Dogs now allowed in John Lewis stores

Ha ! I went into B.H.S. once and there was a CAT on a lead waiting in the queue !!

I think it's a great idea!

No from me. Stores, cafes etc. Are not places for dogs. It is not fair to other shoppers (or the dogs) . I have never owned a dog nor want to, but I can see problems with them in big stores if there are several in the department at once. I also would leave an eating place if there were dogs in there. My choice I know, but I could not enjoy a meal sitting close by a dog, feels unhygienic.

When we stayed with friends in the south of France we went to the Cafe De Paris in Monte Carlo accompanied by their two Border Collies and nobody seemed to find it at all odd.

It’s dogism. The Motorhome and Caravan Club insists that dogs be kept on leads at all times while cats, there’s more than you think that go caravanning, can stroll around freely.

Guide and Assistance dogs cope well with being in stores and busy town centres. I've taken my dogs in as part of training and socialisation as the more exposure dogs have, the less likely they are to do that 'bark' thing that annoys so many people.
40 plus years ago, I was going into town shopping, I took my dog with me and she waited, tied to a post outside the shop. I'd never dream of leaving a dog tied up outside a shop these days. someone would surely steal the dog.

I went past our local TSB today as a lady was going in with a lovely Cockerpoo. She was obviously stopped from taking him in as when I came back he was sitting outside looking in through the glass door. His lead wasn’t hooked onto anything as there wasn’t anywhere. He just sat in the middle of the door, blocking it completely, waiting for his mistress who was on the inside. I got the impression the dog was making a point!

I agree that normally most people don’t take their dogs shopping, especially in department stores like John Lewis. They get in the way in the changing rooms. But many people holiday with their dogs and it’s not always practical, say in hotels, or possible, as in hot days in a caravan, to leave the dog behind. A blanket ban seems a bit harsh.

Iam64 never mind the dog, I used to leave my baby in his pram outside shops, 40 years ago! He generally had company, though, with other babies similarly temporarily abandoned.

Dogs in bags may the lord preserve us!

Oh so it's the Welwyn Garden City John Lewis.
I use that one. It is local for me.
I haven't got a dog .
Or an orang u tang
Although I do have a camera.

I have just had a vague recollection that my sister mentioned (sometime last year) that she was told to bring her dog along next time she was shopping in
The White Stuff.

In case it was it was just a false memory had quick Google.

On the store blurb it states that they provide a tea trolley and free Wi-Fi, seating area and a dog bowl!

My sister has 2 Springer Spaniels

I think some dogs are fashion accessories these days, probably to be found browsing in the handbag department of JL.

Looking for one big enough to sit in and be carried around, no doubt.

It doesn't bother me at all. I don't like the dogs-as-accessories trend though.

Suedonim that brings back memories. I remember returning from the shops and my mum saying where's the baby? I'd left the shop and forgotten the pram outside!

Annep! Family lore has it that my dad once left my brother in his pram outside the Post Office. By the time mum retrieved him, he'd managed to get into the shopping and was having a wonderful time squeezing the herring dad had bought for tea that night. He was apparently covered from head to toe in fish innards & scales!

Eugh! I hate dead fish - I think I may have abandoned the baby!

I used to leave the pram (and baby) with dog attached outside our local post office on family allowance day. One day there was an insistent tapping on the shop window and the village priest was outside leaning round the corner and looking very perplexed. My dog wouldn't let him past to get to the door. Even a soppy, slightly overweight, wimp of a black cocker spaniel can look quite vicious when he curls his lip. He let anyone else past with a friendly wag of his stump of a tail but he obviously thought a man in a long frock was suspicious.

I also left my dog, tied to the pram handles, outside shops in the 70's.
My mother was cooking when she suddenly asked "where\s the baby" -she'd left my sister in her pram, outside the corner shop. Mum ran back and there was the pram, with the sleeping baby inside.
Off topic but, didn't babies sleep well during the day when they were put into their prams, outside in the garden.

I am a mother who abandoned her young baby outside the bank! She was still quite new & I simply forgot to collect the pram as I left the bank. I got to the end of my road..only a minute or so from the bank before I remembered her! Right by a very busy road junction at Sth Wimbledon Stn! No dog to protect her!

Yes, I agree Iam64 our babies were put outside in their prams in all weathers except fog. My eldest daughter was fascinated by trees and loved to see branches & leaves blowing in the wind. It's funny how memories like that are sparked by random comments.

PECS my mother had been home for some time before she remembered she'd left the baby at the corner shop. Happy days really weren't they.

First off I like dogs I used to have a little beauty but I don’t always want to be around other people’s dogs I also get sick and tired of the humanising of them and with some dog owners constant boring chat about them I have two doggy friends who have no other conversation but what their ‘offspring’ have been up to

I do not want to share shops with dogs, just imagine a quick leg up as they pass a stand or a model in John Lewis I do not want to get into a hotel bed that has dog hairs around or the smell and I certainly don’t want to eat as I did this year in a dog friendly cafe with a big dog at the next table eating of the owners plate and another dog being given tea out of the owners saucer
I like animals and would intervene if I saw one being hurt or treated badly but I don’t want to share my life with other folks dogs Take your dogs for walks, keep them in your house, your garden and your neighbhood but don’t share them with me in shops, cafes or hotels

I too, remember leaving my first two children in their prams outside shops when making small, quick purchases and if I could see them through the window, mind you, the prams were Silver Cross, the large type and not suitable for taking inside.
Imagine even 10% of shoppers taking their pooches into JL. Why on earth would you? Just something else to carry with your bag and shopping. Ridiculous idea. I'm against digs being in food areas, prep or eating. Ok I suppose in bar area of a pub but not where food is served/eaten. I've often seen servers pat and fondle dogs then pass me a plate with my food on it which has had their fingers on the rim. Dogs also have a habit of shaking themselves after being in the rain or after lying on the floor. I certainly don't want hairs and debris flying around my food.
I can't see the value in owning a dog.

*Oops! dogs not digs