The little pet shop of horror

Poor Tex, she tries so hard

I took her to pets at home today to buy her some new toys. She loves the experience and she loves choosing the toys and it also means I can weigh her on their scales. I didn't realise it would be so busy! It's never usually so bad. Silly me

But we did really well until some little dogs in the vets starting barking (not at us, we just heard them from across the store) and that put us on edge so we were scrabbling to try and get at them and any other dog that walked near. Luckily most people walked away from us which gave me time to calm Tex down a bit.

It was all a bit much but a nice staff member came over when we were calmer and gave Tex a biscuit and some cuddles. We were ok in the end and choose some nice toys and left. So we were all waggy tails and beaming smile by the time we left.

Daft me - I should've thought. But as the nice member of staff pointed out. We have to at least try these things

You do have to try and it won't always result in a bad experience. I would imagine with all those exciting smells and sounds it all became a little overwhelming for Tex.

On a quieter day all would have been fine

You are braver than i am. I have never taken lexi to a pets at home. She would loooooove all the attention, but i know she would make a fool of herself if another dog was near. Not so much these days maybe, but she can't walk 100% due to her accident last year so i would not ask her to walk on a shiney surface just for the sake.

Billy is a horrible beast, he pees. I took him once and was so embarrassed lol He loved it though.

That does all sound a bit overwhelming. Millie and Chaos come with me to a couple of local shops (separately!). Nola's not allowed as she gets stupidly excited and knocks everything over.

I do take Katy into PAH but usually not too many dogs in there. The staff are always getting assaulted by her for biscuits The last few visits she has embarrassed me by weeing on the floor She tries to queue jump to get her feet on the counter for more biscuits

Don't give up Em, keep taking her and she'll get better every time.

Stella loved PAH as she loved the rabbits etc and staffie danced in front of them. She also had her nose under all the display units for any dropped kibble as she found some underneath on her very first visit.

Its lovely to read about all your experiences. I too started to take Milo to P@H for a spot of socialisation etc and he too loved all of it esp the freebie bickkies on the counter - but then out of the blue he began to get scared when in there. I can't put my finger on it, maybe it is the slippery floor (never thought of that one), maybe a certain smell so I've not taken him in ages. Such a shame. Do you think I ought to persevere then ? He is one anxious boy at times.

It could be the floor Jenny, my friends setter refuses point blank to walk on laminate flooring

Jenc wrote:It could be the floor Jenny, my friends setter refuses point blank to walk on laminate flooring

Really ! Bet that's it then cos he never goes anywhere else that has it.

Oh bless poor Tex it was all new and it sounds like she did really well in the end, good on you taking her! I have only taken Koda into Petbarn once, he peed on a $1800 fish tank, twice!, & ripped open a bag of jerky i had to buy & lunged at every single dog or person in sight! I mite brave it again one day but I'll take my OH i think - altho when Koda misbehaves he stresses out a tonne so maybe not!

I'm glad you two stuck it out and managed to leave with some nice new toys!
Also everyone don't be embarrassed if your dog wees in there, when I was in high school I done a work placement at P@H and you wouldn't believe how many dogs pee on the floor

I took Milo in once and he was surprisingly well behaved, although when we got him weighed he decided to spin on the scales before sitting and his tail swiped everything off the bottom shelf Luckily the staff members just laughed about it!!