Apparently PetCo is not where all the pets go.

I tried to bring China along to PetCo with me since she is now an only dog. I hate leaving her home alone. We got out of the truck and she was right awAy a bit nervous. As we got closer to the door she got even more nervous and began to pull. Hard. I've just been using g a regular leash and collar on her because she sticks close to me. We got inside the sliding doors and her tail went between her legs and she began to shake. Poor thing. I had to literally hold her collar, fur and leash to get her back out of those doors across the parking lot and back into the truck. I honestly feel if Dakota had been with us she would have been better. She was so scared. Sadly I may not be able to take her pumpkin picking or to get a Christmas tree. I was hoping to be able to bring her because I thought it may actually help my anxiety as well as cheer me up that I didn't have to leave her alone for those things. She is 10. It's been so long since I trained...how would I even go about starting to train her to be able to do these things? Apparently her previous family never did stuff like that with her. She reacted a bit stressed to start walking in the park with us last year but Dakota's lead put her at ease.

poor girl :(
she may do better outside (tree picking and such)?

does she have any dog friends? maybe set up outings with them?

i hear you though, it sucks to not being able to bring them when they are only dogs. i haven't been able to do what i had hoped with rock as far as outings due to fear of his breathing issues. I find he is anxious more now (due to age??) too. and he was never ever an anxious dog


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Aww poor guy.
You know China is a super sweet girl but she hasn't any dog friends since coming to live with me because Dakota didn't really care for other dogs.

Start slow. Reward her for the small stuff. So maybe the next time you reward her when you pull into the parking lot and then leave without going in. Then the time after that you get there and get out of the car and reward her then leave. Change it up a little each time and always make it the best thing ever. It might take a while but hopefully it'll work for her. Also, it might be just the store so you could try taking her elsewhere.


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While Archie had been around other GSDs, his experience in the "outside" world was nonexistent. Like Meeps83 suggested, we started out slow. Walked the business district of a couple of local towns that are very pet friendly, watching him carefully to see reactions. When he got anxious, we did a little training, sit, praise, treat, heel, praise, treat, etc. Now he wants to go inside all the stores, many will allow him, but some do not, i.e. food stores. Oh, how he wants to get inside those, LOL.

Take you time. I never miss an opportunity to expose him to new stuff. Heck, if I take the scissors out and he shows interest, he gets to sniff. We recently had the house reroofed and I had him go out and meet everyone. So much going on, noise, he was anxious and wanted to go back inside. However, as long as someone came up and petted him, he was OK.

Same with Gabe when I first got him. I think he was raised in an apartment and never taken to go in stores or to parks. I started off slow and like Mepps83 and Poptop, started exposing to everything I could and some treats- I prefer positive reward ( vocal and petting). Now he is a regular at Homepot and where I get his treats and kibble.

Gigi has been going to Petco from 12 weeks. now she goes to get her nails.done so when she enters she will gallop by the gromming door.

The time I took her to bass pro shops she struggled as smooth big stairs and elevators were new to her.

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Did it have the automatic door? I've seen dogs react to that.

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Originally Posted by Snowshoe

Did it have the automatic door? I've seen dogs react to that.

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Yes they have 2. The gromming door is between the 2 doors. So she will go full speed through both and then chill .

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Something that might help her anxiousness is Thundervest. We got one for our Golden Retriever because she gets shakey riding in the car. It helped calm her down.