Mall Walking

On Saturday, Fred decided that he needed to buy some new sandals. Fred wanting to go shopping at all is a bit of a big deal so I was very up for the outing! We decided to make a morning of it.

That meant first getting breakfast. Jam had already been up (at 4:30) for his breakfast and morning poo, so we were set for a while.

We walked in and found a booth. Jam went under the table and after a few initial scrounges around for crumbs, finally settled in for a little nap. Then it was on to Macy's at Tyrone Square.

We were able to park close, since it was just before 10 and that's when they open. Since jam was up a bit early I wanted him to try again to busy, but the areas around Macy's aren't really busy friendly. Jam wasn't interested. So we went into the store.

As you first walk in, there are some rugs laid down for wet feet, so you don't slip. The tile is a white shiny marble. It's highly reflective. Jam made it to the rugs ok, but once he saw that sea of white tile, he balked.

NO WAY.

Fred coaxed. Jam said, NO.

Fred coaxed. Jam said, I'll step over to the side.

Fred coaxed. Jam said, I'll continue over to the side. I guess when he didn't fall in at the side of the tile (by this time he is at the wall), he decided the tile was ok and he could walk in the center. But he didn't want to walk very fast.

So we sort of ambled down the aisles of Macy's followed by the cooing of customers of and salespeople:

"Oh, look at him!"

"Isn't he cute!"

Then one saleslady said, "He is just adorable!" Right then, Jam leaned over and snatched at a pair of pants hanging off a rounder. Eeeep! I corrected him back over to me. The pants stayed on the hanger. I didn't look back and moved more in the center of the aisle.

At every mannequin, Jam would rush over to their feet and look up. He loved them! They fascinated him. He would stop and stare at them. I would have to get his attention and get him moving forward again.

This happened at EVERY mannequin. Macy's has lots of mannequins.

I kept us on the tile because Jam generally has an 11 o'clock poo and it was 10 and he had gotten up early. I was carefully watching for poo signs. This is part of the puppy raiser experience: does that jog to the left mean "I'm going to poo?" or does is just mean "I like that smell?" So my shopping experience is completely taken over with watching Jam's butt and looking for poo signs.

Jam's Poo Signs
Drifting off to the left
Stopping and starting
Sniffing (see, it could be anything!)
Suddenly running off to a far away
Gopher butt (I would explain, but you probably don't want me to)
Circling
And if you don't catch the circling,
The dreaded humpback (but it's probably too late by then!)

About midway through Macy's I get a sniffing and drifting sign and tell Fred Jam has to poo. We go out. No poo. I tell Fred to go in and look at shoes and I'll wait.

No poo. Macy's really sucks for poo places. We walked to a better place. It still sucked. We went back in. I'm not any calmer. This dog is filled with poo and it is going to come out.

Why are malls so problematic?

Malls are a good place to take guide dogs in training because the ceilings are very high and the light is bright and there are lots of plants, which can fool them into thinking they are outdoors. You don't want them thinking they are outdoors.

Fred says, "Lets go to Dillards."

Great.

More mall walking.

We start walking to Dillards. We get all the way to JC Penny's when he starts to stop and start. I turn to Fred.

"This dog has GOT to poo! I'll meet you at Dillards." I took him out the exit at Penny's. Around the corner, thankfully, a shady poo spot. Room for circling.

Poo at last!

Now, with a spring in his step, we continued into the mall and on to Dillards.



Fred bought three pairs of shoes. Unheard of! Jam did not have an accident in the mall! Good job!

To the Mall!

Yesterday, we went to our big monthly meeting and it was held at Countryside Mall. I learned that Malls are important exposures because the dogs are easily confused and have accidents in malls because the ceilings are so high and there is so much vegetation around that they think they are outdoors. So we are encouraged to take our pups to malls as often as we can (did you read that Fred?!). We were also told to bring lots of clean up supplies in anticipation of many accidents.



