To think this cafe needs to rethink their message to customers?

[GunpowderGelatine]

Seen this on Facebook today from a cafe -

So we are a dog friendly cafe which is completely acceptable by health and safety as long as the dogs don’t cook your food or enter the kitchen 😡 so don’t give us a hard time if you don’t like dogs because we like dogs better than humans - note don’t give Vicky a hard time over happy dogs because Vicky will always defend the dogs

Now I have a bit of a fear of dogs and wouldn't expect to see one in a cafe and I'd be a bit pissed off if I paid good money for food and drink only to be bollocked by "Vicky" if I didn't like a dog in my face AIBU to think it's not a good message to tell your paying customers that they come second to another species?

Our dogs favourite cafe is one that give a sausage to every do that comes in. I am literally dragged there by the dog !

"I think people often ignore training when they have small dogs. "It's tiny! It's not gonna kill you like the evil big dogs""

I think they must do/think like that - which is ludicrous in my opinion. My afore-mentioned grumpy lab/whippet cross was my 3rd birthday gift (I was desperate to have my own dog, having grown up surrounded by my parents and my grandparents dogs - so my godfather gave me the pick of his pedigree lab's unexpected litter... she'd escaped and gone wandering to a neighbour with a whippet's, whilst in season ) and from the moment she came into my life, I took to training her with gusto. Barbara Woodhouse's programmes used to coincide with my lunch when I was a toddler, and I was obsessed with having a well behaved, happy dog! Every afternoon, the pup and I were out in the garden, and I haphazardly trained her myself. It undoubtedly helped that my parents GSDs were also trained (my mother used to show the dog, and had been around breeders and trainers since she was a teenager, so in fairness, she knew her stuff), because they used to flatten my pup when she got too exuberant for her own good. They'd pin her to the ground with massive paws until she calmed down and remembered her place

All of my dogs have been trained. Okay, so Woodhouse's methods are old-hat (and I no longer walk around yelling "sit!" and military style throwing hands in the air as I do so!), and I objected to the violence of the puppy classes my GSD and lab/whippet cross's puppies all went to (my mother kept one, I had one, and DB2 had one) and withdrew mine... but he was far better behaved than his brothers were. My GSD didn't need training, he just... did as I asked him to. My springer was trained to hand signals before verbal commands, but was obeying both without hesitation by the time he was 12 weeks old, and my little dog has a love of treats, and is willing to move the world on her back if it means she gets one They're happy. They're not bored. They're loved. They know their place. And I know they'd cheerfully give their lives to protect my youngest child, so...!

We send our children to school so that they can learn, their minds can be stretched/expanded with new things, and their low boredom thresholds don't drive us insane. Yet so many dog owners don't understand that their dogs? Are just like small children. They need instruction, they need to be trained - for their safety as well as ours/others - and they also get very bored, very quickly.

oftenhangry I suspected so but then I though maybe there is a dog breed I’m not aware of and didn’t want to come across as ignorant ! I love sausage dogs though - we’ve had 1,5 - one proper one and one a mix with “who knows” but he had a forehead like a bullterrier!

Kurri our regal looking, elegant dachshund liked any shit she came across too

I don't know why you can't go to dog friendly places, Yabbers, apologies if you said the reason earlier if it's allergies, phobia etc but opening up some businesses to dogs does often mean increased profit, especially in relatively rural areas where people are likely to take their dogs on holiday or out for the day. It might restrict you but it has the opposite effect for some others. I'd have found it helpful when I suffered from severe anxiety and could barely get out to be allowed to take my dog as he 'anchored' me and enabled me to get out for short periods. Also service dogs are allowed everywhere(in theory) how do you deal with those, or is that less of an issue because they're always by their owners' side and are well trained?

That said, I

That should say that said while I'd like to see more dog friendly places in my area I don't think that every shop or cafe should allow them because dog phobics and people with allergies need to be able to go out too. Though from what I can see, taking the UK as a whole there's still far more places that don't allow dogs than those which do.

Yabu. Don't get me wrong, it sounds awful and Vicky clearly has issues (poorly socialised?) but likely they've done their research and decided that there's a market for unhinged aggression and dog hairs.

it's just the whole dogs are equivalent to children thing that's a bit much

A similar debate on Facebook had someone commenting they don’t like children (but claimed they “aren’t allowed” to say that) so children should be on leads in public. She then went on to say she’d never been bitten by a dog but had by a child (I wonder why??) and that her “fur babies” were far less feral than toddlers.

Those kind of people are why dog owners are often considered unhinged.

We no longer have dogs, but I'd still pick a dog friendly pub or cafe over a no-dogs one any day - especially if it puts off the kind of parents who allow their children to screech and run amok.

During many years of visiting dog friendly pubs/cafes I've hardly ever seen a dog doing anything but sitting or lying quietly, hoping for someone to drop a morsel of steak.
And the odd one that's wandering around nearly always belongs to the owner of the place - like the v nice pub where I regularly have lunch with friends.

Roussette, quite probably Vicky has put a notice in the window saying it is a dog friendly café and probably still has had customers moaning about it and possibly getting abusive.

If you have worked in customer facing jobs then you surely know just how rude some people can be? Maybe not so much in an office environment - I worked for solicitors for almost 30 years and only ever had 1 rude person - but in retail they are, sadly, extremely common.

