At the dogs' table

They get room and board for free. They don’t work. They lie around and sleep all day. They sleep with you. You pick up their stinky stuff. You walk them in their strollers. They have their own parks. Their own resorts. Even homes for the aged.

And now some of their owners want Longboat Key to loosen the town’s restrictive leash and let them sit in outdoor dining areas of the Key’s restaurants.

As Longboat Observer Senior Editor Kurt Schultheis reported a few weeks ago, in early 2016, the Town Commission is likely to address the prospects of changing town ordinances to allow dogs in outdoor sections of Longboat Key restaurants. We’ve already heard concerns from a few Longboaters.

Don’t worry — all of you who have visions of some mutt traipsing into Euphemia Haye with his owner and sitting next to your table while you’re savoring Euphemia’s roast duck. It won’t happen.

State law only allows local ordinances to set up designated outdoor dining areas where dogs are permitted. In fact, state statutes spell out a long list of regulatory requirements to which restaurants must comply. Among them:

• Employees shall be prohibited from touching, petting or otherwise handling dogs while serving food or beverages or handling tableware or before entering other parts of the public food service establishment.
• Employees and patrons shall be instructed that they shall not allow dogs to come into contact with serving dishes, utensils, tableware, linens, paper products or any other items involved in food service operations.
• Patrons shall keep their dogs on a leash at all times and shall keep their dogs under reasonable control.
• Dogs shall not be allowed on chairs, tables or other furnishings.
• All table and chair surfaces shall be cleaned and sanitized with an approved product between seating of patrons. Spilled food and drink shall be removed from the floor or ground between seating of patrons.
• Accidents involving dog waste shall be cleaned immediately and the area sanitized with an approved product.
• Dogs shall not be permitted to travel through indoor or nondesignated outdoor portions of the public food service establishment. 

These are all well and good, maybe comforting to the public. But their enforcement is another matter. 

Truth is, none of these regulations is necessary. Nor should there be laws prohibiting dogs, cats, pet monkeys or any other animal from restaurants. That should be the restaurant owner’s choice and risk. Then, let the buyers beware. Woof. Woof.