Living in a tiny town of less than 10,000 people and the nearest city several hours away, I had nothing like Amtrak or Airports to consider for a bingo card. I was lucky enough that Asha has no noise phobias, and our first trip to Phoenix the hotel was on a corner of a major intersection, 3 lanes each direction and traffic was continuous. She didn't like our walk to a nearby take-out for dinner, but did not misbehave at all, just stayed by my side and looked at the huge mess that surrounded us. When she is out of her comfort zone, she is way more biddable. Once she thinks she owns a space that's when she needed to speak up. Like if a housekeeper knocked on the hotel door, explosive barking. People talking outside the room, she would growl. But out and about in a strange city? No problem. Elevators, stairs, traffic, lobbies, patio restaurants laying under the table, strangers talking to us, all good. One hotel we stayed at in Tucson for a trial weekend was right next to the airport, and even the noise and visuals of airplanes didn't bother her.
But yes, I posted the list just as a thing that anyone, especially with a young dog, could use as a general list of things to expose your dog to whether you want to ever test them or not. The more they see & do, the better off they are!
Some things, especially on our older dogs that haven't been exposed to a lot, I think it's acceptable for them to be a bit overwhelmed but still minding their basic manners. Make it fun if you can, but with Asha I realized that it was one of those things that I really wished I'd exposed her to more things in her first year of life when they are so much more flexible!
