Chicagoing: Restaurant Dining with Pooches

After surviving our 8 month winters, Chicagoans make the best of the nice weather we do have. This means many, many alfresco dining options. It's rare to walk down a street in Chicago without stumbling on a nice sidewalk patio. And these patios have it all: food, people watching, nice flowers, and pooches. By law, all the outdoor cafes need to have flower boxes decorating the fences. It's nice to see so much greenery in the city: Also by law, they passed an ordinance that dogs are allowed to eat with their owners on the patio. This is great because we can spend the day with the pooches and when we're hungry just drop in for some food. And even though dogs are allowed, there are some variances among the different restaurants. Some allow the dogs to come in the gated area, while other restaurants require the dogs to be on the outside of the fence. The dogs are only allowed to drink water; they cannot be served food, and they cannot sit on the chairs. We always make sure to ask before we bring the pooches, but usually we've had good experiences. We usually frequent Macs where the servers are really nice to the pooches. Mr. B. loves dining outside. He usually just sits there. Miss M., on the other hand, sometimes gets bored. Usually we have to plan ahead and bring a kong or chew toy for her...kind of like a pacifier.