“The current rules are dogs are not permissible inside restaurants unless it is a service dog,” Cincinnati Health Department representative Antonio Young told cincinnati.com.
This law has not stopped all restaurants, who do not see a problem with allowing dogs on outside patios. In response, Several Ohio health departments sent letters to these restaurants reminding them of the law.
Still, the battle persists.
“Why should a health department get to be onerous and just say, ‘no, no, nowhere in my jurisdiction, in my thiefdom, shall there be a dog?’ What the heck!” Republican Senator Bill Coley said in an interview with WOSU.
Sen. Coley, proud owner of two sheep dogs, is the author of the most recent bill in favor of dogs on patios. His legislation argues that individual restaurants should be able to make the decision to allow dogs or not, rather than unanimous rejection.
Representative Laura Lanese also proposed a bill with a similar argument.
While you wait for this critical decision to unfold, feel free to take your pup out to one of these dog-friendly Cleveland spots.
This article appears in Aug 16-22, 2017.
And please keep the dogs out. They are not people, even though people that don’t have relationships with human beings want them to be. We don’t need animals in restaurants. That is absurd. Why should people have to be forced to dine with smelly dogs?