced stares and refused to budge. Now when playing fetch with the frisbee we say "bring the frisbee" instead of "come"--we can't afford to lose ground on his recall!

What a Dog

July 11, 2008

Yesterday was Kruiser's maiden flight on an airplane. He was amazing. Except for reacting to the ring of the cell phone of the man next to us as we waited for take off and startling when Ed accidentally dropped ice cubes in front of his nose on landing (who wouldn't?), Kruiser slept the whole way. After the ice cube incident, he did look up at me as if to ask, "What's all that noise?" on landing, but he didn't even sit up. Talked about non-plussed.

Here's Krusier about to board:

And here he is in his "chill" pose on the plane:



Then at Ed's brother Dave and his wife Pat's house in Maryland, Kruiser had several other "firsts": first experience retrieving a frisbee (once he figured out to nose the Frisbee over to get tooth purchase on it for carrying, the drop part was the biggest challenge for him--we had to get treats to overcome his puppy urge to sit down and chew the plastic rather than drop it,) first time in a pool (low chlorine), and best of all his first time diving into water. His gonzo dive took about half an hour to evolve from falling in and trying to get out in the deep end, to finding the stairs, to leaning in with front legs already paddling, to finally leaping in with full body extension and ears flapping.

Here's a blurry picture of one of his launches. We'll definitely try for a better picture over the next couple of weeks. He does like his water.

Contact Info for Kruiser's Trainer

I asked Kruiser's trainer, Deborah Larson, if I could put her contact info on the blog and she said 'yes!' so if you want to contact Deborah or her non-profit organization, Klassi Kritters, you can email her at KlassiKritters@comcast.net or call her at (720) 810-3502. She also has a website at
Klassikritters.com

Deborah's day job is to teach prisoners how to train dogs for later adoption. It sounds like a fantastic program--it provides friendship and love for the prisoners (of the canine sort), rescues dogs from shelters, and then helps the dogs and the prisoners learn new and useful ways to relate. Rehabilitation for everyone.

People Magnet

Ed and I are constantly surprised at what a great people magnet Kruiser is. Everywhere we go with him, we talk with more people than we ever have before. Folks up in the town of Fraser near our cabin recognize us now and remember Kruiser's name; we've talked with people at church we've never even noticed before; and best of all we have the chance to tell people about using assistance dogs with kids with autism. Kruiser will open all sorts of social doors for the child who gets him in the end.

We've been at the cabin since last Thursday and have done a little work on Kruiser's "heel" and automatic sit when I stop walking, but best of all we are getting good results with our effusive praise of "come." We're at almost 100% recall now.

A fun thing for Kruiser and Pat this time at the cabin is that some neighbors of ours are up with their 6 month old lab puppy. All three immediately started tumbling and playing, no intros needed. Here's a picture of the 3 hot dogs on a walk in the middle of the day:

"Culta'"

July 3, 2008

Yesterday Kruiser went to the opera--Central City Opera's "West Side Story." He slept through the whole thing, even when Chico shot Tony. He has definitely figured out that when we sit in seats beside other people and facing forward, the best thing to do is to lie down and sleep. We had even practiced by taking him to the new Indiana Jones movie the day before. His "ignore" command is impeccable--he laid down within two feet of a tub of popcorn on the floor and didn't touch it. All good prep for our plane ride in a week.

As usual, at the Opera we heard lots of stories of other people who have puppy raised an assistance dog (all were secondhand stories) and plenty of coos over how cute/well-behaved/mild-mannered Kruiser is. The downside is that we see wilder behavior later at home, but then he has to use up all the energy he stored up sleeping sometime.

Here's a picture of Kruiser in his new, embroidered vest (not to worry, he still thinks it's plenty manly.)

At work

June 30, 2008

Saturday I took Kruiser on a bunch of errands. He’s definitely an ambassador for service dogs in training, and for dogs who will work with children with autism in particular. Here’s a picture of him in front of the Home Depot sign saying no dog in store (hard to read in the photo—Ed really wanted a picture of this!)

At Home Depot I had to beg off more questions to get my paint ordered, and at Bed, Bath, and Beyond at least half the staff ohhhed and ahhhed and talked with us for a long time. One woman who worked there was very serious about seeing if she can be a puppy raiser with one of Kruiser’s littermates. Even the customers were supper attentive to him. Maybe people who are into domestic things are particularly drawn to dogs? Kruiser and I were both beat by the time we got home.

