On the run

Have you ever had one of those moments? Where your heart stops beating and feels like it just dropped into your stomach? And you imagine a deep baritone voice dragging out the words, “Oh, Sh*t” in super-slow motion as the voice-over narration for your life? That was me two Mondays ago in the Costco parking lot. 

We were meeting Connie there to take our public facility training to the next level. Barnes & Noble had been perfect for our first outing together to help build up my confidence, but we needed to see how G would behave at a much busier store. I don’t know how it is where you live, but our Costco is packed from the moment it opens until the second it closes—and this day proved to be no different. We pulled into the only available handicap space we could find. There was a large black truck parked next to me. As I got out of the car, I could see a pair of small dogs perched inside with their heads hanging out of the open window. 

Against my wise son’s better judgment, I decided to let G out of the car on this side. After all, with our nearly flawless experience at Barnes & Noble and G’s expert training, what could possibly go wrong? I opened the back passenger door and took G’s leash in hand. Those two little yappy dogs no sooner caught sight and scent of G before they completely blitzed us with a stream of high-pitched barking. That’s when G bolted out of the car, ripping the leash from my hands.

In that split second, all I could imagine was my precious service dog getting flattened by one of the cars circling that crazy busy parking lot. I couldn’t see where he had gone and called out his name in a panic. Fortunately, he had only run around to the other side of the truck, where the owner was getting out of his vehicle. And, thankfully, my very able-bodied son was there in a flash to retrieve my wayward runaway and bring him back over to where I stood with my walker. I can’t adequately describe what an overwhelming sense of relief I felt as I took the leash from Aidan’s hand. You can’t really reprimand a dog after the fact, as they only understand corrections when they’re given in the moment. So, there really was nothing more for me to do at this point other than shake it off and move on.

We made our way over to Connie, where she was waiting at the front entrance, and shared with her what had happened. She suggested getting a carabiner and hooking G’s leash to the car door right when opening it. That way, if something like this were to happen again and he tried to take off running, he wouldn’t be able to get very far. We could then wait for him to be fully calm and for me to get completely settled before unhooking the carabiner and proceeding. It sounded like a brilliant and manageable solution. 

Once we entered the big box store and began walking through the different aisles, everything fell into place, and I didn’t give the parking lot incident a second thought. The last thing I wanted to do was fixate on the experience and project any angst or anxiety onto the dog. There were significantly more people walking around Costco than there had been at Barnes & Noble. And most were pushing along shopping carts which offered G an additional distraction. He was far more fixated on Connie than he was on anyone else but managed to perform all his required tasks with no issue. We again had him go under a table to wait out of the way, and I also practiced having him stay in a specific spot while I walked back and forth within the length of the leash. We also took him through the various food aisles to see if he could stay focused. Connie further tempted him by dropping treats on the floor and had us walk by while I commanded him to “Leave It.” 

Other than occasionally pulling back to see what Connie was doing, G was extremely well-behaved in the store. We encountered many on-lookers and some children exclaiming, “Look at the doggie!” but no one really got into our space or tried to interact with him. In some respects, that was a little disappointing as I need to practice what to say and do when someone comes up and wants to engage with my dog. Both Connie and Aidan have tried to role play this, but I suspect it will be a much different experience when it’s a complete stranger. 

Based on the (mostly) successful outcome of this outing, Connie has given us the green light to continue practicing by taking G to stores without her. Next up for our training will be the challenge of taking him to a restaurant!