Mall Outing...

Yesterday, my mom, my oldest brother C and my younger brother J, Spark and I went to the Oak Park Mall in KC. We had Christmas money some of us were really wanting to spend. (I really just wanted to go along so I could bring Spark so that we could add this to the list of his experiences.)
Spark slept almost all the way to the Mall (sleeping is pretty much the only thing he ever does in the car). But he didn't take too long to wake up again when I had him 'get dressed'. He loves working and being out in public (2 great traits for an assistance dog) and has really impressed me lately with how mature he is now (in public at least)!

We went to Macy's first to return a few items and exchange them. That took awhile because we had to find the right section for the clothes we were looking for. In order to get to where we needed to we had to take an escalator down one level. This was a new experience for Spark and at first he didn't know what to think of these weird stairs that moved down. He got on in a strange position so I think that also didn't help him much. He jumped off really quickly-almost too soon. But by the end of our time at the Mall Spark had mastered the escalator because we had to go up/down them at least 10 times.

Since it is the week between Christmas and New Years, the Mall was full of people so Spark got to be in a very crowded situation and he did AWESOME! He heeled like a pro and came 'closer' when I told him and he didn't even try to pull.

Don't look at me!

Do I hear something?

Let's play peek-a-boo.

We went to quite a few stores and Spark didn't try to shoplift any thing or try to hard to solicit attention. It was interesting because Spark would walk past adults and teenagers and not even glance at them, but if any child (under probably 10 years old) walked any where near us he got all happy and watched them until I reminded him to pay attention to me and where he was going. As we were leaving the Mall we walked by a small child in a stroller who was very distressed because he didn't want to have to wear his jacket. Spark had to try really hard to not go over and comfort the child with a few kisses. : )

While my Mom and J were checking out at one store, Spark and I decided to stand out of the way while we were waiting for them. Spark,after sitting beside me for awhile, decided he was ready to pull a Hosta and lay down to rest until we were ready to leave. He was being so good and calm that I let a sweet little girl pet him when she asked if she could. He LOVED this.

He also got to come into the dressing room with me and he had to work on 'staying' I didn't have him do a 'down-stay' because the door was probably 8-10 inches above the floor and he has a tendency to crawl  when he is supposed to be staying if he sees something he wants.

It was a lot of fun and a great new experience for Spark.  We were at the Mall for 2-3 hours and he was fine that whole time. But boy was he tired...

I think now Spark needs to go to the Mall with his puppy friends to see how well he does with them around...