One of the charms of my favorite independent coffee shop, an aspect that gave it a very local feeling and, at the same time, a European atmosphere, was the presence of dogs. Customers were allowed to bring their canine companions with them, and many of them did. If anyone ever drove his or her dog to the coffee shop, I never heard about it. These were neighborhood residents who walked to the coffee shop with their pets and gave it an unmistakably local feeling.
Part of my morning routine for the past two years has been providing treats and playing with the dogs during my morning coffee. Most often I would know the dog's name long before I knew, or could remember, the owner's name. Eventually I would remember the owner's name, and we would greet each other when we happened to meet elsewhere in the neighborhood.
I like dogs, but since I am barely able to take responsibility for myself, I have chosen not to accept responsibility for an animal. I don't have a dog, but having dogs to greet and pet each morning was great.
Someone, who apparently does not like dogs as well as I do, ratted the shop out to the health department in early September, lodging a complaint against the filthy beasts that frequented the place. The result was a stern phone call from official bureaucracy and a warning that if dogs continued to frequent the premises bureaucratic retribution would follow. After nine years of dog-friendly, community-building acceptance, the dogs have been banished, rejected, 86'd; and my morning routine with them.
Of course, dogs are still allowed on city streets and sidewalks, and some of the dogs I have come to know still visit, keeping to the area by the bicycle stand and the half-dozen outside tables. We greet each other, but the days are growing cooler and the outdoor tables soon will be abandoned by all but the most determined smokers. I do not expect to huddle over a rapidly cooling cup of coffee in December offering Milk Bones to my canine friends. When the cold and blowing rain rattles the doors and windows I shall miss the dogs.
To my knowledge, in France and Germany and Austria and probably several other European countries, dogs are not treated as disease-carrying vermin. They are welcomed into establishments along with their human companions as long as they behave themselves. That seems very congenial to me.
The proprietor of my accustomed shop, when he learned that I planned to whine and complain in print about this turn of events, asked me not to make this piece about him, or his shop, or the customer who complained. Fair enough. I just want to say that yet another of the local, community-building customs that make our neighborhoods livable and friendly has ended. It makes me sad, dog-gone it!
Freelance writer Korte Brueckmann lives within a stone's throw of his favorite Capitol Hill café. He can be reached at editor@capitolhill times.com.
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