Bunnings (Australia) hardware stores

In Australia we have a nationwide chain of large diy/hardware warehouses called Bunnings. These stores have recently become dog friendly so you can now take your furry friend into store with you.

I'm not so sure this is a sensible idea. One one hand I think it's great for the tradies that have their dog at work with them all day as it means that they don't have to leave them in the car/truck/ute when they pop in for supplies during the day. One the other hand I'm not quite sure why you'd want to take your dog when buying home diy supplies?

It was all over the news when, in the first week, a kid was bitten by a dog (I don't know the circumstances) which of course prompted "outrage" and calls for dogs to be banned from anywhere that they might come into contact with children.

The only reason I can think of considering taking Ella into a store would be as a training exercise.

Am I missing something here?

 

It's really normal in the UK to be able to take a dog into garden centres, just about any pub, some restaurants, and most cafes. I like being able to take my dog into stores, although there aren't many - just garden centres and pet stores really. I mainly use them for training, but training for pubs, which of course is much more useful! But generally, the more places you can take a dog the better, I think.....

 

I personally like this. In the UK we can take our dogs into a shop called 'Go Outdoors'. It sells clothes, camping equipment and everything you would need doing outdoor pursuits. I love taking Harley here as it helps with our loose lead walking in a very busy environment, gets her used to people wearing different types of clothing that you wouldn't see often on your walks. It also has all ages of people so really good for training purposes. The first time I took Harley she was a nightmare, pulling on lead, jumping up, barking etc, but the second time we were a lot more relaxed, just browsing instead of buying and Haley was really calm most of the time and lots of members of staff and other people kept coming up to say hi, but 90% asked me before approaching her which helped me manage her wanting to say hi to everyone.

 

While we are on the subject, the UK Kennel Club 'dog friendly businesses' competition is always worth a browse.....I see le Shuttle won this year!

http://www.bedogfriendlyawards.com/

 

That's interesting Julie, maybe it just seems strange to me as it's not very common.

I definitely agree that training at a pub seems a lot more useful than training at a hardware store

I've looked for dog friendly places near us and am sad to say that there really aren't that many. As usual we seem to be a bit behind the rest of the world here in Australia.

 

I'm not sure it's just Australia, the US seems pretty much the same - a lot of leash laws, and no dogs in pubs or cafes.

There is a pub just by Wimbledon Common and on a Sunday it's heaving with muddy dogs....it's great. I'd hate not being able to take my dog to the pub.

 

I like the idea, it is so useful as a training tool plus I enjoy taking my dog with me. In the UK we can take our dogs into a nationwide chain called White Stuff which is great because I love their clothes. I've been doing some loose lead training in the high street today and I wish we could have gone into more shops. Mabel was very scared of a large flora display, barking profusely, the owner invited us in the shop. Thanks to the owner Mabel has overcome her fear of big scary flowers.

 

Thankfully we have a lot of off-lead parks but unless you are in a specifically signed park, your dog must be on lead. I think that's a fair comprise.

It's funny as there are a few dog friendly cafes and pubs in Melbourne but they're in the CBD and inner city suburbs so you're essentially sitting at a table next to the side of a city road. We are a looooooooong way off that level of control (if ever hehe) and it doesn't seem that nice an environment. I'd much prefer a nice beer garden to sit in ☺

We do have a Cafe a short walk from our place that Ella can go to (outside tables only) so we're slowly working on her being able to settle while we sit down. At the moment we order takeaway coffees so that we can leave at any time if needed!

I think that there are a lot of dog owners in Australia (in my street there's only one house without a dog) but most that I know tend to leave their dog at home when they go out. Ella is like our handbag as she comes everywhere with us but I don't think we are the norm.

 

Ah, sounds like you have some good options then. That's good.

 

I think its great to be able to take dogs into appropriate stores and outdoor venues , sounds good to me The first time we took Sam to a garden centre , he cocked his leg and wee`d on a concrete dog garden ornament , we made a quick exit

 

Hee Hee - I have to say, I view garden centres as "no weeing" training opps! That and Pets@home....we can nearly get round without a pee!

 

Emily my son lives in Coogee and there are some gorgeous pet shops, I always wondered if they did any business as I've seen a few dogs around but not many, so now I know they are all behind closed doors.

 

I didn't know that you could now take dogs into Bunnings. Good to know.

In Australia there isn't the level of off-lead freedom or the level of public access that there is in the UK, which is a shame, but I would not say that Australia was 'behind the rest of the world' in general terms when it comes to dogs. In the case of Labradors, Australian breeders far outpace their UK counterparts in terms of mandatory health testing, for example, and have done for a very long time.

 

Oberon the change at Bunnings is definitely in Victoria but you might want to check it's the same in ACT before you go walking into your local store ☺

Honestly I didn't know about the breeding rules, I was just whinging generally about everything we seem to get months (or years) after the rest of the world and seem to pay twice as much for when we get it!

 

Yes, we do have to wait ages for new treatments to get here (like Bravecto and Nexguard tick/flea treatments which have only fairly recently arrived). That is a pain. And the range of pet products on sale here is so much smaller than in the UK and US.... So there are definitely things to whinge about!

Will check re the ACT Bunnings (one of my favourite shops!).

 

I take mine into banks and the queing and the coming and going is great for getting them used to general shopping

 

Several of the shops on our local high street are now dog friendly with signs to say you are welcome to bring your dog in. It is quite a recent thing though, almost a way of encouraging local shopping I think. Jura loves a wander in and out of the shops, mainly as I've done it since she was a wee pup and everyone made a huge fuss of her. She particularly enjoys the wine shop due to the large jar of gravy bones on the counter, either that or we're spending too much time in there!!

 

I am in two minds.

Service dogs find life much harder when pets are allowed. People tend to like extendable leads, especially with small dogs which means the dogs have far too much freedom for us to easily get past without being pestered (or worse). It's hard for me to keep Twiglet focused - and I can see the dogs ahead, her owner won't be able to. She was almost attacked in the street last week but at the moment we are fine in shops, trams etc. as no dogs are allowed except guide dogs.

On the other hand I love being able to take both of them to the pub / cafe / restaurant! Northumberland is great for this - most places are very dog friendly and there are dishes of water down everywhere for them.

 

Two minds here aswell. On one hand not everybody wants to encounter dogs on their shopping trips especially if you don't like them and not all dogs are friendly - shock horror but it's a fact I also see the difficulty for service dogs and the amount of pet dogs they would encounter on those annoying extendable leads which could disturb their vital training and may cause very difficult situations for a blind person. Also not too happy to have dogs in an eating area when I'm out for a meal, in the pub garden in the summer is great but otherwise I'm not too keen. Like everything in life, they have their place as much as I love 'em. xxx

 

Love my girl and like being able to take her places but I'm leaning toward Boogie and Charlie's comments. Without appearing to be a grumpy old woman other peoples dogs can be a little like other peoples children and I don't necessarily want to share the same space with them . If I could I would ban the extendable leads as well, I've seen too many dogs hanging on and leaping around on them trying to get to another dog while the owner tries to reel them in....​​