Photo © AP Photo/Laurent Rebours

New laws providing flexibility for dogs in outdoor cafés are not good enough, according to lobby group Dogs NSW, who want dogs to be allowed to eat their owners’ food.

Last month the NSW Government brought in laws allowing dogs into outdoor dining areas of cafés, providing they stayed on the ground and did not eat. Dogs NSW veterinary adviser Dr Peter Higgins says this is not enough, and that dogs are being treated as second-class citizens. Dr Higgins would like to see dogs inside cafés, on their owner’s laps, and even fed the owner’s food.

Comparing our laws to London, Paris, Berlin and Los Angeles, Dr Higgins claims “we've always been a nation of dog-lovers but when it comes to this issue, we're lagging behind the rest of the world".

He adds "I would absolutely agree that they shouldn't be fed from a plate or bowl, but the way the laws are written, it means you can't even feed them from your hand.”

Dogs NSW is also pushing for dogs to be allowed on Sydney’s train network, as they are in other cities overseas. Higgins explains, "A guide dog is allowed, as it should be, but essentially there is no difference between them and a well-trained pet".

Café Bones, located in a leash-free zone, is a first in allowing dogs to be fed by hand. Owner Michael Lloyd-Jones said hundreds of dogs and their owners travelled from as far as the Blue Mountains every weekend just to eat at his café which welcomes dogs.

Mr Lloyd-Jones says “generally, the people who take their dogs out to cafés are going to have a well-socialised, clean, happy, friendly dog.”