AIBU to want cafes to be dog free after grandchild was bitten?

[OhSoTrue]

What to do? Took my 12 year old gc into a cafe for lunch today, and a dog
snapped her ankle as we walked by. It drew blood. No idea why it picked on her.
She did nothing beyond walking in the door.

The dog owner 'fled the scene' as it were. Made a hasty exit while he had the chance and everyone was looking at the injury.

Wouldn't it just be better if we kept dogs out of what really should be an exclusively human area?

The argument that "they are allowed here so suck it up" is wearing thin.
We are all very fed up of your dogs in human spaces. The vast majority of us would prefer a dog free space.

I absolutely love dogs and have one myself. I choose to go to dog-friendly pubs.

But not in cafes or shops. It’s disgusting. It’s the dog owners fault poor dogs.

As regards your post OP can you sue the cafe owner? I’m really not into compensation culture but the cafe owners need to take responsibility, make them think twice about letting dogs in.

To echo this, I would consider looking into legal action against the cafe. Aren't they liable if anyone gets injured on their premises? Maybe make them think twice before allowing dogs in future if it affects their insurance premiums.

I'm not agreeing with the dog hating comments by any stretch but I assume OP is a grandparent who happened to be staying with with her daughter who has epilepsy and also her grand daughter who was bitten earlier in the day.

Oh and I call my niece "my child" when im responsible for them, or my class "my children" when im teaching.

OP can't even decide if it was her child or grandchild that was allegedly bitten.

Legal action would be almost as laughable as this entire story.

My neighbour’s dog bit 3 different posties!!! Police came round twice. Nothing else happened! I was horrified… I witnessed the second one and the poor young woman went into shock. The injury was only minor but still had a major effect on her.

This- it’s a fairy tale written by somebody who is bored as they’ve had to live without a dog thread for a few days.

I think you know the true measure of a
person who would consider their rights trump other peoples.

Ignorant, selfish twats.

I’d never be with a person who took a dog into a restaurant. Sitting outside, fine but inside no, just no. That is a human space.

What you do in your own home entirely your prerogative but when sharing a space it’s no longer just yours to do as you will.

Anything that @CK13v has not noticed happening has never happened in the whole of space and time.

Not really the point. The girl was bitten.

BUT seeing as you are "interested"I have a small (10kg) dog that could draw blood even through a jumper or leggings. Hope that helps. Her ankle was probably only covered with a thin ankle sock.

We get the same with our Golden Retriever. She’s still young though and gets too excitable so I only say yes when the child seems confident to be near a dog. You can tell instantly the ones who aren’t - usually it’s the parents pulling them away.

But accidents with children running around happen, like I said upthread, a waitress got scalded. I wouldn’t let a rare one off incident with a child stop me going into a cafe, for fear of me being scalded.

I would risk assess and say it’s unlikely, like a dog biting me.

And what part of SEN conditions do you suppose don't constitute a mental impairment? Difficulty concentrating would be a mental impairment, for example. The disability itself isn't the impairment, that would be the functions or abilities impacted by it.

I don’t understand why it’s selfish and ignorant to take a well behaved dog which sleeps under the table in to a cafe. Because you say a person who takes a dog. Not a person who takes a badly behaved dog. So you must mean all dogs. My dog doesn’t impact on others so how does that make me a twat. Guess no coffee date for us. I won’t lose sleep over that 😂

Tbf to the animal it is not their fault any dog needs to be trained and controlled especially when around other people in public. Our dog would not and has not bitten anyone. We have taken her with us on days out but understand some places are dog free and would never expect to go in anywhere unless they specified they were dog friendly. My dog can smell after being on the beach or on the water or rain and thats exactly when I would not go in a cafe etc with her. We have doggy deodorant spray we used between baths for normal smell and mostly she is very clean and there would be no smell. She will sit/lie under the table and be well behaved and loves if someone asks if they can say hello to her, she adores children.

if a dog is not trained and controlled and bites they should be removed from the owner and trained and re homed. Tbh I would agree a licensing system where all dogs have to be registered and attend at least a few training courses would be a good thing.

