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!