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...

Absolutely agree. I don't understand the issue. Go somewhere that dogs aren't allowed. There are places that don't allow dogs. For what it's worth I've sat in cafes/restaurants full of well behaved dogs. I've sat in them full of screaming, crying children running about l much prefer to spend time in the dog friendly establishments.

Exactly!
Don’t we all just do that anyway? Surely no one buys new plates etc even if boxed up and not washes them before use.

I don’t have a dog. We had a lovely dog as a child and I have walked other people’s dogs over the years; currently I walk a dog most days of the week. Far too many people have dogs and many can’t properly control them and don’t really try to train them.

The park is basically a dog toilet, even though people pick up. I go to a cafés that are dog friendly and on the whole the dogs are under control. But I completely understand your pov.

Some children are total nuisances. It’s just the way it is.

It's the dogs 'yuman' right to be there!😂

So I own a small pack of dogs and cafes packed with dogs pisses me off enormously. I will only take mine in a cafe if I just have one or two with me, and if the cafe / pub is at the end of a dog walk whilst we are on holiday or out for a day. The last thing I would do is drag one or more of the dogs from their nice comfy sofa to come out for a coffee with me, but perhaps I'm in the minority. Another rule for my dogs is they only come if they are at the stage where they will sit or lay quietly under the table. No one should know my dogs are with me until we get up to leave.

I can see your point. As a dog owner, if our dog did this I absolutely wouldn’t take her to a cafe.
However, apart from walking to and from a table, you really wouldn’t know she is there - she goes between me and DH and stays there, normally behind or under the table, lying down until we are ready to leave.
It’s the dog’s owners that are the problem, but I suppose, as PP’s have already mentioned, the cafe owners can’t afford to turn them away…

My dog can't reach his bum!! 😃😂

Our dog was only interested in getting food from us so never bothered anyone else in the café.
I remember taking ddog to a cafe after a walk, it was early and the large cafe was practically empty, we sat in the allocated area at a table for 2 and squeezed ddog in between us and the window.
Next to us, at a right angle, was a two seater sofa.
A woman came in, sat at the end nearest to us and complained loudly that she didn't like dogs.
I politely pointed out that we were in the designated dog area and there were plenty of other seats further away.
I'm pretty sure she's probably started a thread on here at some point. 😆

You have a choice to go in any coffee shop. Those with dogs don’t. So use that choice.

Dogs aren't a human right by the way

People with dogs mag have not washed their hands in between touching their dogs and touching JL crockery.
I can never understand people kissing dogs.
Our ddog used to eat sheep poo.

I adore dogs, always have. But I wouldn’t take mine to a cafe. I certainly wouldn’t if they were going to bark inside. Completely unacceptable to allow your dog to be around another customer when eating. I’d just be on edge trying to keep my dog away from others and trying to stop them barking. So yeah, he stays at home if I go to a cafe.

I am caring for my friend’s dog at present, as she is sadly dying from cancer. I am in walking group and take him as he is very good in pubs when we have lunch. You can pop his lead under your chair and he will lie down (he needs a blanket though, he’s not a hard floor dog!). Personally though I find eating out much nicer without a dog with me.

I always find it funny when people who object to dogs are directed to go elsewhere. Where would that be? I live in a sprawling small-town-sized, over-developed rural area (yeah, it's as lovely as it sounds) and we have quite a few coffee shops. ALL of them allow dogs. Every single one. When a new one opens, it's the first question on the community Facebook group - 'Are you dog friendly?' And of course they are. (Smiley face. Dog emoji.) Because everywhere else is and they don't want to be 'that' cafe where dogs are BANNED.

Where is this magical place?! My favourite cafe doesn't allow dogs inside 😔

Because dogs are social beings. They aren't sitting at home watching Netflix. I take my dog with me because he would be alone.

Perhaps that tells us how bad the problem is for people …

I’m not a dog lover - never grew up with them or had lots of close contact. Lots of my friends and some wider family have dogs which I find fine as I’m not expected to play with them or interact as they know what I’m like.
I don’t mind them in cafes really but wouldn’t like to be drooled on or have my pastry thwacked by a tail. Just as I wouldn’t enjoy a stranger thwacking me with their coat when they took if off or having a building block thrown at my head from a toddler in a high chair.
We have to live amongst each other so tolerance is key which is always helped by people being respectful of others. It’s a shame when that’s not the case.

I don’t really mind dogs in cafes. They are usually lying down quietly, and well-behaved.
Tbh if they are that badly behaved, I don’t particularly want to encounter them anywhere, outside or inside.
But I don’t think dogs should ever be in supermarkets, or shops like John Lewis.

I do think if a cafe smells strongly of dog, the cafe have a more fundamental problem with hygiene and ventilation. It should be possible to clean adequately so the smell is negligable. I’ve never been in a cafe that smells particularly doggy - but if I did I actually would turn round and walk out again.

I get the frustration of feeling you are in a minority and you can’t enjoy the cafe experience though. Sometimes letting off steam about it is all you can do.
We used to have a lovely independent cafe near us. Delicious coffee in a proper cup, tasty interesting food options, cakes with real whipped cream. It got taken over, now there is hardly any savoury food, but loads of lurid cakes with inch-thick rainbow buttercream, and sweet milky coffee served in glass jars with synthetic squirty cream and cheap sticky sauce slathered all over the top.
Presumably it is more lucrative for the cafe, but I’m sad, because it now seems identical to all the other local cafes, and I have nowhere to go for a proper coffee and slice of Victoria sponge.

People without dogs may not have washed their hands in between going to the loo and touching JL crockery…do you not wash new crockery before using it?

We could do a swap😃

I like dogs but I can’t stand the smell of them when trying to eat or drink. There’s a canal barge near me that serves food and drink via a hatch and then you take away or sit on tables and chairs around the canal basin. I’ve seen multiple dogs jumping up on the service hatch area and being fed sausages by staff who then go on to serve food and drinks to humans 🙄

One dog friendly hotel DH and I occasionally go to has a separate dining room for dog owners and their dogs. Free sausage provided for dog at breakfast on request.

I thought animals, you know, like dogs weren't allowed in places where food was being served - for hygiene reasons.

Has this changed?

Of course they are social beings. I get that. But even social beings can manage a bit of alone time. Will your dog suffer if it has to stay at home for a couple of hours while you shop? Or is it more a case of you not wanting to be without your dog and you’ll take it to places it doesn’t need or want to be because it suits YOU?

Yeah, humans can be disgusting. There was a survey that 20% of adults in the UK don't wash their hands after using the toilet.