Okay. Here is another perspective from someone who likes to take her yorkies to stores, but only where they are welcome. If I am asked to leave a store (one that does not carry food, as I would never take them to a restaurant or grocery store), then I just don't go do business with that store again. As far as Home Depot, I took my Emmie there several times in Amarillo, Texas and was even greated at the door by one of the employees telling me about a man who used to bring his cow dog in and then the cow dog died and all the employees were so sad for him. About 2 weeks later I brought Emmie in and as soon as I made my $300.00 purchase (yes, she was in her airline-approved carrying bag, zipped up with just her head poking out), I was told that I could no longer bring her in the store. But then two or three weeks later my son told me he had seen several dogs in that same Home Depot when he was there, so the next time I was in Amarillo, I took her back in (we did not have a home there at the time and drove 2 hours and did not want to leave her in the vehicle, as there are many vehicles broken into in store parking lots in that town). No one said anything, then a week later we started in the door and an employee literally screamed at us that we could not bring her in and pointed to a sign sitting down on the floor below eye level saying No Pets Allowed. So, we simply turned around and walked out (by the way, she was in her stroller this time). We now have a home in Amarillo and do all our shopping at Lowe's. As far as my "new" perspective, I watch a lot of Inside Edition and Entertainment Tonight and T.V. shows about the stars and they were always showing Paris Hilton and Brittany Spears and other stars with their little dogs, taking them everywhere. I even saw a story on Inside Edition about what they were calling "Pocket Pets" and actually showed people taking their dogs into beauty salons and grocery stores (I don't know where this was filmed but there it was, just like it was a.o.k.)!!!! My question is, when I am turned away from Home Depot or Dollar General (yep, right here in my little town of 2500 people, good old Dollar General) I ask myself, now if I was Paris or if I was Brittany, would they have told me NO??? I don't think so!!!! Anyway, I look at my little girls at Goodwill Ambassadors. They always bring a smile to people's faces whenever they see them. We take forever to get out of Lowe's whenever we go because everyone is stopping to see them and talk about them. And what a great way to meet other people, too. But, now I am having second thoughts about taking the girls even there because I don't want to infringe on the rights of other people. Problem is, we have one little one (Izzy B.) who has seizures and it is hard to leave her at home for very long at a time and I try to keep her as close to me as I can if I know I am going to be away from the house for longer than a couple of hours. Leaving her in the car unattended if a store will allow her to come in is just not something I want to do.
Thanks for letting me throw in my 2 cents!!
Barbara, Emmie and Izzy's momma |