Gov. Bush signs bill allowing dogs to eat outside at restaurants

Jun 2, 2006

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- At just 1 year old, Theo had already turned to a life of crime.

The barely-more-than-a-handful Yorkie would sneak into restaurants inside his owner's bag - usually undetected, but he and Marcy Richardson have been kicked out before.

"He loves to be outside with a bunch of people," said Richardson, a 26-year-old Orlando opera singer. "He's quiet and never makes a mess. Everyone loves him."

Now she and Theo can stop worrying and start chowing down.

Gov. Jeb Bush on Friday signed the so-called "doggie dining" bill, allowing local governments to let restaurants permit dogs to eat with their owners outside. Florida health regulations previously prevented all dogs except service animals from joining patrons al fresco - though several restaurants ignored the rules until Orlando-area regulators started cracking down last year.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FL_DINING_WITH_DOGS_FLOL-?SITE=FLPET&SECTION=STATE&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


Aw gee, now isn't the world a better place?

:eyes:

huh, huh? doggie wants to tell it like it IS!

New Yawk!? :patriot:

:D

:o

-eom-

eom

within their own species, that is.



kidding. the kitten is a girl. of age, of course.

but what happens when rex attacks the 2 yr old at the table next to him... this is so stupid

:shrug:

should not have that problem. Now, some yahoo who never trains his animal and shows up with it for brunch is a different (and probably inevitable) story.

Dog story from a recent vacation: at a restaurant in DeSmet, SD, my husband and I stopped for lunch. We saw a border collie sprawled out underneath a pickup truck in the parking lot. (It was raining and evidently the pooch decided to take cover instead of getting drowned in the bed.)

His master returned from lunch, the dog jumped into the bed, and off they went. Now THAT dog was well trained. Never bothered any customers entering/leaving the restaurant though several crossed his path. That was a good animal, and his master deserves a good deal of credit too.

He'll leave his dog outside for the bar for an hour or so, and she'll just lay out there. She'll play with whoever is not scared of a loose doberman, but she'll never leave that storefront until he comes out. He keeps her with him at all times, almost never on a leash and she waits for him wherever he goes.

My shepherd/pit mix Jaycee was like that too. It's great to have a dog you don't have to worry about.

...don't get me wrong, I loved her and miss her something awful, but she was work.

She was not the easygoing type, and within minutes of getting her as a puppy I knew that the next 10 (+, hopefully) years I would be a glorified dog-sitter. And for those who care, yes, I trained her scrupulously, and yes, she behaved as commanded, but leaving her without my "alpha" presence? Invitation to certain disaster or minor skirmish, depending on her mood. ;-)

We don't really publicize it, but we don't want people leaving dogs locked up in their cars when they shop so we let people bring them in.

The best dog policy I ever saw was at JR's in Selma, NC. They've got a sign on their doors right at eye level: "You wouldn't leave your child locked in your hot car, would you? Dogs welcome in shopping carts."

Norfolk, VA.

I've been in a bunch of Home Depots and all of them had customers bringing dogs in.

Here in Las Vegas, until he passed away a couple years ago. Used to take both with me to Jitters or Einsteins and sit outside with them, too.

Used to leave him and his "brother" in the open convertable while I went grocery shopping on nice days - never had to worry about them jumping or leaving. Could go camping and they'd be like sphinxes outside the tent all nite long.

Now I've got the one left, plus adopted/fostering two others - so we don't do that anymore - it's too much to handle.

If you dog cannot do well in public, that is, not socialized properly, you should not take your dog to a restuarant. The owner can ask you to leave.

I travel with my dog and when we want to eat at a sit down restaurant we have a choice of leaving him in the car in the heat--in Florida that would amount to baked border collie--even in the shade or taking turns. The place that lets Bucky into its open air dining area gets my business.

I should add that my dog is very well behaved and usually finds himself a spot under the table. The only thing that might disrupt him would be the arrival of a studly black lab (he's gay and has a thing for labradors) and that would basicly amount to a little whining.

"Aw c'mon, let me meet him, please let me meet him. He's Mr. Right, I just know it. Look he's wagging his tail."

How 'bout inviting the STILL homeless, jobless folks from Louisiana and Mississippi to enjoy a similar luxury?

:sarcasm:


Amazing way for Jebby to spend the hours of his day. Just like his brother, I bet he says his job is, "hard work" too. Talk about F'd up priorities in light of what's happening to our country...

*duh, (edited for a change of the M state I was talkin' about) - Mississippi, not Missouri, as I had originally typed. Guess my anger got in the way of my typing skills.

or have dog phobias.

The dogs, properly restrained, are only allowed outside at restaurants.

