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The Dallas City Council voted Wednesday to allow dogs on outdoor restaurant patios, joining several cities and states—including Florida; Austin, Texas; and Alexandria, Virginia—with similar ordinances.
The law states that restaurants can let pooches dine al fresco with their parents as long as the eatery provides a separate entrance for the outdoor patio, installs curtains to shield diners inside from glimpses of the four-legged guests, and keeps dogs from clambering on furniture or touching servers.
But some councilmembers said those rules were unenforceable and that the law was akin to creating dog parks all over the city. In the measured words of one:
We don’t have the staff to check this. We don’t know if the restaurants are going to clean up every 30 minutes. I don’t want to go to a restaurant and see a dog going to the bathroom there.
But that’s exactly what’s been happening at the first official “doggie dining” joint in St. Petersburg, Florida, which became overrun with canines after publicizing its new policy. The same day that Dallas announced its ordinance, the St. Petersburg Times reported that the Moon Under Water restaurant had received complaints from customers and the city that “tables weren’t properly sanitized and dogs weren’t confined to their leashes,” among other things. Rather than put additional staff on poop detail, the owner decided to disallow dogs.
As a restaurant-goer, how do you feel about doggie dining—should dogs be allowed inside eateries (as they apparently are in Europe), relegated to the patio, or banned altogether? Had any bad experiences, or is it comforting and fun to see dogs in the dining room?
As a dog owner, I think it is perfectly acceptable to have dogs dine on a patio. In fact, I would go so far as to suggest that instead of having a smoking and non smoking section inside restaurants, there should be a dog and non dog section. The only caveat is that the dogs be well behaved (no begging, no barking, no eliminating).
Most dogs I know are better behaved than many children I see in...+READ
As a dog owner, I think it is perfectly acceptable to have dogs dine on a patio. In fact, I would go so far as to suggest that instead of having a smoking and non smoking section inside restaurants, there should be a dog and non dog section. The only caveat is that the dogs be well behaved (no begging, no barking, no eliminating).
Most dogs I know are better behaved than many children I see in restaurants. We've all been to restaurants where when the family with children leaves, there seems to always be a mess around the high chair. That to me, is very disgusting and shows a lack of respect by the parents to the restaurant owners.... In addition, I do not have any desire to pay good money to sit next to or in the vicinity of a screaming baby or toddler. Leave the kids at home if you can't raise them to behave.-COLLAPSE
I'm with you, Mako! Our dog is a little 10-year-old gentleman dachshund, who has accompanied us all over the world with nary a complaint. He has enjoyed indoor meals with us in France, Italy, and Switzerland. As with human children, it's the responsibility of the parents to train their canine family members to behave in a civilized manner.
I have a small, very well behaved dog who would do well inside or out on the patio. In fact, he is cleaner than a lot of servers and more well behaved than most children! I think that dogs should be allowed to accompany their owners, but that restaurants should have the right to ask owners of unruly dogs to pay their checks and leave.
I'm all for them establishing that dogs can be there (outside)... and I think that is all they (lawmakers) should do.
Leave it up to the restaurant owners to then establish the additional conditions that they will apply in order to make the establishment dog friendly while respecting the others.
At least with dogs the owners wouldn't have as much problem establishing guidelines that guests and...+READ
I'm all for them establishing that dogs can be there (outside)... and I think that is all they (lawmakers) should do.
Leave it up to the restaurant owners to then establish the additional conditions that they will apply in order to make the establishment dog friendly while respecting the others.
At least with dogs the owners wouldn't have as much problem establishing guidelines that guests and pets could conform to... and then let the owners enforce them. Besides, it's easier to tell someone that they may have to leave if Pluto isn't behaving vs. telling them that Jr. is a terror and has to leave.
If an owner let's things get out of control... the patrons will let them know.-COLLAPSE
It's a tricky issue. For one, owners need to be responsible for their dogs...so if behavior is going to be an issue, don't bring 'em. It's just like kids, some restaurants can be kid friendly and others are obviously not. On the same note, some kids are very restaurant friendly and others....are not.
That being said, I would love to see more restaurants allow dogs outside on a patio. Not every...+READ
It's a tricky issue. For one, owners need to be responsible for their dogs...so if behavior is going to be an issue, don't bring 'em. It's just like kids, some restaurants can be kid friendly and others are obviously not. On the same note, some kids are very restaurant friendly and others....are not.
That being said, I would love to see more restaurants allow dogs outside on a patio. Not every restaurant would be able to, based on space, layout, etc, but we like to road trip with our dog and if I knew there was an option where she could be with us instead of in the car, I'd definitely stop there.
I don't think there's really any way to allow dogs inside a restaurant, that would be a nightmare for the waitstaff and owners, but hey, putting up with a "dog section" is a much more appealing idea than putting up with a "smoking section"-COLLAPSE