Tags

June 26, 2008

Kruiser now has his rabies shot and tag (the red one).

Synchronicity again?

June 24, 2008

We took Kruiser to PetsMart on Sunday--the key to keeping Kruiser focused and away from other dogs is to keep his focus on me by using treats, praise, pops and acks when needed. Basically I just need to keep his attention.

We’re back at the cabin now. Kruiser certainly remembered it and right away we got into the difficulty of getting him to come if he’s off visiting the neighbor’s dogs with Pat, or even if he and Pat are headed to the creek. Several times we put him on leash again, but today decided the best strategy is to work more with him on walks with Pat by using the liver treats and calling him frequently—we need to make his response more automatic. That being said, we know from our reading and Deborah reinforced this, that a good assistance dog will disobey when necessary. For example, if we start to walk across the street and ask for a heel, he should refuse if he sees a car coming. I don’t think taking a splash in the creek or socializing with other dogs counts, though—at least not in people terms.

Today at Safeway a woman asked if Kruiser was being trained to work with someone, and I gave my usual spiel about working with a child with autism. She perked up and said she was trying to find a dog for her fourteen-year-old son, but had only found a place in Nebraska and that her son couldn’t handle the airplane ride to get there. She lives in Denver, so I gave her Deborah’s phone number and the Klassi Kritter organization name. She was thrilled to hear that there is someone training in the Denver area. Maybe my connection with her is the same synchronicity at work that let me connect with Kookie’s puppy raiser and then Deborah at Echter’s. And who knows, maybe Kruiser will one day be her son’s assistance dog!

Farmer's Market

June 21, 2008

Today I took Kruiser to the Golden Farmer’s Market specifically to work with him when there are other dogs and lots going on. First I had him do some sits and downs and then we walked around and I had him ignore some of the other dogs. For the most part he did well and seemed to be focused on me and the liver treats. It helped that I left Pat at home since Pat really likes to socialize with other dogs (and so far isn’t very responsive when we get into a setting like the Farmer’s Market.) Tomorrow we’re meeting Debra at PetsMart for some more work with Kruiser around other dogs. It will be good to see how she recommends keeping him focused.

Muse & restaurant dog

June 20, 2008

I took Kruiser to my writer’s critique group--we met at Wick's family cabin near Evergreen--and he was fantastic. He mostly slept for the 4 hours we met and then when it was time for a walk with a few of the folks (including a couple of kids) he came along like a trooper. At first he hung out with the other two dogs on the walk, coming every time I called him, but then when Wick started to carry an elk backbone, Kruiser stuck close in hopes of chewing on the bone. He still makes so many people melt over his puppy face and laid back disposition.

We took Pat and Kruiser to dinner at a restaurant with a patio. Ed really got into “Ignore” practice. It took me awhile, but at last I realized it was because it finally gave him a way to legitimately feed the dogs at the table. (Fortunately, I was working with Kruiser and Ed was working with Pat. Kruiser had to wait a lot longer to get the food at the end of the ignore!)

Snuggle Mates

June 19, 2008

A great close-up of Pat and Kruiser on the sofa.

I hope they aren’t too heartbroken when Kruiser has to leave to go with his person.

Growing

June 17, 2008

Kruiser weighs 42 lbs. When we got him from Debra he was 25 lbs. Guess we know where all that ProPlan puppy food is going!

Camera at last

June 14, 2008

Our friends Frank and Josie came up to the cabin to visit and brought a camera. So here are some pictures again, at last.

Kruiser watching an ant...



Forest trot...

And finally a good 3-animal (or is it 5-animal?) picture on the sofa...

Kruiser asked Ed to take him out about 3 am—pushed Ed’s arm with both front paws. Woohoo! I think he’s fully housetrained.

Learning

June 13, 2008

We’re still at the cabin and Kruiser keeps learning more about the world. Earlier in the week it was currents and cold water. Now he’s learning about fire. At first he was totally oblivious to the heat and burning danger around our outdoor fire. He still doesn’t completely understand it (we’ve had 3 outside fires in the firepit so far) but at least he doesn’t blithely walk downwind of the high flames any longer. And he’s still learning not to eat animal scat—it seems it has to be a species by species lesson, and even then with several repeats. He and Pat even go so far as to rummage around for very old horse manure that we worked into the dirt before planting grass and flower seeds last fall. We definitely need to be on top of checking for any parasites from his culinary experiments. He’s also finding out about flies and butterflies. And on Wednesday when I had him in town he got to see operating heavy construction equipment up close—a dump truck beeping it’s reverse signal, a rotating backhoe bumping buckets of dirt, a grader, etc. He was curious but not scared.

