Dogs in Cafes

justin heywood said :

If it’s OK to eat with other people’s animals….I have a pet pig. He’s my friend and he is cleaner than most dogs. Why can’t I bring him with me to a cafe?

Because you’ll put the carnivores off their bacon.

mutley said :

Don’t ban kids, ban the parents if they won’t control them. Same with dogs.

Very ture!

Ban cafetans from Manuka more like it.

Can we just ban all cafes? Surely this would solve all the problems.

Don’t ban kids, ban the parents if they won’t control them. Same with dogs.

It’s already outside. So the floor of the cafe is actually just the pavement, maybe even dirt if it’s a garden cafe. In this context the addition of a dog on the ground doesn’t really contribute a hygeine hazard. I suppose it could be a tripping hazard though, particularly if it wants to move around, and if it’s licking other people then it’s a real problem.

Besides guide dogs being a “necessary evil” and therefore a reasonable occasional exception, they are actually a zillion times better behaved than most dogs, even the very good ones. So I think the rule of thumb that everyone should apply is to just ask yourself whether your dog is as well behaved as a guide dog.

I don’t mind dogs being in my presence but I do mind them interacting with me. I like to get to know humans before I get close, and I feel the same way about other animals!

Sunday skinny latte at the Front or Tilleys, reading the paper outside in the sun, a water bowl close by for your excited mutt to have dribble in. Bliss.

Don’t like it? Move to Cooma and go back 50 years.

Dogs are less of a health hazard than smokers. There are no hygiene issues with dogs being in cafes, as long as they aren’t leaving their business on the floor, not eating food off tables and not cooking the food in the kitchen. In most cases, this doesn’t happen.

I’d also agree with the sentiments that it would be far better to ban children, a large percentage of them run around getting in the way of everyone with no control from their parents. Add in the inability of parents to teach the same children table manners and to cover their mouth/nose when coughing/sneezing and you have food poisoning waiting to happen.

I will second Pommy Bastard’s resolution.

There have been, in this thread and the earlier one, some comparisons between children and dogs. I find this offensive and stupid.

The comparison is offensive because there is one big difference between the two types of animal – one is human and the other is a dog. I mean, really, the human deserves some respect and some leeway that generally we don’t give to dogs. Children are people with less developed social skills and we have to live with them as they are. Otherwise where do we stop? Maybe other people with different social skills to yours should be banned from cafés. For example, would you compare someone with downs syndrome to a dog and say you’d rather a well behaved dog than a noisy disabled person? Shame on you if you would, but I suspect not. Why? Because we’re talking about a human, like you, who deserves the same respect that you do. Ditto children, even the feral children about whom you complain.

Here’s some other thoughts:

1. Children need to be civilised. For the benefit of all of us, we all have a part to play in that. As well as paying taxes so that children (even other people’s children) get educated and grow up to be well rounded, capable, individuals that you will be happy to have looking after you in the nursing home, sometimes that means being in the same room as other people’s children while they’re working out how to be civilised. Like at a café. It’s just not the same for dogs.
2. You can leave your dog at home alone. For one reason or another, you’re not allowed to leave a two year old at home alone.

The comparison is stupid because the basic issue for both is the same. Bad behaviour is unpleasant for others whether it’s a dog or a child. I say bring your dog, but don’t let it get around being friendly to everyone because some people find it annoying, or sometimes downright terrifying. If you can’t do that, don’t bring your dog. I say bring your kids, but don’t let them tear the place apart and poke other people’s eardrums. Obviously from what I’ve said above I think our tolerance level for people with different social skills should be higher than for badly behaved dogs. But, like dogs, there comes a point where if you can’t sort your children out the polite thing is to drink up and leave the café.

So, sorry, that was a long way of saying people should be polite and tolerant, which is all it is about. The dog thing is just a non issue. By talking about it here we just run the risk that the guverment will think it is an issue and decide it has to do something about it. Now that would be genuinely annoying.

Awesome. I want a coffee with justin’s pig.

“Spider Pig, Spider Pig, does whatever a Spider Pig does…”

ACTing like a Mama said :

When we first got our dog we walked it down to the local cafe, I had dreams of us sitting in the morning sunshine reading the papers, drinking our coffee while our pup would lie at our feets basking in the autumn sun.

Well, reality was that our dog just didn’t understand sitting. We were out, he was on a leash so surely we should be moving. My further ignorance showed when I had no water for him, there was no bowl and the staff were not interested in helping either (which is not their fault at all).

So, our dog does not join us at cafes now, and now that we have a three year old, we ourselves are very rarely seen at cafes anymore. I can’t think of anything worse than struggling with an energetic dog, unruly toddler and death stares from the other patrons.

That said, I don’t mind dogs at cafes, I just don’t want to bring mine.

I totally understand that one. When we had our keeshonds, I had visions of the same. Not only did they bowl over any dog that came near they wanted what we were having – (duh , you’re a dog, you don’t eat Eggs Benedict). Then our kids came along and it was pretty embarrassing to separate the dogs from the kids food.

I think it depends on the dog. We now have toy poodle that’s better behaved than most teenagers I know. We also have a kelpie that was ‘rescued’ who has no understanding of other dogs (apart from the poodle) and wants to fight them.

Would we take the poodle to a cafe? You bet. The kelpie? I don”t think so.

If it’s OK to eat with other people’s animals….I have a pet pig. He’s my friend and he is cleaner than most dogs. Why can’t I bring him with me to a cafe?

I like dogs but not over my breakfast ! Last Sunday I tried to enjoy my breakfast at a nice cafe but the three dogs where I was sitting fought, barked, growled, licked their bums and genitals, licked other dogs bums and genitals and one even tried to hump the waitress’s leg.

