I had to go get some dog food tonight so I loaded up the babies and off to the store we went. When we got there Boss started acting like a donkey in the car about putting his muzzle on, so in the end I left him in the car and took Gracie in instead.
This was Gracie's first trip into the store that she wasn't riding in the cart, and she did great!! It was also her first time out of the back yard on her leash. She stayed right with me, could have cared less about the big old cart I was pushing right next to her. When I would stop to look at something, she sat down and waited.
She did encounter another dog at the store, a pure white bull terrier. They approached each other, sniffed each other out and Gracie got excited and started barking at him. The poor little thing jumped and ran behind his momma! (It was a puppy)
She did really good with people coming up to her. One little girl asked if she could pet her and Gracie was in her glory. Laid down, rolled over and fell in love with the little girl, who kept her occupied for me while I wrote my check.
I was feeling bad that Boss didn't get to go in the store so I decided we could walk to the bank from our house. I leashed them both up and off we went. This was our first time out and about with Gracie on a leash, let alone both of them together. It went okay, but I'm sure with practice they will learn better how to walk together and not hurt my back.
I think the biggest problem was Boss wanted to be at least a little bit in front of Gracie walking. Her legs are shorter than his, so she was running to keep up with him.. this made him walk faster, so she ran faster.. I kept having to remind muscle man to slow down! He finally figured out he had a job to do in showing Gracie how to go for a walk then settled right into a more workable pace.
Gracie definately is not a fearful dog. We walked by an auto repair business that keeps a big gsd inside the garage for security I guess and it started barking through the door... Gracie let him have it verbally and wouldn't shut up. I'd tell her to come on and she'd start to walk away, then turn around and gripe at him some more.