No Dogs At Cafes. Not Happy!

[WreckitWhippet]

I don't buy the health regs line, but have people stopped to think that just maybe others like myself, don't want dog in cafe's. The same goes for on planes, in hotels and motels.

[mita]

I don't buy the health regs line, but have people stopped to think that just maybe others like myself, don't want dog in cafe's. The same goes for on planes, in hotels and motels.

I have. Because I haven't been talking about dogs being in cafes. But outside cafes....in the outdoor section, where people have to eat along with the birds, bees, moths, beetles, lizards & the general pollution. Many cafe owners kept a part of this section, for anyone with a dog.

One cafe, in our general area, even had a barrier separating that part from the rest.

[WreckitWhippet]

I am referring to the outdoors seating areas provided by cafe's and restaurants

[~Anne~]

I am not one for dogs at cafe's either. However, I am happy for there to be dog friendly cafes and dog free cafes though. That way I can choose if I want to sip my flat white with furry things around me or not.

[mita]

I am referring to the outdoors seating areas provided by cafe's and restaurants

So am I. Which is why I used the word 'outdoors'. Where a fair case can be made for including dogs in a specific area. As some cafes did, here.

Planes, hotels & motels don't have an 'outdoors', so they'd be another issue.

[justin19801]

I'm one of the people who would prefer no dogs at cafe's. I go out to lunch or dinner to enjoy my time out and time away from dogs. I personally don't want dogs where I'm going out to dine.

I wonder whether the owners of seeing-eye or therapy dogs would see eye to eye with that view?

[MolassesLass]

I am not one for dogs at cafe's either. However, I am happy for there to be dog friendly cafes and dog free cafes though. That way I can choose if I want to sip my flat white with furry things around me or not.

Yup this is me too. Nothing to do with hygiene, just a matter of wanting to be able to not be subjected to others dogs.

Seeing eye dogs are a totally different matter; they are not pets, they do not act like pets and I have no problem with them.

[GeckoTree]

A sparrow crapped in my coffee once, so glad I saw it happen.

[conztruct]

Shame. Dogs are being cut out of our daily lives more and more.

You're absolutely right Jed - dogs and everything else is being cut out of our lives and we're being made to live in a completely sterile world for the sake of appeasing a minority of whingers.

Gone are the days where if you say, didn't like dogs being at the cafe, you just went to one where there were no dogs. Now we are all trained to be very demanding and stand up for our rights and make everyone else change just to satisfy our personal opinion - sad world. Evidently these rules simply had to come in to address the very real impact of serious injury, illness and possible fatalities that dogs being at cafes cause every year (I'd love to see the statistics - yes, I am being very sarcastic).

Unfortunately, as many have alluded to it seems to be the dog owners who are an easy target for officialdom because it's far too difficult for them to tackle the real issues - what about people smoking outdoors at cafes (although I think this is or is on the way out), cars going past belching all kinds of harmful stuff, people talking on phones, people talking too loud, etc ,etc - where does it stop?? I would think a few dogs at the cafe would be the least of their worries...yet one of the first that they do something about. It seems that they will only be happy when we have a world where everyone sits in silence, in a vaccuum to please a very small minority of people who seem to take offence at everything....sorry, that got a little off topic.

I also feel for the businesses here - they just have so many rules and now more to cope with - the lawmakers seem to be doing their level best to not only turn us into robots but prevent anyone from running a business that caters to people........

Gosh it annoys me..........LOL

[whippets]

You obviously need to come and live in Vic. Very dog friendly here

I'll tell you what though. People are pretty responsible with their dogs along Eastern Beach (Geelong) with picking up their dogs mess etc. Th council provide doggy poo bag rolls in small posts for people to clean up after their dogs. It's the bloody "personal trainers" that take up all the room, along the beach area, that really pizz me off.

Edited April 6, 2010 by whippets

[D4DOGZ]

Originally when i first looked at opening my business it was going to be a Dog and Human Cafe.

I visited my local council and discussed at length the options i had, we bought the building we were wanting to put this business into which had a dual access.

(a bit hard to explain but it was a block of land with a retail store, then two separate bathrooms, then a Kitchen and then a another retail area, the front retail had a front door etc just like a normal shop, the kitchen and back retail area both had doors leading on to the verandah)

We were under the understanding that our building was no different than two separate shops down any street.

So we went about organising the front retail as a Doggie Boutique where the human and dog could come in dogs could get his/her treats etc, human places order, then order goes to kitchen, Human and dog goes sits outside on verandah through side door ( which council approved the new door knowing why we wanted a door there) then humans order would be delivered to them through a window from the kitchen.

No different we thought than two shops side by side down a street one being a cafe the other a pet shop.

We organised our logo and signage to reflect a doggie cafe.

We were told to put in our proposal to council for the food premises, mean while getting neccesary food certificates ( all the while council knowing what we were doing. )

So in goes my proposal which was what the health inspector said to do he said 'Don't put application in yet, send in proposal so we can make the neccessary adjustments to make it right, then put in application'

Well all i got back was a flat out no, and parts of 'Section 4, 16 & 24 of the food act 1984 was noted in the letter.

Basically ' live animals are not permitted in areas where food is handled, this includes, the making, manufacturing, producing, collecting, extracting, processing, storing, transporting, delivering, preparing, treating, preserving, packing, cooking, thawing, serving or displaying of food.

The problem as i understood it was that the food for humans had to get into my premises past where dogs would be! ( although the food would be packaged in boxes from the suppliers )

I did argue well how does any food get into any food business when it has to come out of the delivery van onto the footpaths past were dogs walk.

I also was informed that food being served onto side walks where people sat was against the law and to my understanding if dogs sat outside on sidewalk with owners and the owner came in to order and collect their own food this was ok, the problem was when staff came out to deliver the food ordered.

