The Lowes experience
Not the worst experience but definitely need many more of them to get Arlo to where he needs to be.
We arrive at Lowes. We open the side door to the van and Arlo sees that it’s not a place he is used to. He hesitantly exists the van. As we walt toward the store his nose is to the ground sniffing curiously. The leash goes taunt. I stop; turn around. Arlo is pooping right there in the parking lot. A little embarrassing especially since we made sure we took him out to potty before we put him in the van. No big deal, we always come prepared with bags and there are garbage cans outside the front doors of the store.
As soon as the doors slide open, Arlo starts backing up. He doesn’t want to go in. I reassure him that it’s okay and we proceed. The 2nd set of doors open and an associate is walking toward us. Arlo is distracted enough by her that he continues to walk. Well, he was probably more trying to get past her but, hey, we are now in the store.
We walk down aisle after isle. He walks right by people browsing for items with no issues. We get to the back of the store and the stock room is abuzz with forklifts and pallets being dropped into place - lots of noises. Arlo’s body hits the floor. He was in panic mode. I reassure him again that it’s okay and gently tug at his leash. He gets up and reluctantly walks by my side. His head is on a swivel and his eyes are darting everywhere. This is the nervousness and fear that caused him to fail the doggie daycare evaluation. We are seeing it now. Add barking dogs to the mix and I can see why it is not a good time for him to be in that environment.
We deliberately walked him around the isles closest to the noise. He started to relax a little. After about half an hour we decided he had enough for today and proceeded toward the front of the store. That’s when we realized that we actually needed to buy something from Lowes - a ceiling fan for our Up North home. We decided to just look at our options today and come back another day to purchase it but then found one we both agreed on that was on clearance for 75% off. Now we have to buy it!
My husband walks away to get a cart so I proceed to walk Arlo around that area. My husband returns with the cart and when he puts the box in it he sees writing on the box and is immediately concerned it was a return and could have something wrong with it. An associate walks by so my husband stops him and asks. He advises it’s just indicating that it is a clearance item and then bends down to say hello to Arlo. Arlo backs up a few inches when the guy reaches out his hand. I explain that he is shy and we brought him to help socialize him. He stands up and smiles saying that if we come back next week he’ll have a treat for him. At the sound of the word treat, Arlo inches toward him and smells his leg. I’m thinking next time I will bring some of Arlo’s treats to give to an associate or two to give to him.
Progress is going to be slow. But it’ll be well worth it. Arlo is a giant love bug and deserves to feel security and comfort - ALL dogs do!
