Dogs in public places

[JacksonsMom]

I never realized how controversial of an issue this was until I was just reading the comments section of an article about certain stores that often allow dogs.

I just couldn't believe how harsh some of the comments were. Like I realize not every one likes or appreciates dogs, and I get it, but geesh. I guess because in my area, it's pretty dog friendly. Downtown Annapolis, for example, most of the stores allow dogs inside (clothing boutiques, etc) and all restaurants that have outdoor seating let you bring your dog unless it's otherwise specified (like a 'no dogs allowed' sign). I've never seen a problem from any one's dogs - most dogs in the city, IME, tend to be pretty well behaved since they're used to all the people, other dogs, noises, etc.

And I take Jackson with me wherever I can and have never been asked to leave (ex: car wash, he can come inside the store part, they even have treats for dogs at register, the Jiffy Lube when I get my oil changed, etc, errands like that). If I was ever asked to leave, of course I would, respectfully, and I would never expect a place to bend over backwards for me and my dog. I don't believe I'm entitled in any way.

But some of the people in the comments can be really mean. "WHY do you need to bring your dog everywhere?!?! Pathetic!!!" etc. It's not that I NEED to bring him everywhere, yes I enjoy it, and yes I do get anxiety in certain situations and it helps having him with me, but no I do not claim him to be a service dog and never would... and really I enjoy having him with me, plain and simple. He's well behaved, not bothersome. Not to mention a lot of times he is traveling with me back and forth between houses and it would be inconvenient to go home first and drop him off when I'm already out and about. I would never be one of those that tries to sneak him into the movies, or to a concert, or the grocery store, or something ridiculous that I KNOW is not allowed for just pets.

"Leave your dog's at home - like a normal person. If someone needs a therapy dog (what a crock) to function, chances are that person shouldn't be allowed into a store in the first place. I sure hope you and your dog do not try to sit beside me in an eatery somewhere. Frigging disgusting."
http://barkpost.com/dog-friendly-stores/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=pd#.

^ an example of one of the comments. And then so many ignorant statements regarding service dogs/therapy dogs/etc, wow... LOL... you don't even wanna get into the kid vs. dog debate. Whew.

I just have never experienced this attitude in real life. Maybe some people are thinking it when they see Jackson with me, but like I said, most of the restaurants around here that have outdoor seating allow dogs, and I often see others as well.... and I think in general around here is pretty dog friendly. I guess I better research any future towns/cities I go into with him for future reference

For the sake of making the thread interesting -- is your town, city or state dog friendly or not? How do you feel about pet dogs being allowed in a lot of public places?

 

[Dogdragoness]

This: in the immediate town I live in (there are several larger towns and a city, San Antonio around us and they are not as dog friendly ... but still more so than most) is fairly dog friendly, where you (provided your dog is behaved) can take them into the local businesses here if you like. Since it's cool out, mine stay in the car if I feel an inkling to take them (right now I will if I think I am going to be gone longer than Lincoln can hold it, like more than 5 hours or something ... but thats fairly rare). I have chews and toys for them in the back seat, so they are perfectly fine to lay back there and wait, and the windows are tinted so no one will know they are in there.

 

[Elrohwen]

People are obnoxious. Those comments really aren't any different from people who think litte kids shouldn't be allowed in restaurants or shops - some people are annoyed by everything and want the world to follow their rules.

I love bringing Watson with me wherever I can. I don't think he's ever been obnoxious, except for the one time he barked at a guy in the hardware store (apparently carrying 8ft long poles around is not allowed), but I just took him outside and nobody seemed to mind. It can be annoying to take him out to eat, because he can be like a toddler who needs to be managed and watched, but other times he's fantastic and just sleeps under the table. Either way, he's not annoying to other people, he just takes more of my attention to make sure he's not getting wrapped up on my chair, staring at birds, or trying to solicit attention from passing waiters.

My favorite place to bring him was this little beer place that had really good stuff on tap. One day we got there and they had a sign on the door that dogs were no longer allowed, because the NY state health department said serving food = no dogs. I could've told them that, but the owners loved dogs and wanted to let them in and it was great while it lasted. Unfortunately they don't have outdoor seating either.

