 Barked: Fri Jan 28, '11 9:15pm PST |
 | |  | | Kiska is going to be a standard size too (we think! She might be a miniature - her mom is actually a large standard and her dad is a small miniature). She's currently 13" tall at the withers.
The Sherpa tote should be OK - I tried to Google it but I couldn't find it - I guess ours is out of stock or discontinued? I think it's called Jazzy by Sherpa. There's a whole line of Sherpa totes, like the Tote Around Town, or the Park Avenue. They are 15" high, which is perfect for Kiska right now. They are not very wide, but they are really just meant for the dog to sit inside and their head to stick out (though I push her head inside and close the bag all the way when we go on the subway/bus). But lest you think I am being mean and inhumane, there is enough room for her to lie down and stretch out her front legs, and sometimes she will curl up in a ball and fall asleep! The other bag we have is a Sturdibag. We have the large size which she will might outgrow but it's just for our trip on the plane that we're taking next month. They do make one that is XL that would be perfect for when Kiska is an adult, it measures 16" high. We tried it out with her inside, and it's really lightweight, just looks really large! All the Sturdibags have a zipper opening on top, just big enough for the dog's head to stick out, so even if you get a large, maybe it would be OK if you open it on top and Misha could stick his head out when you do errands? The store we got it from was super nice and let us try both sizes out with Kiska inside.
I've found it really depends on each store/person working there, whether they allow dogs or not. A few times we have brought Kiska to Whole Foods...the sign on the door says no pets allowed, but we've always had her completely enclosed in a bag. So far all the people working at Whole Foods gush if they see her and want to pet her. (Most of the time, no one notices). I don't feel comfortable bringing her into a grocery store though, so I don't take her there anymore (though granted the last few times, we happened to be nearby and it was FREEZING so one of us couldn't really wait outside). The other day we brought Kiska on leash into a shoe store, and the girl working there was fine with it and even gave her treats. We've also brought Kiska a few times to various wine stores, Barnes & Noble, and Bed Bath & Beyond. The last two stores, she was enclosed in her bag, we asked the security guard and they said it was fine and wanted to pet her. For the wine stores (my husband is French, so we are often at the wine store!) we bring her in on leash or we carry her in our arms, and she gets treats from everyone every time. We also will sometimes take her to smaller pet stores, just so she's exposed to people, and we know for sure that she's allowed there!
As far as I know, where we live there are only 2 dog parks that separate into large and small dogs, neither of them is within walking distance and would require taking Kiska on the subway or bus. It's too much of a hassle to take her when I'm by myself, but my husband and I think we'll start taking her more often on days when we are both free. The other thing that we do sometimes is take Kiska to the dog park near us if there are no other dogs there (but this is just so she can get rid of her excess energy; she loves to run around like crazy back and forth, especially now that there is a ton of snow!)Edited by author Fri Jan 28, '11 9:21pm PST
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Just joined up, it seems like it's hard to find places where there are losts of AKK owners to talk to. I guess there's not a whole lot of us. XD
We had one of my friends come down and stay with us for a few days. She's a smaller girl, so Misha was shy but not enough to try and bolt. He would sneak up behind her and sniff her when she was looking the other the way. XD By the end of her stay, he would play with her when she was on the ground with him and would let her walk him at the park. 
It's pretty open, though at least the one we took him to first had pretty calm dogs and owners. Even the larger dogs could see he wasn't quite ready to play yet, so they'd come over and give him a sniff and then go on their way. If I can't find one with a section for small dogs, we'll probably go back to the first one.
