Restaurant and Bar Patrons Ready to Dine Out With Their Best Pet Friend

Restaurant and bar patrons could sit with their dogs in outdoor eating areas as long as businesses authorize it and local municipalities do not object under legislation advancing in Michigan.

According to the Associated Press, the Senate voted 32-6 in bipartisan fashion to send the bill to the House, where a similar measure died last year.

State law generally prohibits live animals at restaurants, but the legislation would allow dogs if they pose no health or safety hazards.

Under the bill, dogs would have to be leashed and could not pass through a restaurant's interior or sit in chairs or on customers' laps.  Patios would have to be free of dog hair as well.