The Dog Friendly Business Checklist: 15 Things Worth Getting Right

If you run a shop, cafe, pub, salon, garage or office and you want dog owners through the door, this is the list. In rough order of impact, because not everything on it matters equally.

The five that matter most

1. Say it unambiguously, before they arrive. On your website, on Google Business Profile, on the door. "Dogs welcome" as a plain statement, with any limits stated in the same breath. Owners decide where to go before they leave the house. If they cannot tell from their phone, you have already lost them to somewhere that was clearer.

2. Brief your staff to greet the dog. Costs nothing, matters more than anything else on this list. A member of staff who crouches down and says hello turns a transaction into a reason to come back. Owners are constantly assessing whether they are actually welcome or merely permitted, and staff behaviour is how they read it.

3. Water, indoors, refreshed. Not a manky bowl outside the door in July. A clean bowl inside, changed regularly. Small thing, universally noticed.

4. A treat, offered. The single highest-return gesture available to you. Something small, natural and visible. This is what our Treat Stations exist for, three jars on a reclaimed wood stand, sitting where customers can see them and use them. Free to whoever wants to give one. It converts a passing dog into a small social event and makes people stay longer.

5. Somewhere the dog can be out of the way. A corner, a booth, a bit of floor next to a chair that is not a walkway. Owners will actively return to venues where their dog can settle without being stepped over.

The next five

6. Clear boundaries, stated kindly. If dogs cannot go upstairs, or into the dining room, or past a certain point, say it on a sign rather than leaving it to a member of staff to enforce awkwardly. Clarity relaxes people.

7. Consider the floor. Hard floors near dog-friendly seating. Better for you, more comfortable for them, and it removes the owner's anxiety about muddy paws on carpet.

8. Towels on wet days. Genuinely transformative for a rainy Sunday, and it protects your furniture. Keep a couple by the door.

9. A tie-up point outside, in shade. For the situations where the dog cannot come in, or for the owner who nips out to the car.

10. Sort your bins. A dog-friendly venue near a walking route gets used for bag disposal whether you like it or not. Provide for it and it stays tidy. Ignore it and it does not.

The five that separate you from everyone else

11. Learn the regulars' names. The dogs' names, ideally. Once a member of staff greets a dog by name, that customer belongs to you. This is not an exaggeration.

12. A dog board or photo wall. Polaroids of the regulars, names underneath. Costs almost nothing, generates a steady stream of people tagging you online, and gives new customers something to smile at.

13. Something on the menu for them. Even one item. A sausage, a small bowl of something, a chew. It gives the owner permission to be indulgent and it is a nice extra line on the bill.

14. Get on the dog-friendly listings. Local dog walking groups, community Facebook pages, dog-friendly directory sites, and your Google listing with the dog friendly attribute ticked. These groups are extremely active and extremely willing to recommend.

15. Host something. A dog show on the green, a fundraiser for a local rescue, a Christmas photo morning. Dog owners turn out for these in numbers that surprise most venues, and it puts you at the centre of a community that talks constantly.

The one thing not to do

Do not do half of this and put up a sticker. A "dogs welcome" sign on a venue where the staff visibly tense up when a dog walks in is worse than no sign, because the owner made a decision based on it and was let down.

Either commit to it properly or do not claim it. Dog owners have long memories and they compare notes.

Why the effort pays

Dog owners are habitual. They walk the same routes at the same times, most days of the week, in all weather. They spend on their dogs willingly and they spend on themselves while they are out. And they operate in dense local networks that share recommendations constantly and without being asked.

Becoming the dog-friendly place on a route is one of the more reliable pieces of local marketing available, and most of it is free.

If number four is the one you fancy tackling, we can help. Treat Stations are reclaimed wood, three jars of natural treats, and we handle the refills. Drop us a message.