Jack's first trip to the pet store

Jack has been making great progress! Today I decided to see just how much he could tolerate.

He and I went to a near-by pet store.

Jack walked out the front door without hesitation! (Great progress! The front door had previously been a very scary thing!)
He jumped into the car, again without hesitation! (Again great progress! In prior months, the car had been scary).
We walked into the pet store (notice the WE - in prior days, I would have had to carry him into a strange place).
A store attendant walked up, told Jack what a handsome guy he was, squatted down to offer treats (which he did not take), extended a hand to pet him. He let her pet him! (That is really great progress, to let a total stranger immediately pet him!)

Jack enjoyed visiting with the dogs he met in the store.

The birds flying around in the bird area were pretty scary to him (quick movements still startle him), but he did fine. We just moved along to see what else there was in the store.

We came home with a frog that makes frog croaking sounds that Jack loves! He is at this moment, stretched out on the couch making his new toy 'croak'. He has a BIG grin on his face!

Does this come close to his new-found puppy destructiveness? Hard to really measure!

I am happy to see him being able to relax enough to do puppy things.

I am NOT happy with his shoe fetish, or the lightening speed in which he can discover a new 'treasure'.

Jack has come a very long way from the pup that came here a few months ago! He has gone from a totally frightened pup that had to be drugged in order to get him to the vet's to a dog that attached to T-Bone, followed his every move, took his ques from him, learned the rules of the house - ventured out to puppy class where he learned to start trusting people.

I am very thankful to Debi with Austin Dog Alliance for all the mentoring/teaching she has done with Jack! She is behind Jack's current success.

Thanks to all the people that I have dragged into the house to interact with Jack. Thanks for your patience in dealing with him. It is paying off!