Don’t take that the wrong way…no way on earth will my dogs ever drink coffee. Though I will say I once had an apartment manager who used to give a daily cup of coffee to his already way too hyper Maltese accessory-dog. I promise I am not lying when I say that he told me, with a wild and dismissive flourish of his hand, “We are Columbian. EVERYONE drinks coffee!”
I do, however, love to take my puppies-in-training to the coffee house. It’s a good short outing that gets them used to restaurant-like establishments full of people, smells, music, and uncomfortable table legs. Plus, unlike at a number of restaurants I’ve been to, people at the coffee houses (both employees and patrons) tend to be pretty cool about having a dog there. I’ve even been offered water for the dog. My favorite thing to do is to have a good friend with me there as well. My best friend — known to Truman (and now to Jethro as well) as “His Amy” — joined us that day and was exceedingly helpful, even carrying my coffee to the table while my hands were otherwise full of squirming puppy. One of the many benefits of having another person with you on such an outing? Not looking like you’re sitting at a table talking to yourself.
While Starbucks will do in a pinch (or if I have a friend who prefers to go there, or even better, a gift card), my favorite place is the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. There are no CBTL establishments in Pennsylvania, I am heartbroken to discover. None. Zip. Nada. Bupkis. There’s one in the airport in Singapore, of all places, but not one in the greater Philadelphia area. Criminal, I tell you. Anyway, this means I am determined to haunt my local CBTL as much as I can until I’m forced to wave a bitter and tearful goodbye to my dark chocolate ice-blended mochas and my Moroccan mint lattes.
Here’s the boy on his first trip. I let him bring a blanket and his dinosaur in case he needed to chew on stuff. I believe I may have chewed on stuff as well. Probably something very full of sugary goodness.
He settled in eventually.
LabradorRodeo 
Abby loves her NylaDino too. Hers currently has a body with a floating head attached, but no tail or neck.
Rockwell used to lie quietly under the table and then you’d think all was well until you’d hear licking. Lick, lick, lick. The floor, the table legs, the bottom of the table, you name it. I’d get so I’d scan everything within reach and if it wasn’t immediately fatal-looking, I’d let him lick it. An old wad of chewing gum could keep him occupied for quite a while. 🙂