Admittedly, Dante hasn't been to the Petsmart in a couple of years, but I did take him from the time he was about one year old until he was around 7 years old, on a regular basis (i.e., at least once a month). He always drew a crowd and I would end up answering the same questions over and over: How old is he? How much does he weigh? What kind of cat is that, I thought it was a dog? Etc.
Dante would always howl in the car on the way to the petstore, but amazingly, was completely quiet on the way home. Dante knows what the word "home" means. In fact, if we said we were going home, Dante would jump into the back seat of the car all by himself -- completely without prompting from us. Of course, we always had him on a leash, but he was happy to get in the car knowing where it was headed.
I would routinely take Dante on a tour of the store, stopping at the bird cages, the mouse cages and, of course, the fish tanks. Most of the time he was content to sit in the child seat of the shopping cart on his own purrsonal pillow, but sometimes he wanted to get out. He enjoyed standing on the checkout counter while all the catfood was being scanned into the computer.
Dante was also a very good sport, because he would allow people to pick him up. If the person looked trustworthy and they were sufficiently piqued by Dante's uniqueness, I would give them purrmission to hold him for a minute. I credit these visits to the petstore with socializing Dante so he is not afraid of people he doesn't know, and he even grew to love little dogs from coming face-to-face with them in these situations.
Speaking of that, here's an example of Dante's comfort level with little dogs.
He's made himself totally vulnerable to the woofie, and even lets him sniff his nether regions.
Dante truly is a Gentle Giant!
But I digress. Let's go shopping with Dante ...
Looking at all those birdies!
Lounging in a cat tree! Dante is very good adFURtising.
Snoozing on a shelf! Can you get any more relaxed?
Playing Go Fish!
Being carted around!
Petsmart Lady giving hugs!
Then another Petsmart Lady wanted her turn, too!
One of the customers wanted a turn, too!
Notice customer smiling, Dante not.
Staring at all the kitties in cages! What the?????
Dante likes to go to the Petsmart so he can stare at all the people, too. It's even better than a zoo!
"I is reddy fur mai CATSCAN now, lady!"
Trying to smooch the pooch!
All done! We're going HOME now!!! Yay!
Dante has STORED up enough shopping experience to last him a lifetime. How do you like that, Admiral?
13 comments:
Wow that is so amazing!!! I loved Dante's Petsmart pictures and I would make a gigantic fuss over him too if I saw him in my local store :-)
OMC !!! Dante, Your pawrent took you to the Petsmart !!! Here, Mom never see anyone take pet to the petshop..But your post made she realize, It's pretty good idea to take cat to the petsmart because when human wanna buy you a cat tree, they can get the right size for you..That's great !
This is totally amazing! What a FABULOUS HUGE CAT! Which PetSmart? I wanna go! Seriously. I had the same idea with my Bugs, when he was little. But you know what happened? He *vanished* in his crate, underneath his blankie. It was unbelievable! He made himself into, like, a piece of paper or something. And he did not reappear until I got the crate back home and open. Then he slunk out. I did not try this again. CATS OFF to you & the fantastic RED COON DANTE!
WOWOWOWOW! What a wonderful post. I didn't know you go shopping, Dante! All the people look so happy and curious!
Mummy was totally inspired by your pictures!!!
We might have to venture out to our petshop soon!!
Purrrs, KQ
Love the pictures of Dante at PetSmart. I go a nearby PetSmart every week to help socialize the cats in their Cat Adoption Center. I play with them and try to make them comfortable with being petted/picked up.The feline who runs up to a future cat parent for some kitty loving gets adopted much faster then the hissy ones.
Dante is magnificent.My vet has two Maine Coons she lets roam her office and they are the official greeters when you come in the door.
Ossie's Mom
How lucky were those folks in Petsmart to get to see you !?!
And then... get to HOLD you !?!
You are such a handsome and gracious boy Dante !!
Oh Dante, you're not just handsome but you have such a majestic personality as well!
I am SO glad mommy let me log on before she shut this down for the weekend. WHAT a pleasure to see. I still can't get over how BIG Dante is. He is a sweet natured handsome man cat and his pawrents raised him to be that way. He is Gentleman to the core.
Swoons and loves, Dante. You are three or four times the size of me. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoox
Whoa, those pics were great, Wendy! They really give us a better idea of Dante's size -- we forget just what a giant he is, because usually we don't see him being held by anyone.
We're very impressed....No way could our mom take us out shopping. Ever. LOL.
Mum took just one look at your post and said quite firmly "Don't even think about it you two".
Luv Hannah and Lucy xx xx
ps we were delighted she didn't want to take us cos we don't like strange people picking us up!
Luv Hannah and Lucy xx xx
I don't know about Admiral but we really enjoyed it a lot. How neat. I never thought about taking a cat to the Pet Smart. I have taken a dog there. He sure is relaxed. I also didn't realize how big he is. He is huge. Love the pictures. Take care.
Wowee! You do look a bit large in the photos where people are holding you! Awesome! We are glad that you enjoyed your trips to PetSmart.
Luf, Us
Gotta love theese Maine Coons! They are so easy-going! That was the coolest post/story ever! We really enjoyed the story and pictures. Dante you are so cool!
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