Do Barnes and Noble allow dogs? (Must know!)
Barnes and Noble has been around for years! Many cities are also becoming more dog-friendly.
Which makes me wonder, do Barnes and Noble allow dogs? ! We looked into it and here’s what we found…
Does Barnes & Noble allow dogs?
Barnes and Noble allows service animals, but generally does not allow pets. Like retail stores of all sizes, Barnes & Noble has an “animals in store” policy that all B&N stores must follow and post on the B&N website. Barnes & Noble Policy All service animals have access to their store.
This article describes Barnes & Noble’s “Animals in Store” policy: what it is, what it means, and what it means to you.
What does Barnes & Noble’s in-store animal policy mean?
In-store animal policies almost always divide animals into pets and “service” animals. Service animals are specially trained animals that perform tasks to help people with disabilities. Non-service animals are companion animals and/or pets.
Barnes & Noble’s policy to allow service dogs in the store is Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
People with disabilities can own a service dog. The person may have one or more disabilities, and the disability may not be visible. For example, a PTSD dog is a service dog that specializes in dealing with people who have suffered major trauma.
Barnes & Noble’s in-store animal policy recognizes that service dogs are both necessary and valuable. The policy also acknowledges that without a service dog, people with a service dog will not be able to enter the store or obtain store goods and services.
A “non-service” dog is any dog that has not been trained to work with or assist a disabled person, i.e. a pet or companion dog.
It is Barnes & Noble’s policy that permission to bring non-service dogs into stores is subject to the local health code of the town, county or state.
In other words, you need to contact the store firstUnlike people who have service dogs, you can’t just show up with your pet and assume you can take it into the store.
Why can’t a non-service dog be brought into a Barnes & Noble store?
Barnes & Noble (like all retail stores and businesses) is obligated to comply with local and state health regulations. This means their decision to deny non-service dogs into the store is based on the health code of the area where the store operates.
This means in practice that many (but not all) B&N stores will allow trained dogs into the store at their own discretion. However, they can also use the same judgment to ask you to remove the dog from the store if the dog is unruly or unsafe.
Barnes & Noble stores do not allow you to bring your dog (unless you have a service dog) into the coffee shop area. That’s because health regulations prohibit it, and this ruling has nothing to do with Barnes & Noble.
What do service animals look like?
Service dogs often wear clearly marked dog vests or harnesses. They may also have identification collars and/or tags. However, service dogs do not have to wear this gear.
The truest form of identification for a service dog is an ID card, carried by the dog owner.
Service dogs are well trained: they remain calm and unresponsive at all times. They are by no means threatening, unruly, disruptive or disobedient. They are trained to remain calm in any situation.
Sadly, it is increasingly common for individuals to purchase service dog vests for their pet dogs and use those to get their dogs into nearly all public spaces. This means that identifying a true service dog is not as simple as it once was.
Want to learn more about Barnes and Noble? Check out our related posts:
generalize
Barnes & Noble will allow all service dogs into any of its retail stores in the United States. However, they do not allow other dogs (non-service dogs) into all of their stores unless local health regulations allow them to. Because of these same health codes, Barnes & Noble will not allow any non-service dogs in the coffee areas of its retail stores.
To find out if you can take your dog to your local Barnes & Noble store, call them first and make sure.
