The Viennese love their dogs. To accomodate this love, dogs are allowed everywhere. Public trains, in stores, even in restaurants.
I happen to like dogs and the fact that they are allowed pretty much everywhere doesn’t really bother me. Even in a restaurant, the dog owner usually shoves the hound under the table and I probably don’t even notice most of the four-legged visitors.
There is one exeception however. In October, some American friends of mine came to visit. I took them out to a trendy, upscale restaurant to show them a good time in Vienna. To our shock and horror, a fellow diner took dog love too far. We had to be subtely, but check out the photo below.
The guy is sitting in a nice restaurant with his dog on his lap, and a glass of water for the dog on the bench. This. Is. Gross.
I find it somewhat irritating that dogs are permitted to places where people (including our child) eat. I am sure that these dogs (especially the one above) are cleaner than most of the restaurants themselves but still…