As someone who left the UK years ago, when I went back to visit in 2025, I was shocked by dogs in cafes and shops. I guess it's become normalised now, but it was never a thing when I was there prior. I know the UK is a nation of pet lovers, but I really thought this was taking things too far.

It used to be the law they weren’t allowed in, when did that change?

I find dogs and children can be equally annoying in public spaces and I have 2 children! Parents and dog owners both have a responsibility to make sure their children/dogs are behaving at all times. Dogs should not be allowed in restaurants and certain outdoor attractions with busy crowds. Pubs and outdoors at cafes at a push are fine but the main thing is that noone should have to be subjected to any dog in their personal space just because owners think their dogs are lovely and friendly. My little girl gets scared of dogs that will run up and jump or get too close. Its a simple thing called respect! I make sure my child isnt annoying others and dog owners should not be letting their dogs run free to annoy others or bring them to public places that might cause them stress and to act out or cause stress to other people!

I’m a dog owner & I agree that restaurants & cafes are not the places for dogs. It used to be that if you were with a dog, you would sit at an outside table. Cafes tend to squash the tables so tightly together that there just isn’t room without the dog being in danger of being stepped on.

Pubs are different - traditionally dogs were allowed in and it was kids that were only allowed in the beer garden. Personally I prefer not to take my dog to the pub with me unless we’d been on a long walk & then we’d sit outside anyway. The only time we take her if we’re eating inside is when we are away on holiday, as you can’t leave dogs alone in most holiday accommodation.

Basically though, dogs can be as annoying in enclosed spaces as other people’s kids can be. It’s the owners & parents who need to be more considerate & less entitled.

I saw two dogs in a major London shopping centre last week - not assistance dogs, just average ones. I was really shocked and as a dog owner I can’t think of anything worse than trying to drag mine round John Lewis while I’m trying to buy stuff! I go shopping to have a break from mine! (She’s like Velcro, always attached.) I think they should be banned from shops.

And I do agree that I see more badly behaved and noisy kids in cafes than dogs. Toddlers screaming, kids on scooters, older kids watching an iPad with volume up while parents ignore the chaos. That impacts on me. I think the parents are selfish ignorant twats but I also accept that going into a public place means tolerating this sort of stuff these days. I’m not calling for kids to be banned.

Obviously it’s a minority. There are well behaved kids as well. I’d never have let my dd behave like that when she was a child.

The good old dogs shouldn't be allowed in cafes debate.

This!

It happens with our two little Jack Russells. They love all humans and they’ve helped several small children overcome canine fear.

I genuinely struggle to see what all the fuss is about. If you want somewhere dog-free choose somewhere dog-free. If you want somewhere dog friendly, choose somewhere dog friendly.

Neither camp has any right to demand any establishment change their stance on who's allowed onto their premises.

Lots of people go on holidays and trips within the UK that they take their dogs on. I do it all the time. I purposely choose locations that offer great dog walks that will keep us out for hours on end. Those places tend to have a lot of dog friendly cafes and restaurants, because a lot of their clientele are people like me. If I go into the city centre, a lot fewer places are dog friendly.

The problem in my eyes isn't dogs. It's people. People have either lost sight of how to behave in public, or they simply don't care how they impact others. So there are more people who ignore the needs of their dog and the needs of those around them in the same way there are more people who allow their child to behave badly in restaurants, more people who use their devices in public without a care for the fact that other people don't want to hear their music or video calls.

I had to take one of my dogs into a shop recently because I was a fair distance from home and was sick on my tshirt. It was either wear a vomitty tshirt or find somewhere I could pick another one up. I wouldn't routinely take my dogs on a shopping trip because they'd get absolutely nothing from it and I'd generally have no need to take them. But sometimes there's an exception.

If there are 100 people in a restaurant and maybe 5 want to touch your dog, there are still 95 who don’t. Even if 15 want to touch your dog (unlikely), there are 85 who don’t. A handful of people isn’t the majority. By a long shot. Those 85 people might be on MN complaining about your precious fur baby ruining their dining experience.