Timken Hits The Town....Part 5 Tim's 15 Minutes In A Big Box Petstore

In the past 4 parts of this series we have upped the environmental criteria for Tim and he has visited a small independent pet food store, a small town when it was not crowded, a fairly crowded public park, and a small coffee cafe in Seattle. He really did amazingly well in all of these with the public park being the one that he was least comfortable in but we were walking and Tim is very familiar with walking in nature so there was enough familiar that he was able to tolerate the time we spent in that park.

We decided it was time to see how our foster boy would do in a big box store setting. I think I have shared about myself on this blog in the past that I personally have my own set of buttons regarding certain areas of urban life, crowds is one them, and also malls and big box stores can be hard for me to maneuver as well. The immense feel of a large store, the lighting, the stimuli of all the isles and items can make my skin crawl. Where some people find it fun and exciting to be in places like this, I have had panic attacks in the past and when I do have a panic attack all I want and need is for my husband to hold me and get me out to the open air. Because of this I can 100% understand how Timken must feel in this situation, so we were extra tuned in to him from the minute we got out of the car to gauge how comfortable he was..or wasn't feeling. I did my own work on the way to the store, telling myself to be calm and centered so I didn't add my energy to Tim's. We went on a weekeday morning so it would hopefully not be crazy crowded and if it was then we would have just left and tried again another day.

From the time we got out of the car to the time we got Tim back in was 15 minutes or less. The upshot of this visit was that Tim did not like the environment at all and it was easy to tell.

It is easy to see Tim is not comfortable. His eyes bugged and mouth not relaxed.

He was coming around right away for his reassurance from Dave, we hadn't even closed the doors on the car yet.

I had an idea to get him from the black top to a planter with a tree and he did settle a bit there. He was able to sniff and pee too.

Getting ready to step back off onto the parking lot and he is clearly nervous again.

We were making our way toward the doors and his nose spotted this hydrant. So we let him take his time to sniff and be curious.

He left his calling card and we headed toward the doors.

This sandwich board peaked his interest but he was also very unsure about it. His Timken lean is the clue.

He just could not wrap his brain around what this was all about.

Going through the doors was super scary. Once in the first door there were a second set of doors that opened automatically. This really freaked Tim out and the people behind us laughed out loud and thought it was hilarious. We on the other hand were not happy that we let that happen and looking back Tim should have been carried into the store.

Just in the entry way to the store Dave kneels down and Tim gets into his position for reassurance, scratching at Dave's shirt. Dave had brought some treats Tim likes and thought he would see if Tim wanted some. We aren't using a lot of treats during these stressful times because we have found in the past that giving Tim treats when he is spun up only makes him more distrustful of us. He did take some treats though in this case and he settled down and we took a walk through the store. Tim was not too curious, he was low to the ground and was not able to sniff much or see much, he was in flight mode for sure.

We decided to just walk down an empty aisle that had some toys and see if he would be interested in the toys. Nope he was done. He wanted to be held and so that is what he got.

Dave decided Tim needed to be carried the rest of the way and out of the store. He picked him up and Tim started to soften and relax again.

We had 3 occasions to practice advocating for Tim. The first was when a young child asked if she could pet him. I immediately said "no he wouldn't be comfortable with that and thank you for asking". Then when Dave had decided to carry Tim the rest of the way one of the women who worked for the store came up and looked at Tim, which made him nervous, and she asked if he was ok. I told her he was having a hard time with his fear in the store and she asked if she could "help" by petting him. She didn't mean any harm and is just not educated on fearful dogs and what they need. I told her no thank you we have it handled and we just walked away. In the past I would have been so worried that I had offended her, but I have learned that advocating for our dogs is much more important than worrying about offending someone. The third time was another woman who worked there also came up to us and looked directly at Tim and asked if she could pet him. Again I just said "no thank you". I was thinking how different this big store was from the small indie pet food stores I have been in. In the smaller stores the employees seem to have been educated on how to approach a dog and when not to approach a dog. Please remember it is always ok to advocate for your dog.

Tim checking things out from a safe spot in foster dad's arms.

We stopped by the gerbils to see if Tim would be at all interested in checking them out.

He was a little interested but not too much.

Tim on his way out. Tim says "goodbye big store, not sure I need to come back here again".

Yum I like chicken.

Tim eating his chicken breast we brought for a reward for doing such hard work.

Looking back I think we could do things much better next time. We should have carried Tim into the store and held him while he got his bearings. Maybe not put him down at all. The other thing I think we will try if we decide to attempt this again, is bringing Skip in with us, to see if it helps Tim or not to have a dog with him who is comfortable in a store like that. There really is no reason any dog HAS to go into stores like these in my opinion. I see so many scared and nervous dogs in these stores. My thinking is, unless your dog really enjoys going into a store like this, don't worry about it. Just because it might be fun for us humans to take our dogs into places that allow dogs, we should be willing to let the dog call the shots with what they are comfortable with. Of course there are things in the dog's life they will need to do that they don't feel comfortable like the vet office. It might be time better spent to work with acclimating them to that environment than to do a lot of work around getting them to be comfortable in a big box store.

Back in his foster home where Tim now feels safe. He can relax in the sun, one of his favorite pastimes.

More Tim Hits The Town to come. Please stay tuned as we will be heading back to Edmonds, where we took Tim a few months ago, to visit the off leash dog park and walk around the marina again.