"Eat inside then. No one is forcing them to eat next to the dog."

Who's forcing dog owners to take their dogs with them when they go to restaurants?

We take short, driving vacations around the state. Finding shaded parking is THE major issue we face, not to mention dognapping scares (someone in Vancouver BC told us that dognapping is rampant there, and we were afraid to leave the dogs in the car). Our dogs behave well outside at restaurants and if we can bring our dogs we're far more likely to eat there.

And I hate to be rude -- but who's forcing you to take your dogs on vacation? If I may pre-empt the next possible response: who's forcing you to own dogs?

Since dog-owners are the ones making those choices, why are dog-owners not the ones who should be solving whatever problems they create for themselves, instead of insisting on being permitted to create problems for other people?

And that's the main reason we do.

Our dogs are rescue dogs - these are our second pair (the first passed away of old age) and we have found the benefits of owning dogs are innumerable. We take them with us because we enjoy their company and enjoy doing things like hiking on our vacations that we might not do without them. We don't like putting them in kennels, and we don't know anyone who can stay with them. I might as well ask why someone would take their kids on vacation. In fact, I think dog owners pay more attention to their dogs than some people do to their kids. We were at our softball game last night and some little girl drifted over and wanted to play catch with us - of course, she got hit by a ball - but my point is that her parents weren't paying attention to her AT ALL. But I wouldn't question why they brought her!

We did have to leave our (first) dogs in a kennel when we went to Europe, and I was quite amazed at the more tolerant attitude Europeans have towards dogs.

Why can't you take the bus and quit taking up space that's better used by a bicyclist?

At least people with dogs don't kill 40,000 other people a year. Sheesh.

And who the fuck do you think you are?

I happen to work out of premises next door to my home, and take my car out perhaps 3 or 4 times a month. Once to do a huge grocery shop so that I can spend my Saturdays cooking from scratch and store prepared meals for my diabetic partner -- composting, recycling and not wasting a grain of rice as I go along. Once for an interim grocery shop. Once if I have to urgently run a contract job to a govt agency about a kilometre from my home. And once just for the hell of it. Counting one or two trips a year to visit my elderly mother in another part of the province, it comes to a little over 2,000 miles a year.

Now, did you want to ask me why I blast my heat during winter and air conditioning during summer? I'll be happy to tell you that we keep the thermostat at not much over 60F in winter -- and only in the room we're using at the time -- and use a small air conditioner in summer to cool the downstairs zone slightly, and sleep in the living room when it's intolerably hot.

Maybe you wanted me to tell you about the many cloth and vinyl bags cluttering up my house, that I use for grocery shopping -- having made a practice of using my own bags for all my shopping since about 1971.

You know so much about me; do you know I have a monthly deduction to the local Humane Society on my credit card, take in and adopt stray cats, and care for a colony of feral cats in my neighbourhood by keeping them fed and allowing them the use of our garage for shelter in winter? I grew up with dogs, but I just haven't been able to figure out why I'd want to clutter up my life with something I need to take to a restaurant with me these days ... and the cats haven't shown much interest.

At least people with dogs don't kill 40,000 other people a year. Sheesh.

Drink much?

I've never killed anyone with anything. On the other hand, several people in my province have been killed by dogs in recent years.

Seldom have I seen such a bizarre and smelly and stupid and obnoxious bunch of scarlet herring crammed into so few words.

Who knows. Maybe you meant to direct your post to someone who had said something that it might actually have been relevant to. Or who gave a shit.

I'm smelling a lock coming on, but you can still slip in with a retraction and apology for your unbelievably appalling behaviour.

you can just eat outside. Seems fair to me.

I can probably rustle up a really loud portable stereo and some really hideous 50s folk music ...

to Angora, so should everyone be stopped from wearing Angora sweaters. I understand about the phobia though cause I was bitten by a dog when I was two and scared to death of them :scared: but I got over it the more I was exposed to dogs. :-)

But my wife is quite phobic, so I have come to accept that everybody doesn't appreciate having a dog around. The same goes for people with bad allergies - I don't have dog allergies, but I have suffered from other types of allergies in my life and I know it can be a real hell. Ditto for observing other people with allergies, including allergies related to animal dander.

I just ensure that I'm upwind. Usually that solves the problem-if not, I move inside.

and some people are Jewish and some people are female. Let them eat in their own restaurants, eh? People who don't want to eat beside African-Americans and Jews and women should have their idiosyncracies accommodated, just like people who want to dine with their dogs do. Restaurant owners should be permitted to designate their outdoor cafés African-American free zones, or men-only zones. People should be able to eat out of sight of people they don't like, just as people should be able to take their dogs to restaurants.

