The grocery store in the Finnish city of Tampere even has an official golden retriever who tests out dog treats and shares the results in Instagram videos.
A ‘su-paw-market’ in Finland is welcoming canine customers, with specially-adapted carts which allow dog owners to bring their pooches grocery shopping.
The Kesko grocery chain in the city of Tampere has introduced the “Koirakärry” – dog cart – as a way to welcome in more dog-owning customers at one of its stores, where usually only service animals would be permitted inside the aisles.
“The idea is already used in some countries, but not in Finland, and we have a lot of dog owners nearby,” explains Matilda Tistelgren, who has been operating the supermarket with her partner Joona Pesonen since the spring.
“We have a golden retriever ourselves, and if we go out jogging with the dog and forget something from the store, we don’t want to go home, leave the dog, then have to return to the store ourselves, we want to be able to take the dog with us,” Matilda tells Euronews.
The carts have a dog bed in the bottom, and a clip for leads or harnesses, with owners encouraged to pick up their pups and put them inside – although a future version of the cart might include a small ramp so the dogs can walk in unaided.
Since taking over the management of the supermarket in Tampere’s neighbourhood Kissanmaa – which funnily enough translates as “Cat’s Land” – Matilda and Joona have introduced other pet-friendly innovations.
The couple’s own retriever Tove appears on Instagram with ‘Tove Tastes’ videos where she samples different dog treats.
“Our customers love it,” exclaims Matilda. “In this part of town we have a lot of dog owners and that means a lot of dog customers too, and we already have a lot of hairy regulars,” she adds.
Malamute teaches pet dad how to ‘speak dog’ in hilarious video
“It seems that Hugo has no patience for this student,” joked an Instagram user while reacting to a funny video of a Malamute and his pet dad.
Social media is flooded with videos of dog parents teaching various tricks to their pet pooches. However, have you ever seen a dog teaching something to its pet parents? Meet Hugo The Malamute, a cute dog who has donned the hat of a teacher to help his pet dad learn something very important – how to ‘speak dog’.
“Hugo teaches me to speak dog,” reads a caption posted along with a video that shows Hugo trying his best to teach his human how to ‘speak dog’ properly. The video is posted on an Instagram page dedicated to the dog.
The video opens with Hugo and his human sitting on the floor. Throughout the video, the dog keeps on trying to teach its human. What is even more hilarious is how he expresses his frustration to his pet dad failing to learn.
“It seems that Hugo has no patience for this student,” joked an Instagram user. “Are you treat orientated? They might help you learn,” added another “This made me laugh so hard. You guys have a great relationship!” praised a third. “Love how he just puts his paw right on your chest, like a true buddy,” added a fourth. “That’s so funny. I did that with my pup Charlie. He got so excited he jumped all over the place,” wrote a fifth.
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