Here Fred and Her Royal Highness (HRH) practice the Under-Down command. Since we learned that SEGD has the dogs do this for meals we now have her eat all her meals from an under down command from a chair. She is very good at this command at 14 weeks. 8-) Amazing what motivation dinner will give her! Marcy was in charge of the meeting and had us go on a scavenger hunt. Puppies had the second floor only, but the bigger dogs had the 1st and 2nd floors. Countryside Mall has tile AND CARPET. GRRRR. Not good. As soon as the scavenger hunt started, the bowels let loose. Not HRH's, thanks be. At one point as we headed over to the Disney store there was a line of poops about seven cubits long with a couple of puppy raisers with bags and cleanup wipes getting rid of the evidence as fast as they could!

We kept HRH a bit back from the poo-line thinking that if she smelled it she might think it was ok to do it. So we hung out by Yankee Candle for a little bit, which stalled us from a good time in the scavenger hunt (this is the beginning of my excuse for not winning the hunt, can you tell? 8-)



The next stop was the Disney store. They were very nice. Startled, but friendly. Then we stopped to watch the ice skaters, because afterall, we wanted her to get the full mall experience (excuse #2!). While we were gazing at the ice rink, I noticed an older couple coming towards us. The man had his arm stuck out in front of him with his fingers open and grasping. He was several feet ahead of his wife. She was hurrying toward him and me, saying, "You can't touch her! You can't touch her!" He kept coming toward us with that one arm extended, rather like a zombie only without the lifeless heaving to and fro and dead eyes and, I suppose, the desire to eat human brains.

I stepped up to him and said, "I'm sorry, but she's got her coat on and she's working. You can't pet her now."

"See, I told you. You can't pet them. They are working." He seemed very disappointed.

I tried to mollify the situation. "She is very cute though in her coat, isn't she? She's hard to resist. We're having a meeting in the mall, so you will see lots of us morning."



Our next stop was Build a Bear. Fred was afraid HRH would go nuts and ravage the stuffed animals so he waited outside with her. Inside, the saleslady told me a sweet story of a blind person and their guide dog who came in to get another build a bear. The guide dog had torn it up. She said the dog seemed very sad and contrite about it.

We have had no word on Bingo (or Jim or Rob!) so I asked Marcy to check for us. It's been 5 weeks and we are a little nuts wondering what has happened to him. She said she would check and let us know. She had gotten some news on x-rays and would send us an email.



After the meeting we went to lunch. HRH was so worn out that she passed out under the table. That was nice.

The Mall and a Movie: Round 3

Destination: Westshore Mall. Timing: lunchtime. We were hoping for an afternoon nap lull to get him through the movie this time as we have been unsuccessful in our previous two attempts to see a movie with Bingo.

This time we had it all planned out. Lunch at Mitchell's. Followed by vigorous mall walking to tire him out. Then a brief bout of staring at the escalator (guide dogs aren't allowed to go on escalators, but they should be brought near them to see them, Bingo was unimpressed). Then on to the movie: Nine (BTW, a more thoroughly joyless and depressing movie, I can't imagine. Please don't go see it. Completely pointless. And heaven forbid, don't take children to see it!). We even had our seats picked out, last row, right corner. We had taped his tags to stop any jingling. We also made sure to have his butt sticking back under the seat and his head poking out by our feet. That way he wasn't sneaking back under the seats licking up stray bits of food, which is very bad for him and just plain gross.


I'm happy to report that Bingo made it through the whole movie! Not one peep from him. That was a real feat for him. The other two movies were plagued with either snores or whines, but he was very quiet the whole way through this one.

We even had a bit of a rock star moment when we were leaving the theater. As we came out, there were a couple of middle school girls and I heard them say, "Oh, that looks like Bingo!" He's a star no matter where he goes. 8-)

He did very well on his mall walking too. This week we have a pep rally on Friday with the Highlander Band playing. I'll take some video of that. Should be fun!