CHANDIGARH: City residents need not fret any longer about having to leave their four-legged friends home alone when they go out dining or shopping or even head out for work. Quite a few eating joints have junked their ‘dogs not allowed’ policy. A luxury brand store and a five-star hotel have also opened their doors for pet dogs.Even an IT company office is ready to welcome furry guests. Pancham Prashar, co-founder of CueBlocks Technologies in Manimajra, allows employees to bring their pets to office as he believes they are great stress busters.
“I bring my dog who sits in my cabin. Any of our staff who wants to bring their dog can do so and they sit with the owner,” said Prashar. “It’s nice to have pets in office as they make you stress free. We have our in-house dogs, two Beagles Chatur and Carlos, and a couple of Labradors.
Cats are also allowed.”Lumos Coco, a cocktail bar and co-working space, was among the first to open its space for dogs. “We were the first dog-friendly restaurant — a perfect place for paws to interact with each other, have fun and exchange some friendly bow-wow,” said owners Babban Mann, Ishan Gupta and Dipin Bhatia. “We love dogs and brought our pets here when we were constructing the facility. They also loved to be here. That’s how this idea came.”
Lumos hosted the city’s first pet party ‘Doggy Style’. “Pets get specialised advice from vets, behaviourists and nutritionist,” said the organisers, Angad Singh and Shruti Rao Rathore.Same Old Place is a small café and eatery in Sector 32. Its owner Armaan Kohli, too, is a dog lover. “We give 15 per cent discount to people who bring their pets and also dog biscuits. We maintain proper hygiene and sanitisers are placed in the restaurant,” he said. At Just Herbs, organic skincare store, pets walk in with their owners as store owner Arush Chopra is an animal lover himself.
Abhishek Gulshan Bali of The Spice Cave in Zirakpur said, “We have a small place beneath the stairs in the restaurant where customers can tie their dogs.”The Lalit, a five-star hotel, has taken the concept a step further. Imit Arora, the general manager, said, “We organised a pet brunch as part of our group philosophy — we believe in welcoming everyone through our doors irrespective of caste, creed and even species! Hence, pet brunches are a concept we’ve brought here after it was welcomed in other cities like Bangalore.”