When I was renovating the house that became my flowershop, a cat adopted me. A few weeks later, she brought her friend to visit. They ended up staying at the shop for over 20 years. Both "Sweet Pea" and "Tom" belonged to someone else, but they simply would not go home. Each night, around 5 PM, the rightful owner would come and fetch them, but at 8 AM, they were both back at the flowershop front door, crying to be let in.
When the owners' marraige broke apart, and they were destined for the Humane Society, I officially adopted them, and they lived out their lives at the flower shop, entertaining clients, eliminating the mice population, and generally keeping me company through many, many late nights.
They have both passed on now, and it was a very sad time when Sweet pea finally succumbed to old age at 23 years of age. I still have customers come in to ask how she is. Amamzingly, some of my customer remember her from when she was a kitten. This in itself is a great measure of how often loyal some customers purchase flowers....Sweet Pea died 3 years ago, yet some people are still suprised by the sad news.
Although I was somewhat worried about having animals in the shop before I adopted my 2 "stray" cats, it all worked out better than great. The press would have us believe that there will be plenty of allergies, and complaints, but I didn't find that at all.
If I were younger, I would readily adopt more pets for the shop, but I am not willing to make another 20 year committment.
Having said all this, I did work for someone who had a dog in their shop, and it was very distracting, because the dog was very friendly, and would approach everyone, expecting friendship and affection from everyone who came in, and it was often a distraction, especially for those who are not fond of dogs.
I don't think that type of animal is a good idea...
Your common sense and good heart will tell you what to do......
JP
