Shopping with a Service Dog

Morey is a pretty happy go lucky dog, willing to go and do just about anything, but one activity he does not enjoy is going shopping. This has been the case with almost every service dog or service dog in training I have ever had. I think it's a combination of things: it usually takes a while, it's a lot of stop and go, and there is not much room to maneuver. The aisles are usually narrow and there is barely room for a chair to get through, let alone a dog and a chair. That means Morey either has to go in front of me, walk behind me, or, his personal favorite if we are clothes shopping, walk beside me underneath the racks of clothes, causing them to brush along his back (maybe it feels like a massage?) Just about the time he lays down and gets settled, I decide I want to move along and see something else so he has to get up, follow me five or six steps and then repeat the whole process.

I usually get a lot of sighs and pathetic looks from Morey when I take him shopping. I also get a lot of surprised looks from people who will come around an aisle, focused on whatever they are looking for, and then see a dog laying on the floor in front of them. This is especially funny when I happen to be out of sight and they try to figure out why there is a dog in the store. You can almost see the lightbulb go off above their heads when I reappear.

In most cases, I try to leave Morey at home when I go shopping (which isn't too hard since that's an activity I usually avoid as well), but this past week Morey had the pleasure of going shopping with his grandma, aunt, and me. Poor dog! He was a good sport, but clearly did not enjoy the shopping trip as much as the rest of us did. When we got home, I made it up to him with some extra ball time!