Dogs in Butchers - A Step Too Far?

[HeatingFiddler]

I love dogs. I have several myself. I have no issues with dogs going into coffee shops and restaurants - by and large dogs don't go near the food and they definitely don't get near raw ingredients - as long as they're quiet and well behaved.

BUT. I went into my local butcher today and they had a bloody dog behind the counter.I actually asked the butcher if he realised there was a dog behind the counter - I thought someones dog had escaped back there and he just hadn't noticed! It was his!!!!

I ended up not buying anything I don't think I can go back. It just feels like a (very bloody grim) step too far for me. I'm actually wondering if there's an avenue to report them for violating health standards of similar...before I do, can people just assure me that I am not BU to find a dog behind the counter in a butchers to be bloody disgusting!?

A step too far? As if this is a new thing? I remember in our butchers 40 years ago people walking down to the village with their dog and going in. The butcher always had a box of scraps and bones on the floor behind the counter and would bag up anything the owner wanted (because he was happy to see them there). There's no hygiene issue as the meat is all on the butchers side behind a counter.

I know there are more dogs around now, but I do find it strange when people talk about dogs going into certain places as if its a new thing, when it has been forever thus. Dogs have always been allowed in my local pub, and indeed when most ladies were still in the ladies lounge dogs had free rein.

Dogs in shops and pubs is not a new fad!!!

So because it is "not new", no one has the right to express concern or dismay about dogs being in spaces where there could be hygiene issues?

Racism is nothing new; should I just shrug and say "it's always been this way" when someone lobs an epithet at me?

Fit as a butcher's dog?

I'm used to the dogs stink, unhygienic, you prefer dogs to people hysteria on mumsnet. Equating them to racism? That's a new one😂😂😂

I wasn't "equating" it to racism.

I was showing the fallacy of your argument stating that because things have "always been this way", "it was ever thus", that they cannot be commented on.

Shame you couldn't have picked that up on my first post instead of trying to rubbish me with mocking the comparison, but hey - hopefully you've learned something the second time around.

Did you say anything to the dog? Give him a chance to explain what he was doing in there?

No, you just flounced out and made a post on Mumsnet.

In a shop of dead animals full of loads of bacteria, I think a live dog isn’t too worrying.

I think we can probably file it under ‘didn’t happen’ and ‘just another dog froth’ thread.

The dog was behind the counter.

I'm old school and strongly object to dogs anywhere that serves food or drinks.

The first few responses are silly.
No, there shouldn’t be a dog behind the butcher’s counter. I’d contact the relevant department of your local council.

I wouldn't mind, you're going to cook that meat I assume, so all doggy germs dealt with. I'd mind a lot more at a bakery or a deli where you eat the products as they come.

Plenty of butchers have a deli counter, with cold meat, cheese etc. I’d prefer not to have a dog there.

Are you sure he wasn't just next for the chopping block? fresh dog meat, come and get it!

That must be an exceptionally well trained dog! If he's around all those sausages and juicy bones and not eating them! I'm impressed.

However dogs should be no where near the food prep area of a business, even the most tidy, well groomed, shed-less well trained ones. I saw my dog eat it's own sick this morning. Such pleasant, hygienic creatures 😄

I'm sure this must be against hygiene rules and I would report it.
People may have taken dogs into butchers shops but not to go behind the counter.
Animals should not be in food prep areas or near raw food which is being sold to the public.

Im not sure if it is against health and safety standards or not but I really dislike the whole ‘Report Him!’ Attitude on MN.

If it bothers you, speak to the butcher. Tell them it put you off, as a first resort. Might be a one off and the dog is usually never in the shop!

Why potentially ruin someone’s small business when you don’t have the full facts?
if he tells you to eff off and the dog is always there and is allowed to lick the legs of lamb before he bags them, then that’s a different story.

No, that’s not okay.

Our butcher won’t even let you put a carton of eggs down on the “wrong” area of the counter for infection control.

There's an old saying 'fit as a butcher's dog' so dogs have probably been around butcher's shops for a long time. However, hygiene standards are a lot higher these days and I don't think that a dog should really be there. Maybe it was a one off. If it bothered OP that much then a call to Environmental Health is the next step.

Dogs are gods in the UK and are treated as substitute children . I find owners are very protective over their dogs and are very defensive over them . Tell a dogs owner you think their dog is gorgeous and see their faces light up

I totally agree . I love dogs but this is going too far .

Meh, not sure I'd get too excited about it unless it was licking the meat, surely it's no different to your dog walking through your kitchen OP?

However, this has reminded me that 'back in my day' (the 70's) our dog, Barney, would roam free during the day (lived in a flat so no garden) and he would pop in to see the butcher every day to get a bone!

A butchers shop is a food preparation area.

It absolutely should not be there & I'll guarantee it's not there when Environmental Health comes and visit.

This is not okay. Do butchers have those food hygiene ratings like restaurants do? I am sure having a dog roaming around behind the counter would not be looked upon well.

Yes, butchers do have hygiene ratings.

A dog roaming about would potentially result in a 1 or 0 as they're not following their HACCP plan which as a very basic requirement would exclude animals from food prep areas.