Store walks and coffee talks


On Friday we went on training outing with Scarlet and Skyler with Korra. Alice did quite well!

We met up at Wild Birds Unlimited, which is a pet friendly store that sells bird feeders and other bird stuff. When we walked in, the person working there was a little nervous because they have two store cats. But Korra and Alice didn’t care about the cats one iota!

Korra and Alice walk in the store

The store was much smaller than I expected it to be, with some very narrow aisles. Alice struggles a bit in narrow aisles, so this was great practice for her!

Alice stands next to Veronica’s legs, looking up at her

Brad got a video of Alice walking around some of the narrow aisles, and you can see that she needs a bit of coaxing but makes it through eventually. One aisle was so narrow that I couldn’t even fit down it without knocking stuff over! We decided not to go down that aisle after I nearly knocked over a card display!

We spent about 10 minutes in the store, but ran out of things to do since it was so small. So we walked next door to the Pet Supplies Plus and took a loop around that store!

Skyler and Korra follow Veronica and Hestia through the store

Alice did much better in the pet store, since the aisles were wider and less crowded with stuff. Brad got another great video of Alice walking in the pet store. She walks next to me pretty well, though she’s more interested in looking around than she is at looking at me.

They had some dog cookies for sale near the register—large iced cookies. They looked about as big as Alice! Brad got a picture of her sniffing the glass (I put chicken there to encourage the sniffing LOL!)

Alice eyes a giant cookie that says “bad dog”

After the pet store, we headed to Starbucks. Alice and I waited outside while everyone went in to get drinks.

Skyler and Korra wait in line while Scarlet orders at Starbucks

Alice did very well at her first outdoor cafe! The carwash next door was very noisy, which was a little scary for Alice at first, but she eventually relaxed. She did a great job for her first time at a cafe!

Alice sleeps in Veronica’s lap

We had a great time talking, and everyone agreed that Alice will probably be ready for her service dog in training manners evaluation in about a month to month and a half! We set a date for mid December, but if she’s not ready then, we’ll just do a training outing and meet again for the test in early January.

Skyler, Scarlet, and Veronica talk and drink their coffee

Below are the pictures Brad took. In them, I have my hair in a ponytail and am wearing pink flowery dog leggings and a pink top. Alice has a purple harness, and she is a tiny sable and white Japanese Chin puppy. Scarlet is wearing black and is in a purple wheelchair some of the time and using forearm crutches at other times. Skyler is wearing a sweatshirt and leggings and Korra is a sable Standard Poodle wearing a black vest with holographic patches. Brad is wearing a purple blazer and a black and pink hat.

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