I'm currently in Saratoga Springs on week days and it's very dog friendly. Pretty much every shop in town allows dogs, and most restaurants have dog friendly outdoor seating. Back home it's less dog friendly, because we don't really have a cute shopping area or restaurants with outdoor seating for the most part - it's more typically suburban.

 

[k9krazee]

Our town is pretty dog friendly. Most of the restaurants with outdoor seating allow dogs but have become more strict about it in the last year or so where dogs have to be on the outside of the "barrier" and not under your table. We don't go to those places anymore. There is still at least one really good place to bring your dog for dinner (outdoor private beer garden covered in hops where we usually have the whole place to ourselves). We go there A LOT in the summer with the dog(s). We just had a brewery open last June and we're working on them letting our dogs on the patio--I think we'll win that war soon.

Besides going to dinner & pet stores, we also take the dogs into our Walgreens, Lowes and some of the downtown clothing/boutique stores.

 

[amberdyan]

My town is pretty dog friendly. I take him to all the hardware stores, some of the downtown stores and restaurants with patios. I've even gone to a restaurant that had a patio that I didn't realize you had to go inside to get to- there was no outside gate. I said "oops, bummer!" and went to leave and one of the waiters stopped me and told me that if I could pick him up, I could walk him through the restaurant really quick, or lift him over the short fence. It was pretty sweet of them.

Once I was standing and chatting with an old friend downtown and it was hot out (Hugo hates the heat). I made sure we were in the shade but Hugo stood up, stretched and went to walk town the end of the leash. I thought he was just looking at something but clumsy hands over here dropped the leash when he applied pressure and he pranced into an air conditioned shop. They don't normally let dogs in but they all thought it was hilarious that he just walked in and laid down by the counter like "Hey Ladies, it's hot out!"

I mostly agree Elrohwen. People just want to complain about anything they can complain about, even if it doesn't affect them in any way.

 

[Dogdragoness]

Here, there is a loophole in the "no dog" rule that allows people with small dogs to sling them or put them in one of those chest carrier things, and that allows them to go into places like grocery stores and walmart because the dogs technically "touching the floor" or something like that. I have seen several dogs like that in walmarts around here and TBH if I hadnt looked twice, I never would have known their owners even had a dog with them.

Also if a restaurant has patio seating, dogs are allowed there, in all venues, provided they arent causing a disruption or bothering other people, mine just lay under my chair LOL.

 

[Shakou]

I travel around a lot with my dogs, so it varies depending on the place we're at, but my hometown up in NH and my place of residence in AZ are very dog friendly given the dogs are well behaved.

I honestly don't mind if the shop owners are okay with it. It's their business, so its really their call. If you don't like it, don't shop there. However, I do get very annoyed when places have signs that blatantly say "no pets allowed" and people disregard the rules and just bring their dogs in anyways. That kind of **** really makes me bristle.

 

[BostonBullMama]

I take Toby absolutely everywhere I possibly can and have never run into people who're rude about it. He even comes with me when I'm working in St Thomas at a gift shop. There are some people who come in on my days just so they can see Toby and if I've left him home that day they ask where he is.

There's an antique shop down the street from Tabby's who also has a 'shop dog', a weimaraner (sp) puppy, with 0 manners and so on... because he's a puppy... but he's kept behind the desk (like Toby) and if you don't want to pet him you don't have to.

People will always complain about something though. It's just life... I'm not going to stop bringing my dog to work with me. We get more donations when I do and that helps the cats next door!

 

[Elrohwen]

I should add that we were asked to leave a Lowe's once. The manager came up and said that my dog was being perfectly well behaved, but another local store had a bite incident recently (involving a kid being bitten in the face) and they were no longer allowing dogs.

 

[ThreePs]

Poorly trained pets ruining it

As this trend becomes more and more popular, more and more unprepared dogs and unaware owners are bringing their dogs to hardware & home good stores, restaurants, events, etc.

It only takes one incident for a store to feel compelled to ban all. In this case, one bad apple spoils the whole barrel.

 

[Finkie_Mom]

My area doesn't seem to be very dog friendly. Not even Home Depot/Lowes. It's never bugged me, but that's probably because I never got to experience bringing my dogs a lot of places in the first place

 

[BostonBanker]

Our area is pretty dog friendly. Our main outdoor marketplace allows dogs on the street (closed to vehicles), most of the restaurants there have outdoor seating that allows dogs, and there are special signs in the windows of stores to show which allow dogs.

