Eating Out With Your Dog: Restaurants, Pubs and Cafés Around the World

Where can we eat? It is the question dog owners ask us more than any other, and it is the one that shapes a holiday most. You can plan the journey and the hotel months ahead, but three times a day you will be standing in a strange street with a hungry family and a dog, working out which door you are allowed through. The answer depends far more on which country you are in than most people realise. In some places the law leaves it entirely to the owner of the restaurant. In others the law keeps dogs outside, however much the owner might want you in. This guide explains how the rules work in the places people travel most, how to find somewhere good, and how to make sure you are welcomed back.

Two Kinds of Rule

There are really only two systems in the world, and once you know which one you are in, everything else follows. In the first, the law cares only about the kitchen. A dog must be kept out of the places where food is prepared and stored, and whether it may sit under your table in the dining room is the owner's decision. Britain and most of Europe work this way, which is why a dog in a pub or a brasserie is such an ordinary sight there.

In the second, the law keeps animals out of the whole of a food business, with an exception for outdoor seating. The United States, Canada and Australia work this way. In these countries an owner who loves dogs still cannot seat yours indoors, and it is not rudeness when they say so. Guide and assistance dogs are a separate matter everywhere. They are protected by law and go where their owners go, in either system.

Britain and Ireland

Britain is one of the easiest countries in the world to eat out with a dog, and it surprises many visitors to learn that there is no law against dogs in pubs, cafés or restaurants. The hygiene rule that applies, which Britain kept from European law, says only that a food business must have adequate procedures to prevent domestic animals from having access to places where food is prepared, handled or stored. That means the kitchen. The room where you eat is up to the owner.

The result is the British pub, where a dog asleep under a table is part of the furniture, and a growing number of cafés and restaurants that put out a water bowl and a jar of biscuits. Many pubs welcome dogs in the bar but not in the restaurant area, so ask when you book a table for a meal, and say how big your dog is. Country pubs are generally the most relaxed, and a walk that ends at one is among the great pleasures of a British holiday with a dog. Ireland follows the same European rule, so there too it is for the owner to decide, and it is polite to ask first.

Continental Europe

The same European rule applies across the European Union, so the starting point is the same: the kitchen is closed to dogs and the dining room is the owner's choice. Several countries have spelled that out, and it is worth knowing what they say. Spain has made it law. Its animal welfare act of 2023 says that restaurants, bars and hotels may admit pets in the areas where food is not prepared, and that a place which does not admit them must display a sign saying so that can be seen from outside. So in Spain, look at the door before you ask.

Italy has an old national rule that still applies. The veterinary regulation of 1954 requires a lead and a muzzle for any dog taken into public premises or onto public transport. In practice you will rarely be asked to put the muzzle on in a restaurant, but carry one, because the rule is there. Whether to admit dogs at all is the owner's choice, and a great many Italian owners say yes.

The Nordic countries are more open than their reputation. Denmark's food authority says it is entirely up to the individual restaurant or café owner whether customers may bring dogs inside. Norway's says dogs and other pets can have access to restaurants and other places where food is served when there is no danger to food safety, and that the business decides. Sweden's says pets may usually be in the restaurant or café itself, and that it is always the business that decides whether they are welcome.

In France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands, the same principle holds, and by long custom a well behaved dog is welcome in a great many restaurants and cafés, indoors as well as out. It is still polite to ask before you walk in. Whatever the country, food shops are a different matter, and supermarkets, bakeries and butchers almost everywhere keep dogs out, so one of you will be waiting outside with the dog while the other buys the picnic.

The United States

In the United States the starting point is the opposite. The national model that states base their rules on, the Food and Drug Administration's Food Code, prohibits animals in food establishments. Pet dogs are not allowed inside restaurants, and that is true in every state. Patios are where it has changed. In its 2022 edition the Food Code was amended to allow pet dogs in outdoor dining areas where approved by the local authority.

Many states had already passed their own laws. According to the Animal Legal and Historical Center at Michigan State University, about 23 states now allow dogs on restaurant patios by law or regulation, among them California, New York, Texas, Florida, Illinois and Ohio. Cities and counties can be stricter than their state, so the rule in one town may not hold in the next.

