Sooooo extremely proud of Journey! Since he's been doing so well in pet stores, I decided to step things up a notch. Had to run a few errands yesterday, and took him along to see how he did. Figured if it was too much, I could take him home and come back later.
He's finally big enough to fit into Ember's old makeshift training harness backpack. He recognizes that keys and my parking tag mean I am going somewhere, and after watching Ember wear her work harness, and getting to go places in his normal harness, he was thrilled when I put this new contraption on him. After a few adjustments and a moment for him to get used to having it on, off we went.
First stop was Home Depot. I figured there would be enough people, weird sights, smells, and noises, to see how he would react to larger crowds and a larger store vastly different from a pet store. He's been doing well with walking next to shopping carts, and this time I started teaching him how to navigate areas with less space, and to be mindful that the backpack harness stuck out an extra inch or so. He bumped into things a few times before he figured out how far he had to be away from objects. He got a bit excited when someone approaching from ahead of us made eye contact and grinned at him and started doing the typical "baby talk voice". I refocused Journey's attention and he went back to all business work mode prancing happily at my side gazing up at me for approval. The cashiers commented on how good he was and thought it was neat to see him training.
Next stop, Walmart. I wasn't sure how well things would go, because that time of afternoon things were getting busy. I figured if he seemed stressed at any point over all the people and new environment, we'd turn around and leave. He strode in and wandered around with such confidence, you'd never know it was his first time in a store like that.
Puppies are magnets for more attention than normal. Ember and I have had plenty of people make nice comments when we were out, even back when first training. However, the sheer number of people just in this one trip alone, was surprising. The typical "Aaaawwwww! He's adorable!", and so many compliments on how well he was behaving and how well he listened for such a young pup. Several people thought he was a lot older and were surprised when I told them he just made 15 weeks. Everyone was very polite and none of them tried to talk to him directly or distract him, so the big "DO NOT DISTRACT" sign on his vest paid off!
As we shopped, I would glance up and noticed we had attracted a small following of curious people watching as I gave verbal ques and hand signals in different situations to keep Journey focused and in a working mindset. He was so intently focused on me giving eye contact almost the entire time, I only had to redirect him a handful of times. One couple struck up a conversation after watching and said they were impressed with how well Journey listened and were curious what he was being trained for, so I explained. They commented they had a Shepherd/Rottie mix a little older than Journey and wished they could train her to listen as well as he did. I gave them my card and told them I'd be happy to help if they needed a trainer, and they seemed interested, commenting both their dogs could benefit from it. Hey, the more the merrier!
As we were going to check out, we had a huuuge distraction as a kid ran out in front of us unexpectedly ( he didn't even see us, coming from a blind isle ). Journey perked excitedly and thought about trying to bound after the kid ( he wouldn't have gotten far since he was on leash), but a quick call to him and a "leave it" and he focused on me again instead and got a jackpot of treats for it! The other big distraction came as we were standing in line and a guy was walking by making eye contact with Journey, saying what a beautiful dog he was as he was stepping closer, and asked if he could pet him as he was reaching his hand out in a petting motion. Journey watched but didn't get up from his "down" position, yay! I explained Journey was working so he couldn't at the moment and thanked the guy for asking before trying to.
We waited in line for a small eternity, with a screaming kid and a baby ahead of us, so that was good distraction for Journey. He glanced their way the first few times, then just started ignoring it. He waited patiently with only a few grumbles, which are more him just "talking" than anything. I got a few videos that I'll add to the list of those to process and share.
Overall I'm thrilled with how well our first "extended shopping" adventure went!
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