SPCA for Monterey County offers special restaurant training for your pooch

Dining with your dog in public is now legal. While many restaurants on the Central Coast already allow dogs in their outdoor seating areas, it’s technically been against state law – now that’s changing.
“It’s just a nice outing for us, I don’t like leaving him at home,” said dog owner Rosemary Shahidi.
For years Carmel has been a destination spot for dog lovers like Shahidi. Just try and find a restaurant that doesn’t allow your four-legged friend to join you outdoors.

“Carmel is very dog friendly, so it’s not an issue here at all,” said Shahidi.
Assembly bill 1965 won’t be an issue for restaurants that aren’t dog friendly. The new law doesn’t mandate that restaurants allow dogs on their patios, but makes the practice permissible as long as basic health standards are followed.
And at the SPCA for Monterey County, trainers are teaching dogs how to properly eat out with their owners.
“Pretty commonly you see at restaurants if a dog walks by they’ll get up and bark at the dog or beg from the tables,” said dog trainer Wendi Newman.
Newman wants to correct that kind of behavior. As a dog owner herself, she said pets need to be taught specific skills when dining in public.
“Getting under tables, getting under chairs, being quite, not interacting with other dogs or people those kind of skills,” said Newman.
While the bill makes dining with your pooch legal across the state, local governments still have the option to pass an ordinance to prohibit Fido from joining you on the patio. AB 1965 will be effective on January 1, 2015.