The conditions are much the same everywhere, and California's are typical. Under the state's health code, the restaurant must choose to allow dogs, and there must be an outdoor entrance so that the dog does not walk through the restaurant. The dog must be on a leash or in a carrier and under control, and it may not sit on chairs or benches. Staff may not touch your dog while on duty, and any water or food for the dog comes in a disposable container. So do not be offended when a waiter will not pet your dog, because they are not allowed to. One practical point follows from all this. A patio you have to reach by walking through the dining room is usually a patio your dog cannot use, so look for places with seating that opens onto the street.

Canada, Australia and New Zealand

Canada works the same way as the United States, province by province. Each province has a food premises regulation that keeps animals out, and most have opened their patios in recent years. Alberta left the decision to operators in 2022, and Quebec legalised dogs on terrasses in 2025. Ontario has gone one step further, and it is worth knowing if you are travelling there. Its Food Premises Regulation keeps the general ban but allows pet dogs indoors in places that serve only drinks and prepackaged food, which in practice means brewery taprooms with no kitchen. A number of Toronto and Ottawa taprooms welcome dogs inside on that basis. We have set out the position in every province in our own paper on the subject.

Australia follows the outdoor rule too. Under the national food standard, in the words of Food Standards Australia New Zealand, pet dogs may be permitted, but only in outdoor dining areas that are not enclosed, and it is up to the business owner to decide. There is a detail here that catches people in winter. If a café closes in its outdoor area with blinds and an awning, dogs are not allowed in it while it is enclosed, so a terrace that welcomed you in March may turn you away in July.

Asia and the Gulf

Further afield, expect less. In Japan, dogs are generally not taken into ordinary restaurants. The country has its own answer, which is the dog café and the restaurant with a designated terrace for dogs, and small dogs are commonly carried in a bag or pushed in a pram. In the Gulf states, dogs are kept out of most public places, and in the heat a terrace is rarely an option for much of the year. In both cases, plan your meals around places that advertise themselves for dogs, and check before you go.

Hotel Restaurants

Do not assume that a hotel which accepts your dog will let it join you for dinner. It is one of the things we ask every hotel we assess, and of the 980 hotels we currently publish, only 234 welcome dogs in a restaurant. A bar is more likely, at 368, and a lounge more likely still, at 603. About a third, 333, have a terrace where dogs are welcome.

So ask the hotel a plain question before you book: where can I eat with my dog? If the answer is nowhere, find out whether your dog can be left in the room while you have breakfast, because about half of hotels do not allow that either, and then you are eating in shifts. Our guides to what hotel policies really say and the questions to ask any hotel explain how to find out before you pay.

Finding Somewhere Good

A little homework saves a lot of walking. Ring ahead or send a message, and ask the specific question: are dogs welcome inside, or only outside? A listing that says a place is dog friendly often means two tables on the pavement. Ask too whether there is a limit on size, because some places that welcome a terrier will hesitate over a wolfhound.

When you arrive, look for the signs of a place that means it, such as a water bowl by the door, a hook under the bar and other dogs already settled. Book a table for early in the evening, before it gets crowded, and ask for one in a corner or by a wall where your dog can lie out of the way of the waiters. In hot weather, an outdoor table is only kind if it is in shade, as our guide to heat and your dog on holiday explains. In cold or wet weather, a patio only rule can mean no lunch at all, so in patio countries keep a picnic in mind as a fallback.

Being a Good Guest

Every restaurant that welcomes dogs is taking a small risk on its customers, and it takes only one bad evening for a sign to go up on the door. The owners who are generous deserve our best behaviour. Walk your dog before the meal so that it arrives ready to sleep. Bring a mat or blanket, which tells a dog where to settle and keeps it off a cold floor, and bring your own water bowl. Keep the dog on a short lead, on the floor and under or beside the table, never on a seat and never fed from your plate. A chew will buy you the length of a main course.

If your dog barks, whines or will not settle, take it outside for a few minutes, and if it still will not settle, ask for the bill. Be honest with yourself about your own dog as well. A dog that guards food, dislikes strangers leaning over it or cannot bear other dogs is not going to enjoy a busy restaurant, and neither will you. Settling quietly under a table is a skill that can be taught, and our guide to training your dog to travel explains how to teach it at home before you rely on it abroad.

A Closing Thought

The countries that welcome dogs at the table do so because generations of owners brought dogs that lay down and went to sleep. That is the whole secret. Learn which kind of rule applies where you are going, ask before you sit down, and bring a tired dog and a blanket. Do that and you will find that some of the best meals of a holiday are the ones where everybody in the family, including the one under the table, was there.