I was also informed that most cafe's were doing the wrong thing and that the helath inspector would not act upon it unless a complaint was made! So does that mean its not a health issue until a complaint is made?

I did also quiz them about a certain restaurant in town (didn't name them) who live on the premises and owned adog who lived on the premises which was above the cafe, I was told it wasn't a problem.

We even got a new address for the back retail store, to try and make it two separate businesses, didn't work.

It just annoys me that all our clients would be Dog lovers and if they thought that there was any risk health wise that they could make that judgement to dine with us or not.

Point to note at xmas time we had a Santa day where we took photo's of dogs and their owners had specials and competitions and had a Sausage sizzle which was on our premises and was approved by council we gave all the proceeds from the photo's, competitions and sausage sizzle to two Dog rescue groups.

The only reason we were allowed to have it was becasue it was for charity.

Don't worry i have thought about having my cafe and give all the proceeds away, as there is no health risk

[WoofnHoof]

D4DOGZ that sounds like you had an excellent setup, that is the problem with the food safety laws they are so inconsistent and largely based on what someone perceieves as a risk rather than actually doing a proper assessment of actual risk on a case by case basis.

[Maxiewolf]

Well If the legislation insists on removing dogs from every possible companion situation... who do i find to complain about not wanting noisy, filty, snotty nosed and fingered and god knows what else children from being in these areas?

Least id never allow my dog to stand next to someones table and 'stare' at them for no bloody reason. Its such a shame because I really like QLD appart from this problem... the annoying thing is the way they say no dogs within 5metres of food areas, or the enterence to food places... how the heck are you surposed to frikking walk anywhere? the footpaths arent 5metres wide.

And the not being able to have dogs in parks... how many kids do you see out in parks? I mean really.... they are all too busy inside with their xboxes and computers.... let the outdoors be enjoyed by responsible pet owners i say. and that does go for cafe's... they should have a dog.. and non dog section to cater for everyone inlcuding those who woudl rather not sit next to a dog.

[Snowball]

It really makes me sad when I think of when we lived in europe and all the dogs were out and about with their owners, in coffee shops, at tourist attractions and in department stores.

How I would love to have that opportunity to take my goldie out with us as a family.....

The laws here are stupid.

[D4DOGZ]

It really makes me sad when I think of when we lived in europe and all the dogs were out and about with their owners, in coffee shops, at tourist attractions and in department stores.

How I would love to have that opportunity to take my goldie out with us as a family.....

The laws here are stupid.

Wouldn't it be great if it meant that by coming a 'Multicultural Australia' we could just adopt some of the practices from other countries.

[traciemc]

I take my dogs to outdoor cafes all the time. Last week I drove from Sydney to Coffs Harbour and it was a pleasant surprise to see all McDonalds, KFCs etc allowing us to sit in their outdoor area with our dogs. I hope NSW laws don't ban dogs from outdoor cafes.

Newcastle council has banned dogs from outdoor cafes - it's ok to sit 3 feet from traffic belching fumes all over you and the food, and the scavenging birds crapping everywhere but it's not ok to sit there with a dog... When the pinheads on local councils have these great ideas, all they have to do to make it enforceable is post a sign....

These idiots need to be kicked to the kerb and local councils disbanded before they totally destroy our quality of life and our ability to enjoy our pets as we see fit.

[darlingdog]

I'm in QLD and I regularly go to a couple of cafes on Tamborine Mountain where they welcome my dog :D . I am guessing that until there is a complaint made it will be ok so I have my fingers crossed that they can continue to welcome dogs. We sit outside of course and in my experience most of the other patrons are fine with it, often wanting to pat the dogs. The lawmakers should get out into the real world a bit more frequently to see what it is that the community actually want rather than what they THINK we want ! ;)

[GoldenGirl85]

It really makes me sad when I think of when we lived in europe and all the dogs were out and about with their owners, in coffee shops, at tourist attractions and in department stores.

How I would love to have that opportunity to take my goldie out with us as a family.....

The laws here are stupid.

I agree, when I was on holidays in the UK I couldnt believe how dog friendly it was, particularly in Wales

[Tarmons]

When I was in Germany, there was a guest who had his GSD Bitch stay with him in his room at our 5 star hotel. It was great going up and down in the lift with this very beautiful GSD. No.... the guy wasn't blind ;) He was a very wealthy Mexican Industrialist.

The best sight of all was seeing this same GSD under his table in the Silver Service Restaurant attached to the Hotel. You could see her tail sweeping the carpet as she responded to her master's voice. One of the waiters bought her a bowl of water and a bowl of treats.

No-one caught a disease...no-one complained about hair in their coffee.... it was just taken for granted.

Australia is in the dim dark ages when it comes to dogs and their place in public. I too am fed-up with the regulations that do not permit you to walk your dog past the tables the chairs of the outside dining areas that are now a feature of many public thoroughfares.

These rule makers must have found it very hard to cope with the fact that Leneen Forde when she was Governor of Qld had her GSD roaming freely around Government House and its grounds. Wherever she was, George was there as well.

[daisygirl]

It's disgusting isn't it. In other states the waiters bring out a bowl of water for the dog. In QLD you are told to leave.

Just one reason why QLD is not a good place to live.

NSW isnt much better. We were having breakfast after the MDBA awards just so that we could meet my friend Bulldog. The cafe waited until they served us and THEN told us we couldnt have the dog there and go and tie her up down the road!!

The day before I saw some people sit at another cafe around the corner and immediately a waitress came out and said that you cant have dogs so they moved to the table next door that was part of a different cafe and no problems. How can a space of one metre make a difference??