Dogs in eating establishments

[sprayer]

I ask this question out of interest, yesterday I was in a village pub which has two bars, one that is used as a restaurant the other used as the public bar where dogs are allowed,
a party of four people came in wanting lunch and was told that the restaurant was full but a table may become free in about half an hour or so the people said they did not mind having their lunch in the public bar to save waiting to which the landlady said OK, the lunches were served to their table but a few minuets later a local guy walked in with his dog, the people that were eating complained saying dogs are not allowed in any eating area to which the landlady replied ''dogs are not allowed in the restaurant side but have always been allowed in the public bar'' the people left threatening to report the pub to hygiene standards. So who was right?

[LoftyLottie]

Absolutely agree with you Ratter. We have become obsessed with hygiene and our immune systems will suffer.

[wendilla]

Went to restaurant in Halkadiki .Got cats roaming all over the place and in the ones in Rhodes as well. If you don't like what you see you don't go in but it don't bother me .People should be more concerned with the state of the kitchens in some restuarants in the uk.If you had to walk through the kitchen first you wouldn't go any further in some.

[joeluke]

I'm sure some people on here would be happy to eat their food out of the same (unwashed) bowl their dog's just eaten out of

Probably the very same people who kiss their dogs without thinking that said animal may have just been licking its own @r$e



Nice

[RATTER15]

Joeluke, being a bit of a pudding now are we?

[craft1948]

I would never kiss my dog........he doesn't like me smoking.

[joeluke]

Ratter

Dogs don't lick their own @r$e$ and owners don't kiss their dogs then?

[Barmaid]

lol, I always remember camping with a friend. His dog bounded across the field, jumped up at him and gave him a serious lick. I had to tell him that said dog had just rolled in fox poo and then licked a cow pat beforehand. So funny.

[joeluke]

^ Yuk

Imagine if that dog were to then be brought into the bar/restaurant you were eating/drinking in huh people?

[LoftyLottie]

JL If you didn't know then it wouldn't worry you would it!! Can't go through life worrying about things like that. You are more likely to catch something nasty from another human than a dog!

[thugulike]

I often take my mastiff into public bars after checking with the licencee. He just sits quietly on the floor until people start petting him. He doesn't go under the table in case he lifts the table up when he stands! Weather permitting we do try and eat outside though.

[HeatherChloe]

I am fed up with people saying that merely having a dog in a place where food is served is a "hygiene" problem.

Dogs in restaurants sit or stand on the floor. The same floor that you walk on with your shoes that have just walked everywhere outside. The food is not served on the floor, but on a clean plate on a clean table some feet above the floor.

Dogs don't emit some kind of "dirt" which magically rises up from the floor, wafts over, and lands in your food. That's just ridiculous.

It is possible that some owners have smelly dogs. It is possible that some people are smelly or have smelly children. It is not unique to dogs. My dog is never smelly.

People also like to seem to eat at outdoor tables in cafes, bars and restaurants. Pigeons and squirrels and mice run all over those outdoor tables. People seem to think a dog can be at an outdoor table. How come a dog is miraculously unhygienic when inside but okay when outside?

People just don't think, and it is dog owners like me which end up with a choice between staying home all the time, or imprisoning the dog at home with no company in order that I can eat out.

[HeatherChloe]

Dogs are on the floor. You don't take off your shoes when you go into a restaurant. You don't eat your food off the floor, you eat it off a clean plate on a clean table, feet above the floor. Obviously dogs have no adverse hygienic effect on your food whatsoever.

[trt]

Heather, why are you repeating yourself?

[Mobiliser]

Seems to me that a lot of people here are blatantly discriminating against blind people! Should they not be allowed to 'eat out', if they rely on a dog to guide them??

IMOHO, most dog owners do not let their dogs climb all over other customers - let alone their food or their table! Neither do most of the dogs themselves enter the kitchen where the food is being prepared!

I've just returned from France, and I can honestly say that most times whilst eating out, there was always at least one table / group of customers, who had a dog along with them! Never seems to bother anyone else! So why should it be an issue in GB, the land of animal lovers??

[LoftyLottie]

I would rather eat in a pub with well behaved dogs than eat where there are a load of badly behaved and loud human beings. And Heather's comments are spot on!

[buffymad]

Its up to the establishment what they want to do. There's very posh gastropubs in London (Chelsea, Kensington etc) where they let them in and serve food. Hysterically some places still use the "we serve food so they're not allowed in" excuse. I can see that some people might not like dogs around while they're eating (although if they're well behaved dogs then where's the problem) ... but personally I don't like kids running around and screaming when I'm eating but no one seems to say anything to them ... !!!

[LoftyLottie]

Fortunately, living in a rural/coastal area where the pubs get a lot of trade from holidaymakers on walking holidays, etc., there are very few places that don't allow dogs. They wouldn't get any trade if they didn't. I have never been bothered by dogs in eating places and can't see why it is unhygienic, for all the reasons given by Heather. I have never seen the dogs sitting on the tables or licking the plates!!

[Babsack]

I t took a while to find what I was looking for but it seems that I cn allow dogs into the bar even though I serve food. This is especially useful at lunchtime when people are out walking their dogs or are on holiday and have stopped the car to have a luchbreak and so can bring their dogs in with them. the 'grabbing food and running off' story reminded me of a time when I worked in a restaurant in Jersey and a tramp walked into the room, looked around, picked up a slice of calves liver from a plate, had a bite out of it then walked out the door again!