Notices on windows mean nothing to some of the rude, arrogant people around. I had people banging on the window and shouting because the shop wasn't open when it was either too early to be open or it was closed for the day.

Also sorry but most hotels in the UK do not take dogs. I got so sick of ringing hotels and asking to be told no that I more or less decided not to bother taking my dog away unless it was to a dog friendly cottage although they are not always easy to find either. Lots only accept small dogs!!

When I lived in France I stopped asking hotels if they allowed dogs because they would all say "of course we do". I also had no trouble taking my dog to hotels in Belgium and Holland.

Travelodge do take them but charge quite a lot extra and I believe it is per dog. I never got charged anything abroad

I wouldn't go near their cafe as they started their message with 'So.' WTF do started on my people do that?

WTF do so many people

"...so children should be on leads in public"

Some are... they're called reins (although I think there might be a springy plastic wrist-strap thing in existence, because I vaguely remember my oldest having one when she was going through that stage of running everywhere at top speed and needed restraining for her own other people's safety) My youngest used to hold a second, shorter lead attached to our spaniel's harness when they were both quite young (my son was 18 months old when his spaniel came to live with us... after I'd done an awful lot of research about what breed would be better suited to our families combined lifestyles), which worked as it helped them to form a bond of "smaller owner" and "dog still in training".

Well, I say "still in training" as though it's a past thing. It's not. Every day reinforces the training which began 13 years ago. Same for our little dog. Every day brings new situations they're expected to behave themselves through and new opportunities for them to be rewarded with praise and the odd treat here and there. It'll be the same for any other dog we're fortunate to have in our lives.

I have children of my own, and a whole phalanx of godchildren, so I don't hate children. But I do dislike rude, badly behaved ones whose parents/minders ignore their screechy efforts to get their adults attention. I also feel a little sorry for them, because they're children and whilst they ought to know better, no one's ever bothered to take the time and devote the energy into teaching them socially acceptable behaviour. Politeness. Sitting still at a table and conversing with the others sat there. Not hurtling down pavements on scooters or at top running speed, oblivious to other people there at the same time. Not launching face first at a stranger's dog whilst screaming (this is why my spaniel dislikes children other than his boy, and is why those toddlers' adults should be very grateful that I actually trained my dog not to bite first and wonder why everyone is screaming later...).

Were reins really a thing of the '70s and '80s?! I'm pretty sure they were a fantastic invention/idea designed to keep the child safe and attached to their parent/minder. I know I had a pair when I was small (but I was hyperactive and needed restraining at times).

mydogisthebest booking.com has a pet-friendly filter (as does AirBNB) - so no need to phone up hotels.

Just don't go there. Do you get annoyed with cafes that serve food you don't like? No. You go somewhere else. You don't rant that they shouldn't be a (insert cuisine) because you don't eat (sic).
Why is everyone so obsessed with cafes? They aren't a public service.

LaFreaka, I am talking about a good few years ago when I came back from France. We were so used to taking our dog everywhere with us but almost all hotels here said they didn't accept them.

Now if I wanted to take my dog I would use the internet. I don't stay in hotels any more though only Airbnb and occasionally cottages

All places should have signs so people can avoid them if they want or use them if they want. This woman sound weird but different strokes for different folks.

Sounds good to me. I love it when businesses advertise their pet-friendliness - makes them much easier to avoid.

love it when businesses advertise their pet-friendliness - makes them much easier to avoid.

Same goes for when their owners post in a way that is clear they are unreasonably rude to customers.

Go to a different cafe. Every business does not have to cater to every potential customer.

if it puts off the kind of parents who allow their children to screech and run amok.

Probably find those kids are far more likely to be the kind who poke and prod at dogs.

On the other hand, DD is polite, quiet and runs nowhere. We won’t be in a dog friendly restaurant.

Vicky sounds a bit of a loon, but I am amazed you've never seen a dog in a cafe.
My dog suffers from separation anxiety spoilt but she's a rescue I've only had 6 months so I'll forgive her so I haven't gone to a cafe/pub during the day without her for 6 months.
Most places in London (even clothes shops / John Lewis-although prob not the cafe) let dogs on now, I could rarely eat out or go shopping during the day otherwise, there are so many people with small dogs in London.

mydogisthebest Yes, I have worked in many different roles including retail with horrible customers. But sorry, I still prefer human beings even though I like dogs. However, they are just dogs. I was beyond shocked on another thread on here where someone said she would save her dog over a newborn baby. That is something I will never understand.

Bottom line re hotels, I do not want to sleep in a bedroom that has had dogs sleeping in it. Many people feel the same. So yes it will cost more because of possible deep cleaning more often.

My DCs had reins. There is nothing wrong with them especially if you've got a bolter.

I would much prefer a dog than a screaming/loud child especially the ones where the parents don't have control whatsoever

I don't take my poodle X to our dog friendly cafe ad there is a good chance he'd try to sit on your lap and then accidentally 'faint' onto you plate and revive himself by eating your scone. But sensible dogs are no problem.

Must have the same chronic "strategic fainting" condition that one of my yorkies had.

Sadly, medical science had no cure for it.