(Just in case anybody doesn't get it, refusing to offer people the choice of eating in restaurants free of different kinds of people is not the same as refusing to offer people the choice of eating with no bloody dogs on the premises ... because DOGS ARE NOT PEOPLE. And wanting to drag one's dog everywhere one goes is not normally a protected personal characteristic, as race, religion and sex are. Duh.)

Lordy, what lengths some people go to, to assert their own "rights", i.e. the right to do whatever the fuck they please, like take their dog to a restaurant. Apparently their own particular little idiosyncracy -- whatever it is that makes them need their doggy companion by their side in all places at all times -- is just more important than the comfort and, possibly, well-being of real live human beings who are doing nothing to bother or interfere with anyone else.

A phobia is not an idiosyncracy, and an allergy is not an idiosyncracy; they are problems that some people live with through no real fault of their own. And a concern for one's health and hygiene is not an idiosyncracy, it is something that large numbers of perfectly normal people have when faced with sharing close quarters with an unknown dog and eating in the company of dogs.

People who want to eat in restaurants with their dogs and shop with their dogs, or worship with their dogs or bar-hop with their dogs or swim in public pools with their dogs or any of the myriad other things one could think of to do with one's dog if one set one's mind to it, are, in my humble opinion, the ones with idiosyncracies that no one is under any obligation to accommodate, by any normal rule of how people must be treated. And -- if they insist on being accommodated as a matter of law rather than choice on the part of whoever they're demanding accommodate them and anyone else affected by their demands -- they are louts, pure and simple.

that all this bill does is allow restaurant owners the choice of whether to allow dogs on their patios. It doesn't require a restaurant to do so, only makes an exception to the health code that previously forbade dogs in eating establishments. So there is no forcing involved.

But if the issue were smoking -- and all the bylaws or whatever did was allow owners to allow smoking on the premises --?

Neither smoke nor dogs belong in establishments where people eat and employees work. So allowing owners to permit either -- obviously in response to pressure from potential patrons demanding to be permitted to smoke / bring their dogs, which will obviously be brought to bear, and competition being what it is will pretty certainly succeed in both cases -- undermines public, and employee, health and safety. Same result.

Allowing employers to discriminate against potential employees on the basis of sex, race, religion, etc., doesn't mean that employers must discriminate. But the market and some people being what they are, they will.

Some things we don't leave to the vagaries of the market and human nature. Worker health and safety, and public health, seem to me to fall under that rubric.

than an unruley child...who screams and runs around and well basically makes an ass of himself.

as someone said, I hate to agree with a bush on anything.

But I see no problem with this law.

Here, in Savannah, GA, dogs and their humans use the outside tables all the time.

recently passed a city ordinance allowing pups on the patio. I'm seeing the same responses then that I see now. I agree with letting pooches dine with their responsible owners. Besides dogs in Austin are always well behaved...well most of the time.

That is the only dog that I would be concerned about ~ he doesn't deserve to dine anywhere.


Everything they do has a political meaning.

I read a post here that said Jeb told the Vet to put his dog down if it would cost more than $100 to get his dog well.

If that is true ~ JEB should be outed on that one.

I love pets.

I don't at all agree with this. I don't want dog hair blowing up into my face from someone's pet. A lady I worked with had cats, she had hair all over her constantly, had hair in her food she'd bring to work, and the cakes she'd make people for their birthday.

We'd throw the cake in the trash when she'd turn away.

ANIMALS should not be around our food. And besides the hair, some people have been mauled by dogs, and our nervous around them, or, and dogs go off for no reason and attack children. There's lots of chances that will be taken because of this, and several of those chances are going to end up in the dog or a person getting hurt, besides all the hair floating around.

Just my opinion...

:shrug:

you know the response to this, but you didn't want to argue it for me.

I love sitting out in the cafe's under umbrellas and getting fresh air. Why should I have to sit inside so a dog can be outside?

Looney sounding to me. Again, sometimes people with pets go a tad overboard in treating them like they're above humans.

My Mom treats her dog better than her husband. I told her that's not very nice. It's like she's under some kind of spell and disregards human life for a dogs. (I know many who use this website who would agree with her! just remember that you're human)

If you choose to avoid enjoying the fresh air of a cafe patio because there *might* be a dog there, you have to acknowledge that is your choice. The same as if you would avoid say, a smoker or unruly children in the same situation.

Allowing dogs to sit with their owners OUTSIDE can hardly be compared with putting dogs' lives ahead of humans.

