[QUOTE=Aesiron]
A coffee shop, bar, or open air cafe? I wouldn’t care if a dog were in any of those establishments as long as it was well-behaved and clean. I’d probably feel uncomfortable in any other kind of eating establishment, though.
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This is my feeling, too. Super-casual place, especially outdoors? No problem. Sit-down-for-dinner place? I probably wouldn’t like it. I know how much hair comes off a dog; I have two of them myself. If I wanted to eat dinner in a “dog hair optional” establishment, I could stay home.
And this assumes the dogs are VERY well behaved, like “I didn’t even notice the dog was there!” well-behaved. Any thing less and they should not be allowed, IMO.
My misgivings are less about dogs then they are about dog owners. A large number of the dogs I see aren’t well trained and their owners have very little control over them. If your dog starts growling and lunging every time you pass someone on the street, am I supposed to believe that it will behave in a restaurant? If the owner can’t be bothered to pick up their dogs poop when they take him on a walk around the neighborhood, how will they act when eating out?
Add to that my mild allergic reaction to dogs, and I’m not real fond of the idea.
I would love it. I have a very well behaved 14 pound mutt. She is perfectly fine in a crowded room, and doesn’t even glace at the food, unless it is offered to her.
In fact she was at a bar last night. It was a bar that caters to the theatre crowd and there was a party for the casts and crew of three productions on right now. She is in one of the plays and I was allowed to bring her. She laid down at my feet the whole time, and whenever I got up there was a throng of people asking if they could watch her while I was gone. Half of the bar didn’t even know she was there until my team shamelessly used her for cute points in one of the games (we won).
I would definitely go to a place that I could bring my dog.
[QUOTE=Gatopescado]
I would never eat there. Filthy, filthy, filthy. How does this place pass inspection? What “grade” does it display? A “D”, I would guess, for “Dog” , “Disgusting” and “Dirty”.
*You know, a dog can’t wipe its asshole, so I figure everywhere he sits (or licks- since they are always licking thier asshole, or drags his ass across) is defacto toilet paper, whether it be your couch, carpet or bedspread. I choose not to live on a filthy animals ass leavings. Wouldn’t want to eat in his Port-a-Dump, either.
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Ever been to Europe? If you haven’t, I suggest you don’t.
ughh. I don’t trust the cleanliness of other people’s dogs. And sometimes dogs are shedding and there’s this cloud of dog hair that floats everywhere in their wake. Plus, the smell of some people’s dogs? No, thank you. I would definitely NOT patronize this restaurant.
Couldn’t handle it. My family is allergic to most dogs and all cats. We have a Bichon Frise (or Bitchy Frizzy), a hypoallergenic breed. But I couldn’t go to a restaurant where there is animal dander from any other breed. My nose would plug up and my son would have an allergy attack.
Nope. If a restaurant started allowing dogs in, I could never go back.
[QUOTE=Runs With Scissors]
There’s a coffee shop I stop at about twice a week. They allow dogs inside, and every day there are dogs in there. (They serve sweet and savory food items as well.)
I think for me, it’s the “ick” factor. I figure children are probably filthier than dogs. Of course, technically, every establishment allows dogs because guide dogs are allowed everywhere.
The other thing that bothers me are the dog dishes inside and outside the place. Where are these washed? Again, I realize that I could be just as grossed out eating with utensils and on plates that thousands of other people have used. Presumably everything gets washed and sanitized. But the thought of those dog dishes going back into the kitchen area just really skeeves me out.
I don’t see a lot of difference between places that only allow pets at the tables on the sidewalk. I still have to eat there.
And, of course, I don’t have to eat there. But if I owned a restaurant, I would guess that the customers I’d deter by allowing dogs inside would be greater than the customers I’d gain by allowing dogs.
I don’t own any pets, and if I did, I wouldn’t take them to a place even if dogs were allowed. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
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Ever hear of the term “germophobe?”
You are WAY more likely to get a serious illness from a human than from a dog (or cat). You aren’t creeped out by all the sick people eating at this restaurant, so I think your disgust is based on irrational beliefs. However, all that matters is how you feel - what anyone else thinks isn’t really this issue, is it? (In other words, if I could show you that there was zero chance of getting sick from a dog (not true, but close), it still wouldn’t matter, would it?)
[QUOTE=beowulff]
Ever hear of the term “germophobe?”
You are WAY more likely to get a serious illness from a human than from a dog (or cat). You aren’t creeped out by all the sick people eating at this restaurant, so I think your disgust is based on irrational beliefs. However, all that matters is how you feel - what anyone else thinks isn’t really this issue, is it? (In other words, if I could show you that there was zero chance of getting sick from a dog (not true, but close), it still wouldn’t matter, would it?)
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I’m sure if she could, she’d kick out the sick people in the diners who cough up a lung not two feet from her and her beautiful mushroom omelette. I wish I could! Meanwhile, both dogs and people can stink and be disgusting, but just because I can’t do anything about the latter doesn’t mean I don’t want to do something about the former. I don’t want to sit next to either but, if I have a choice about the dog, I’m not going to be anywhere close to it. This has nothing to do with denying reality or being a “germaphobe”.
I love dogs; I wouldn’t mind a bit. I’d actually go out of my way to visit an establishment that allowed dogs over one that didn’t, given a choice. Even if I didn’t have a dog of my own with me.
I’d totally go to that restaurant. I wouldn’t trust my own dog in such a place (maybe next year) but I’d be delighted to hang out with other people’s.
I am allergic to cats and I have to put up with them in shops sometimes. Why shouldn’t us dog people have commercial establishments too?
And I washed my dog’s water dish just last night. I don’t understand why his first choice for drinking is out of the toilet (I always leave the lid closed so that option usually isn’t available), his second is the water dish in his crate (which is inconvenient to clean around). He’ll drink from small buggy greenish puddles that he finds on the deck after it rains, or from scummy teacups I accidentally leave in a spot he can reach when he gets up on the couch. His own water dish in the feeding area of the house is a distant last place in his preferences. I washed it last night in the hopes of improving its appeal for him. It didn’t work. He’ll drink the one in the crate dry before he goes for the appropriate one. Maybe I should go the other way and try some pond scum or congealing Earl Grey.
[QUOTE=Gatopescado]
Theres not a sidewalk within 30 miles of my house. And I don’t wear the shoes that have mud/spit/piss/shit(mine, coyotes or anyone else’s) on them in the parts of the house I eat or sit in, either. I’m a dirty old bastard, but I’m clean.
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Gold stars for you!!!
My point was that doing certain things in the names of clean is necessary. Going overboard (especially for the wrong reasons) is not.
I’d probably avoid the place. I don’t trust that dog owners will keep their dogs quiet and well-behaved as I’d like. Also, dogs drool, drink and eat from questionable sources, lick their genitals, and eat poo. They aren’t bathed as often as humans bathe. After I pet dogs (or any animal, really), I have to wash my hands. I like dogs, but I could not comfortably eat in an environment where I felt like I had to go wash my hands right away.
[QUOTE=FourPaws]
But, you can lock your dogs up in a crate when you go to work. You do that with kids, and you get arrested.
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Uh…I’ll be right back. Damn, I wish they’d mentioned that earlier.
