dog friendly pubs / restaurants

[foxessocks]

Hi I was just looking for some advice / experiences. We're going on holiday to the new forest and we're taking our 2 dogs. We've never taken them away before (they're puppies) and not been in any pubs or restaurants with them.

I just wondered when a pub says "dog friendly" what does that mean in practice? Dh thinks dogs would only be allowed in the bar area. Do you just keep the dogs on a lead and sit them under a table? Can you or would you being a crate in and ask to pop that somewhere (if it's a big enough pub) or is that crazy?

Sorry for my ignorance but as I said I've never had a dog on holiday with me before.

Thanks

They all have different policies, it is best to ask when you go in the pubs.
I never seen crates as a requirement though.

Mostly it means sit in the bar area with doggy at your feet. Most that I have been to stipulate not in the restaurant. We have never been asked to crate our dog and we have been taking her on holiday for 7 years now

Dog friendly normally means bowls of water and doggie bics for well behaved dogs. Unless you hit a bad day, in which means a pack of yelping hounds scrapping round the bar .
I've been in many of the former but only heard of the latter.

the gastro-pub/hotel I work at is dog friendly and in practice that means dogs are allowed in the bar and in our less formal dining room.

a dog bed in provided for weary pooches and dog treats such as pig ears and rawhide chews can be purchased from the bar for 20p.

we don't have any rules when it comes to leads, so often end up with curious dogs behind the bar. some owners prefer to keep them tethered under the table but it's just whatever works for you.

no one has ever asked me about a crate but you'll probably find that most pubs are pretty obliging to most reasonable requests.

Thank you. We've got a table booked with other family members at a dog friendly pub but I expect we are in the restaurant so the pups won't be allowed in. We'll just have to take it in turns to dogsit!

Yes the crate thing I was wondering because they're quite young and sleep very well in their crate so thought instead of leaving them in the car in their crate we could being the crate in. But I guess the pub probably wouldn't accept that. We could ask I guess.

Phone up the pubs you're thinking of and ask. My dog comes to lots of pubs with me, she loves it! I tend to tie her lead to the table away from where people are walking past and she just sits/lies down. Lots of people want to say hello to her and she enjoys the fuss. My local always has several dogs in most evenings. The only problem we ever had was at a pub quiz in a different pub, she was flat out snoring under the table and another dog broke away from its owner, ran over and woke her up suddenly, so there was a bit of barking, but no harm done.

I would be very of a pub that called itself dog friendly and didn't have dining space for groups with dogs.

It would be a bit weird to take a dog crate into a pub TBH. Just call them up and check your table is in a dog friendly section then they can hang out under the table.

Thank you everyone! We'll ask the pub about it. Another family member booked and wouldn't have thought about the dog situation at the time of booking. So the table might be in the restaurant but maybe they can move us if there's room.

If your worried about the puppies settling without the crate you could try taking a blanket for them to settle on