He was wonderful!
Not only that, but I’m pretty certain he had a wonderful time.
The shopping cart was a bit worrisome at first. I put one of his mats on the bottom, to make it both more familiar and more comfortable, but he still wasn’t sure it was a good idea for the ground to be moving quite like that. He let me know by trying to crawl up shoulder.
(Good thing he isn't a cat or I'd have some great scars to go with this story!)
Deciding I needed a different approach, I moved to the front of the cart (figuring it better to face our fears than run from them) and turned into a human PEZ dispenser as I slowly pulled the cart along beside me and shoveled cookies into his mouth.
Worked like a charm.
And then the people showed up. Lots of people. Lots of puppy-loving people. People who cooed and petted, and petted and cooed, and talked about their dogs, and even showed them off on their iPhones (one even took pictures of Henry with his phone!) and through it all he sat there very calmly and majestically, soaking up the affection of his adoring fans.
Somewhere along the way, he realized that not only was he closer to people when in the shopping cart, but he could stand, sit, turn around, and even lie down!
All the while, the cookies flowed, he wasn’t being carried like a sack of potatoes, and his adoring fans continued to stream by.
Yup, Henry had a wonderful time.
He got lots of complements on how polite he was, how calm he was, and how soft he was (not that he really had a lot of control over that last one!)
The grand finale was when we left and had to run the blockade of Girl Scouts selling nuts. Oh, were they excited. Nothing like a puppy to bring the squeals out of a Giggle of Girls.
(FWIW: Puppies are a great way to distract Girl Scouts selling things. They, and their leaders, totally forgot they were supposed to be trying to sell me something. Of course, having been a Girl Scout myself, and remember clearly how much I hated selling anything, I bought a can anyway. Butter Toffee Peanuts. Yum!)
Sadly, with him weighing in at 23lb this past Friday, his days of being carried are fast coming to an end. Even his shopping cart days are limited to a few short weeks until he gets big enough to jump out or so heavy that I can’t lift him.
Still, it was a great socialization trip and one I hope to repeat many more times!
2 comments:
That sounds like so much fun! How do you get stores to let you bring your puppy shopping with you?
Around here, hardware stores don't seem to care, especially for a dog/puppy in a cart. Even walking on leash, they either don't care or turn a blind eye. I've found the folks most likely to fuss over my dogs are the employees!
I'd ask first if unsure, and even if they don't allow dogs, you might be able to stand just inside the door (out of the weather) and you'll see just as many people... especially if you have someone else with you who has "shopping" they need to do while you "wait". :)
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