By Molly Snyder Senior Writer Published Jun 20, 2015 at 6:55 PM

A couple of nights ago, I went into a dog-friendly Bay View bar to use my PubPass. There were about eight people in the bar and one dog.

Let it be known that I have cared for dogs, including my dog Clay (pictured above), most of my life and I like dogs.

Anyway, I sat down at the bar, ordered my drink and started chatting with my partner. The dog came over to us and started to lick my feet. I found this uncomfortable – I’ve never liked dogs licking me, even my own pups – and moved my feet away from the dog’s mouth. The dog, however, continued to lick my feet and so I said gently, "Hey, you, stop it."

He or she continued licking and so I asked the woman whom I believed to be the dog’s caregiver to motion to the dog. Either she didn’t hear me or ignored me, but the woman continued interacting with her phone and so I asked the bartender whose dog this was.

"This is a dog-friendly bar," he said flatly in response.

I told him that was fine, I had no issue with that, I just wanted the dog to stop licking my feet. He suggested I take my beer outside. I told him I would, but it was too chilly – the temperature dropped 20 degrees that evening leaving me uncomfortably under-dressed.

He repeated, again, that it was a dog-friendly bar and I said, again, that I just didn’t want the dog to lick my feet. He then said, from the other side of the bar and in earshot of everyone sitting at the bar, that I was clearly a person who liked to complain.

This surprised and confused me. I wasn’t complaining, I was asking for the dog to stop licking my feet. I felt badly that this interaction spiraled to such a negative place.

However, the experience got me thinking. What is the protocol in dog-friendly bars? Should a person have a right not to interact with a dog when in a dog-friendly bar or is the understanding that if people go to a dog-friendly bar they have to accept all dog behavior – from tail wagging to foot licking to leg humping?

I always thought dogs, like kids, should be welcome in public spaces of all kinds; however, they need to be monitored and re-directed at times by those who love them. But I ask y’all: what are the "rules" at dog bars?


Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.

Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.