Can I Have a Side of Kibble with My Soup?

As any parent knows, small children can be carriers of all sorts of diseases. Therefore, by the same reasoning applied to dogs, the Health Department should ban small children from restaurants.

Business is tough enough for restaurants now, many of us dog owners only frequent places we can walk to and eat out doors with our dogs. 99% of the customers seem to love petting my beasts. No one can stand the spoiled little brats that are allowed to run rampant while their parents are oblivious to their sugar induced fits. Who would you rather be around while eating?

How about banning the homeless and transient people from shoving their hands in my face, asking for money or a piece of bread while I'm eating dinner at Pascucci on the patio?

Just a tip here, this is a County agency that is prohibiting dogs and other pets in restaurants amidst the diners. This is NOT the City of Santa Barbara as the casual writing here could imply.

Not everyone likes dogs amidst their dining experience, as the al fresco dining spaces in SantaBarbaraLand still are restaurants regulated by health codes enforced by that County agency.

In addition, not everyone likes little human kids running around a dining space while making noise and spreading germs; however, that is not regulated except by the parents or guardians of those human kids.

Fortunately, SantaBarbaraLand has lots and lots of restaurants from which to chose.

As for the beggars along the sidewalk at Pascucci's, just tell them off assertively and eventually they will go away. The beggars and panhandlers along State Street or wherever only keep doing it because people keep enabling that bad behaviour by rewarding the beggars, just like a stray dog will keep coming back if it keeps getting fed. Just say NO, or even more, and encourage the panhandlers to get an honest job.

Really, do we need yet another law? Is a quiet, (often sleepy) dog hanging out under the table really a problem? Doesn't it add to the cute character of the town to have dogs sitting next to the restaurant patrons outside? Are there really a ton of complaints about that?

A lot of people walk their dogs downtown, maybe meet up with friends and stop for a cup of coffee or something. I presume if someone was really disturbed, they or the dog owner could be moved a few tables away, but it's been my observation that most people enjoy the ambiance and I have never, ever seen or heard about a problem in decades of living here. Basically, people just want to live and let live and are considerate of one another. Too bad we have to have government regulate yet another facet of our lives.

Sorry but I find much of this discussion totally off the mark. In much of Europe, dogs are allowed to remain with their owners not only in outside dining areas but inside restaurants as well, including all of the finest restaurants in France. Legitimate health concerns there are addressed by insuring - through licensing and other requirements - that dogs are healthy and free of the diseases giving rise those concerns. I have never seen an incident nor other inappropriate behavior in a restaurant - by dogs anyway - as most seem to have been taught to lie patiently by the table. (The French in particular also allow animals to travel with their owners on trains and buses - you can buy a ticket for your dog and yourself at the ticket window without any fuss and without having to make advance arrangements).

We in the US have some rather strange ideas about health and diseases - you would think we would be concerned about dogs being allowed to pee all over the place but we are not - in Switzerland, on the other hand, I have seen special parks with areas of gravel and stones set aside for dogs to "go" - they are cleaned regularly and strike me as much more sanitary than allowing the sidewalks and trees on State Street to serve as public urinals. We have grown accustomed to the prohibition of dogs in restaurants so there are people who probably do prefer not to see or encounter dogs while dining - for those people, the writer's suggestion of dog and no-dog dining areas would seem a sensible solution.

I am much more concerned about the birds that walk all over the outdoor tables at the restaurants I eat at then at the dogs at the feet of their owners.
Stupid reasoning for sure.

What a classy comment, livingsb.

Reminds me of the hate-filled woman I had the misfortune of sitting on a neighborhood task force with several years ago who had no positive or humane solutions for the plight of the homeless and poor in the city, and stopped short of saying they should all be liquidated off her planet. She's a big-shot in the local education arena, too.

Thank goodness for homeschooling! Young people have it tough enough without being fed that kind of poison.

As for the subject at hand, I have zero issue with dogs at outdoor cafes and in fact their presence gives fussy little Santa Babylon a rather International twist.

As long as said dogs are contained and well-behaved, I'm totally fine with their presence.

I'd rather sit in a place with well-behaved dogs than loud drunk tourists (oh, it's not really alcohol..it's fine wine...), beer-soaked college kids, or screaming brats running around raising he** at ear-splitting decibel level.

But Santa Barbara knows where the money is and it's in boozy tourists and college kids, and screaming yuppie larvae and their idiot parents who will throw money at anything they've been convinced they simply MUST have.

To heck with the locals and their dogs who would love to have a pleasant afternoon dining al fresco.

Locals don't count in SB and never have.

Who would have guessed - judging from many of these comments, pedophobia is rampant in Santa Barbara - not to mention all the bitterness.

"Who would have guessed - judging from many of these comments, pedophobia is rampant in Santa Barbara - not to mention all the bitterness." -Justice-

I agree with Justice to the point that the anger should not be directed at the kids...I think it should be directed at the PARENTS.

Yes, there IS bitterness, but why this bitterness?...because every time we turn around there are more and more restrictions in our lives and/or somebody's obnoxious behavior getting in our face. The hypocrisy of worrying about dogs while obnoxious noisy drunken behaviour is encouraged is offensive to many of us. I simply avoid downtown S.B.--not that the few bucks I have would make any difference on the economy there. I also feel the restaurants should have a choice in who/what they can let in.

For all of the laws and restrictions S.B. has, the quality of life seems to get worse and worse.

By the way, I wonder what diseases are tracked in to restaurants from people who have unknowingly walked through the various human bodily fluids deposited by the many drunks who frequent the nearby bars who are walking back to their vehicles?

In PA, when we have my Cocker with me at an outdoor pizza place, the owner brings out a little dish of treats he makes from real beef liver. No one has ever told us to leave patio dining with my dog. I used to think SB was really cool and progressive, but after leaving and reading about all the dumb things you argue about, I'm glad I live here now.

This is just another institution proclaiming something trying to be important and justify their government position.

I welcome a citation for having my well-behaved dog at an outside restaurant. I will post her cute picture everywhere and tell the story and she will be the mascot who will create a new law under her name allowing dogs in outdoor restaurants. Dogs are really popular here. This ain't gonna happen. It reminds me of the threat of disallowing dogs at the dog beach. Go ahead and try it. It will only outrage everyone and force community action. Sheriffs tried to enforce the leash law at Girsh park and actually cited a guy I know. So he showed that the park was (a) privately owned and (b) they allowed unleashed dogs, no more ticket. He's also on the board.

Don't mess with our dogs. We have lost too many freedoms with this "think about the children" mantra. What are the statistics of transmission of disease in SB due to bites? Exactly.

What is amazing is how the S.B. electorate keeps voting these people into office. The quality of life just keeps getting worse in S.B. Does anyone ask themselves why?

Dogs or kids in restaurants are not a problem if the MANAGEMENT has the guts to throw customers out when their charges behave badly. However, that is not always the case and thus the animosity towards both. The issue of disease is legitimate but probably very overblown, as long as the dogs and the kids stay out of the kitchen itself. However, banning loud talking cell phone users would be lovely.