On the whole, they’ve been pretty damn good!!
The Dutch were good with dogs and many people said hello to Scrappy whilst we were out and about but we found he wasn’t allowed in shops etc – same as the UK really.
However, it was the French that blew our mind when it came to being dog-friendly!
We able to take Scrappy into the majority of places that we went to which was absolutely fantastic!
There were still a few exceptions but we’d take him for a nice long walk and then be able to go into town and take Scrappy into the shops with us or head to a restaurant for some food and have Scrappy under the table with us whilst we were eating… even inside!
As we were used to one of us having to wait outside with him whilst the other went inside a shop from having him in the UK and The Netherlands, we couldn’t get used to being able to take him in with us when in France.
I wanted to go and get a cake each from a boulangerie so I went in and Dave waited outside with Scrappy. The next thing I knew, the lady from behind the counter was telling Dave to bring Scrappy in with him so she could say hello to him and Dave could have a look too! Absolutely amazing!
So many people stopped us to say hello to Scrappy and give him some love (everyone thinks he is a puppy!) it was fantastic – it gave us lots of opportunities to practise our very rusty, basic French.
They really are a country of dog lovers.
However, they are not fans of picking up what their dogs produce so you do have to keep your eyes peeled when walking along as dog muck is everywhere and it stinks when you stand in it!
In Spain and Portugal, we have seen plenty of dogs around but not so many in shops or restaurants. Having your dog with you in a restaurant is generally OK but you’ll need to sit outside with them, not inside.
We have found that taking Scrappy with us has opened up many more doors for us than have been closed by having him with us. We have had the opportunity to speak to and have conversations with people that wouldn’t have stopped otherwise if we hadn’t had the little guy with us.
He just can’t help but have people fall in love with him!
How have you found being abroad with your dog?