PHILADELPHIA – Amber Wilkie likes to multitask.
It makes the software developer's life easier when she will run a couple of errands while taking her dog Duncan for a lunchtime walk.
That often means the 14-pound Yorkie-Schnauzer mix is available in whether he's dropping off a package or picking up groceries.
Wilkie is on one side of the buyer debate about whether dogs and other pets should accompany their humans into retail stores, supermarkets and other private businesses. Some of those establishments welcome animals as official business policy and see no reason to not accomplish that.
And even in some dining establishments — in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, health department rules technically prohibit allowing animals not intended for service — business owners, individual managers or employees are likely to flout the foundations.
“I take my dog to a store when I feel it’s appropriate,” said Wilkie, a 40-year-old Kensington resident. If she's undecided, she asks the shop employees if it's OK. The answers can range from an enthusiastic yes to a looking away to no.
“If the store says 'no dogs,' it doesn't matter,” Wilkie said. But “it makes me less likely to shop there.”
While shoppers like Wilkie are less prone to visit stores that ban pets, other stores that allow dogs as companions are discouraged.
“I don’t know when it became the norm,” said a 60-year-old resident of Ocean City, New Jersey, who requested anonymity for fear of hatred from animal-loving friends.
“Friday night I went out to dinner and I honestly think there was a baby in a stroller,” she added. And “there’s somewhat, yapping Yorkshire terrier sitting within the stroller next to me. And I'm like, 'Are you kidding me?'”
Over the last few decades, pet ownership has skyrocketed. More than 65 million households nationwide — and about 778,000 in the Philadelphia area, according to census figures — own at least one dog, the country's most popular pet.
And more and more owners are bringing their fur babies to places once reserved only for humans and service animals.
Going puppy-friendly to recover from the pandemic
BringFido, which bills itself as the world's largest pet-friendly travel site, has more than 700,000 companies in its global database, said destination editor Erin Ballinger. There has been an explosion in listings in recent years, particularly at hotel chains, breweries and restaurants with outdoor seating.
“The pandemic has really accelerated this,” Ballinger said. “Business owners tried to get people to spend money at their business and they tried to give people what they wanted. And a lot of people wanted to bring their pets.”
According to Ballinger, there are a variety of reasons for the increased demand: More people are delaying or choosing not to have children, leaving them with time and disposable income. And as a recent Pew survey found, more pet owners view their dogs — and cats, too — as just as much a part of the family as their human members.
“They don’t want to leave their family members at home after being at work all day,” Ballinger said. Some businesses lean heavily into this mindset, she added, including breweries that offer non-alcoholic “dog beers,” restaurants that offer menus for dogs and hotels that offer amenities for puppies.
The Kimpton Hotel Monaco in Old Town, for example, will deliver pet beds and food and water bowls to guest rooms.
National retail chains vary in what they allow. Spokespeople say you can't shop with a pet at Rite Aid or CVS, but you can shop at Macy's, the Apple Store, HomeGoods and Tractor Supply Co.
“We welcome leashed pets in our stores, all day, every day,” Tractor Supply spokeswoman Tricia Whittemore said in a statement. “Our team members know many of them by name.”
Dogs can also legally attend a Phillies game during the annual Bark at the Park nights. They are frequent dinner guests on restaurant terraces and in beer gardens.
According to Palak Raval-Nelson, the city's deputy commissioner for environmental health services, puppies can even run around off-leash at the Manayunk dog bar Bark Social, which opened last year and is Philadelphia's only dining establishment that allows dogs.
“In general, animals are not allowed in such facilities,” Raval-Nelson said in a statement, citing the health department’s food regulations. “Please note that depending on the situation, an allowance may exist for legitimate service animals and not for “emotional support” animals.”
Pennsylvania law, meanwhile, bans animals not used for serving in food preparation areas at grocery stores, restaurants, bars, wineries, convenience stores and “other businesses that sell anything aside from prepared, packaged foods and beverages of their original packaging.” to Shannon Powers, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. Animals are allowed in dining areas with dedicated servers who do not walk through other dining areas or food preparation areas.
When other buyers complain about pets
Some consumers say they just want pet owners and businesses to follow the rules.
“I don't mind seeing pets, dogs and cats at Lowe's, Home Depot and stores that don't sell groceries,” said Marge Gorman, a consumer from Washington Township, Gloucester County. “In stores that sell food, I think it’s a health risk.”
Just the other day, Gorman said she saw a small dog with a fellow shopper at a grocery store near her home.
“The dog yelps after which he sneezes and I'm standing on the deli counter and I'm like, 'This is disgusting,'” she said. “I totally turned around and thought, 'I'll get my lunch meat later.'”
Angel Ryan, an Ocean City nurse who trains therapy dogs, said she believes some people blur the road between therapy or emotional support dogs and true service dogs for individuals with disabilities.
“I would love to take my dogs with me everywhere,” she said. “Not me, because they are therapy dogs, not service dogs.”
When Wilkie shops near Kensington, most fellow customers need to stop and pet Duncan, she said. It's rare for somebody to be upset by the little rescue pup's presence, but it surely does occur.
A couple of years ago in a Northern Liberties food market, a person yelled at Wilkie and Duncan as they waited on the deli counter. The man also confronted several other customers about dogs and the shop asked the person to depart. It seems, as Wilkie later learned, that the shop's official policy doesn't allow dogs.
“I was surprised that a grocery store would allow a dog because it seemed strange,” Wilkie said. “But then I saw other dogs in the store.”
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