Apparently allowing dogs into the mall is good for business. Spread the word.
Socializing Honey at the Mall
When Honey was ten weeks old, we attended the Pet Expo at the Shops at Ithaca Mall. A clean, safe area for socialization was just what she needed.
Since then, we attended the Pet Expo in April and again this past Saturday.
We find three kinds of people at mall on Pet Expo day:
- dog lovers whose dogs accompany them
- dog lovers who were surprised and thrilled to find dogs all around them
- people who appear not to notice the dogs at all
I know. I find that last group pretty odd myself.
How the Pet Expo Works
Pet-related businesses set up tables to promote their cause or sell their wares. We saw several vets, a pet sitting service, a baker of organic dog biscuits, the SPCA, the 4H Junior Tail Waggers club and an exotic animal educator with several snakes.
Most common areas, except the food court, are available to dogs. Each store has a sign at the entrance stating whether or not dogs are welcome.
How Honey Works at the Pet Expo
A crowded shopping mall is a great place to work on Honey’s impulse control. No, you cannot play bitey face in front of Victoria’s Secret.
It’s a test of her concentration and her listening skills. And as long as no one complimented her on her good behavior (see yesterday’s post to know what I’m talking about), Honey was a perfect lady.
Honey met lots of people and even got a few belly rubs.
Doing Well While Doing Good
The Shops at Ithaca Mall, in addition to hosting the Pet Expo twice a year, rents a store to the Tompkins County SPCA which serves as their adoption center annex. Approximately 55 cats or kittens are adopted from the mall each month.
By their willingness to rent a store to a shelter, the mall is putting adoptable cats in front of the public where they might usually expect to find a pet store.
And I suspect it is a business draw for the mall as well. I’m not a big recreational shopper. But even I will occasionally suggest to my husband on a rainy Sunday afternoon that we go check out the kitties at the SPCA annex and have lunch at the mall.
Looking Forward to the Next Pet Expo
After spending Saturday at the mall with Honey, I know what we need to work on. Her greetings are still a little wild for those who are immune to the charm of the Golden Retriever wiggle butt. And who can blame them? It is an awful lot of floofie tail to handle at one time.
So we’ll keep working on it and get ready to return to the mall in the spring.
Would you like to have a similar opportunity with your dog? Then why not send this post to your local mall’s manager? Who knows? I couldn’t hurt.
I think the question is Who on earth can be immune to the Golden wiggle butt???
It is a crazy, mixed-up world, isn’t it? :0
This is such an amazing event and it sounds like such a great time. I don’t know if I’d take my dog to such a crazy place with so many tables to jump on and things to knock over, but I’d love to just walk around and take in the sights! Honey would be more than welcome to share her floof with me as much as she pleased. Who could be immune to a wiggly greeting like that?
Honey’s reading over my shoulder and she’s already planning her wiggle butt attack. You’d better watch your back.
The great thing about the event at our mall is that there are some corridors that don’t have all the activities. So you could even practice some impulse control at a distance which injuring life, limb, or the occasional store display. 🙂
Sounds like fun! That’s awesome that the Tompkins County SPCA has a storefront in there too. I love that idea.
It seems to work very well for them but they’re continually raising money for the rent. It’s a big commitment and they also couldn’t do it without faithful volunteers to staff the annex.
It’s a nice reminder to adopt a beautiful animal every time you go to the mall.
We have some idiots who tried to keep dogs on leashes away from our Farmers’ Market. We’re talking public downtown streets. We won that battle so maybe it’s time to take on the mall.
That’s a tough one for me. I like having outdoor markets accessible to dogs. But in our town, the Farmer’s Market is such a big draw (traffic back ups and staff directing traffic etc.) I think it’s dangerous to have dogs. I go insane when I see someone pressing through a mob of people with a small dog on the end of a leash. Pick up your dog and carry him before he gets hurt, people.
Of course, if they’re banning dogs because of the overcrowding, they should also ban strollers and people who hang out chatting in the middle of the market. 🙂
I suspect most people don’t have Farmer’s Markets nearly as crowded as Ithaca’s so I can’t understand the objection to well-mannered people bringing their dogs.
It would be worth a trip to Ithaca just to see that. I’ve always wanted to visit that part of New York State. If I come, will you give me a tour? :0
I wish we were lucky enough to have a mall that would participate in something like that! As it is, I don’t see much of anything changing that here. Having an spot for an adoption group in the mall is a brilliant idea!
Love that photo of Honey!! So great! Even if my dogs were socialized outside of the house, I’m afraid that I would never pass the grade, lol! I never did like being in crowds!
That is so cool that Honey gets to go to the mall! That wouldn’t happen here at all. Even little purse dog’s aren’t welcome. There was a big kerfuffle this year when our local farmers market went no dog’s allowed for about 4 weeks. Half the vendors (myself included! I had a dog treats booth for barking out loud) boycotted and eventually they caved, but I think sometimes the non-dog people think they run the world! I can understand if it’s for health or safety reasons, but this was just silly. We are lucky though to live in such a dog friendly city. I can take the pups almost anywhere!
woo woo woo! Looking good Honey. And don’t worry about them greetings, you do much better than I would!
Good job Honey – you shake that wiggly butt 🙂 That’s a very cool idea – I’m not much of a shopper either, but I’d go to the mall if there was going to be lots of dogs to hang out with 🙂
This sounds like a wonderful event! We don’t have a local mall. It’s great that your shelter has a ‘shop’ in your mall:)
How could anyone resist Honey and her wigglebutt? There are some crazy people around.