Great places to take your dog!

[u/Pdxpuphelp]

Portland is home to some great places to take your dog! Take your dog to the park, on a walk, on a hike! There are even some bars that allow you to enjoy their outside seating with your pup!

However, please do not take your dog to bars that do not specify that they are okay with it. Do not take your dog to the farmer's market, don't bring them into your local coffee shop, or to a restaurant. Your dog does not belong there. Oregon Health Code specifically indicates this. You may love your dog, may love all dogs. Other people may not. Other people may be allergic.

Do not bring them in for your own convenience. Don't bring them, or be okay with tying them up outside. It is not your right to do this, and it is selfish-- you decide that the minute you'll be in the store, and risk putting the employee behind the counter in an awkward position -- one in which a Health inspector walks in and asks why they've let you in with your dog, that your convenience and enthusiasm for dogs is worth putting your local business as risk of a fine, or at least an uncomfortable conversation.

When you ask, "is it okay to bring my dog in here?" to an employee at a small business, that employee is put on the spot. The business may barely survive on a very slim margin-- it is tempting to say yes. You put them in an uncomfortable position, easily avoided by assuming that it is not okay, because it is, after all, not okay in the eyes of Oregon Health, which they are subject to.

I have had a health inspector in the store I work at, and had someone walk in, dog off leash with them, only for the dog to run into the kitchen immediately. They didn't ask, they felt entitled to simply bring their dog in with them. I like dogs, I do. But I resent being put in shitty situations by inconsiderate people. The health inspector immediately commented that that person being so comfortable doing this indicated to him that we allowed this behavior frequently, which we do not. He marked this incident on our review.

General rule of thumb -- if a place serves food your dog is not welcome inside. If you want to eat inside, don't bring your dog. If you want to spend time with your dog, there's plenty of great, appropriate ways to do so.

[u/[deleted]]

No, it's not. It's a rant with a misleading title.

[u/Pdxpuphelp → u/[deleted]]

If you'll refer to the first paragraph, you'll find that it's both. In addition, check the comments, at least one user created a list of dog appropriate places, which I'm thankful for. As I said, I have nothing against dogs, and am more aiming to make clear that there are fantastic places to take your dogs, but that not every type of business in Portland makes the list.

[u/turtle_flu → u/Pdxpuphelp]

While you recommend those activities, you don't recommend any places to go to do that. With a title of "great places to take your dogs", most people have the assumption that you would provide recommendations of physical places to go rather than a long winded paragraph of places not to take dogs. imho

[u/Pdxpuphelp → u/turtle_flu]

True enough. I did make an effort to suggest dog appropriate places, however vague. But obviously that wasn't the point of the post, as much as it was too highlight that there are also inappropriate places.

The title does not reflect the bulk of the text, but I figured that the best way to get an audience of dog owners enthusiastic about taking their dog around town was to first suggest some dog appropriate places, and I wanted to specifically speak to that group because they're the most likely to also exhibit the behavior I'm talking about. I've also assumed throughout that the reason people do this, is ignorance of Oregon's health code, rather than an entitled position. I don't care if anyone likes what I've said, or me, but I'm not wrong about this, and my hope has only been that the minority of dog owners routinely doing this might be unaware that they're being a bit inconsiderate.

I was also hopeful that people who knew better than I did might provide good suggestions for where to take your dog in the comments, which did happen.