When I moved here a few years ago, the first thing I noticed is that Seattleites bring their dogs everywhere. The bus. The market. The gym. Record stores. Starbucks. All of it drove one serious point home: Seattle is a city for dog people. Nowhere is this more apparent than at local watering holes. Search “dog friendly” bars and clubs in The Stranger‘s event database, and you get more than 200 hits—and this despite the fact that according to Washington State law, it’s illegal to bring anything other than service animals (defined as “trained to perform tasks for the benefit of a person with a disability”) onto the premises of food service establishments, including bars. But this prohibition is only enforced when an inspector is faced with a serious health risk or blatant violation—i.e., your pet is at the bar or restaurant during an inspection. Which means that if your four-legged pal isn’t acting up (barking, crapping on the floor, chewing stuff up), you’re probably all good. Here are some recs for happy hours where your well-behaved fur baby is welcome. LP
