Chico came into my life as a very reactive dog. Anything that he didn’t understand made him lose his cool and because there were a lot of things he didn’t understand, he lost his cool a lot.

One of my “homework assignments” was to take him out into the world and give him a broader range of experiences to draw upon. I haven’t met a pet store yet that wasn’t welcoming to dogs, but I was looking for a broader set of experiences for him, and for me.

Not far from home is a very dog friendly outlet-shopping complex called Settler’s Green Outlet Village where almost every store welcomes canines.

See that "Dog Friendly" sticker? I'd love to see that on more stores.

Many of the stores have dog biscuits behind the counter, so they are prepared for visits like ours. Sales staff and other customers all want to pet Chico and offer him a cookie, but he can be very shy about taking cookies from strangers.

Chico is a good and patient shopper. Here he's helping me try on jeans at the Old Navy outlet store.

Chico's friend Sharon manages the Brookstone outlet. We went looking for her one day this fall. She wasn't in, but the Christmas stuff was.

Over the last year and a half, Chico’s tolerance for the attention he gets when we go shopping has increased by leaps and bounds, but this is, I think, still his favorite part of going to Settler’s Green:

Who else has been here?