Bringing your dog into stores

I think it depends on the state a lot....FL was kind of hard to bring the dog into stores, however; CT is totally differen!

I bring Maisie anywhere I want in a bag lol. Sometimes the employees notice its a puppy and I'e never gotten a "No dogs allowed." just "Aww, look at the puppy!" I have taken her a couple places out of the bag (Office Depot and a local shoe store) and no one cared..

Since I don't see myself wrestling a 60+ lbs. dog up into a shopping cart any time soon, I think I'll just leave him at home and bring him something nice from the store. []

Joyce

People with smaller dogs have it a whole lot easier then us larger dog owners.  I've seen signs on bookstore that say something like no dogs over a foot tall allowed in the store.  I've seen many dogs carried in doggy hand bags in stores and places I know I could never get away taking a leashed dog into.  Also puppies seem to get away with a lot more then older dogs.  In the super mart the other day there was a little girl carrying a puppy with her and the casher just complemented on how cute it was.  I know I could never get away with taking my dog into a store like that.

The way I discover where I can and can not take my dog was just by doing a Google search and found this website for the city near me [linkhttp://www.abqdog.com/]http://www.abqdog.com/[/link]  It was everything I needed to know about taking my dog to the city.  I'm shure there are other sites like this for other citys you just have to search for them.

Xebby, you know I just can't help but be a tad annoyed at the small dog favoratism in this regard. Maybe I'm just jealous, but it really steams me!

I don't think that's fair that some places actually allow dogs into stores like that! It just seems weird to me, because I guess around here not many places are dog friendly. I do get to bring my puppy Mirelle into stores, since she's a service dog in training, but even them we've had a few little problems with it. She's always very good about it, because she's used to going in stores. But people ( mostly employees) are always asking me if she's a service dog or something, apparenltly because they want grounds to kick her out. There was one situation where Mirelle actually did poop on the floor in a store, but that was totally my fault. I was kind of in a hurry to get to the store, and I took her out to pee but didn't wait any longer than that for her. So she really did have to go, I just wasn't paying attention to her close enough. Of course, I felt really terrible about it, other than that she's housebroken and everything. When I went back to pick it up though, someone had already done it.  That happened in a Farm and Fleet though, so it wasn't quite as big a deal, I don't think.

Oh, and the only place I've ever taken Cassidy in ( besides Petsmart, which is actually the worst store to take a dog, because there are so many ignorant dog people, and nasty dogs, and stains on the floor, too. In my experience, regular stores are a lot less distracting for the dog, unless they are distracted by a lot of people.) was farm and fleet. I asked to take her in to try on a collar, to see what was the right size, and they said "sure, go ahead". But that was the only time I've asked there, haven't taken her back ,because I've never seen other dogs in the store. Or in Home Depot, either. I've taken Mirelle in there and they were all good about it, but I don't think I've ever seen other dogs in there.

I agree that people are  usually a lot more tolerant of little dogs in places like that, though I still haven't seen it much around here. For example, at our baseball fields, in the park, dogs aren't allowed to go in there. But, I've seen people walk right past the signs and ignore them, and they took their little dog in on a leash. Everyone was petting the dog and saying how cute it was. But it really did bother me. Dogs aren't allowed in there, so why can they bring their dog in? Mainly I guess I was jealous that I never got to bring Cassidy in, and had to leave her in the van when we went there from dog training, I guess []We left about then, so I didn't get to see, but they probably got asked to leave.

Yep, when Giz was a puppy I could get away with taking her almost anywere but once she reached about 15lbs thoes same places told me I had to stop bringing her there because she was to big. 

