Kennel Club looking for places that make owners and their four-legged friends welcome
Have you ever looked longingly into a tasty looking restaurant or beautiful shop window when out with your dog to be hailed with a welcoming “come inside!” despite being with your canine companion?
The Kennel Club is looking to honour those places that go above and beyond to make owners and their four-legged friends welcome and today begins its nationwide search for such businesses. The Open for Dogs Awards 2009 are looking for the most dog friendly establishments across the UK. Whether this is a hotel, office space, caravan park, diner or coffee shop we want to know about it!
Customers of all businesses are now able to nominate those places that they think are pulling out the stops to accommodate our doggie friends, with innovative services or simply a bowl of clean water and the promise of a friendly smile.
The categories are: Somewhere to SLEEP; Somewhere to EAT; Somewhere to DRINK; Somewhere to VISIT; Somewhere you WORK; Somewhere you HOLIDAY.
‘Open for Dogs’ is the Kennel Club’s campaign to break down barriers for dogs and their owners and aims to encourage more businesses to open their doors to dogs. The benefit of this being a rise in the number of places people can visit with their dogs as well as an increase in business traffic for companies finding it tough in these difficult economic times.
Caroline Kisko, spokesperson for the Kennel Club, said, “There are hundreds of places that are now willing to welcome dogs and dog owners with open arms and this competition has been launched to recognise these.
“Of course there are still places that refuse to allow dogs inside and we want to change that mentality. This is particularly true of places that serve and sell food and believe it is illegal to allow dogs in – this is completely false and only applies to food preparation areas.”
As the summer holidays approach, businesses are looking for ways to reach out to cash-strapped 'staycationers' who are spending their family holidays in the UK. And it seems the answer comes in shape of four-legged friends as more and more businesses are seeing the advantages of expanding their customer base and reaching out to the nation's 8 million dog owners.
The winners of the competition will receive national recognition and be announced in September, when they will receive winners’ certificates and a Champion Dog Bowl, and all recommended venues will receive an Open for Dogs certificate and sticker.
For more information on the competition including the nomination form, or to find dog friendly businesses in your area visit: www.openfordogs.org.uk.
July 2, 2009