Let Dogs In

The Dog Friendly Bar Standard

The short safety standard a no-kitchen bar follows to welcome dogs. Six plain rules, written so any health inspector can read them and say yes. It is how a venue will earn the Let Dogs In mark once the law changes.

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The Dog Friendly Bar Standard seal

A Non-Profit Dog Friendly Bar Standard

The Dog Friendly Bar Standard is the set of rules a venue follows to welcome dogs. Six plain rules, written by The Roch Society so any health inspector can read them and sign off.

It is built for venues with no kitchen: taprooms, breweries, cideries, distillery tasting rooms, wine bars, and any pub or bar that pours drinks and prepares no food. Not restaurants, and nowhere food is actually made. Adopting it is always the venue's choice, and nobody is ever forced to welcome a dog.

The Standard is free. Free to use, free to adopt, and free to certify against the day the law allows it. We will not certify a venue to do something the law still forbids, so certification opens the moment your province changes the rule, at no cost. This is a standard built to be used, not sold.

Pledge to run the Standard now and you earn the Let Dogs In mark the day the law changes, the sign in your window that tells every dog owner walking past that they and their dog are welcome inside.

The Standard

Six rules. Short enough to fit in a window, strict enough for a health inspector to approve against.

1
Vaccinated dogs only

Current shots required,
the same any kennel asks.

2
On a short lead

Always held by the owner,
never loose on the floor.

3
On the floor, not the furniture

No dogs on the seats,
tables, or the bar top.

4
Away from the bar

Clear of the service area
where drinks are poured.

5
A marked dog-free zone

A clearly marked space
for anyone who'd rather not.

6
No second chances

Any sign of aggression,
the dog leaves at once.

Why an Inspector Can Approve It

In a venue with no kitchen, letting dogs in is plainly safe.

Food-safety rules ban dogs because they were written for places that prepare food, where a loose animal near a prep surface is a real contamination risk. A taproom has no prep surface and no raw food. Drinks are poured into clean glassware, and beer is hostile to the germs those rules exist to stop.

Take the kitchen away, and the reason for the ban goes with it.

That is not a theory. Ontario has allowed dogs in no-kitchen venues since 2020 and Quebec since 2025, with no wave of incidents. The Standard simply writes down the common-sense conditions that make it work, in language an inspector can approve against. The full case is in our white paper.

Run the Standard at Your Venue

Right now the law is still in the way across most of Canada. The fastest way to change that is to pledge your venue and back the campaign. Sign as a venue owner and we will be in touch as it grows.

Sign The Petition