Pitlandia in Portlandia: Woodburn Company Stores

Not too long ago, our very wise flyball trainer informed us that the Woodburn Company Stores (about 30 minutes south of Portland) allow dogs.  As much as we love bringing Athena to Home Depot, we thought that the Woodburn Outlets would be a perfect place to practice for our upcoming Canine Good Citizen test (which, BTW, is on June 16th!!).

The Woodburn Company Stores are an outdoor outlet mall that features big-name stores like Nike, The North Face, Coach, Gap, and many more.  Because it's outdoors, dogs are allowed to walk around on-leash.  A bonus is that the majority of the stores actually allow dogs inside.

Dogs in human stores:

When we first arrived to the outlets, we weren't quite sure how to tell which stores allowed dogs inside.  So, before entering our first store, B went in and asked an employee if we could bring Athena in with us.  Their response was, "as long as she's on her best behavior and doesn't bark."  We knew this would be no problem for Athena, so we brought her in for a little human shopping.

After going into a few more stores, an employee at Columbia Sportswear so kindly informed us that stores that don't allow dogs inside have a special sticker on the door like this one:

No Dogs Allowed sign

Only a few stores had the "no dogs allowed" sticker in their window, so we were able to bring Athena into most of the stores that we wanted to shop at.

Helping mom pick out clothes:

During our trip to the Woodburn Outlets, our goal was to socialize Athena in a new environment and practice for our upcoming Canine Good Citizen test.  This meant that while mom and dad were paroozing the aisles, Athena was expected to sit or lay at our feet to practice her long stays.  I was very impressed with how well she did at this, but I will admit that the cheese and pepperoni in my treat bag probably helped a little bit.

I don't know about that one, mom!

This looks bea-u-tee-ful on the Bean!

We tried to be especially mindful of the other shoppers in the stores who may not wish to do their shopping with a dog laying in the aisle, so we always made sure to have Athena in a sit or a down when other shoppers were around.  We also made a point to leave lots of room for ourselves and others to ensure that Athena never felt trapped by the towers of clothes and people.

Positive pittie press:

While shopping at the outlet stores, many people asked to meet Athena.  Aside from the everyday shoppers, many employees in the dog-friendly stores were thrilled that we brought Athena in for some shopping.  In multiple stores, the employees would swoon over Athena and compliment her perfect store manners.  Athena received two AMAZING compliments from employees at two separate stores:

1. "She's the sweetest dog that we've ever had come into the store!"
2. "She's the most well-mannered dog that we've ever had come into the store!"

Maybe they say that about every dog that walks into the store, but it still made me proud!

Athena pretending to be the dog mannequin

Don't forget the treats:

Before heading out for Woodburn, I was sure to feed Athena a light breakfast and pack the rest of her food for training opportunities.  Not only did she practice her in-store behavior, but she was also able to practice some of her confidence building activities such as bench sitting.

Athena practicing her bench sit

Throughout the whole four-hour shopping trip, we only saw three other dogs at the mall.  We actually never ran into another dog inside of a store, just outside walking around.  Athena was able to practice her "leave-it"command when we did come across another dog.  We also found out that Athena is a bit distracted by birds...

Overall experience:

We LOVED shopping with Athena at the Woodburn Outlets and give it four paws up for its dog friendliness!  

Is there any dog-friendly shopping in your area?