[new peeps]

Armywrestle, I understand your issue. We take our dog Shelby with us when we travel. We have been to some areas in the country where your dog is accepted as part of the family. On our first visit to the Villages, we rented a golf cart and rode around with our dog on the floor board of the golf cart for about four hours looking at the senery and enjoying the other friendly guest. We were on our way that day to Sanibel Island for a week. We were pleasantly surprised when we stumbled across the Villages. We normally check to make sure it is a pet friendly area before we plan our trips. When we were up in Portland I was surprised how many restaurants and shops had water bowls outside for everyone's pets. We sometimes take our Golden out for a ride in the golf cart with us on evening rides. On this particular day we stopped and walked on the board walk at lake Sumter. We went to TJ Gators and asked for two plates to go and the waitress told us we could eat on the patio with our Golden if she would stay to the outside edge of patio. We were the only people eating outside at that time as it was cool outside. While we were there a few other couples came up and wanted to eat outside. The longer we were there the more crowded it got. I would say of the six couples and families that ate on the patio four of them came up and asked if they could pet our dog. It really made us enjoy our trip that day. Four trips later we bought a house in the Villages. We go to TJ Gators a lot as we like the Conch Fritters and appreciate the opportunity to take our pet when we have her with us. We do not take her with us on all of our visits to TJ's but when we do we have always been welcomed there. I have read on this site some people do not like the idea of a pet being at a resturant. We also respect that point of view and as a compromise if we do have our pet with us we only will sit at the last table furtherest away from anybody. I patronize TJ Gators because they have good food and always make us feel welcomed with our golden when she is with us. We also go to Too Jay's Deli for breakfast and they welcome pets on the patio.