"But He's A Good Boy!"

[ralerin]

My Aid of Rite, in addition to allowing service animals in, DOES allow pet dogs and cats into the store, so long as said dog or cat is small enough to be carried in your arms (or sometimes handy shopping basket, so long as that basket is carried) and is well behaved or else muzzled. Once the pet goes onto the floor, all bets are off and you will be asked to leave. Toy breeds are fine, medium sized ish dogs are fine, great dane puppies are fine, you get the picture.

However. One woman brought her boxer into the store. This is a fully grown, unmuzzled, 80+ lb dog and, while gorgeous and calmly trotting at his mistress' side, and while said mistress was saying loudly "But he's SUCH a good boy! He's a good boy! He won't bite! He's a good boy!", that boxer isn't the petite dog that we allow in. Woman pays for a bottle of wine and walks out, dog in tow.

Regardless of whether the dog is a good boy or not, it's an animal, it has big teeth and it WILL bite when scared. I love dogs, but I'm afraid for the lawsuit that would've happened if the dog was less than a good boy...

[ottid]

I was just about to say something about the size of the dog not really being a problem, that often toy breeds can be nastier than the larger ones, then I reread your post. If it's carried, it's fine, if not, it's not.

Totally understandable. If it's carried it is going to be difficult to hurt somebody else/become scared enough to do something stupid.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Well, shoot . . . I was hoping to take Buddy Sr. to the store with me, but I guess that's out now.

And that's only because there's not a basket large enough to carry a 140 + lb Labrador Retriever in.

[Megg]

I would have told her that if she could carry him, he could stay, otherwise, no. We had a boxer - those buggers are all muscle and HEAVY!

[bainsidhe]

As a customer I would've been in line complaining about this dog. I like dogs, but am not a "dog person". Do to circumstances during my youth, big dogs make me nervous and I'm convinced animals pick up on that. The last thing I need is to walk past idiot woman and have her good-boy doggie decide I'm threatening her space. There is a time and a place for enjoying the company of your pet. Around other people in a store while shopping for wine is not the right place.

[Chainsmith]

Well, shoot . . . I was hoping to take Buddy Sr. to the store with me, but I guess that's out now.

And that's only because there's not a basket large enough to carry a 140 + lb Labrador Retriever in.

that sounds like one really really really big lab...ours topped out at 94 and was a good sized one...

[TruthHurts]

I would have told her that if she could carry him, he could stay, otherwise, no. We had a boxer - those buggers are all muscle and HEAVY!

That is actually the policy at our store regarding dogs. I have seen people actually lift and carry dogs over 20 lbs rather than tie them up outside.

[Snowbird]

I was just about to say something about the size of the dog not really being a problem, that often toy breeds can be nastier than the larger ones, then I reread your post. If it's carried, it's fine, if not, it's not..

Unfortunately, even teacup sized dogs can get away from their owners and bite people. I love dogs but frankly, I'm more comfortable with a no dogs except service animals rule.

I just saw a video, someone thought it was marvelously funny, of a seemingly calm, armful sized dog, suddenly snapping and biting its owners face before jumping off and away. I'd hate to see a child at the store, or anyone else for that matter, forcing that rule in place through experience.

[Anakah]

I personally hate when people bring in their animals unless its petsmart or if they are the service animals. But leave the goddamn things at home!! I'm like really allergic to cats and would be pissed if someone brought their pet into a store like that.

I'm honestly shocked they allow pets even small ones to be carried. I haven't been in a rite aid in a looong time cuz there aren't any out here but to me, that's just not the place for pets. Sorry, I'm not a big animal person despite the fact that I have two ferrets. But I wouldn't take them to a store like that.

Though I am wondering even if they have small pets isn't there still a chance that they may let a stranger pet their animal and they could get bitten and have a huge mess going? Just curious. Or it could just take one animal to pee on the floor and have a customer slip on it and sue you guys right? I dunno sorry I'm in a bleh mood.

[TelephoneAngel]

This reminds me of the drunk man who was crying in the store because he wanted to go up to the next floor and there was a sign saying "dogs must be carried on the escalator", but he couldn't get on the escalator because he didn't have a dog to carry.

[ralerin]

@Anakah: Yes. We had to ban a woman for that reason-her Pekinginese peed on the floor, peed on the pharmacy carpet and yowled and snapped at all the children who came near it. She ignored our request for her to leave, she kept putting the dog on the floor and that, combined with the fact she was a nasty ass thief, we banned her. However, that Pekinese would have caused far less damage than the boxer would've, like Ottid said-carried dogs are less likely to cause havoc.

[SourRobot]

I personally hate when people bring in their animals unless its petsmart or if they are the service animals. But leave the goddamn things at home!! I'm like really allergic to cats and would be pissed if someone brought their pet into a store like that.

I love dogs a lot, but I don't want to see them in any store unless it's like you said, Petsmart or some other store for animals. Every now and then someone brings a dog into our store. Only once has it actually been a service dog. It didn't use to bother me that people brought in dogs until my coworker told me about a customer complaint in which she was very allergic to animals. I thought about it and I realized that the customer was absolutely right. My coworker told me that security wasn't even supposed to let people with animals in, but they won't do anything about it.

[LillFilly]

Nope. To me, as much as I love animals, the only animals allowed should be service animals unless it's store-wide policy otherwise (petsmart, petco, etc. I don't even agree with dog purses/dog carriages in a store. It's a really slippery slope to say one dog is allowed, but not another. A bulldog might be smaller than a boxer or shepherd, but is still a threat.

The dog responsible for the most bites every year is the jack russell; but people don't report small dog bites so much. Doesn't make them any less exempt from the law though.

I only brought my dog somewhere if he could come in; but in Burlington VT a lot of the businesses are dog friendly.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I was just about to say something about the size of the dog not really being a problem, that often toy breeds can be nastier than the larger ones, then I reread your post. If it's carried, it's fine, if not, it's not.

Exactly...a small breed being carried is less likely (note I didn't say impossible) to get away and bite someone. Unless they're totally evil, they're usually easier to control even when they do get excited. We had the same rule at the bookstore (unofficially; I don't think there is any specific company rule on the subject). Keep it in your arms, keep it out of the cafe, and you're fine.

I think small breeds often are worse, behavior-wise, than larger ones, because a lot of people think that because it's such a little dog they don't need to be as careful or thorough about training it. If you have a large breed that you know will someday weigh close to or more than you do, you may be more careful to make sure it will follow commands when you won't be able to just scoop it up and move it out of harm's way. Pablo (5-lb. Chihuahua) was like that in some ways (blame his daddy; he was 3 when I met him), mostly having to do with house-training, though he didn't follow commands, either (but he also never wandered far from us, even without a leash). But for the most part he was very well-behaved and would never bite unless threatened - but I fully realize that was mostly due to his natural personality. If he had had a different temperament, there may have been problems.

[boringscreenname]

I like dogs, but I don't like to see them in stores other than pet stores, or if they're a service dog. We have a 75lb Siberian Husky, and she only gets to go on car rides and trips to the park, vet or pet store. I think it's more of a hassle than it's worth to drag a pet to the store.