Today we took both dogs on a hike up along the creek and then up to the upper logging road. It was probably 4 or 5 miles total. Kruiser did fine until the last mile or so. We stopped for a snack and gave him some kibble and he took a cat nap, but afterwards on the way down the trail to the cabin he stopped and sat in shady spots several times, just like on the Chimney Gulch hike a couple of weeks ago.

He’s been at about 95% on his recall. Last night he took a while when he was scrounging for droppings (on leash after that), and then today he tried to follow Pat at first when we called once, but then came--not quite enough of an infringement for leashing. Overall he’s still really good at coming right away. I’ve even gotten to see how the “heel” exercise evolves into a regular heel. When I was walking with him along the path between Fraser and Winter Park, he thought I had a treat in my closed hand and immediately started heeling and sniffing at it. So we did some practice with treats and me weaving and slowing and starting along the path, and he was perfect. We still need to get it down without a treat and under more distracting situations, but he was able to make the jump from walking around cones (or empty flower pots or unsplit wood sections) to just following me wherever I walked.

He’s fine overnight now outside his crate and can go through the night without needing to go out.

Back at cabin

June 9, 2008

Yesterday we took Kruiser to church again and he acted like an old trooper. He mostly slept and then during the coffee time, he drew several people for pats and conversation. The developmentally disabled young woman was there again—her name is Leah—and she once again asked to pat him and asked if he was soft, all repeated several times, and then she would squat down and touch him. If his nose bumped her hand or he licked her, she squealed and stood up with a huge smile. This interaction reinforces how good he will be someday for a child with autism.

We drove up to our cabin, and Kruiser remembered everything, though he didn’t eat for a while so I think he was still uncertain about being here. The bummer is that we forgot our camera!

Today he’s been cruising around the cabin with Pat and deconstructing sticks and exploring the creek. We were leery at first and Ed stood on the bank, ready to jump in and rescue him. He dove in, but then swam across and scrambled up the bank. Today he went down to the creek on our walk and took sips of water or batted it with his foot, but didn’t try to swim unless Pat crossed as well. He did go for a dunk at the end of the walk (after we threw a stick in, trying to get both him and Pat in to wash off the mud.) It’s clear he’s learned to respect the water—either due to the current or temperature or both. It’s fun to watch him gain experience in the world and learn. He’s been great on “come” and we practice it a lot. Pat still takes it or leaves it depending on the lure of what he’s pursuing.

Last night was Kruiser’s first night out of the crate. We left the crate stacked open with his blanket inside, but he found a corner of the room under the sloping roof that suited him better. We had to dump him off the bed several times at first, but he didn’t try to get back up until morning. No problems with peeing since we got up during the night anyway and he joined Ed off the porch.

I think we’re all feeling the pleasure of having him in our family for this short while. Pat loves to play with him and is so good at enticing him into new types of play (tug-o-rope & chase me and my long stick). I’ve never seen Pat send Kruiser away when he asks to play. Pat doesn’t even actively show jealousy over Kruiser getting to go more places with us. Sometimes Pat looks sad, but then maybe he’s just relieved to have a chance to rest up from dealing with a puppy. Sleep-deprivation aside, Ed and I are getting so much out of having him, too. We love watching him and learning how to train him and snuggling with him, and most of all being able to take him virtually anywhere we go—a dog lover’s dream!

Puppy Bladder

June 7, 2008

Ed and I feel like we have a new baby in the house, always just behind on our sleep. Kruiser has decided (or his bladder) that 5:35 am is a good time to get up. Ed, bless him, takes him out and he always performs copiously. Then they come back in and Kruiser leaps up on the bed and buries his nose in my hair—hard to be angry with him for that. And by the time Ed gets back in bed and Kruiser settles down, we’re both beyond the cusp of sleep. So we try to steal a nap in the afternoon when we can.

