To say that I do my best to take Abby every place I can would be an understatement. Here are some of the things I do with her:
- Since I hate with a passion going to the supermarket, while Cynthia goes shopping for groceries, Abby and I go to explore the neighborhood.
- Abby accompanies me to walk my clients’ dogs. Hmm! Let me rephrase that, Abby accompanies me to walk our clients’ dogs.
- I take her to different areas so she can see, hear, and smell a different environment other than the one around our apartment.
- Abby, in the near future, will be going with me on consultations, training and behavior modification sessions.
Abby has a long way to go when it comes to behavior modification for let’s remember that she is only a puppy, but I don’t want to wait until she is bigger, stronger, and a total pain in the neck. She makes a lot of mistakes. Way more than my Alex ever did, but as I tell pet parents over and over again, “Every dog is an individual and as such they learn at their own pace.” I do like the improvement I see in her, but that took a lot of work and patience and we have a long road ahead of us, but that’s fine.
After we get back home, Abby walks around the apartment for a couple of minutes, and since she doesn’t know how to stop – she hasn’t found her off button – I tell her to go to bed and within minutes, not seconds, she is out like a light. What a hard working puppy I have. Enjoy your week.
AllMyCanineCompanions 
We take Mongo everywhere we can except those places where it would be inappropriate to take a labrador who is built like a bull, such as a “china shop”. Our rescue, Spork, is much more limited in her travels, as she was not socialized as a pup, and can be very unpredictable in public situations. And to up the ante, while Mongo the Lovable looks a bit like a giant white mastiff, which keeps people from reaching out to him (not that he minds people at all), Spork looks like a stuffed toy, which only encourages people to approach her, even though her ears go back and she gives them a wild-eyed look. So Sporky gets limited social time, and we hope she can work through her issues a little at a time.
Wow! You have 2 completely opposite dogs:-) Take Spork to more places, but read her body language because it will tell you when she’s had enough.
We take our dogs everywhere we can as well. Ziggi, (the 6 yr.old) doesn’t let anything faze him anymore- he pretty much always stays cool and collected 😉 Dewey Dude (8 months old) is still learning and getting used to new experiences, but he’s doing really well. Thankfully nothing seems to really frighten him, although he is cautious and somewhat reserved in unfamiliar situations. Mostly he’s pretty happy go lucky though 🙂
Great. I am glad to hear that:-) Being cautious and somewhat reserved in unfamiliar situations is normal for puppies and even for dogs. Just keep doing what you’re doing. You are on the right path.
Being an active pup is hard and exhausting work. ღ
Lol. That’s what Abby tells me all the time.