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This
article is brought to you by.....
THE
LEAGUE FOR EARTH & ANIMAL PROTECTION
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'Boozehounds'
Belly Up to the Bar
Monday, April 29, 2002
By Catherine Donaldson-Evans
NEW YORK
At select bars across the country, people are heading to
happy hour with their best friends.
Never mind that these friends prefer biscuits to bar
pretzels, and bowls of water to mugs of beer.
Pet-friendly happy hours have become popular in places like
New York, Chicago, Carmel, Calif., and Alexandria, Va.
"We want to spend time with our companion animals but we
lead busier lives than ever," said Steve Dale, host of
Animal Planet Radio. "This is a good thing to do. You can
come home for your dog and go to the bar with him
afterwards."
Chicago has a biannual "Pug Crawl," where pug dogs and their
owners bound from bar to bar to socialize and snap up
treats. In Carmel, Calif., Doris Day and her partners
founded the Cypress Inn, a pet-friendly hotel that accepts
animals as guests and allows them to attend breakfast,
afternoon tea and happy hour.
In New York, busy dog owners living in cramped quarters with
their pooches can take them to places like Von in Greenwich
Village, which permits pups to mingle off-leash. And the
Holiday Inn Select Old Town in Alexandria has a "Doggie
Happy Hour," with a buffet of biscuits and a cooler of ice
water.
Dog owner Erica Isaac said the pet-friendly bars offer a way
to keep up her lifestyle and get her dog, Detroit, out of
their small digs. "I integrate my dog into my life," said
the 27-year-old New Yorker.
Some don't like the idea, and say pet owners have gone
overboard.
"Some people are overly reliant on their pets," said Scott
Stuckmann, 36, of Atlanta, who suffers from bad dog and cat
allergies. "It goes too far."
The growth of pet-friendly businesses can make non-animal
people feel like their rights aren't as important. "I have a
right to be free of pets and not to be subject to that,"
Stuckmann said.
Some animal owners agree.
Bringing pets to a bar is "a luxury, not necessarily a
right," Isaac said. "If anyone [were] uncomfortable, I would
probably get up and leave."
That hasn't stopped the fad. Timothy Ruth, food and beverage
director of the Holiday Inn Select in Old Town, said the
"Doggie Happy Hour" has taken off since it began four years
ago.
"We decided to capitalize on happy hours for people walking
their dogs," Ruth said. "Dogs are very social animals and so
are the people who typically have dogs."
The event, held in the hotel's outdoor courtyard, offers a
chuck wagon buffet, Frisbees and tennis balls for the dogs.
And it seems animals are such an effective social lubricant
that some non-pet owners have found creative ways to work
their way into the scene.
"There've been more single people without dogs showing up,
and people borrowing dogs," said Ruth.
A hotel desk manager said some adventurous guests even bring
their pet felines along. "Cats don't usually travel well, so
most people don't bring their cats, but if they do, they
have them either in a cage or in their lap," he said.
The pets don't always get along, of course, and scuffles
inevitably break out. But pet-friendly venues usually have
rules, like requiring leashes, to minimize those incidents.
"It can be very dangerous," said Stuckmann.
Dale said it's important for pet owners to be responsible
with their pets as well as their drinks. "People who have
dogs that cannot behave should not be bringing their dogs to
these places. If your dog is even slightly questionable,
leave him at home."
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