:eyes:

the owners didn't expect it. but the children are unknown to the animals, and to have them now in a public setting where the owner is concentrating on the shrimp scampi in front of them, and the dog lunges at a child who jumps up out of their seat to go to the bathroom and gets attacked, is more than likely going to happen - it IS going to happen.

it happens every day, and to add to the thousands of attacks each year from dogs in public settings by putting them right next to your table is not appropriate. that's why we barred smoking in public settings, it's an unneeded risk.

it'll be on the news sooner or later... I'm glad my agreement with Jeb is still at 0%.

public settings.

please provide thousands of attacks in public settings? I'm not spending hours to make an OBVIOUS point to you. there's nearly 300 million citizens in the USA and to think that there haven't been thousands of attacks throughout our countries' history is showing ignorance on the issue.
I don't buy the "prove your argument with links" gibberish. it's like saying, "prove the holocaust occurred", "prove God exists"... there's been thousands of dog bites, billions of bee stings, and trillions of mosquito bites!


I see tv reports, hear about them, or read about them every single week in Florida. I don't know where you're at, but I'm in a place with over a million people within 25 miles. I read the tiny local papers, I talk to my neighbors, and I discuss city ordinances with a lot of people.


Just because you want your pet right next to you, you're not realizing it's gonna 'bite' you in the hiney when someone brings their huge dog and attacks a kid at a restaurant.

There's a reason dogs weren't allowed before, and why they're not in most places.

Idiots that live in my county will be bringing their huge animals to the pizza cafe I frequent, I just know it. There goes the neighborhood! (head shaking)

Statistically, you are much more likely to get attacked by a human than a dog, you said so yourself, you live in an area with over a million people in it. Should just lock the doors and mail order everything, just to be safe. There are still laws that don't allow dogs to go out unrestrained, a properly trained and restrained dog, on a leash or harness, is perfectly safe when the owners are responsible. Problems come when peope get animals out of puppy mills that have various problems, or shady breeders, who inbreed them or bred viciousness in their makeup.

and most people are irresponsible owners...

should not be allowed to eat at restaurants.

And the least predictable, most dangerous species is humans.

I'd rather take my chances with a dog any day.

attacked by dogs in public areas.

YOU made the claim - YOU have to prove it or SHUT THE FUCK UP with your IGNORANT fantasies!

YOU can't prove it at all, because it simply is not true - so shut the fuck up already!

you would be good enough to provide links to instances of dogs attacking children at the restaurants in france.

and get real, you made the claim, you back it up.

dogs shit everywhere outside in france and owners never clean it up. i do not want to smell dog shit while i eat.

people from being near you, too - gays perhaps - all the hugging and kissing - just so YOU can be comfortable.

I suppose it bothers you when people take their dogs outside to walk, too.

I suggest it is YOUR problem.

Learn to DEAL WITH IT.

What an odd bill...

sounds pretty flimsy to me.

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

some people have absolutely no clue about?

(Those are the same owners who let their dogs lick their mouth ELCH!x(
And let Fido jump up on the table and eat from or next to their plate)

Dogs (and other pets) are carriers of parasites of all kinds
like for an example tapeworm
therefore tapeworm eggs dropping out of their rear-ends
that some ignorant pet owners think could never happen to their CutesyPoopsy!

Pair this up with a Food Server, or anyone else who steps on those tapeworm eggs
and tracks them inside the restaurant landing almost anywhere
and then they dry up and become AIRBORNE landing in people's food
or whatever else or other people unknowingly inhale them where they can form
inside the human body body in a cyst stage.

Think it can't happen to your pet?
All your pet has to do is come in contact with another infected animal or infected area.

And guess what else? Fleas???
Accidently swallow a flea, get a tapeworm!
Fleas are the classic carriers of tapeworm stages.

Sorry, I love animals but the have no business being around public food service of any kind.

Really, for anyone to impose this on others is just fucking rude and fucking GROSS!!!:puke:

hahaha.

Of course, servers can track dog poop, and its accoutrements, into a restaurant from anywhere ... just as I can track it into my house from where it gets deposited in my bit of front garden or on the city sidewalk directly in front of my front door (cripes, at least cats don't shit on sidewalks) ... but inviting it in? Seems kinda pointless.

it comes to, where do you draw the line?

Obviously, with that in mind the line should be drawn at the border
of the Restaurant premises, or the Grocery Store, or other food oriented establishment!

(I can't believe that not one dog lover even thinks about this!:think: bleh! x()

C'mon boy! We're going to dinner!

It's common to see dogs eating outside at restaurants in NYC. I've never seen one causing problems. Even large ones, tend to just sit next to their owners or calmly lay under the table.

I think it sucks that it's not allowed in NJ.