Their respective owners looked up from their lattes occasionally and smiled benignly at them as if the dogs were recalcitrant children.

Leave your dogs at home people. I’m sure they prefer that then being tethered to a chair and expected to sit quietly.

To everyone who is saying how we should ban smoking in cafes, are you not aware of –

http://www.chiefminister.act.gov.au/media.php?v=8779

Smoking to be banned in outdoor food and drinking areas

…The Minister said the Smoking (Prohibition in Enclosed Public Places) Amendment Bill 2009 would introduce a ban on smoking in outdoor eating and drinking places, as well as at underage functions.

…The new restrictions on smoking are proposed to commence on 1 December 2010.

My dog is better behaved and poses less of a health risk than most hippies and children I have seen at cafes. He smells nicer too.

+1 for banning smokers over dogs.

I don’t mind dogs, kids, hippies or whatever at cafes. If I ran a cafe, I wouldn’t want lots of dogs coming inside because of the hair shedding and possibility of doggy toilet accidents. But outdoors, what’s the harm? People just need to use their common sense about having a good time without interfering with other people’s enjoyment, and most people seem to do this just fine. Canberra’s a great place to be if you like cafes.

When we first got our dog we walked it down to the local cafe, I had dreams of us sitting in the morning sunshine reading the papers, drinking our coffee while our pup would lie at our feets basking in the autumn sun.

Well, reality was that our dog just didn’t understand sitting. We were out, he was on a leash so surely we should be moving. My further ignorance showed when I had no water for him, there was no bowl and the staff were not interested in helping either (which is not their fault at all).

So, our dog does not join us at cafes now, and now that we have a three year old, we ourselves are very rarely seen at cafes anymore. I can’t think of anything worse than struggling with an energetic dog, unruly toddler and death stares from the other patrons.

That said, I don’t mind dogs at cafes, I just don’t want to bring mine.

I think taking your dog with you everywhere you go is a great idea… if you’re aspiring to be like Paris Hilton.

I love my dog, but if you ever see me with it in a cafe I would kindly request that you shoot me in the temple with a large calibre weapon.

I just got back from a holiday in the California where the social status of canines is equal to or greater than that of humans. I see us heading in the same direction and it scares the living $hit out of me.

I have no issue with dogs. I have owned and loved more than a few in my life.

That being said, dogs can be filthy, smelly animals and they have no place in a cafe unless the owner has a medical need for the dog.

I also dated a women once who was terrified of dogs after having been bitten by one once, and I remember one occasion where we had to leave a cafe after a overly friendly lab repeatedly licked her – ‘don’t mind him he’s just being friendly’ said the owner.

Is it really so hard to tie up the dog outside the cafe? What’s the big deal. I strongly support them remaining banned from cafes.

Were we really expecting to hear from those irresonpsible dog owners who don’t train their animals, don’t keep them on a leash and don’t keep them clean, but nonetheless insist on bringing them to cafes where they start fights with other dogs, snap at passing toddlers, jump on tables and generally stink up the place?

We can’t have an ‘any dog is OK’ rule, because not all dogs are OK. A ‘nice dogs are OK’ rule is useless, because everybody claims that of course their dog is a nice dog (until they aren’t, by which time it’s too late, and that other dog started it). So we’re left with a ‘no dogs’ rule, and I’m glad we it, and wish it was better enforced.

+1 for banning smokers
+1 for banning feral kids.
+1 for allowing dogs to remain.

Can I add a request to ban soap dodging hippies from all cafe’s too? 😉

andym asks why people take their dogs out. Because dogs love a walk, and if the walk includes a stop in a cafe, that’s good for the owner too.

Interesting that HPS says there’s no crackdown – obviously had a lot of queries after the Sunday CT article. I read it and cranky thoughts of nanny state sprang to mind. I can’t see any health hazard in a dog sitting at an outdoor cafe, or even of it having a bowl of water to drink from. Yep, Johnboy, another stupid law, sensibly ignored.

My (well-behaved) dogs make my world a better place.

Frankly I dont understand why some people feel the need to drag their dogs everywhere with them. I suspect not many dogs enjoy the presence of a lot of people at large outdoor social occasions like fetes etc anyway. One women wondered why I was getting upset when her dog had wound itself and its lead around me for the second time!

Not that I appreciate feral kids or smokers either.

I wonder if people would turn a blind eye to my pet rat, pet pig or pet puma sitting under the table behaving themselves…..

Better left at home I’m afraid.

There was a cafe in Gungahlin called “My Bone Cafe” that you could order food for yourself and food for your dog at. You could only have your dog outside though.
Was this illegal all along?
I belive the place has closed down now though.

I agree Morgan – feral kids are much worse than a well-behaved dog. And generally speaking, dog owners have more control over their pets than parents do over their kids. I guess part of it is that you can give a dog a good kick up the clacker, whereas this is not quite so acceptable (although often necessary) with feral children.

Morgan said :

I don’t own a dog, but if it is just sitting under the table at an outdoor cafe then who cares?

I think sitting next to a smoker or unruly children is a far bigger problem than someones retriever which is sitting quietly.

+1

I’m all for dogs in cafes (oops I typoed cages phew I noticed!).

But if you had your dog there Johnboy, I would be so distracted. That is all!

Presumably this law exists for health reasons?
As such, where is the evidence that a guide dog sitting in a cafe is having less of an effect on the health of the owner and nearby patrons than any other dog?

set the animals free!

and there was this thread, of course: http://the-riotact.com/?p=6837, so with no threatened crackdown, any more to add to that list?

I don’t own a dog, but if it is just sitting under the table at an outdoor cafe then who cares?

I think sitting next to a smoker or unruly children is a far bigger problem than someones retriever which is sitting quietly.