Kruiser is also on a bit of a backslide about housetraining. As far as we can tell it started with friends coming over for dinner on Thursday with their just-barely-over-being-abused-by-a-previous-owner dog Murphy. Murphy and Pat have a very special relationship—boyfriend and girlfriend, some hero worship on Murphy’s side—and the presence of a puppy who wouldn’t let her play with Pat, nor leave her alone, set Murphy into aggressive snips and teeth baring. Kruiser treated her like Chloe, as if these warnings were really invitations to play at some level and bounced like Tigger just out of her reach with an occasional quick lick or paw to the face. Murphy got louder and Kruiser fluctuated between fear and over-excitement, which quickly led to 2 pee accidents in a row. And then he’s had a couple of more since then, both by the front door, so we know he’s at least trying. So he’s attached to me again by leash in the house and I’m hoping to nip it in the bud as well as help him be more definitive in how he asks to go out.

We took both dogs to the Golden Farmers’ Market today. I separated from Ed and Pat (didn’t want Kruiser to pick up on Pat’s overenthusiastic greetings of both people and dogs). And with a couple of sits and downs, he paid pretty close attention to me. Much better than the Golden Block Party the night before where people were packed together and I didn’t work with him individually. Then we took him to the zoo and he was great there. Nice with kids, not too interested, but gentle and responsive to commands. However, he could have cared less about the exotic animals. I picked him up to see the elephant show. He looked at the elephant and then started nuzzling my ear and then Ed’s ear. Peacocks and sparrows, on the other hand, really got him going and we had a great chance to work on “ignore” with some geese and goslings. I had to give him a couple of pops on the self-correcting collar and held him with more pressure than ideal, but he seemed to catch on.

He draws comments and smiles and questions everywhere we go. It is really neat that he brings so much pleasure to people. I’ve stopped feeling on the spot and have a standard couple of lines unless someone seems particularly interested. There was a young woman in a wheelchair with a developmental disability and she just beamed at Kruiser and asked his name and if she could pat him. It’s these encounters that keep me on track remembering that he has a role to play in someone’s life way beyond the role he has in ours. One jogger today called him an angel with paws. I do still worry some that the life he’ll have as a service dog could be less than happy or natural for him. I think it will depend so much on who he is paired with. He is bonding very strongly with us and if he can do the same or more with his eventual partner and family, I think he can be very happy. And if they treat him well.

Great news is that we can bring Kruiser with us back East in July. We called United Airlines and he won’t cost anything, can be in the cabin, just needs documentation that he is with a service organization and that we are his puppy raisers and a vet’s proof of health. Deborah was really excited about the prospect when we asked her. In fact, she has been trying to reach a friend with an airline company to find out how to get her dogs some flying experience. Woohoo!

Music hound

June 4, 2008

On Sunday we took Kruiser to church. To be safe we sat in the back near the door. It was a service conducted by the youth group with a Jazz quartet playing backup. When the trumpet, sax, and trombone blared out for the first time Kruiser almost barked. We reassured him, and the bark face disappeared. Each time they played after that he just perked his ears. He has some special response to music, especially live music. Even if I sing along with a CD he perks his ears and stares at me intently. Is it pleasure? I’m not sure. He’s starting to vocalize with his yawns the way Pat does, so maybe he’ll end up being a singer. All in all, he was fantastic at church. He sat or lay down most of the time and fell asleep on the feet of a friend of ours who was seriously considering being a puppy raiser for his remaining litter mate (unfortunately, he and his wife decided against it). When it came time for newcomers to introduce themselves, Ed introduced Kruiser as a service dog in training, intended to work with kids with autism, and said there was still one puppy left needing a raiser.

After the service a number of people came up to meet Kruiser. One woman worked with autistic preschoolers and had never heard of service dogs for children with autism. She was really interested in the concept, though dubious about our bringing Kruiser to her program in the fall—she felt the children were too young and would get overstimulated if he came. She did suggest other folks working with older autistic kids in Jefferson County, a couple of whom we already know. Another young woman with developmental disabilities came up. She was thrilled by everything Kruiser did, though she over-reacted a bit, like jerking her hand when Kruiser sniffed it. But she kept coming back and always with a smile. Another young girl hung out with him almost the whole time we were there. He’s such a conversation piece! I want to learn more about the use of service dogs with autistic kids so I can answer more specific questions people have and help to promote the program.

We’re even more convinced now that Kruiser does extremely well in public places and around people, but he gets much too excited when there are dogs around. We need to talk with Deborah about how to help him with that. My guess is that we need to instill his commands and responses to the point where he can follow them even when there are other dogs around.

We’re trying to work on “heel,” but so far it seems that it’s just Kruiser following a biscuit around our homemade course. I'm curious how he makes the transition to understanding 'heel' means to stay at our side and follow as we walk, etc.