I live in Portland Oregon and we have lots of dog friendly businesses. Many places will allow dogs, some only allow small dogs in a cart. From the time Witt was 9 weeks old I took him to work with me everyday, in the start I was doing home health care and part of doing that was taking an elderly lady shopping and to get her prescriptions. Bi-Mart was fine with me bringing him in the store as long as he was in a cart. That worked well for a while but then he got too big for me to lift into the cart and I would have him wait in the truck. After several times of him not coming in employees started asking where he was. I explained and they immediately assured me it was ok to bring him in on leash. Home Depot, Lowes, Sportsmans Warehouse, Coastal.....all allow dogs. Interesting to note that if Witt is wearing his backpack, people assume he is a service dog, even though he has no ID. Same with Dooley..and Dooley's backpack has all his flyball award patches and pins on it!
I work in a pet supply shop and it amazes me how many people think they can bring their dogs in without a leash..even though it is posted in three different places on the front door. Our shop is located on a main street with four lanes of traffic..there is the street, the sidewalk and literally our door so it's not safe in any way shape or form to have a dog off leash. Another thing that bothers me is how many peoples dogs go  potty on the floor and the people either don't tell me or they tell me and don't offer to clean it up. We are really careful about keeping everything clean and smell free. I use my dog at closing to make sure we got everything =) I let him roam the shop and watch him..if he stops and smells at something really long I check it out and clean there. I guess in comparison to PetsMart..it doesn't happen very often in our shop. Maybe two or three times a week. I've been in Petsmart and seen urine on the floor just sitting there..or worse, on product. I can understand with all the smells why a dog who normally wouldn't lift it's leg..would do so in a petsmart.
I make sure my dogs are well behaved and respectful in public so that we can keep enjoying the priviledge and I hope others do too.

I have established some Inside Rights in certain neighborhood stores by:

1. Staying outside and doing obedience work while someone else goes in
2. Striking up conversation with owner about how great my dog is and how well behaved

This usually gets me and dog invited in. In neighborhood stores I don't just go in, I ask first. (Just to be neighborly) The only place I really can't go in is the supermarket.

Small dogs have it easy when  it comes to stores.  I've always found that the "manlier" the store, the more dog friendly they'll be.  I know that sounds sexist, but I don't mean it to be.  Basically, around here, HomeDepot, Lowes, Knife Stores, Hardware Stores, etc. always seem to be dog friendly.  The only dogs I see in other stores are the toy kind.
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Boxer Lover
[linkhttp://www.doggybio.com/dog_breeds/boxer]http://www.doggybio.com/dog_breeds/boxer[/link]

I used to take my old dog to Borders bookstore all the time (in Michigan) and just tried it again this weekend with my new rescue dog Olivia (40 pounds, 10 months old). I had my 3 and 5 year old boys with me too and I'm pretty sure the store employees would rather have the dog back before either of my boys! She was a gem and there were a few other small kids there who thought it was really funny to see a dog in a store and wanted to pet her, which she's great about (the main reason I put up w/her royal beagleness). So, yes, I say go for it! The worst they can say is no.

When I take Shadow to Petco, we've usually already had a morning walk. When we get there, I park quite a bit away so that he can pee some more, if necessary, on the way in. By the time we're in, he's pretty much emptied his bladder.

TSC is a great place to take dogs, because you get the human socialization without the idiot dog owners.  I've taken both Sally and Jack into them.  As far as pet stores, I try to take Sally only on off hours, but I'll take Jack in anytime.

I work at a Home Depot and while the sign says no dogs allowed we do not enforce it.  I have brought both my dogs in at times.  Shakespeare is too big for the cart anymore and Sophia has only been in there once, a few minutes after my wife picked her up.  Sophia doesnt care for the car too much or shed go with more often.
 
I usually have a few treats in my pocket or apron so when I do see a dog I will usually ask the owner if its allright.  We had a 7 week old Rott in the store the other day, talk about an attention getter. 
 
Ive also seen a lady with a big parrot on her shoulder, unfortunately she also had a big chip on the other shoulder and got upset at people for talking to her about it.  What does she expect? (Thinking about it now I shouldve offered her a pirate eyepatch)

I agree with the prior posts. It definitely depends on the locality and the company policy. With the exception of pet stores, I think that smaller businesses are more likely than large ones to allow your pets. I'm noticing that more restaurants here in Chicago are allowing pets to eat with you outside. I guess the code is different right outside establishments than inside.