Niki's first REAL shopping experience as a service dog in-training

[greekblue]

Tonight, Niki and I had our first REAL shopping experience. She put again her service dog in - training bandana and we went at Walmart. She heeled with me every step through the ailes the whole time next to my cart! She did not touch anything, even on the food ailes. At the food section, I put her on sit-stay and she stayed there as I was putting items in the cart, very near her. When I was done, I got hold of her leash, and we continued our shopping. She only tried to sniff some "cookies" at the pet section, but I told her "no" and she immediately stopped and came back next to me. Everyone including one of the managers comment on how beautiful and well behaved she is; she was surprised to find out that she is only 8 months old. The manager invited us to go walk through the ailes as often as we like, so Niki can get used to the environment of a big store and the noise. After that, we went with some friends to a small sitting down restaurant and we were kind of worried about Niki, but I told her to go down and she lay down under the table next to me the whole time while we were eating! She tried to get up a couple times when the waiter came, but I told her to go down again and that was it. So far, we had only gone to small coffee shops and to Barnes and Nobles, so I started from small settings to introduce her slowly to bigger settings, and she did GREAT!

She was a little nervous at first at Walmart, but slowly she started feeling better. When I saw that she was scared of the noise from the registers and the carts (it was busier than I expected), I walked her in without getting a cart for me and we only walked in the front hallway, not through the ailes. Then, we went back near the exit door and we sat there near the greeting emploee for a few minutes. When people asked, I let them interact briefly with Niki, so she can feel comfortable and safe. Then, we walked out of the store, we walked on the sidewalk, and we went back in. This time, Niki felt better and she did not move when I got our cart. She heeled next to my cart and she was a little nervous, but not fearful anymore of our or other people's carts and she did not seem to mind the loud beeping noise that was coming from the registers anymore.

PS. For those of you who know Niki before I even got her and followed through and helped with my frustration on puppy biting, etc., you can clearly see how far she has come.
Thank you to all here who have helped to encourage me, answer my questions (even though I cannot be much of help to anyone here), have given great advice on nutrition, training, health, etc. I have learned sooo much from this forum, and I got this knowledge to research more and expand it.
Like I said, I cannot be much of help, but I can only say one think with great confidence: More than anything else, at least from my experience with Niki, what works is confident and firm leadersip, patience, and LOVE -- MUCH LOVE -- and TALK! Yes, I mean talking to your dog. Talk to your dog a lot, like if you were talking to human. I know many think I am silly, but I think the true dog lovers will understand what I am talking about. I talk to Niki a lot since day one. I do not baby her or treat her exactly like a human; I give her the respect she deserves for her species, but I do talk to her like if she was human. She is only 8 months and we have reached a great level of communication. She will understand most of my questions -- like "Do you want to go potty?" "Are you hungry?' "Where are my keys, where is ... name of person?" and many more... and I will most times understand her answer by the way she looks at me or by the way she wags her tail. More than a few times, I asked her when we were walking in a shopping center "Do you want to go potty?" She stared at me, like she does when I am asking her something, by tilting her head a little, and she slightly wagged her tail; I took her on the side on a bush and she DID go potty! Everyone who has met us, has comment on the connection they feel we have. Talk to your puppy, talk to your dog; talk to them A LOT -- they understand more than we want to give them credit for. For long time now, when Niki tries to misbehave while we walk, I only have to say "Be a good puppy. I want to see a good puppy," and Niki will stop misbehaving and heel almost immediately. Soon after, I say to her: "Good Job! Good puppies get big cookies."
I do NOT give her a cookie immediately after. I only tell her what good puppies get.
Later, IF I have a cookie, Niki gets one, but not always. However, always she will understand and stop misbehaving. She does get cookies often, but more often than cookies, she gets A LOT, A LOT of praise and LOVE.
Confident and Firm Leadership, Patience, Love, and Talk / Communication are a MUST in my opinion. However, I do give a lot of credit for my connection with my puppy to the talking part.

[Swiftwind]

Yaaaay Niki! It's so fantastic to hear just how well she's going with everything!! It's so great to get past that biting stage with your puppy, and they start to mature more and more. I'm sure she'll make a wonderful service dog!

[Ritz459]

Congrats to both you and Niki! Isn't it amazing how they mature into wonderful, loving animals?

I bet you are so proud. When Sadie passed her initial examiniation with flying colors I know I was very proud.

[Lunachick]

Yay, congrats to you and Niki!!