Ed is still trying to get a picture of Pat, Kruiser, and Chloe. Here’s our best shot so far, entitled “Morningtime with Three Creatures.”

Contrasts

May 31, 2008

Interesting rest of day yesterday. First tried working with both Kruiser and Pat before dinner and as Deborah had predicted, they were much more responsive to the treat-incentive training. We did the heel course and some sits, downs, stands, stays (the latter for Pat only). And then Kruiser ate a huge dinner. I took them for a creek walk after dinner and Kruiser was so full of himself and very tuggy and lunged to chase Pat or visit other dogs (I had not put on the prong collar because I thought I had made some headway with his regular collar on the morning walk up the mountain.) It got so bad that I had to turn around and go a less traveled route.

Then I took Kruiser into DIA to pick up Ed and he was wonderful—very good at staying close, took a huge pee on the cement parking lot floor before we even got in, sat nicely and was friendly and responsive to the many people who asked to pat him. Not the same dog as on the creek path. I wonder if he knows the difference when he wears his vest or if his tugginess is just around other dogs or if being in a new setting, he knows to be good. Kruiser and I spent an hour wandering around, getting ice cream (for me), sitting, letting folks pat him, and lots of time explaining what he was in training to do. For all the people that petted him, he only wagged his tail for Ed when he finally arrived.

Today he was very subdued (tired from yesterday!) until we took both dogs for another creek walk. This time we used the prong collar and he was better, but still seemed to want to walk with pressure on the collar. I tried a couple of big pops and “ockts” per Deborah’s suggestion, but they only helped short term. Coolest thing was seeing him in the creek water. He pranced and pounced so much we decided to see if he would swim in the Lion’s Park pond. Sure enough, he did. He’s a water dog in a big way!

Good Friends

Pat and Kruiser are getting to be very good buddies.

May 30, 2008

I took Pat and Kruiser for a walk up Chimney Gulch in Golden this morning with a friend. We went early but still the sun was hot. Kruiser was pretty tired going uphill and found several shade spots to rest in on the way down. There was a deer in the path that got Pat all excited, but Kruiser never even saw it or noticeably smelled it. His hunting instinct hasn’t kicked in yet, I guess. When we got back I put fresh water in the pool and he pounced in it after a tennis ball. Amazing how cold water pepped him right back up. Just like snow. Had our first pee accident in the house. He asked to go out, I opened the back door, he stepped out onto the porch and turned right around to come back in and then proceeded to start peeing on the living room rug. I got to him right away, though forgot to say ‘ockt’ (just ‘no’) but he got the message.

CATS

May 29, 2008

We’ve been back in town since the 27^th. Yesterday Kruiser had a busy day—we walked to the end of Clear Creek path (about 2.8 miles round trip) and he learned that not all dogs on the path are friendly (with a little nick in his nose from another dog’s tooth). And then we went to the post office and friend’s house to drop off some things where we stayed for tea. After lunch we went to Echter’s for some potting soil and to a friend’s house to pick up a manuscript and visit. There Kruiser smelled CATS. He managed bulldoze through the one part of the garden with delicate plants (some recently planted zinnias--now 2 or 3 fewer than before) and then fell asleep on my lap.

Last night at training we worked on sit, down, stand, come, and heel. Kruiser did well but was more interested in wrestling with his sister Kira than working. Deborah said next time to bring the dogs unfed so they are more attentive. He barely played with Kookie at all—she’s a black lab from the same litter—and Deborah said the puppies in the litter separated themselves right away into yellow and black. Weird. Incipient racism?!

Today I crated Kruiser while I worked in the garden. It would have been too hot and both dogs are eating too much grass so decided this would be best. He was an unhappy puppy when I got back. Deborah suggested letting him chew on a bone in the crate—a perfect way for him to have one and not Pat, or at least not Pat for so long that he swallows big chunks.

Emergency!

