Today we went to TJ Maxx with our pals Sabrina with Indy and Sabrina’s husband Russ. It was Felix’s first time at TJ Maxx (which is pet friendly).
We arrived 15 minutes earlier than we had planned on meeting so we could hang out outside the store and watch the world go by. Sabrina ended up about 15 minutes late, so we hung out for 30 minutes in all!
Felix was really great. He liked watching all the people and cars passing. He did some watches, but was really more interested in watching everything else go by than he was in earning treats with watches for most of it. At the 25 minute mark, he suddenly started doing lots of watches with me, then asked to come up in my lap! I think he was cold, as it was pretty chilly out and neither of us had a jacket.
I got some pictures of him while we were outside waiting. There are two of him watching the world, two of him doing watches with me, and one of him asking to come up in my lap. Felix is a sable and white Japanese Chin wearing a purple plaid harness.
Then I put Felix in my lap and we headed inside the store. I kept Felix in my lap for most of our time in the store, just letting him observe what was going on around him. Meanwhile I was helping Sabrina run through some last minute practice before Indy’s PAT which is coming up soon.
They did a pretty good job. Especially with a few pointers, they are now all ready for their PAT I think! I got a quick video of Indy the Golden Retriever heeling next to Sabrina’s wheelchair with Russ pushing her.
We pulled over a couple of times in quiet aisles to let me do a little training with Felix. The first time we did training, Felix was doing well until someone dropped something in the next aisle over! Then it was hard to get Felix to focus.
The second time we pulled over to train, Felix did pretty darn well! I left my wheelchair to the side and walked a little with him. He did a very good job walking with me, though he wasn’t really interested in looking at me to earn treats. He found more of a reward in just walking.
Sabrina got a video of us walking a little bit together. I know it’s not perfect, but it’s pretty danged good once you realize I’ve only had him a little over a month and he’d never seen a leash before that!
After TJ Maxx, we headed over to Charanda’s, which is a local Mexican place with outdoor seating. Sabrina and I rolled directly onto the patio while Russ went to tell them we were there. At first the lady seating people said the patio was closed, but then a waiter came up and said he’d be happy to serve us on the patio! He turned out to be an EXCELLENT waiter!
We had a totally delightful meal both in the taste of the food and in the quality of the conversation. I put Felix’s mat down on my left and gave him a Himalayan Chew, and that settled him pretty well for a long while. He basically just laid there watching traffic go by and occasionally chewing on his chew. A few times he tried to pick up stains on the concrete, which of course didn’t do anything.
I got a couple of pictures of him chewing on his Himalayan Chew on his mat and lying next to his mat in the sun watching the cars go by.
As it got sunnier and we stayed there longer, he started retreating under the table more. But under the table there were a lot more things to distract him like peoples’ feet and blankets!
When he started getting squirrely, I figured it was time to go. Which was sad because we were really having great conversation.
On our way out, we stopped to take a picture of Sabrina, Indy, Felix, and me. Russ is getting a photographer’s eye and picked a nice spot for us to pose in front of, and we lined our wheelchairs up and put our arms around each other. The dogs were less interested in the picture, though Russ did manage to capture one picture with Indy looking at the camera. Felix said no way LOL! It was a really great outing, and I can’t wait to do it again!
