The do’s and don’ts of Human Retail Therapy

For hoomans, they sometimes need to go shopping for “retail therapy.”  When that happens, it’s doggone boring for us since we’re not allowed into food stores. 

And we have to know to behave in every store.  Most of the time we sit and wait.  Mummy expects us to sit quietly – whether on the floor …(At Heal’s)

Or whenever allowed, on the sofa or chair
Whether Mummy is trying on shoes(At Prada)

Or having her eyes checked They really don’t mind us sitting where there are seats – as long as we’re not wet and muddy.Some of these places are really void of anything interesting for us, (At Boffi)

so we sit and stare into thin air.(At Park Walk Gallery)

So we wait.(At Mulberry)

And wait …(At French Sole)

And wait. Zzzzzzz.(At Farmers Brothers)

The shop assistants usually come to say hello and tell us how cute we are or how well behaved – makes Mummy so proud.(At Jimmy Choo)

Or they take our photos and we happily oblige.(At Tods)

Sometimes when there’s space and some warmth, I would lie down and rest my weary head and paws
(At Chelsea Framers)

Looking up to just check on progress.We prefer it when we are allowed to wander …
(At Chelsea Design Centre) (At Chelsea Design Centre)

And we can just because we are way too cute and they think it’s so cool we go shopping with Mummy(At Joseph)

Sometimes it can be interesting as we check out things on display (At Anthropologie)

at our at eye-level(At Scandia)

or in counters – (At Cartier)

On counters(At Bluebird Shop)

And out of curiosity, we wander to places where we’re not suppose to go – oops!(At The Cloth House)

I particularly like stairs and love going down them to snoop(At Ralph Lauren)Sometimes the shop assistants asked to take SelfiesEven though I don’t know these people holding me like I am their best friend, I play along. 😉Not just the shop assistants but we get fussed by other customersSometimes we need to be carried.(At Selfridges)

Other times we know our place in the store – to sit quietly and wait for Mummy to go about her shopping as we’re not really allowed inside.That’s ok. We know the drill.

There are a lot of do’s and don’ts in the hooman world and we have to comply.

BUT when we go to pet stores, we have OUR retail therapy!!!!  There are no hooman rules here. We investigate(At Mungo & Maud)

Especially the food section(At Purple Bone)

Even if it means jumping on the counter.Or test out the products.
But now and then, when we get so bored, George would instigate play to kill boredom! LOL!

May’s comment: The playing video was taken at the start of a Saturday morning when no other customers were around at Sofaworkshop.  They started playing and the staff thought they were funny.  They also didn’t mind them wandering around as we are familiar to them. Yet I didn’t fully trust George to not mark his presence so kept an eye on him.

We frequent shops in London and most of the time they are welcoming. Sometimes too much, in my opinion! 🙂 But not complaining.

When I first got Darcy, I didn’t know what I could or could not do with her in the human world. When “I” (not Darcy) developed “separation anxiety” (LOL) I was in a dilemma.  It was more a guilt factor about leaving her at home when I have to go about with my day-to-day activities.  So I took her along and started to ask each time I had to go into a shop if she could go in.  And I soon found that having her did not inhibit me from going to the places I need to go to – at least near where we live.

We know by now if they sell food it’s usually a no. But that’s not always the case. Gail’s Artisan Bakery or Cafe Nero for example allow us in but Maison Blanc just a few doors away wouldn’t. And amazingly, two butchers we know are dog-friendly. And we shop at the French market but not the Italian deli – which are two doors apart from each other.

Due to the inconsistency, we always ask.

But if you ask security officers at the front of the shops, they will usually tell you that dogs are not allowed. As they tend to work for an agency, they are not familiar with company policies.  Security agencies mark dogs in their manuals as no-no for safety reasons so they don’t allow dogs inside.  This happened to us when I took George to all the shops along Regent Street on a research trip. From one H&M to another we had different experiences. The security officer at one said no and at the next H&M, the staff were only too excited to see us as the security officer looked on without saying anything. So, never ask the security officer if you can enter the store. Ask to speak to the Manager if you are refused entry. This was our experience at Longchamp on Regent Street.The manager said it was ok if I carried George and by the time we got to looking at the bags, the rest of the staff were warming around us.

And when you get inside, keep your dogs close by and make sure they do not get in the way or annoy other customers. That would be the reason they will start changing their policies about dogs.  But our experiences in most places is the staff are usually quite dog-friendly. If they are not, they wouldn’t make a fuss. Some customers may shy away and that’s their prerogative.  Don’t take it personally like I used to. 🙂

Darcy loves to wander and she loves to go behind counters to check if there are treats (as in all pet stores) or to find food in the bin. She is food-driven – unfortunately in this case.  At places where we go to often and they know her, I drop her leash when I am busy with something, and fully aware there are no other customers around, especially children. I keep her in sight when she does a little wander.(At Bluebird Shop)

But only ever at places where we’ve been before. The last thing you need is for the dog to sense a customer who doesn’t like dogs.  Darcy seems to always know them and she will more than likely tell them what she thinks. So they stay on the lead when there are other customers.

And there are stores like Selfridges where dogs are allowed in if they can be carried. And yes, it is quite attention grabbing when you walk around Selfridges with a cockapoo in your arms!(At Selfridges)

You do what you’ve got to do to make it work, I guess. LOL!

But at there places, like Liberty’s – well, no one thinks it is unusual to have a dog in the store.(At Liberty’s)

Obviously Darcy and George are house trained and they know never to pee inside. But I don’t totally trust George. If something should resemble a plant or a plant pot, he may just cock his legs so that’s why he is often on the short leash. Never trust a boy!!!

Once again, I know in our travels outside of London that we have been refused into stores.  Health and safety in a gift shop didn’t make sense but it is their right. And so we move onto the next one. There are a lot more places to go to and not dwell on the ones that do not want us. Or our custom.

In short, me and my doggies, I’ve managed to go about my daily activities with them in tow.  Just ask – you’ll be surprised how dog-friendly they can be. Obviously some places more than others.