May 26, 2008

It’s been one week that we’ve had Kruiser and now have been through our first medical emergency with him. Ed had just left to meet our friends Joan and Glen at Safeway when I noticed his left eye was all puffy and partly swollen shut. As I watched, his other eye started to puff as well. I panicked. I had put him in his crate while I mopped the wood and kitchen floor with antibacterial Mr. Clean. Had he gotten bit by a spider? I called the Fraser vet and got a message saying that they were closed for the long weekend and to call Wheat Ridge for emergencies. I called Ed, and then tried our vet, but again, just a message. Finally I called a Granby vet and someone actually answered. She said she was the only vet in the whole county working the weekend. I described Kruiser’s eyes to her. She said it was an allergic reaction, most likely to a bite since it came on so quickly, and recommended 50 mg of Benadryl (an adult dose) every 4-6 hrs until it went down. I reiterated that he was just a 25 lb. puppy and she said the dose was right. I wanted to check with Deborah before giving it to him, but I didn't have her phone number. Then I remembered we have digital voice at home, so heart still racing I hunted through our on-line digital record of phone numbers called over the last two weeks. I finally figured out which it was and called her. She answered! She said she’d call her vet as well and get back. After almost an hour and no return call, I called again. Her vet hadn’t returned her call. We agreed we should go ahead and give Kruiser the 50 mg of Benadryl, but she warned me to watch his breathing when he fell asleep. Gulp! I mixed the kid's bubble-gum flavored Benadryl with yogurt. He ate it and then played with Pat hard for a while. Very reassuring. Then he fell asleep. I found something to work on beside him, my hand on his chest. Once he took a long time to inhale—I jostled him, and he breathed. By the time we went to a neighbor’s house for dinner (we took him), the puffiness was largely gone and never came back.

On Sunday we discovered that Kruiser really likes snow. We walked on the upper loop road with Pat, Kruiser, and Chelsea (Joan’s dog. Kruiser and Chelsea got tired so some of us turned around.On the steep downhill Kruiser sat down every few feet, but then we hit a patch of snow. He ran to it and did a series of Tigger hops on all four feet. The snow definitely revived him for the rest of the way back to the cabin.

Today our company left. I feel like I’ve figured out Kruiser’s likes/abilities up to now, and can finally relax, let down my hypervigilance some. We worked on firewood—I moved some while Ed split logs. We kept the dogs inside. At one point both Pat and Kruiser wanted out, but we worried about their safety with the splitter, so kept them inside. I went to get tea and caught Kruiser mid pee onto our small green area rug. Did the “ockt,” grabbed him, and took him outside. It was our fault. He wanted out before, and we didn’t let him. He followed me to rinse off the rug, acting very contrite. When I finished I went over to the snow patches to play with him to make him feel better. He bounced and chewed again and even did a couple of full body slides down the snow to the bare ground.

I also discovered today that Kruiser’s “come” isn’t as good as I thought. Our neighbor’s dog Ivy came over and Kruiser tried to get her to play. She started back to her house. I called Kruiser by name. No response. I called a couple more times. Finally, Ivy reached the road to the bridge, and he came. I said “come” right before he reached me and gave him lots of praise. He needs more practice! I tried working on it while walking with him and Pat on the lower logging road with mixed success. The snow won out once, but most of the time he came. So now he’s on leash more. Something we will have to keep working on.

Our best mental image at the cabin is of Pat, Kruiser, and Chloe on the sofa. Unfortunately we don't have any photos of it, but we did get a great picture of Kruiser on Glen's lap on the back porch and then alone on the sofa (photo at top).

At the cabin

May 23, 2008

We’ve had Kruiser for 4 days. It seems like a lot longer. He’s definitely house trained. We’re up at the cabin and even up here he’s great at going outside. Don’t know if he knows to ask to go out yet—we tend to take him out every couple of hours. He’s so sweet and loves people and cuddles. He’s also very responsive to his name and to following what’s expected of him. The only time he’s been devilish at all since we got him was back in town when I had him and Pat on long leads outside, tied to the stair railing while I gardened. Kruiser started to deconstruct the broom, but it was definitely out of boredom.

We went to training on Wed. night and learned how to get him to sit, down, stand, and how to ask for a come (just as he gets near, so it’s the last thing he remembers). Ed was even convinced that the prong collar, actually called a self-correcting collar, isn’t as inhumane as it looks—the prongs only exert pressure, not pain. I tried it on him today and he seemed very okay with it and he did stop tugging, not that he tugs a lot.

He’s now been to Safeway in Fraser twice. The first time was right after a long nap on our way up to the mountains and he was perfect (and sleepy!). Both Ed and I went in. The second time was today and I had him by myself. He was good about sitting when we stopped, but wouldn’t hold it if I took a long time finding what it was I was looking for. But he was great with people and not getting distracted by the food itself. I also took him into Alpine Physical Therapy, knowing how much everyone there like dogs, and he was made a big fuss over. My old physical therapist was working with a grade school age girl. Kruiser was initially a little afraid of her, but pretty quickly he let her pat him and tug on his ears.