It's not uncommon in France to see dogs at restaurants and hotels - the Michelin Red Guide even lists which establishments they're welcome at!

Personally, I have a rather low opinion of yap dogs and their owners who think they're so precious that they have to be foisted on everyone. Animals are not a fashion accessory.

caught bands at a venue in Tuscaloosa! Of course, I did take him in through the back gate of the garden and tied him when at The Chukker. Phil went inside for one event: the start of the Gulf War in 2003. I had taken my shortwave with me and was studying for a final (while drinking Redhook ESB) with two friends. Everyone going outside saw Phil and knew him by name -- people I didn't even know... Pretty soon the jukebox was unplugged and everyone was listening to the BBC inside, including Phil.
Phil would be tied outside while I shopped/got take out/ate outdoors, well within eyesight as he would whine if he lost sight of me. Only a few people complained, and I was told by one restaurant owner, "He's a regular."
Frankly, I see nothing wrong with taking your dog with you if not indoors or tolerated by the owners/managers indoors.
I had rather be amused by a dog than annoyed by a crying or whining kid anyday. Can a dog allergy really affect so greatly when the dog is outdoors? And as for having a dog phobia, well, it must be tough, as over a quarter of the US population are dogowners! Dogs everywhere, in cars, on their leash, running wild, dogs, dogs, dogs. Could anyone go a day without seeing or hearing one?
What an empty human existence it would be were there no dogs.

...I can sleep, knowing the fate of the republic is in good hands. :eyes:

Brother Jebbie is trying to work on the animal lovers for their votes in his quest for the GOP nom for Prezdent 2008.(PS I'm kidding!).

It's ridiculous. Some people bring their dogs everwhere. And I am not talking about service animals.

dog for a walk and passing an inviting sidewalk cafe. The dog is on leash and well behaved so isn't it nice that the dog can lie there while the human partakes of a cold drink, cup of coffee or lunch? Just as a rowdy patron would be asked to leave, so too would a patron with a disruptive dog.




http://darbythorpe.homestead.com/thorpe4.html

spend a good bit of time outside with their pets, and many great cafes and bistros border some of the better parks down here. I see people sitting outside at restaurants with their pets as often here as I have in Paris, where a dog (particularly Yorkies) seems mandatory for 40% of the population. Florida has a very transient population, and having a pet by you side often is a gateway to conversation and eventual friendships down here. I walk my cat on a leash daily, and far more people stop to talk with me when she's by my side than when I'm walking solo.

I know it's hard to grasp for too many of you.

Thanx Jeb. We can run that commerial right behind the "Paris Hilton Tax Relief plan".

much less that Florida had to pass a law about it.

One of the many things that make me VERY thankful that I live on the West Coast.

The first half dozen posts beat me to it and much better.

In my town here in Florida, I've been to our favorite cafe dozens of times over the years with my dog. Sat on the patio, read the paper, had a cup of coffee, never dreamed that it was illegal. The owners have even brought my dog her own bowl of water or a snack occasionally.

Thanks Jeb (boy, that sounded weird).

Florida now offically treats dogs better than the homeless (the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) rates Florida as the second meanest state toward the homeless).

http://www.node707.com/archives/002310.shtml

Allowing dogs to eat al fresco with their humans. I didn't know he had a soft spot in his hard heart for dogs.

at least there is this one thing I can give him a :thumbsup: for.

I'm just sayin.'

http://www.heartlandcafe.com


People always took their dogs to the Heartland Cafe in Chicago. They made the restaurant and the and the neighborhood a warm a relaxed place to spend the evening. It is one of the things I remember most fondly about living there.

If he ever runs.

Good and bad, but the bad dog owners will ruin it in a heatbeat.

"My Fluffy NEVER jumped on a table and bit someone's face until today!"

The governor's office just called with sad news.


The first dog is dead.
Yes, Marvin, the black lab that the governor has had since 1997 passed away last night.


Details are still coming. But the timing is as unusual as it is unfortunate.

Marvin, after all, was slated to be the special guest of honor at the signing of the doggy-dining bill that Jeb is slated to attend here in Orlando Friday.


http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_local_namesblog/

This is, after all, Bush World where up is down and lies are truth. This bill would be the first thing endorsed by a Bush in the last decade that actually made sense. If I was told that Governor Bush signed a bill allowing us to eat dogs outside of restaurants I would tend more to believing that.

He thought he was signing a bill allowing patrons to take God to restaurants.

(Okay - so I made it up, but it wouldn't surprise me.)

a chance to raise rates. No matter how much it seems nice there is ALWAYS something in it for his
cronies!!

nm

:+