Puppy Class at the Mall

A week ago Serena and I drove down to Orland Park Mall to join the other service dogs in training for puppy class in the mall! We had a great time seeing everyone and it was a really good way to see what Serena needs to work on. When she gets excited she likes to pull and run ahead of me. We worked a lot on stopping then walking then stopping again to get her to pay attention to me more. She got better the more we worked on it and the more she realized the mall isn't all that exciting.

Venus (left) and Serena (right):

Hanging out...

What really impressed me was how she handled the SWARMS of people who came over to see why there were 6 dogs in the mall. We did a lot of down stays so that people could approach and say hi. She was so very patient and handled it all with flying colors!

The first massive crowd at the carousel (Serena is in front with Snickers (far left), Brecca (right behind Serena), Shay (behind Brecca) and Venus (far right):

Could this be any cuter? And also a big deal because Serena used to bolt (no joke) when children would approach her...

Second major group swarming at the fountain.  Serena is on the right with Brecca on the left:

So many people wanted to pet the dogs:

 A lot of people didn't believe that she was only 7 months old. I had one guy try to buy her off of me. No matter how many times I explained that she was NOT for sale he kept asking because "she was so much better behaved than his dogs." Um hello maybe because she is being trained... novel concept dude. Eventually his girlfriend just grabbed his arm and dragged him away. One of my favorite moments was when we stopped for lunch and put all 6 dogs under the table we were at. The looks on people's faces when we got ready to go and all of a sudden 6 dogs popped out (for perspective Serena is the smallest at almost 50 pounds). We spent 3 hours at the mall and barely made it halfway around because we were stopped by so many people! Overall it was a great experience and we had a ton of fun with everyone at My Angel with Paws!

All the puppy raisers for My Angel with Paws Midwest and their dogs: 

 (From Left to right ) Stathia & Venus, Cindy & Shay, Richard & Brecca, Linda & Hemingway, Me & Serena, Gary & Snickers.

Very tired puppy in the car on the way home!