A fun thing Deborah had us do with him (and Pat) was for them to go through a kid’s play tunnel and up into a playground structure and down slides. Kruiser was definitely the leader on this, first time through needing a little coaxing, but then going back and forth just for the fun of it. Today we even went down a spiral slide. I had to go with him because at first he wanted to get out and would possibly have jumped over the side from up high. Don’t know if he really liked it as much as he clearly liked the tunnel, but he was very willing. Oh, and at home yesterday after working with him and Pat, I put chairs together to make a sort of tunnel and he immediately went back and forth. Definitely a fun thing for him. Unfortunately, Pat didn’t fit.

Now have Kruiser working on a nylon bone—he’s definitely teething and without this he goes after sticks. It looks like he spits out the bits, but we aren’t sure so figure the nylon bone is better. And unlike the meat bones, Pat isn’t interested in this. The Mountain Dawg dog store is closed for the long weekend so couldn’t buy a Kong.

Are we getting attached to him? Yes. He’s too cute and sweet not to, but every day I think about the child he will one day help. I think if we can also keep that in sight we won’t get to the point where we can’t give him up. Besides, we have signed a contract saying that we will, though Deborah says we will have first right of refusal if he’s a “career change” dog.

Kruiser's first day with us

Now, this journal will become excerpts from the journal I have been keeping on Kruiser in a MSWord file....

May 20, 2008

We picked Kruiser and his crate up last night after dinner, the evening before Matt and Liyun were leaving for Taiwan. Kruiser elicited several cooes of “ah” from Matt, the same we heard last summer when he was talking with Liyun during our trip in China and she had to stay in Taiwan to work. And despite the fact that Pat loved to play with puppies, he was stand-offish at first. I think he was worried about the role Kruiser would have in our family, but by bedtime, he was playing with Kruiser. The cutest moment was when Kruiser first heard Matt playing the piano. He perked his ears and tipped his head one way and then the other while trying to figure out where the music was coming from. Even once he visually saw Matt at the piano he kept up the ear perking and head tipping, but when Ed came by he very quickly lost interest.

Kruiser slept well after a couple of whines when getting into his crate. The trainer Deborah said he is used to a treat or food put into his crate first, so need to remember that.

This morning Matt and Liyun had to get up really early to go to the airport. Ed took Kruiser out right away and he peed, and then Ed drove Matt and Liyun. After they left, I got into hypervigilance mode--feed both dogs and walked them. Again Kruiser did all his bathrooming very easily. Back at home I went upstairs to meditate and put Kruiser in his crate. He whined (I forgot the food thing.) I ended up with him on the bed with Pat--that worked. Afterwards, I gave them both knuckle bones on the back porch. Kruiser plunged right in. Pat took a while to get going, but really got into it, so much so that while I was washing dishes there was a bark. I think Kruiser had gone too near Pat and Pat warned him off. Very scary for Kruiser. He cowered by the door and was shaking when I went out. I brought him inside and eventually brought Pat in as well. By the time Ed got back from the airport, they were sleeping nose to butt on the sofa.

How we found Kruiser--or he found us

Synchronicity or angels? Whatever it was, our finding Kruiser was a set of amazing coincidences.

A couple of days after getting home from England, I went online and googled assistance puppies & autism & Denver. I found a couple of organizations, one located in Colorado Springs and another in Aurora. Either they didn't specialize in dogs for kids with autism or the training classes were too far away. In addition, at least one of the websites said that puppy raisers had to agree to never let the puppy off leash in unenclosed areas. Because of our cabin that would be almost impossible for us: Cross-country skiing with a dog on leash? Keeping the puppy on leash while Pat romped in the creek? I was discouraged.

That afternoon I drove to Echter's, a local garden store, to buy heirloom tomato plants for our community garden plot in the historic park. I had just finished talking with an employee when I saw a woman holding a yellow lab puppy in a purple vest. I immediately wheeled my cart up to her and asked if the dog was a service dog in training. She said yes, and I launched into how I had read an article while in England about service dogs and kids with autism and that I really wanted to become a puppy raiser for one. She almost started sputtering. "That's what this puppy is being trained for. And she needs a raiser." My first question to her was whether it mattered if we had a dog at home who wasn't very well-trained. She said the trainer, Deborah, was due any minute and we could ask her and she was bringing the other puppy (a male) that needed a raiser as well.

