Dog-friendly Scotland?

[scotslass]

We've just been in Perthshire/Angus for a week, travelling round. First thing we noticed was the lack of outdoor cafes - even further north (in the Highlands) and in nearby Fife they do manage to provide these, so I don't understand the problem.

 

We did eventually find one in the main square in Dundee. We chose a seat - not difficult, as the place was deserted - only to have the waiter tell us we couldn't sit there with Bonnie (cavalier). I was taken aback and assumed he meant they had special seats for dog-owners. No, he explained, you can't sit anywhere with the dog. I asked him to explain why we couldn't sit at a seat on the pavement when we could patently walk on the pavement but he repeated that it wasn't their policy to allow dogs. We left, needless to say.

 

Next day in Perth, we found several outdoor cafes and assumed we'd be on safer territory since Perth is rather more touristy. First cafe - no dogs. No discussion. Next one - same attitude. Third one - the manager was consulted and we were eventually allowed to sit at a separate area behind some tall plants, so the other outside diners - mainly smokers - wouldn't be 'disturbed'. I asked to speak to the manager before we ordered. He told us that they don't allow dogs because :

 

the other diners might not like it

 

some children are scared of dogs

 

some dog-owners allow their dogs to put their heads on the tables and do other disgusting things (the mind boggles).

 

I pointed out that most English cafes seem to cope without alienating half their customers, and that in fact, we visit cafes where dogs are actually allowed indoors. He looked disbelieving at that and told us it was illegal. In Scotland anyway, he added.

 

I'm sure he's wrong, but I want to find out first. Then I intend to write to the local papers up there and suggest they come up with a more tourist-friendly approach.

 

Meanwhile, I remain,

 

Disgusted, and slightly ashamed (at being Scots), of Ilkley.

 

ps Two of our favourite tea rooms in Kirkby Lonsdale welcome dogs indoors - both are vastly superior to the ones in Perth/Dundee whose very pavements we were barred from.

[cycas]

!

 

You can tell them that Cornwall is swarming with dog-friendly cafes and pubs. I don't know if Scotland and Cornwall directly compete for dog-owning tourists, but if they do, they are missing a trick, specially out of season.

 

Having said that, I've been told its "against-helf-an-safety" to allow a dog in a cafe in Torquay. Torquay is the armpit of the universe anyway: we never went back.

[Abby]

We got the same experience in Wales last winter with lots of places - especially pubs - telling us it was against regulations to have dogs inside. Muppets. After going to Cornwall and Devon and finding it really easy to holiday with a dog, it was a bit of an eye-opener and sad, I thought.

[ranirottie]

I never take my dogs indoors in cafes but I would be most upset if I couldn't sit outside! I appreciate that dog hairs etc might not be welcome or healthy to other diners but what possible reason can there be for not allowing dogs to be outside? I agree that Cornwall is a wonderfully dog friendly place. x

[Ruby1Nic]

Oh thats a real shame. We'd been thinking about hiring a campervan in order to travel between the Lakes and Scotland next year. Maybe need to rethink that.....mmmmm.

 

We holiday each year in Cornwall and The Lakes and both places are the most doggy friendly places you could go to. In fact we were even invited into some of the shops in The Lakes when the staff could see one of us waiting outside with Ruby

 

We also went to West Wales for the first time this year and that was also quite doggy friendly, although we were turned away from a couple of pubs. In one, we were allowed in but not in the main part of the pub. The landlady opened the pool table room for us and we sat at a small table there

 

Kept seperate from the rest of society - all we were missing was a bell round our necks

[scotslass]

Oh thats a real shame. We'd been thinking about hiring a campervan in order to travel between the Lakes and Scotland next year. Maybe need to rethink that.....mmmmm.

 

I wouldn't want you to be put off entirely. We go to Galloway and Ayrshire a lot where many pubs and cafes are dog-friendly, as are those further north, in the Highlands. That's partly why I was so surprised. Perth and Dundee are in need of all the tourists they can pull in, I'd have thought, especially now that smokers are barred from indoors - they may find that only dog-owners are hardy enough to sit outside!

 

Cornwall sounds great - haven't been for many years but maybe a return trip would provide some research (and pics) to convince my Perth cafe-owner. I would never allow my dog to disturb other diners, any more than I would allow a child to do the same, of course, but I did wonder how he'd react if a child dribbled on his table. I often see children playing with sugar lumps...poking fingers in the milk jug...

 

Thanks to you all for the support. I'm definitely going to pursue this; dog owners have a bad enough time as it is.

[ailsas mum]

That's bloody ridiculous bunch of 's , as far as I'm aware the only law is that a dog can't be in a room where food is being prepared.

