Twin Cities Dog Friendly Stores
We love the Twin Cities! We rank in the top 10 most dog friendly cities year after year. It would appear our Minnesota Nice philosophy extends to dogs too.
We encourage our students to get out to as many of those stores as possible while your puppy is still in the early socialization stage of development. And you don’t want to stop there! If you’re serious about raising and training a Go Anywhere Dog, you’ll want to do regular visits to a variety of dog-friendly stores through social maturity. Dogs reach social maturity, which means your pups brain is now fully developed, between 18 months – 2 years of age.
Before heading out with your dog to the store, be sure to check out our dog-friendly store etiquette tips. Let’s keep our local store owners highly motivated to keep their doors open to our furry family members through excellent behavior from us and our dogs.
Are you worried about your puppy or dog’s manners? Afraid your dog will jump up on someone or lift their leg to pee? We got you! If your puppy is under 16 weeks of age, sign up for puppy class right away. If your dog is over 16 weeks, you’ll get started in our Life Skills 101 Dog Training Class. Classes are off leash and filled with loads of fun and learning, improved manners are just a few classes away.
If your dog ever displays aggressive behaviors, you’ll want to avoid taking him along with you to those local stores until you’ve improved those social skills and helped your dog to learn to cope better socially. Our Private Dog Training consult can help you.
Bachman’s Floral is my #1 favorite store to take not only my personal dog, but my client dogs too. The team at Bachman’s are always so happy to see your pup and often have delicious dog treats on hand too. Click the image to find the Bachman’s Floral store nearest you.
Home Goods may be MY DOG Vanna’s favorite store! Quite possibly because she gets to pick out her favorite toy to purchase. If you haven’t checked out the Pet Section at Home Goods, you’re seriously missing out. The cutest stuff at prices that will keep you coming back for more.
Scheel’s is the perfect store for socializing your puppy! Lots of people, often with young kids in tow. A gigantic moving ferris wheel and more will give you lots of practice watching your puppy’s body language. If your puppy is a little scared, stop, support and connect. Dole out those tasty treats generously too.
Home depot is one of our long standing favorites for socializing puppies. Lots of people, men in hats, saws, forklifts, carts and people carrying large strange items. Be sure you are allowing your puppy to investigate, use that nose to discover they are safe. Go often, until your puppy or dog struts through the store with full doggy confidence.
Always be sure you have an empty puppy when going to any dog-friendly stores, but with the very expensive gorgeous rugs at Restoration Hardware, this rule will save you from feeling mortified. And yes, even those of us with dogs…CAN shop for and have nice things. LOL
Patina Stores are hands down the best for finding that perfect gift. And the store clerks are always gleeful when I walk through the doors with a dog in tow. It’s a great starter store for your shy dogs. It’s a small store and usually quite quiet. And yes indeed, they have some doggy goodies stocked too.
You’ll learn quickly with a new puppy in the house, you may need some additional storage containers! Management is a necessary part of a puppy in the house and that means puppy proofing things around your home. The Container Store to the rescue, they have the perfect solution for everything puppy proofed.
If you’re anything like me, you do frequent runs to your local Ace Hardware store. It’s convenient and close to my neighborhood. Bring your dog along, these little quick trips help break up long periods of dog boredom. Your dog will appreciate a spontaneous outing…always!
I adore the employees at Blick Art Materials and I know my dog does too. They always make us both feel so welcome. They’ll even advise you on dog safe paints that are non toxic. Seriously, it’s not silly at all. Do a YouTube search for dogs painting and you’ll see your dog may be an artist too.
We all have a Michaels somewhere nearby. Which makes it a perfect quick outing for your pup. Life gets busy sometimes, too busy. But finding those nearby dog friendly stores, will help you make sure you don’t miss those early days of socialization skills.
