Kruiser has a family!

Jan. 25, 2009

It's official. Kruiser has a family now. We made the connection through someone at the Joshua School in Denver who had worked on Boulder County school district disability policy with the mom of the family. The family has 4 kids: Christina (age 13), Matt and Katie (twins, age 10), and Donny (age 3). Matt has Asperger's and will be the main child Kruiser assists, but Katie also has been diagnosed as bipolar, so he can help her out as well. Here are some pictures of them meeting Kruiser.

From left to right, that's Mom holding Donny, Dad, Matt, a stranger who came over to talk with Deborah, Christina, and Katie's knees. And, of course, Kruiser.

Here's Donny and Dad giving Kruiser a belly rub. Mmmm.


And Matt trying to get Kruiser to "touch" his hand (with Katie to the right of him).

We're very happy, but some tears, especially at first, realizing that we will be giving Kruiser up soon. We're delighted with the family--they are so excited to be getting him (the mom left me a message early on, her voice almost breaking, calling it a godsend.) And they will clearly be able to give him the exercise and love he needs. The mom had worked at an SPCA in dog obedience classes and would have loved to raise a puppy herself if she didn't have so many demands on her time, especially with a toddler. And both she and Christina are runners. Their yard abuts a couple of acres of open space, complete with a pond (they've agreed to upgrade their fence so Kruiser can't jump out to enjoy it unaccompanied.) They even have an older dog, a 13-year-old black lab mix, and a cat that Kruiser got along with nicely on his house visit with Deborah. We feel like he will be well taken care of. And we already know he'll bring them so much.

We still have Kruiser for about six weeks to do some of the foundation work for the specialized training to support Matt in handling meltdowns and anxiety, etc.. So there will still be a few more entries, but we're getting close to closure. It's amazing how an idea turns into a real puppy and trainer, and a hypothetical family becomes real people.

Twentysomethings

Jan. 1, 2009

We had our annual family gathering at Snow Mountain Ranch over the New Year with my sisters and their families which are principally dominated by five twentysomething cousins and significant others including our son Matt and his wife Liyun. Here's a picture with Pat and Kruiser piled onto Alex and Amy, two of the cousins.



We cross-country skied most days and Kruiser went with us every day. He was great on the groomed trails. We'd let him off leash as soon as we left the busy areas and he stayed close by with stick in mouth, hopeful for a toss. We had a one or two mile downhill one day and he kept up perfectly, though at the beginning of the downhill we almost wiped out. At full speed Kruiser accidentally dropped his stick. I managed to dodge it on my skis but then he lunged for it and I had to dodge him too. By then I was almost off the trail and had to make an emergency sharp left to avoid the snowbank. As graceless as the whole maneuver was, we somehow all stayed upright and Kruiser hung on to his stick all the rest of the run down.

Pat and Kruiser made me proud more than once with their fine manners inside the cabin. Best example--a bag of trash broke as Ed was taking it out and Pat, Kruiser, and my sister Debby's dog Tucker all descended on the open trash. I called out "ignore" from across the room and both Kruiser and Pat immediately walked away. What dogs!

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.