The Mythical Brewery Dog
By Stephanie Keesey-Phelan, Ph.D., BCBA
We’ve all been there, or at least longed to be there. It’s a beautiful summer evening at the end of a long week. It’s a perfect 78 degrees: warm and sunny with a breeze. Your friend calls you up and invites you to the Beer Garden for drinks.
In your mind you can picture the whole evening: When you get home from work, you’ll call out “Bravo, let’s go to the Beer Garden!” Bravo will perk up and scamper to the door, just as ready as you for some adventure after a grueling week. When you arrive at the brewery, he’ll be the perfect gentleman, trotting alongside you (he doesn’t pull on leash) to the table where your friends await your arrival. Bravo will be thrilled to greet everyone and will have a little wiggle in his step as he does so. He’ll jump ever so politely with just his front two paws a few inches off the ground, but your friends won’t mind - they’ll be happy to see him too. Bravo will be unbothered by the other dogs or the growing crowd of people, he won’t care about the volume rising or the traffic going by. He’ll settle right in at your feet, content to have a nap while you socialize, only requesting the occasional french fry. And he’ll remain there, happily taking it all in for a few hours until the sky grows dark and you decide to go home.
Maybe from my tone you sense that something is up here, or at least you sense that I think something is up. Here’s the thing: I’m not 100% sure that Bravo exists in real life. Please note that for our purposes I’m talking about Bravo the pet dog, and not a service dog who has been specifically trained for these kinds of situations. I know this might be a crushing jab at an idea you hold dear, but let me describe why I think Bravo might not exist and why it matters.
It is unlikely that most dogs are really unbothered by all environmental changes, people, and animals
I can’t think of a single person, let alone a canine companion, who is chill with absolutely everything. We all have things that bother us and things that we avoid. More often than not though, our dogs aren’t given the option to opt out. We bring them along, often without considering how comfortable they’ll be. How can we tell if they’re uncomfortable? This can be tricky to work out, because our dogs are usually motivated to be near us, and so many will jump into the car quite readily. But a dog’s motivation to be with us doesn’t mean they will be comfortable in all the settings we bring them to.
How can we tell if a dog is comfortable in a brewery or other social setting? By learning to interpret dog body language, and our dog’s specific body language. When our dog is at the brewery, are we seeing signs of canine stress such as:
Panting
Lip licking
Yawning
Shaking off
Ears held back
The tongue laying out on the jaw like a spatula (as opposed to either relaxed in the mouth or draping towards the ground)
Whale eye (seeing the whites of your dog’s eyes)
Tension in the facial musculature
The tail held high up over the back, tucked under, in a question-mark position, or flagging back and forth rapidly?
Is the dog frozen in place, seemingly “fine” but not really behaving in any way whatsoever?
Conversely, is our dog's body language communicating that he is relaxed? Is he laying down comfortably with a hip shifted to the side? Are the muscles around his face and ears loose and relaxed? Are his eyes soft? If he's panting, is his tongue draped over his jaw or out of his mouth? Is he breathing slowly and comfortably? There are some great resources out there including this book by Lili Chin to help you learn about what your dog is communicating.
Now that you’re watching closely, you may notice that your dog is not as comfortable as you had hoped. We still hear some people say that it’s okay if their dog is uncomfortable in a particular setting, because they are taking them in the name of socialization. However…
Socialization is not a good reason to bring your dog to the brewery.
One reason that people want to bring their young puppies and dogs to the brewery is to socialize them. This is often based on well-intentioned but misguided knowledge of the socialization process and there’s no judgment here! We have learned quite a bit about socialization for puppies over the last two decades, which is fairly recent in the scheme of things. The American Veterinary Medical Association defines socialization as:
“...the process of preparing a dog or cat to enjoy interactions and be comfortable with other animals, people, places and activities. Ideally, socialization should begin during the "sensitive period" which is between 3 and 14 weeks of age for puppies, and 3 and 9 weeks of age for kittens.”
The first thing to note is that socialization occurs during a very specific window of time as described above. After this period the socialization window has closed. That’s not to say you can’t do training to help your dog learn to cope with and tolerate certain environments, but this is a different process than socialization.
The second thing to note is that socialization is about quality over quantity. It is not sufficient to bring your puppy everywhere and expose them to lots of different people, animals, and contexts. Socialization needs to be a positive experience ideally, or at least neutral. Loud, busy environments can be overwhelming for many puppies and end up sensitizing them to these environments as opposed to socializing them. For more on puppy socialization, check out this wonderful book by Marge Rogers and Eileen Anderson.
This isn’t as black and white as I’m making it sound.
So now that we know what sorts of behaviors might indicate that our dog is anxious or stressed and that a brewery isn’t necessarily going to be a great place to socialize some dogs, you may be asking yourself: but what if I just want to bring Bravo to the brewery for a one quick drink? Or you might be thinking: How does this even relate to me, I don't go to breweries? You bring up a good point: the issue of the brewery dog isn't as black-and-white as I'm making it sound. Let’s say your dog loves people, other dogs, and places like breweries - or even restaurants, festivals, or other similar venues. There are still two additional factors to consider, regardless of the exact excursion: duration and location. First, duration: Is it realistic or even reasonable to require most dogs to lie quietly under a table for multiple hours in a loud and busy location while you socialize with friends? I think for most dogs probably not, it would be a lot to ask. But perhaps your dog would enjoy the excursion for a shorter period of time?
Let’s also consider location. Not all breweries are alike. There might be some that are quieter than others, some that have more space so you can be farther away from a crowd or people with other dogs if you need to. Or maybe you aren’t into breweries at all but you’d love to take your dog to that outdoor lobster shack by the beach, to a favorite cafe, or to a local ice cream shop. It is critical that you evaluate the places that you want to bring your dog and think about what elements of that space might be challenging for him. If the space is likely to be stressful, you might ask yourself if there are any locations that are similar but have fewer triggers or have more options for places to move around? These places could be practice environments that you could use to gradually increase your dogs exposure such that they're likely to be successful and enjoy the experience as much as you do.
What is our own personal motivation?
As dog guardians, dog professionals, and just plain old dog lovers our own motives matter too. We should ask ourselves the following questions: Why do we want to bring our dog to the brewery? Who is benefiting from this experience? What is gained by sharing this experience with our dog? I'm not trying to suggest that dogs should never go into the community with us - quite the contrary! I'm suggesting that they might not actually enjoy the experience as much as we think they would. And if this is the case, we should be thoughtful about what environments we expose our dogs to, and if they are ready to benefit from that experience. As with most things there is compromise to be had here. If your dog is unlikely to enjoy the brewery, consider what social experiences he might really love. Can you socialize with friends while out on a hike? Can you have people over to your home to have a beer in the backyard? Can you take your dog to a friend's house for dinner?
Conclusion
I'm not advocating for a world in which our dogs stay home and never go anywhere. What I hope to see is that we stop making the assumption and instead evaluate what activities and adventures will be mutually enjoyable. We also need to be flexible. Maybe we thought Bravo would do really well at the farmers market, but after spending 5 to 10 minutes there we began to observe stress-related behaviors. In this case, as much as we may have been excited about the farmers market we should be fair to Bravo and make the choice to head home. Next time we can either go without him or spend some more time preparing him for that environment. Dogs are members of our families, and they are sentient beings with their own preferences, aversions, and stressors. We owe it to them to make more nuanced decisions of how we live our social lives together. I would love to see us make a greater effort to ensure our dogs are experiencing environments in which they're going to excel and be most comfortable.