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The other day my Dad asked me to go by his house and leave out some food for his feral cats, as he's out of town. So the husband and I run into a tiny little pet store that happened to be near where we were already shopping. We had never been in this store before, and will never go back.
When we got up to the glass door, we were surprised to see a full-size boxer staring back at us. I know some pet stores have 'store pets' that stay in the store during the day, and since I love animals I've never minded. The husband doesn't like dogs as much as I do, and was wary, but I told him if such a large dog was allowed to roam the store it was certainly well-trained.
Nope.
We had to maneuver through the door sideways to prevent the dog from getting out and running into the busy parking lot. The store owner, an older woman, did nothing to keep the dog from escaping. She was too busy cuddling a Yorkie puppy in her arms. Besides the boxer (in a tiny store the size of my bedroom) there were three Yorkies running around the floor and a little girl of about 7 or 8. The girl sensibly stayed out of the way.
Now, boxers are sweet dogs but they are VERY playful and full of energy, and from my experiences with them, they have to be aggressively disciplined to prevent their playfulness from causing destruction or injury.
As soon as we got in the door this dog jumped all over us. My husband was very angry at that point as I am pregnant and he was worried about what such a heavy dog landing on me might do to me or the baby, so he shoved the dog away- a bad move, since the boxer thought this was a game and continued jumping on him the entire time we were there. The store owner followed us around, chatting about cat food, but never offered to control her dog.
Besides the boxer, there were Yorkies to contend with- quiet dogs, at least, but they were under our feet every second trying to get their share of attention. We grabbed the cat food we needed and checked out.
A funny moment- the lady offered us two pens with her store's name and phone number, and my husband declined. I said, "Well, we can share the information since we live together!" Her face immediately drew into a frown. As we left (manhandling the boxer to keep it from fleeing), I laughed that now she thought we were 'living in sin'!
We were the only customers in that store, and I can see why! We escaped with only a few scratches on our arms from fending off the boxer, but we really should have said something to her about the dog's behavior; we were just too eager to get our stuff and run. I am thinking of sending that lady an anonymous letter suggesting she leave her dogs home if she wants more customers, but then I think, "Why? She's going to have to close down soon since no one will go into a shop overrun with badly-behaved dogs.
When we got up to the glass door, we were surprised to see a full-size boxer staring back at us. I know some pet stores have 'store pets' that stay in the store during the day, and since I love animals I've never minded. The husband doesn't like dogs as much as I do, and was wary, but I told him if such a large dog was allowed to roam the store it was certainly well-trained.
Nope.
We had to maneuver through the door sideways to prevent the dog from getting out and running into the busy parking lot. The store owner, an older woman, did nothing to keep the dog from escaping. She was too busy cuddling a Yorkie puppy in her arms. Besides the boxer (in a tiny store the size of my bedroom) there were three Yorkies running around the floor and a little girl of about 7 or 8. The girl sensibly stayed out of the way.
Now, boxers are sweet dogs but they are VERY playful and full of energy, and from my experiences with them, they have to be aggressively disciplined to prevent their playfulness from causing destruction or injury.
As soon as we got in the door this dog jumped all over us. My husband was very angry at that point as I am pregnant and he was worried about what such a heavy dog landing on me might do to me or the baby, so he shoved the dog away- a bad move, since the boxer thought this was a game and continued jumping on him the entire time we were there. The store owner followed us around, chatting about cat food, but never offered to control her dog.
Besides the boxer, there were Yorkies to contend with- quiet dogs, at least, but they were under our feet every second trying to get their share of attention. We grabbed the cat food we needed and checked out.
A funny moment- the lady offered us two pens with her store's name and phone number, and my husband declined. I said, "Well, we can share the information since we live together!" Her face immediately drew into a frown. As we left (manhandling the boxer to keep it from fleeing), I laughed that now she thought we were 'living in sin'!
We were the only customers in that store, and I can see why! We escaped with only a few scratches on our arms from fending off the boxer, but we really should have said something to her about the dog's behavior; we were just too eager to get our stuff and run. I am thinking of sending that lady an anonymous letter suggesting she leave her dogs home if she wants more customers, but then I think, "Why? She's going to have to close down soon since no one will go into a shop overrun with badly-behaved dogs.