To be annoyed by the number if dogs in local coffeeshops

[Hocuspoc]

I really like dogs - sounds like I am a hypocrite here, but hear me out. I do, really, however...
I go to a local coffeeshop for 20 mins early morning before work and just want to enjoy a cup of coffee. Is it the time of day - don't know, but literally every table has at least one dog sitting still or barking or trying to walk around while the owner/walker is struggling. And this is a small space. I can always smell the animal next to me and not my coffee - there is a distinctive and not a pleasant smell.
Go to another place I hear you say - I try but it is the same in the few local coffee shops with decent coffee.
Once I tried politely asking a lady who joined my table just to steer her 2 huge dogs away from me, as one was waving his tail over my pastry brushing it in process - the looks I got, and also from the neighbouring table.
These places are dog friendly yes, but they are not dog only.
I apologise if I offend anyone here, I know very well they are a part of the family for all of their owners, and dogs actually like me, often try and squeeze in and sit on my feet or just next to me (maybe part of the issue here) and if I was on a bench in the park fine, but I am eating or drinking coffee and the smell is just offensive.
I don't know how other people feel - both dog owners (are you aware that this may be inconvenience for some people) and the rest who don't own...

Dogs in coffee shops is almost as annoying as kids in pubs.
people just shouldn’t go out 😏

Not really comparable they are all different questions. These posts are all the same. How many bloody times can you say there are too many dogs 🐕? The answer on MN is never.

This. I was in a pub recently and on our way out found a huge dog lying across the front door. I was told by the laughing owner to just step over him if I wanted to leave (heaven forfend I should inconvenience the poor thing). I refused and waited until he moved his dog.

Most dogs nowadays are untrained. Dogs also smell, slobber and pee territorially. On what planet does it sound like a good idea to have them near food?

I long for the days when people didn't feel the need to bring their dogs EVERYWHERE!!

Aside from genuine service dogs, there is absolutely no need to bring dogs to coffee shops/ restaurants/ shops.
Leave them the fuck at home!

Where I live, the dogs in cafes and pubs are generally well behaved and quietly sit by their owners feet under the table. Shame the same can't be said of the children screeching and running around the place unsupervised.

My MIL took her 2 yappy dogs to a restaurant for a roast dinner. All they did was bark apparently and a table of 2 said very loudly 'I wish she'd shut them f ing dogs up or get them out of here' and she was really offended and didn't shut up about it for weeks. It's true though. I don't care if the place is dog friendly. People have gone for a meal and are greeted by your loud untrained dogs next to them. No thanks, I can't bare it. Especially the dogs that run wild, smell or are noisy.

I’m a lifelong dog owner and own a large, loud, heavily shedding dog. She goes on walks, that’s it. She’s a dog not my substitute child. I love her but I’d never take her out shopping or into places that serve food; I think it’s disgusting and try and avoid places that let dogs in. All the dog has to do is shake and its fur and crap in its coat goes flying; I know because I own a dog like this! I go out to eat as a treat, not to have dog dirt and hair flying in the air. Grim.

Yanbu, and I am a dog owner!

Same here and the reality is, that until people who are unhappy with dogs being in cafes/restaurants/garden centres/shops, vote with their feet and stop going to these places, these companies are just not going to take any notice. (Problem is though, feels like there are more dog owners than not!).

Apart from guide dogs, dogs don't belong in restaurants and cafes.

Dog owners are taking the piss going into food establishments. I avoid those places.

I went to the (human) urgent care centre yesterday and there was a dog in there, then to the pharmacy to collect my antibiotics and there was another one!

I have and love dogs, but no way would I be carting him around to all these places.

Not keen on coffee shops where babies and young children grizzle and cry all the time either.

YANBU. It's sad because I used to be so fond of dogs, but it's completely out of hand and getting unenjoyable to go almost anywhere. The library had one in last weekend which I was so surprised and disappointed by.

Children need to be socialised and practiced at these places. Dogs do not.

Or that are jammed with pushchairs.

yanbu op

I have a dog and love dogs. But the behaviour you describe is just too much.

You could get yourself a coffee machine and some great quality beans - and don’t go to these places anymore. The coffee machine would pay for itself quite quickly I think.

im astonished any business can afford to piss off customers to the extent they won’t go back

I sometimes go for a coffee with my friend and her dog. The dog bloody loves it, so much so that if you walk past the place, she tries to drag you in. It's also very spacious, so the dogs don't get under people's feet.

You should move to where I live. There are at least two coffee places that don't allow dogs, a Gail's and one other, and possibly a couple more at the other end of the high street. I believe one or two of the pubs are dog-free, too.

The dog friendly chain local to me is very popular - open 7 days a week and is busy even on Sunday afternoons.

I wish we could go back to the days where dogs were welcome in working men's clubs and rural pubs and that was it. Sadly, that horse has bolted and all kinds of establishments have now decided to cater to the barely-trained cockerpoo demographic.

Dog walking and coffee shops go hand in hand. Go for a lovely walk and pop into a coffee shop for a reward. It's lovely.

It's clearly good for coffee shop business or more of these places wouldn't be opening their doors to dogs. Especially with the cost of living going up and coffees costing you an eye watering almost £5 a cup...businesses need to do what they can to keep the cash flowing and the staff on the payroll. If expanding your market to dog walkers gets you extra ££££ you'd be daft to not do it - you want a quiet cafe but I'm sure the cafe owners do not!

I think yabu. But I love going for coffee with my chihuahua.

Must we have this thread every. single. day. ?

There are three pubs in my village, two allow and encourage dogs, and I go into both regularly. The other one doesn't allow dogs, so I've never been in. I was however chatting to the landlord of the third pub on one of his nights off recently (he goes to the others to check out the competition), he was asking my why I've never been into his pub but he sees me in the other 2 a fair bit and walking round the area.

Easy, I always have my dog with me, and I stop off at the pubs mid walk for a coffee or a beer, my pub/cafe visit is part of a bigger outing, I am not going to drop my dog at home to then go out for a drink by myself. He did say they are starting to rethink the policy because it is affecting their daytime trade, but he didn't sound keen... I did point out I would be unlikely to ever go because I think he is doing it begrudgingly, and I prefer dogs welcome, rather than dogs tolerated.

For every person who hates dogs, there's probably 5 who don't care and 2 dog owners. Restaurant owners aren't allowing dogs for any reason other than profit

I think dogs are ok at the outside area but not inside. They shouldn’t be near the food. Obviously I don’t mean service dogs
I don’t attend places which allow dogs inside. I might be in a losing battle there but I don’t have inclination to fight them I just don’t go there.

If every table at your coffee shop in your local area has a dog, then that suggests that the population who visits coffee shops where you live is overwhelmingly people on dog walks. These dog owners are out every day with their dogs rain or shine, and so form most of the trade for the businesses. If they banned dogs, they’d be removing all of their existing customers (other than you) on a punt that the dogs are off putting to an equivalent amount of potential new customers who will fill that gap, or the dog owners will walk their dogs, drop them off at home and come back without them. I wouldn’t take that risk if it were my business, and I wouldn’t expect that custom to be made up by the dog free.