I've only ever been asked once if I allow dogs to stay and I was fair chuffed. The couple came down for breakfast on their own and were sent right back upstairs to bring the dog down, he was lovely and him and Ailsa just had a wee sniff at each other then settled down to wait on the extra sausages I had to cook .

 

Terri

[celeste]

Could you name and shame the places that refused to serve you ? I'm in Perth a lot, and would like to know so I can avoid them, if anyone is looking for somewhere in Fife to eat with their dog I can recommend the Pillars of Hercules, a vegan cafe/shop in the Falkland estate, lovely surroundings and dog friendly outside area.

 

I don't think it is illeagal to have dogs in cafes in Scotland, where food is prepared, they are not allowed but there is no law that says they can't be where food is served, I have sat quite a few times with the dogs at Starbucks in Perth, they only have two tables outside but nobody has ever said anything.

 

If I was you I'd have hung about in between the tables just to annoy them, they can stop you from sitting at their tables and refuse to serve you but they can't toss you of the pavement

 

I'm sure our local pub which does quite nice meals allow dogs outside but you do have to sit on a main road, I think you can take them inside to but not a hundred % on that

[AnnS]

Wonder if it would be worth contacting the local tourist boards and letting them know of your experience and ask their opinions

 

AnnS

[tootsmazza]

Should have gone to a pub, preferably working mens, they love dogs there.

One of my favourite sights is a table outside a Starbucks near my office in EDinburgh where almost every day a lady sits reding a book and having a coffee while her brindle greyhound stands patiently beside her. It always makes me smile.

[scotslass]

Could you name and shame the places that refused to serve you ? I'm in Perth a lot, and would like to know so I can avoid them, if anyone is looking for somewhere in Fife to eat with their dog I can recommend the Pillars of Hercules, a vegan cafe/shop in the Falkland estate, lovely surroundings and dog friendly outside area.

 

 

If I was you I'd have hung about in between the tables just to annoy them, they can stop you from sitting at their tables and refuse to serve you but they can't toss you of the pavement

 

Funnily enough, the guy who finally relented told us that some dog-owners did just that - stood on the pavement, watching the other diners...he wasn't impressed though, and implied that they were the sort who gave dog-owners a bad name. You can't win. I can't remember the names but they were all in the same street, one after the other. The one in Dundee was the Two Cities, I think, in the square whose name I have fogotten, next to the Caird Hall.

 

 

Wonder if it would be worth contacting the local tourist boards and letting them know of your experience and ask their opinions

 

AnnS

 

Good idea; I'll do that too.

[Laurel n Hardy]

shame as i thought they would have wanted as much business as possible

 

definately contact the tourist board to complain, even better put up a link on here and we will all complain

[ailsas mum]

Unless they are registered with the tourist board I doubt anything will be done, you would be better of finding out the names of the local papers and radio stations and getting in touch with them. Just a wee letter warning dog walkers and their friends to stay away from them as they are not very friendly, it just might hit them where it hurts.

 

Terri

[scotslass]

Unless they are registered with the tourist board I doubt anything will be done, you would be better of finding out the names of the local papers and radio stations and getting in touch with them. Just a wee letter warning dog walkers and their friends to stay away from them as they are not very friendly, it just might hit them where it hurts.

 

Terri

 

That's what I thought too.

 

Just found this on the Dogs Trust site :

 

Food Hygiene Regulations

Has your dog been banned from a pub, shop or restaurant?

 

New regulations were introduced at the beginning of 2006 which tighten up the food hygiene laws and bring them into line with the rest of Europe, however, no specific mentions of dogs or companion animals are included.

 

Basically proprietors have to maintain a certain level of hygiene where food is concerned, but how they maintain that level is up to the individual. This means that the proprietor can decide whether they will allow dogs onto premises or not via a risk assessment – however they are not compelled to by anyone else either way. In reality this will mean that pro-dog pubs will still allow dogs and those that don’t want them entering can use the hygiene regulations as a reason to ban them.

 

Unfortunately as far as dogs and their owners are concerned, at the end of the day, there is nothing you can do if a pub (or any other establishment serving food) bans dogs from the premises, as this decision is totally at the owner’s/manager’s discretion.

 

 

DogsTrust © 2007

 

I think a letter to the Courier in Dundee and the Perthshire Advertiser may be best. I am not going to name the restaurants - I'll try the friendly, helpful approach to make a general point to dog-owners.

[ailsas mum]

Some peoples attitudes really piss me off, you can go into a shop, a restaurant or a pub anywhere really and have the smelliest filthiest person on the planet standing/sitting next to you. Not a bloody word will be said, but try and get in with a well behaved dog and you are looked at as if you have the plague.

 

Terri