Deborah showed up and I introduced myself and without taking a breath launched into my questions. No, it didn't matter that Pat wasn't well trained. We would just need to keep on top of the puppy and she could even help us some with Pat. And we could let the puppy off leash at our cabin as soon as he/she could come reliably when called. Deborah said the female puppy was a pistol and the male was laid back, but I had first seen the female and she was very cute, so I was favoring her. About this time we were all shaking our heads at the coincidence of bumping into each other. I gave Deborah our home phone number and said I'd have to talk with my husband about it, that he knew I wanted to do this, but not that I'd be bringing a puppy home right away. I was late for an appointment, so I ran off without thinking to get Deborah's phone number.

As soon as I got home, I asked Ed. He said, "Well, why didn't you bring the puppy home with you?" I should have known. We decided that between our townhouse and our experience with more hyper female dogs that we'd ask to take the male dog. So we waited for a call from Deborah. She didn't call the first night. I figured it was because I said I needed to talk with Ed. She didn't call the next night. When we still hadn't heard from her the third day, I started to worry that she might have lost our phone number and called several vets and trainers and even stopped by Echter's to see if anyone knew of Deborah or a way to get in touch with her. No luck. A couple of more days passed and we were starting to think our high hopes were for naught. Then on the day of our son's graduation party from college, we got home from the park and the phone light was flashing. It was a message from Deborah!

Deborah came by our house a couple of evenings later with the 11-week-old male puppy named Kruiser (see above picture) to check out our place and to talk with us. We were afraid Deborah might not like that it we lived in a townhouse or that Pat's over-enthusiastic greeting might put her off. Nope. She was interested, as were we, and we agreed to take Kruiser after our son Matt and daughter-in-law Liyun left for Taiwan the next Tuesday.

Why would we raise a puppy that we have to give away to someone else?

That's the first question most people ask when they learn that Kruiser is an assistance dog in training. So why would we raise a puppy that we have to give up? We love dogs. We have time (well, I do. Ed not as much, but still more than a lot of people.) And we already know what it's like to give up a dog we love to someone with a handicap. Several years ago we "inherited" a black lab named Coal and became her 3rd owners. Coal was sweet and attentive, but also a barker who didn't like other dogs and just barely tolerated our male yellow lab Pat-the-Dog (that's Pat with Kruiser in the picture here. Pat, unlike Coal, loves to play with other dogs, and especially puppies.) When we moved to a townhouse with virtually no yard, we had to take the dogs out several times a day on leash. Every time we passed dogs in yards or walking along the creek path near our house, Coal would snap--kind of like a preemptive first strike in hopes they would leave her alone. Despite our trying to help her, Coal's snapping and barking only grew worse, and short of moving we felt we had little choice but to find her another home. So through a lab rescue organization we found a housebound man with multiple sclerosis who wanted an older lab. Moving in with him meant Coal never had to see another dog the rest of her life but she still had someone to throw balls for her in the backyard and love her. And she brought him pleasure and love in return.

Then a couple of months ago I hit a point where I needed something more in my life. For many years I've been writing, but with limited success. (That means I've published stories for kids, had an agent, but have yet to publish my middle grade and young adult books.) And for as much as I like writing, when rejection letters are the main communication I have with publishers, it's hard not to feel a little bit like, well, a reject. And then an article about a boy with autism who was paired with an assistance dog showed up in the London Sunday paper (we were living in England at the time.) Here's the link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article3553932.ece. It seemed so perfect, to put a child who had a hard time relating to people and following directions with a dog that could love him/her unconditionally, focus and guide him/her, and be a people magnet as well.

And so, I left England early this May determined to become a puppy raiser for a dog that ultimately would help a child with autism.

Kruiser's Journal--the puppy journal of an assistance dog

Here's Kruiser at 12 weeks, just after we became his puppy raisers ("we" being me, Meridee Cecil, and my husband Ed). Kruiser's mom is an assistance dog extraordinaire. In fact, she's so good that her trainer, Deborah, decided she should be bred before she went into service. So Kruiser and his siblings were born in February 2008 and 4 of his litter are now in training to become assistance dogs.

Before I start posting about our experiences raising Kruiser, let me go back a ways and explain why we became puppy raisers.