Dining out with dogs isn’t full blown reviews on restaurants. It’s just stories about taking my dogs out to eat. Many restaurants in the metro phoenix area do have patios but not all restaurant patios are dog friendly. I do recommend to call the restaurant and make sure that they are still dog friendly without restrictions before you dine out with your furry friends because I have come across one restaurant that went from dog friendly to not dog friendly. There also are some rules to dining with dogs. Your dog is not to eat off the plates or sit on the chair. Your dog is to be by your side and must be well behaved. The other rule is for you and you are to make sure your up on dog friendly foods. Most food that you eat is not good for your dog. Dogs need to stay away from onions, garlic, anything made from grapes, chocolate, avocado and more. Basically just feed your dog a small piece of meat from your meal and wipe off any sauce that’s on the meat. Please get a food safe list from your veterinarian or look it up on the web.
My older dog the 15 1/2 year old on the right was diagnosed with cancer one year ago and was given 6 months to a year by our veterinarian. I thought the nicest thing I could do for him is not to travel so I could take care of him and to take him out to eat once a week if I could. He seems to enjoy it and maybe it helps to keep him going.
It has been a brutal hot summer around Phoenix AZ 2016 and was close to record breaking with 30 days in a row of 110 degrees F. The pavements were flaming hot to burn paws so most of the summer we weren’t able to dine out with dogs. The first week of September actually seemed almost refreshing and was seasonably low in temperature at around 100 degrees F. Although it seems so much cooler it is still too hot to dine out with dogs so we took the dogs to a Burger King Drive Threw before the temperature shot up to 100 degrees a few hours latter.
The dogs were happy to see food come out the window. They love the breakfast croissant sandwich. I never ate one but my husband says they are really tasty too. September stayed hot until the last week went a monsoon blew threw. We had this one really awesome day where the high was only 85 without any humidity. At the time it seemed cool and refreshing. We decided to take the dogs out to Cucina Tagliani in Glendale AZ. It’s a local family friendly American Italian Style full service restaurant with a certified comfortable dog friendly patio.
“We’re off to Tags!”
We tried to beat the crowd and came for an early dinner but it seemed almost everyone in town got the same idea we had and the patio soon filled up.
“Oh boy, it’s getting mighty crowded.”
The regular help are nowhere in sight and the bartender runs out to serve on the patio.
We ordered and soon I receive the salmon platter.
They gave me linguini with oil and lemon instead of the spaghetti squash I asked for…. but I’m happy because the fish taste fine and isn’t over-cooked. Believe it or not I’ve recently dined at some of the higher end restaurants in the metro Phoenix Area that didn’t do as well preparing higher quality fish.
Atlantic Salmon Overcooked by a lovely resort restaurant in Scottsdale AZ (arrived slightly warm most likely was over-cooked previously, stored and slightly reheated) You will read about this one soon.
Over Cooked and Over Salted by one of our highest end restaurants in Phoenix AZ (needed a forking steak knife to saw threw) (I already wrote about this one).
My husband got the enormous Papa’s Platter.
It’s made of two flavorful spinach and cheese manicottis, a big sausage lasagna and real veal parmesan.
Dogs got plenty to eat here…
For more information please visit www.CucinaTagliani.com
The 15 1/2 year old is showing signs of slowing down and it is a fact that he will not get better. He was walking very jerky after this dining out and happens to be is a little pickier about eating and seems slightly weaker losing his balance from time to time. He also is losing clumps or hair like he’s never done before. Everyday it looks like someone dumped a grocery bag full of fur in my house. I’m very surprised my dog isn’t bald.
He drops about this much or more fur every few hours
I’m told that his medication can’t be increased. At this time I don’t know if his cancer has spread or if it’s the old age and arthritis that’s happening. He’s lasted much longer than his Oncology Doctor expected (the doctor that studies x-rays and blood and prescribes low-dose chemotherapy pills). When she met him last fall she predicted his last May birthday for the best goal letting me know that he might not make that. His Met Rate was very high. A melanoma in a dog rates at something like a number 3 and his Met Rate was recorded at 40 so she suspected a very quick aggressive cancer. We made it well past the May goal so every day since has been a celebration of life. The good news is that he still has good days and still enjoys things like food, walks and Hot Air Balloons that fly over the house. I think my roasted chicken is his favorite food.
This is the look I got just last week when I was roasting chicken. I don’t know how many more times I will get this look…..but I do hope for many more.
It’s possible that if just taking him out to dine is too straining now because of the very jerky walking he did after dining out and it’s very hard now getting him in and out of the car. I hope this wasn’t the last of dining out with both dogs but it might be…..
Well that was September 2016 Dining with Dogs.
The Forking Truth