I don't bring either of mine into most places. The badly behaved dogs far outweigh the well behaved ones, and I don't want to subject mine to that. I took Meg into one posted dog friendly store on the marketplace because they had cute beaded collars you could make and I wanted to get her one. The store owner's (worker's?) lab came running out from behind the counter to get in her face. We left. If it's a nice day, I'll bring them to the oil change place, because I'll go walk them while the car is getting taken care of. They'll come into the lobby for a minute while I pay. But mostly, they either hang out at home or in the car, and we go find something fun to do after. They'd rather run off leash in the woods than walk through a store anyway.

 

[Equinox]

Our city is extremely dog friendly, even in businesses where dogs aren't customarily allowed, the managers/employees are okay with dogs being brought in. Every time I've had a dog with me in public, they've always been very well received. That said, while I usually always bring one or both along for a car ride, I only take them inside with me if it's a pet supply store or a Home Depot/Lowe's.

I don't personally mind others taking their dogs in public either, so long as they are well behaved and not being passed off as something they're not.

 

[pinkspore]

My area is extremely dog unfriendly, likely because there are so many entitled people and poorly behaved dogs. I took a client's dog to a fancy pet store to try a harness on him once and one shop dog constantly pestered him while the other full-on attacked when I tried to approach the counter. I haven't been back.

Brisbane doesn't enjoy busy urban areas and is totally not a sidewalk cafe dog, but he doesn't mind chilling in the car with the air conditioning. I do own a couple of sneaky dog purses in which I can stuff Ru if necessary, he doesn't present quite the same theft-deterrent as Briz.

 

[DenoLo]

My area is pretty dog friendly- outdoor patios are usually fine with dogs. , Bass Pro Shops, Tractor Supply, hardware stores are fine. Beaches can be tricky from May-September, but you can find an empty beach if you know the right places.

 

[teacuptiger]

My area is really dog friendly, but I've never been comfortable taking Roxie to human-oriented stores. But that's probably because my parents are very against people taking their dogs to stores unless the dog is a service animal.

So I sort of kinda not really understand where people are coming from in that, because if it is a people-oriented store, y'know, you kind of expect only people to be there I guess?

It is rare around here to see people bring their dogs into human-oriented stores, even though they are very pet friendly.

 

[DJEtzel]

Our town isn't super friendly as far as letting dogs into hardware stores, boutiques, outdoor patios, etc. but we do have our fair share of dog events which is nice.

When I take Pi to restaurants, grocery shopping, etc. everyone is very pleasant, which surprised me. (I'm talking employees/owners and customers here.)

 

[*blackrose]

I really have no idea how dog friendly it is here. I've taken Abrams to TSC and he was loved on. The local beach has a no dog rule so we drive to the neighboring county and let the dogs swim/play. Lots of people flock there with their dogs and I haven't had any issues with anyone! We've never tried to take the dogs to a restaurant here or anything.

When we lived in Indiana, we didn't have any issues sitting with the dogs at outdoor patios as smaller restaurants, but I wouldn't dream of taking one of them into a store that didn't explicitly say dogs welcome.

 

[Annabell]

My city is super dog friendly. Dogs are allowed in the little boutiques, clothing shops, antique stores, hardware stores, and the seating outside of restaurants. I have only been turned away from maybe one or two stores. And since Fable is so well-behaved in public, she gets to go almost everywhere with me.

 

[Kat09Tails]

Washington is the land of pretend service dogs. So dogs are pretty much everywhere and we accept it with an eyeroll and a shrug. There is really nothing a business owner can do beyond asking "is that a service dog?" to be in compliance with foodservice laws. Because even if you ask what tasks the dog is trained to do you are not allowed to determine if those tasks are truly BS. It has also been determined that it's not really worth the drama to tell people they can't haul their dog around in a shopping cart even if it is a service dog.

So yes, we welcome dogs in for the most part as long as they're not disruptive (barking, growling, or not on lead).

That said I am not that dog owner that brings her dogs everywhere pretty much because I just don't want to deal with people, kids, and their ill behaved dogs. I do enjoy taking my dogs out... it's just usually on trails, quiet beaches, or around people who can handle not groping every dog they see.