Dogs are our best friends, so it makes sense that we want to take them on shopping trips with us, especially places like Fleet Farm. This retail chain sells a huge variety of products, from leashes, dog food, bedding, and toys to household appliances, lawn care items and accessories, hunting and fishing gear, and even food items for humans.
Fleet Farm has a few dozen locations throughout the Midwest (specifically South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin), offering shoppers the opportunity to pick up a large variety of things that they might need for the house all in one place. Your dog would love nothing more than to help you pick everything out, but are dogs allowed in Fleet Farm? The short answer is that it depends on the location and management. Here’s what you should know.
All Stores in Wisconsin Allow Well-Behaved Dogs
Wisconsin passed a law that enables companies to welcome pet dogs if their food sales account for less than 5% of the total business that they do.1 Fleet Farm happens to fall into this category, and according to its official website, pet dogs are welcome in every one of its Wisconsin stores. Its policies are as follows:
- Store management has the right to refuse the entry of any dog or remove a dog for any reason.
- All dogs must be restrained on a leash that is no longer than 4 feet long.
- Dogs must be non-aggressive and house-trained for welcome entry into the store.
- All dog owners must clean up after their own dogs. Cleaning supplies are provided if necessary.
- No dog shall be left unattended for any period while in the store.
- Dogs should never ride in shopping carts and should walk alongside their owners at all times.
- Owners are responsible for all injuries, accidents, and damage that is caused due to their dog’s presence at a store.
It is always a good idea to call ahead of time and ensure that your dog will be welcome. There may be store-specific policies that you should be aware of to ensure that you won’t be asked to leave and that you will be welcome again in the future.
Certain Stores in Other States Seem to “Unofficially” Welcome Companion Dogs
The Fleet Farm website indicates that companion dogs are not allowed in stores that are located in other states throughout the Midwest. The issue is that some Fleet Farm stores sell a small number of consumer foods. Unlike Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Iowa don’t have laws that allow pet dogs to visit stores that sell even a minimal amount of food.
However, some stores in these states may not have transitioned to selling consumables, so they would be exempt from laws that ban them from allowing dogs. Therefore, some Fleet Farm stores located in states other than Wisconsin may allow your dog to accompany you on shopping trips. It’s important to call the store that you plan on visiting ahead of time for confirmation.
Service Animals are Allowed in All Fleet Farm Stores, No Matter the State
Thanks to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), service animals are welcome in all places that serve the public, including grocery stores. Therefore, they are allowed in all Fleet Farm stores no matter what state the stores are located in. There is no need to provide any specific paperwork or prove the accreditation of a service dog. In fact, store managers can ask only two specific questions about a service dog:2
- “Is the dog a service animal required because of a disability?”
- “What work or task has the dog been trained to perform?”
Any other questions or testing of the animal’s abilities are considered discriminatory and should never take place in Fleet Farm or any other store. That said, it is the responsibility of the dog owner to ensure that their service animal meets the requirements of the ADA, which means they have been individually trained to perform a specific task that helps their disabled companion.
Summing Up
According to the company itself, companion dogs are welcome in all Wisconsin stores, but the same cannot be said for their other locations throughout the Midwest. If you have a service dog, though, you don’t have to worry about it because you should be able to enter any store with them. However, it’s always a good idea to call ahead of time, even in Wisconsin, if you want to visit a Fleet Farm with your pet dog.
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Featured Image Credit: Fleet Farm West Bend Store Location | Fleet Farm Marketing Team Member, Wikimedia Commons CC SA 4.0 International
