I work retail in a smallish shop in a resort town. And, every summer, without fail, people will bring their dogs into the store. Ignoring the fact that you are not allowed to bring a dog onto the mall in the first place (the mall is open air and has a strict "no dogs" policy, but some get through), bringing your dog into the stores is just a bad idea! We don't want dog fur or smell all over the merchandise, and our stores are small, so the dogs are sure to knock things over, even without meaning too. Some people are even scared or at least uneasy around dogs, so you're making other customers uncomfortable! Also, if two dogs enter the store at the same time, there is always the possibility of the dogs not getting on and possibly attacking or at least growl like crazy each other. Also, my store is a toy store which is frequented by children. Sometimes kids don't know any better, and might try to pet your dog without permission. Sometimes retail workers aren't allowed to ask you to leave, even though they really, really want to. Just, please don't bring your dog, no matter their size, into retail stores. Please. AND, please don't ever try to pass off your dog as a service dog, when it is clearly not. Service dogs has official "working dog" vests, and if the person is blind, the dog with had that handle set up on them. We can tell legitimate service dogs from people faking it. Please don't do that; asides from it being douche-y, I'm pretty sure that's also illegal.
(This post is of course excluding stores that allow you to bring your dogs in like PetSmart, and this is also excluding people with legitimate service dogs.)
Do you bring your dog into retail stores? Have you ever been asked to leave? Why would you even bring your dog into the store in the first place? Do you never bring your dogs in? What do you think of people who do? :coffee:
