General Chat

A restaurant in Portsmouth found themselves with a one star review on trip advisor apparently written by a dog. The review was complaining that although the restaurant is dog friendly and allows any dog inside the dog in question was made to sit on the floor instead of being allowed on the furniture.

When I ask my question I am not referring here to service dogs who are well behaved when working and there for benefit of their owner.

How do people feel about dog friendly restaurants and do you agree with dogs on the floor or would you let them on the furniture?

Yuck on all counts. Edit.. not service dogs

I hope it was written in jest.

Dogs in Pubs and restaurants should sit quietly ON THE FLOOR!

I have no problem with well trained dogs being allowed in cafes or restaurants but they should sit on the floor.
We always took our dog on holiday with us and travelled on the train and went in dog friendly pubs and restaurants, most times the other people didn't realise our dog was there until we moved to leave.
I don't like dogs sitting on train or bus seats .

Being the owner of a small breed I often have my dog on my lap, but not when I am actually eating food. Would not expect her to be allowed on the furniture

The couple who had written it phoned the restaurant several times asking them to take the review down either because it was written in jest or because they realised how stupid they looked. Each time the restaurant explained to them that as they wrote it they would have to remove it.

I agree with dogs sitting on the floor not the furniture but have always found it odd allowing dogs into restaurants except of course for service dogs.

Dog friendly restaurant etc is good as long as the human(s) with it sit on the floor.

Dogs should only be on the floor in any public place, and dogs in pubs that serve food is one thing but in a more upscale restaurant is not good.

I must say I have seen some children in restaurants that need restraining, climbing over furniture and not being expected to sit at the table while others are eating. They have probably stepped in dog poo on the way in and spread it everywhere !!!

I agree about some children too. Some parents don’t seem to feel the need to check their children’s behaviour when their in restaurants. Mr Owl used to work in a pub and on one occasion he witnessed a child taking crisps out a packet, dropping them on the floor and tramping them into the carpet. He watched the child do this three times without the parents saying a word before he spoke to them. The parents claimed not to have noticed.

I must agree with KentishMaid, I have seen more unruly children in food pubs and cafes that I have unruly dogs. Not sure what an 'upscale restaurant' is or why it is different to a normal one with regards to the dog question.

ZZzzz I personally wouldn't sit on the floor any more than my dog would be allowed to sit on a chair. :-)

Oh yeah! My dog used to stop at his favourite cafe and look longingly at the door, even when we were just passing. He was good as gold on the floor and would let us know if he needed to go outside.
We never put him up on a seat but have to say if that isn't ok why do some people think it's ok to put their feet up on train and bus seats? As Kentishmaid says, they could have stepped in dog poo, dogs tend not to do that.

I don't get why some think it's ok for service dogs so presumably not others? The deal is usually 'well behaved dogs'.

On one particular holiday our dog did the same Island. She steered us towards the same café every time we went into town, possibly because they gave all their doggy visitors home made treats

Kentishmaid, I think the same with children in shopping trolleys where the food goes, could be dog poo on their shoes.

That's true ZZzzz

One thing I don't like to see in a restaurant, is people, having finished eating what they want from their plate, allowing the dog to eat the rest FROM THE PLATE !!!!!! I might feed my dog little titbits by hand while she is under the table, but licking plates clean is a definite no no

We don't have a dog, but do sometimes have a short break in a dog-friendly hotel. Dogs are allowed in the bar when food is served but there is a dog free area if people wish to eat there.

In all our time there, have never seen a badly behaved dog, they just lie down quietly. I have, however, seen many badly behaved children running riot.

Andy

We stayed in a dog friendly hotel (we don’t have a dog). The restaurant had a separate area for people with their dogs. It seems the best idea really not all dogs are people friendly, in fact in the bar of the same restaurant in the hotel, walking to an empty table a fairly large dog suddenly growled and leapt out at me, luckily it was on a lead I have no doubt that it would have attacked me if it had been able to reach. I didn)t feel a dog with that sort of temperament should be in a restaurant. On the other hand step granddaughter has a cockerpoo who is very well trained once she has her lead and harness on and is taken into a restaurant she just lays under the table and doesn’t move. Off the lead and out of the harness she is very lively.

"Not sure what an 'upscale restaurant' is or why it is different to a normal one with regards to the dog question."

JustGinnie....I would say a pub in the countryside or a little cafe might very well accept well-trained dogs or children.....an upscale restaurant and I can't be the only person to say that, would be more of your typical white linen tablecloths and quiet music in the background type of place where I wouldn't expect to find dogs or children :-)

I imagine dog owners wouldn't want to be taking their dogs to a 'white linen and quiet music' restaurant anyway as, I guess, it would be a more formal occasion.
We must be more dog friendly here in the UK Caroline as we are not limited to 'pubs in the countryside and little cafes' to find our canine companions welcome.

It sure where the ‘upscale restaurant’ comment came from but wouldn’t that be one where they let ‘handbag’ dogs in?