Outings are a huge part of training. We have to have 24 field trips with Paul before she can graduate, as well as keeping her with me everywhere I go. Luckily, she’s very easygoing and is already able to handle a lot. We can do grocery stores, restaurants, pet stores, etc. with few or no problems at all. Our training class recently met for lunch at a Sherrie’s restaurant, and she acted like the perfect little lady she is. Just lay under the table and didn’t move at all- until one of the other dogs sat on her face, that is. Then she politely wiggled out from under the offending rump, but I was ok with that. I mean, if you had a giant butt on your head, wouldn’t you move?
Molly and my dad, sister, and I also recently went to Sweet Tomatoes, one of those restaurants where you walk in to a salad bar, pay at the end of said salad bar, and then get to eat anything else you want from the other various “bars”. Down each line, she would sit and wait, then take a few steps. And even though there was plenty of food on the ground, (such as pickles, corn, lettuce, and bits of gods only know what else), she left it all alone, and I only had to tell her to “leave it” once.
Costco is BIG, even to me. But to a little girl like Molly, Costco is HUGE! We had already done a lot that day, and I hadn’t been tracking when she had gone to the bathroom. She was doing really well, but, when you gotta go, you gotta go, and she had to go, so she had an accident. I was MORTIFIED! But, everybody was nice about it, and we just left and hung out outside until my mom was done. I learned a valuable lesson, too. DOUBLE CHECK if she has to go. Even if I don’t think she has to, do it anyways. Guess it was bound to happen once. Just glad it was someplace with a concrete floor and not a carpet!
Our most recent outing was Washington Square mall. We met Paul and one of the dogs he has in training (a black laberdoodle named Archer) there to run through a series of challenges and exercises. Some were easier than others. For example, Build A Bear. Archer was nervous about all of the bears lining the walls. Molly didn’t really care. She’d seen stuffed animals at my house. Every time she was offered a bear to sniff, she bit its nose or foot, wanting to play with it. There’s something new at Build A Bear. They’re little stuffed dogs and cats on roller-skates. But their tails stick up. Molly thought that was an invitation and politely sniffed one of the butts of the stuffed dogs, then couldn’t figure out what to do. It was pretty funny.
There were other challenges too, such as walking around big planters full of plants placed tantalizingly at her mouth height. (I don’t think I’ve said this yet, but she LOVES to eat leaves. And spider webs. Go figure.) She actually ignored the juicy looking leaves, and did fine. The suit of armor at Excalibur was an issue for archer, but Molly looked at it and was fine. There are a lot of florescent lights, and apparently their buzz is a LOT more audible to dogs then to humans, and some stores have them down low in the windows to make the window displays light up. The worst case scenario is at Forever XXI, because there are lights inside the window, and outside the window as well, lighting up the shiny silver strip that goes across the base of the front of the store. Molly walked by all that ok, but showed signs of stress, like panting and licking. We also did the food court, but she’s gotten to be such a pro at restaurants and stuff it was really not a problem.
But the biggest challenge by far was the escalator. Stairs can be really difficult anyway, but add in the moving, and the many ways tender paws can get pinched, and you have a recipe for disaster. But like everything else we do, we took it in baby steps. First, Paul gave me a couple rules concerning escalators. Rule 1: don’t ever get on directly behind somebody. Leave at least 5 steps between you and the person in front of you. 2: There are many pinch points on an escalator. One of the worst is along the sides. Not all escalators have been updated to have those brush thinggys along the sides, which is dangerous, because the dogs get too close. So NEVER go one an escalator without the brushes. 3: because of potential dangers, person needs to ride to one side, and dog needs to be in the middle. 4: a few steps before exiting the escalator start walking, or they could trap their poor little toes. And 5: the escalator is SCARY. And it’s a big leap of faith for a dog to go with you on an escalator. If they don’t go, you don’t go. Period. End of story. Ever.
So we finally began our baby steps. Paul would take archer and do something, and then I would do it with molly. First we just walked by the start of the up escalator. Then we had them stand right in front of the belt. Then sit right in front of it, and then lay in front of it, each time walking away and returning to it after a moment’s break. Then came the moment of truth. Paul told me to wait, then took Archer right up to the edge of the belt, paused for a second, then stepped on. Archer stepped up next to him, struggling to find his balance for a moment, and then they went upward together. A handful of seconds later, they came down the down escalator. Then it was our turn. I did exactly what he had done. Molly and I marched right up to the escalator, I took a deep breath, took a step forward, and then there we were, riding the escalator together! I was so excited! It took a lot for her to take that step, and I’m so very proud of her for doing it!
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| We go down! |
I then walked right up to the down escalator, and tried to get her to step on next to me, but she put her front paws on, and then didn’t quite know what to do, so I turned around and half ran back up the steps. We backed up, and then I had her sit in front of it. We backed up again, and I had her lie in front of it. Then I tried again. This time, she stepped on next to me, and everything went smoothly. I was even prouder of her that time, because she had clearly been afraid of it!
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