3. Indoor Brewery Pass: Lakes and Legends Brewing Company

On Saturday we once again ventured out to explore a new brewery, this time Lakes and Legends Brewing Company in downtown  Minneapolis. I enjoyed this ventue much more for dog training. Sociable Cider Werks has some of my favorite product, but they were having their holiday party when we brought the pups, so Sociable was extremely busy. And also cold.

Did you know it gets really cold in Minnesota?

Lakes and Legends was warmer and more spacious. The pups and their people were able to stake out an out of the way table which gave us a little extra breathing room from the other dogs and people. I tried their Belgian Stout, the Silky, and was very pleased. It's a nice smooth dark beer without the tragically bitter aftertaste I sometimes get from similar brews (lookit me talk about beer like I know what I'm saying - ha!).

She thinks she's people.

Meanwhile Kaylee was pleased to demonstrate how deeply into the throws of adolescence she really is. At five and a half months, Kaylee is right at the age where it feels like your puppy is trying to show you where all the holes in your socialization program are. For example, she's decided that dogs with curly hair are not to be trusted. She also definitely spooked at a toddler, and I know I covered those things in her open socialization period!

On the other side of the spectrum, she's also picked up some straight-up asshat behaviors, like wildly flailing at strangers and jumping on new dogs' heads (you know, the ones with the non-curly hair that she's not afraid of). Much as with human teenagers, canine adolescence is full of social experimentation. Kaylee isn't intentionally trying to be rude to other dogs. She's trying to figure out if she can skip all the social pleasantries and go straight to the fun wrestling play part of a relationship. Relationships don't work that way - but she doesn't know that.

Experience has taught me not to take anything adolescent dogs do too seriously, unless they seem to be developing severe phobias or behavior issues. A little wariness today curly-coated dogs is not likely to turn into full-blown reactivity for me so long as I support Kaylee and help her feel safe. I have found that adult dogs often seem to more resemble the dog they were at three months than at nine months. And there's a reason most dogs in shelters and rescues are between nine months and two years.

Like any parent of a teenager, my job at this point is mostly to keep Kaylee from killing herself while she figures out how the world and its fascinating residents work.

Picture of the only two seconds when all three adolescents were behaving at the same time.
Picture not representative of actual events.