So- Hello and welcome!

Six here to talk about going out in public as a pup for the first time!

This is my first blog and I want to provide a place for people to talk about their experiences going out in public for the first time! If you haven't gone out yet this is also a place for you to talk about fears or ask questions! So, here we go! I'll start us off with a story of my own!

"My First Outing" (And thankfully not the last) 

               My first outing was a big disaster! No, I'm not exaggerating. It was really pretty horrible! My master and I chose a park that we thought was quiet and went there in the evening. We had done all our homework! We visited the park many times on different days at the same hour to make sure the crowd was just how we wanted it to be for my first public puppy play experience. Now I don't know what people usually do but we visited this park for about seven or eight days. Maybe even more, I actually lost count. So we felt ready and comfortable in arriving there. It was shaded, with grass and trails to sniff out and work out equipment so that my Master was never bored and I could sit at his feet while he enjoyed! It had all the makings of perfection! The first ten minutes were just that- perfect, I got on my gear, took time to stretch and then began following my master around and sniffing things out. Like I said- first ten minutes- GREAT! After that, no so much.

            I think the group came in somewhere between me getting an ear scratch from Master and me chasing my tail, but they were young adults- loud, rowdy and rude. I didn't mind, as long as my Master was there it was good enough for me. But after a few moments even he seemed to be pretty irritated with the group that was loudly sharing the public space. Then it got a whole lot worse. I didn't notice them, I was too focused on my Master but he later let me know that their shocked comments had been pretty bad and that they'd actually been filming us. NO WONDER HE CALLED ME BEHIND A TREE! Yeah, so, not the best experience.

           Thankfully they had their fun and went on their way and we were able to leave without them following us. So needless to say the first experience was not a good one. BUT- and that's a big BUT there, because if you have also had a bad experience you can't let it stop you! Its like falling off your bike, you have to get back on. And after a bit of encouragement that's exactly what my Master and I did. And every experience after that has been wonderful! 

You can't change what the public might think and you can't always change how they'll react (Yes, even if they film you, best to just pup it up). But hopefully next time the group that harassed us sees a human pup the initial shock of the ordeal might be lessened for them. After all, they did get to see me having fun oblivious to their attention. My Master also knows now to engage people like that, talk to them and often explain things to them, if they have no idea what they're seeing of course they're going to be a bit shocked and some people respond pretty badly when they're shocked. 

Had an experience like this? Bark it up in the comments and let me know! (I bet there are people who've had a worse experience then mine!) 

Thanks for reading everyone!

-Six