Dog lovers can now bring furry friends when dining out in Boston
BOSTON - Thursday, June 1, marked the first day the city of Boston officially allowed dogs on patios.
If restaurants are approved, a health variance will be added to current permitting that will let your four-legged friend join you for outdoor dining, but of course, there are rules.
We met Jackson Friday, a dog visiting North Brewing in Brighton with his humans after the brewery was officially granted a dog-friendly spaces variance permit by the city.
"I understand why people might not want to go somewhere where there's just dogs. There are great dog owners, and there are less responsible dog owners places, but I think that applies to people too, and if you're an irresponsible person, you'll be asked to leave, too," says Jackson's owner, Mary Irvin.
Our WBZ crew spoke to Charles River Speedways Community and Events Manager Jenna Chillington one month ago, when the city announced the permitting process. Since then, she's been working towards dining with dogs.
"Last time we spoke, we were about to get the permit, and we just got approved last week for the Notch Brewing Beer Garden to be allowed to have dogs," says Chillington, adding the permit for the dog-friendly spaces variance was no cost to the business owner. "It actually was free, which was surprising for everyone here. They just put a variance on the health permit saying dogs are allowed in the area."
Notch Brewing isn't the only eatery welcoming our four-legged friends.
"Maybe if I wasn't a dog person I wouldn't like i,t but I am. Especially in the seaport area, there are a lot of apartments that are pet-friendly now, so it makes sense for the restaurants to be pet-friendly," says Ricky Caswell, who works at the nearly 100-year-old James Hook & Co.
"Unfortunately, we did have issues with that in the past. We did have a dog on the patio...it would be a big violation of our license. This is an excellent option," says Caswell.
Restaurants are required to have a water bowl filling station and post the new variance rules publicly, including leashing your dog, keeping dogs outside, and making sure your pet has its rabies vaccination, but for employees, there's one more rule that's difficult to follow
"I don't think employees should be touching dogs - as much restraint that that will take to not pet a dog," says Caswell.
