ohmidog!

Add San Antonio to the list of cities waking up to the fact that allowing human customers to dine at restaurants with their dogs — outside, at least — is an idea whose time has come.

City Councilman John Clamp says council members could approve a dog-friendly restaurant ordinance as early as next month, joining Austin and Dallas on the list of Texas cities that have gotten variances from state law.

Texas law bans animals in restaurants — except when served on a plate — but the rules provide for variances when individual municipalities request one.

The proposal was pushed by John McClung, co-owner of the Los Patios, a restaurant on the city’s north side.

McClung — knowing it was a common practice in many European cities, and seeing it was catching on domestically in cities like Seattle and San Francisco — brought the idea to Clamp, according to the San Antonio Express-News..

“It’s separate and outdoors, exclusively an outdoor dining variance-type thing,” Clamp said. He emphasized that nonservice animals still wouldn’t be allowed inside restaurants.

The law would require a restaurant owner to seek a variance and pass a health inspection before animals could enter the property, Clamp said.

While several San Antonio restaurants already allow dogs in their outside dining areas, the new law would allow them to do so legally, and avoid the long arm of the Department of State Health Services.

A department spokesperson said the state law exists due to concerns that animals can carry disease and sanitation could be compromised.

Supporters of the proposal point out that humans carry disease, too, and that when dining al fresco, one takes certain risks, such as bird poop, car exhaust and cigarette smoke, not to mention the sun’s damaging rays.

McClung, who points out food wouldn’t be prepared near animals and that pet owners would be able to reach their tables without going inside, says he thinks dogs, in some ways, are better customers than humans.

“A veterinarian friend of mine tells me that the number of flora inside the mouth of a dog is about one-third the number of flora that are inside the human mouth,” he said. “We know that animals are kinder to their own species than people are. Name a dog that’s started a war.”