At Drink with Your Dog classes, canines learn how to be well-behaved brewery buddies while their owners enjoy a cold one
ALLOUEZ - Pizza isn’t on the syllabus for the Drink With Your Dog class, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be a teachable moment.
“Pizza coming through!” Tiara Soderstrom announced on a recent Monday night on the Zambaldi Beer patio, where a group of sociable canines — and their owners — had gathered to brush up on their manners for hanging out at dog-friendly breweries this summer.
Almost on cue, as Soderstrom and certified dog trainer Jenn Cluckey were talking about the distractions dogs can encounter on patios (food is right up there at the top of the list), a woman carrying two takeout boxes from Gallagher’s Pizza next door weaved her way through the maze of adorable faces, collapsible water bowls and mats on the way to her table.
The whiff of pizzas turned a lot of heads but not a single student jumped up. That’s called keeping “four on the floor,” and it’s also the goal when a stranger comes up to you with a cold pint in hand and tells you how cute you are.
It's the kind of behavior worthy of a gold star or at least a "good booooy" or a "good girrrrrl," both of which you hear a lot of when Drink with Your Dog school is in session.
This is the second summer Cluckey, who works at Animal Matters Training and Swim in De Pere, has been teaching the course at Zambaldi. The one-hour classes meet for three consecutive Mondays and include treats for both dogs and humans.
Proud pet parents show up wearing “Dog Mom” and “I Love Dogs. The End.” T-shirts and bring along bags of Vital Essentials freeze-dried minnows, Wet Nose Bistro diced salmon and other tasty nuggets to reinforce the behavior of dogs that stay on their mat under the table or don’t pull on their leash.
Each class automatically comes with one free beer for the owner. They don’t even have to sit up and beg.
“This is a class we try to keep fairly lighthearted. It’s not something that is super heavy or high pressure,” Cluckey said. “We’re just trying to make sure everybody, dogs included, is having fun on the patio and drinking beer.”
The classes attract a mix of people. Some are already taking their pets to breweries that welcome dogs but just want to polish up a few of their skills so they’ll be a more chill companion when they’re out and about. Others aspire to bring their dog along but aren’t comfortable enough yet without knowing how their dog will do, Cluckey said.
Nobody wants to be the parent of that wild child that climbs on top of table, makes a grab for a burger nearby or is a little too forward when it comes to introductions.
“It usually ends up not being a super fun experience for a lot of the parties involved, because there’s the dog that’s just trying to say hi to everyone and jump up on everyone and the owner who is trying to wrangle them the whole time,” Cluckey said.
What makes a good brewery dog? Calm, quiet and on a leash
Drink with Your Dog started in Colorado and now offers a certification program that allows trainers from across the country to bring it to their communities. The idea is to give dogs a paw up on being good beer-drinking buddies at local breweries, most of which invite leashed pups on their patios and a couple that even allow them in the taprooms. Drink with Your Dog considers a good brewery dog one that is calm, quiet, on a leash and people- and dog-tolerant.
Some dogs love the social aspect of meeting people and other dogs and are all about the people-watching factor of patios, Cluckey said. Others just like to feel included, so getting to come along for a beer rather than being left at home is the win.
Classes offer a safe, relaxed environment to practice basic etiquette before venturing out among the patio crowds.
At Zambaldi, dogs and their owners worked on navigating the sometimes tight spaces of patios by learning how to walk together instead of the dog pulling on the leash. Dogs practiced waiting by their owner’s side when ordering and waiting in line with other dogs by making a visit to Eli’s Top Dog Bakery food truck parked in the lot, where mutt loaf, pup cakes, chicken jerky and peanut butter pumpkin balls were on that night's menu.
Owners learn how to read doggy body language to better gauge when a canine companion is no longer having fun and may just need a quick breather from the patio or, as Soderstrom says, “when it’s time to get out of Dodge” and call it a day. They also get guidance on how to calm a dog if something startles it, like the sound of a bag hitting a nearby cornhole board.
By the last week of class, students tackle one of the sure signs that both dog and owner are true pros of the dog-friendly brewery scene: loose leash walking with a drink in hand. Not to worry, they do it with plastic cups and water, so not a single Good Dog Porter or Meatball Man Amber goes to waste.
“That’s usually a fun one, because when your hands get full you can’t always manage your dog as much as you would like,” Cluckey said. “It’s something that a lot of people want to do, to be able to walk around with a beer in their hand, but it’s a little intimidating to start at that level.”
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Cooper is 'Mrs. Kravitz' at home but such a good boy at class
Tia and Darin Schumacher of De Pere like to take their 2-year-old rescue, a border collie mix named Cooper, with them whenever they can, including to Door County dog-friendly places.
“Summers are so short in Wisconsin that you want to spend as much time outside as possible, and the dogs want to be outside, too,” Darin Schumacher said. “As a dog owner, a lot of our choices, especially in summer, revolve around who’s dog-friendly and who’s not.”
Cooper has already completed basic obedience and agility classes but was picking up a few additional tips at Drink with Your Dog. As a herding dog, he’s extremely smart and endlessly inquisitive, but it also means he often feels compelled to get in the mix of whatever is going around him and "help out."
“Oh, he’s very busy. I call him Mrs. Kravitz at home, because he always needs to know what’s going on in the neighborhood,” Tia Schumacher said.
Dani Baker’s 3-year-old red Labrador, Penny, goes along out on the boat fishing, to stained glass class and everywhere else dogs are allowed. She’s friendly, almost to a fault.
“She’s too social. That’s her problem. She is her dad’s dog. He is very social as well,” said Baker, who lives in Sobieski.
She signed up for Drink with Your Dog with friend Rachel Janowski of Green Bay and her 6-year-old English Labrador, Charlie. The two women take their dogs together to the Bark & Brew bar in Howard and for photos with Santa Claus each year. Class night is a chance for all four of them to hang out together.
“This is something where Rachel and I can have a good time, too. Have a couple of beers. The dogs can see each other and hopefully not get too rowdy,” Baker said.
Want to sign you and your doggy up?
Two more three-week sessions of Drink with Your Dog are planned at Zambaldi Beer this summer: 6 p.m. July 15, 22 and 29 or 6 p.m. Aug. 12, 19 and 26. Cost is $100 and includes a free beer each night. Contact Jenn Cluckey at Animal Matters Training and Swim by emailing [email protected], calling 920-632-6564 or visiting animalmatterstraining.com.
Kendra Meinert is an entertainment and feature writer at the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Contact her at 920-431-8347 or [email protected]. Follow her on X @KendraMeinert.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Drink with Your Dog teaches canines how to chill out on brewery patios