Oh irresponsible pet owners how I hate thee!

 Maze's favorite place in the world is the bookstore. She's been coming there with me since she was a pup. If the dog is well-behaved then I see no reason NOT to take them with us. I actually get in trouble when I go in there with out Maze.

luvmyswissy

Stores, book stores etc. not something I care to take them to.  They could go to petco but nah. 

I think bringing them into businesses is an escalation of distraction training and is helpful for those types of reasons.  In particular I can think of those of us with Therapy Dogs who need their dogs conditioned to indoor, non-dog-oriented facilities/businesses.  Stores that allow respectful, well-behaved canine visitors are helping us.

I'm not saying its a bad thing, just not something I care to do.  I don't have a theropy dogs and enjoy my peacefulness when I do get a chance to shop.  When I was in Europe I love to see EVERYONE take their dogs to places like restrauants - it was very cool.  You didn't even know they had a dog with them until they got up to leave becasue the dogs went under the tables and not a peep was made.  For me, bringing my dog even to Petco is no something I strive to do.  But if you all like to do that, go for it.   Where I live dogs aren't allow anywhere but the pet stores.

 My dogs go everywhere, but I usually make them walk. Emma is an actual RISK if she's in a cart. She has had big issues with barrier aggression. It's much better, but I'd never do it. They should allow dogs or not.

Coming from the perspective of the spouse of a blind person who uses a Guide Dog:

After having my wifes Guide attacked 4 times in the last 2 years in public places by "friendly" dogs (who NEVER, EVER acted like that before, according to their owners----yeah, right), I cringe whenever we go places where people think it is OK to take their dogs.

 Look, I know its neat to have your pal along with you as you do your daily chores and such, but leave your canine friend at home if you have to go into a publically-accessed building. No matter how much you try to prepare, you never know when you will come across a working service team. It is best to not chance it. It is absolutely terrifying for blind person with a Guide to be approached by a dog (friendly or otherwise) in a place where they are supposed to be safe.

 Public parks? No problem. Dogs are supposed to be there. On lead, not running loose.

 The occasional dog in the back of a truck in a parking lot is somewhat ok, but still ill-advised (this is where one of the attacks happened).

Walking down the street? Yeah, thats OK, as long as yours is tightly leashed and under your control.

In a bookstore? Not a good idea. The mall? Nope, thats supposed to be a "safe place". The local home-improvement warehouse? Maybe, but remember, you might run into a working service team.

In short, the best course of action is to leave your dog at home if you have to go into publically-accessed places. Its better for the working service team you could come across, its better for you (knowing YOU didnt cause a blind person with their Guide any undue tension) and in the long run, its better for your dog, to know that it just CANT go everywhere with you.

Just my .02 worth.

 Having been a person who has run into a working service team with my dog, I took it instride since we were in my bookstore. I also took it as an opportunity to teach Maze that no matter what she has to stay with me. Granted I made sure to give them their space out of respect and I know not all owners are like that but I like having my dog with me when I do my errands.

 Umm.... My dogs walk at a heel, at all times, and NEVER, under ANY circumstances approach another dog. We've run across a good few service dogs in our time out and about (since I give a significant grooming discount for active, working dogs) and none of them have had a problem with either of my dogs. Dogs do not have to approach other dogs. It is very rude behavior to allow.

I don't really get the "dragging your dog along on errands" thing. What is the dog supposed to do while you look for plumbing parts or browse the books? stare off into space? no other option really. Boring for the dog I would think. And I don't let random people/dogs interact with my dogs so you'd have to be constantly running interference between the public (who seem to think they have some right to pet any dog they see) and your dog which would be tiresome. I can see taking the dog to public places to work on training - pretty much the only reason I ever go into petsmart- but I'm focused on the dog, not on shopping.

 I generally don't take the dogs unless I know what I'm there for. I'm not "shopping" with them, except at pet stores or dog shows. It is a training thing. My adult dog is rock solid on all surfaces she's encountered, doesn't care about loud noises, other animals, etc etc. This did not happen until I started taking her out constantly. The puppy is well on her way to being a totally stable and reliable dog (which the adult is not, but.... I screwed up when she was young).

 Nice irresponsible owner story:

I was in class the other day, and i have these black and white photos of kaiser that BF developed in a photography class. I haven't found a frame for them, so i slid them down into the clear plastic part of my binder. A girl in my class saw it and asked if he was a black GSD. I handed her the binder, and she said she also had a black GSD. She showed me a pic, pretty dog i guess, but nothing special AND FAT. She said that she has bred it 4 times and had 14 puppies each time! My mouth dropped. She also said it was an outside dog and a great guard dog, because nobody could come near her house, or "she'd eat 'em up!". This girl was randomly assigned to my group to do a 20 minute presentation, so i decided to keep my mouth shut. The only thing i said is that my dog was very friendly, and he'd never "eat anyone up"

I was in shock!!! Oh, she also said they never got papers on them, and they have no trouble selling them without papers.
 

 I'm like Jennie in that my dogs are trained to stick with me unless cued otherwise and we go where we can to get extra training practice. 

Maggie is a therapy dog, so meeting all sorts of new people keeps up her skills and so does tagging along to new places, but she is not comfortable around other dogs, so we avoid petsmart like the plague (too many "my dog wants to say hi" owners). 

Ziva is in training for SAR so we use new locations as a place to generalize her good obedience skills and socialize as we can - as a SAR dog she needs to have stellar behavior for many reasons, but I want her trained to service dog level so that if we ever have to fly/travel for a deployment she won't cause any distruption (SAR dogs fly with their owners like SDs and she needs to behave no matter where she is - we're professionals and should act the part).  Petsmart just doesn't cut it for high level skills imo as it's *nothing* like the majority of public locations out there and other pet owners often interfere in training.

Maggie does go on errands with me when she can because it's something different - she spends the majority of her time in an apartment, so getting out and about with me is fun: she meets new people, gets to smell new things, and she gets to hang out with me just the two of us; going into pet-friendly stores means that the weather or amount of daylight is never an issue.  When I'm shopping, she's in a sit or down stay or heeling generally.