Are Dogs Allowed Inside The Walmart? (Every Things About Walmart’s Pet Policy)

Walmart is the number one place for shopping for groceries and daily needs items. Walmart is the priority of the people because it has a wide range of varieties for all customers, and the prices are very affordable. However, people always have one question in their mind, and that is – are dogs allowed in Walmart?

In this article today, I am going to cover Walmart’s pet policy and see if Walmart allows dogs inside. I will also explain to you the pet guidelines every customer must follow.

Let’s directly come to the answer to the above question; are dogs allowed in Walmart? According to Walmart’s store policy, pets are “not allowed” in the store. When the policy says pets are not allowed, it includes dogs, cats and any other animal. But the service animals are exempted from the pet policy and are allowed in the store. I will explain why service animals are allowed, so keep reading.

The ADA – Americans with Disabilities Act gives permission to service animals to accompany their owners to all public places, including the shopping places like Walmart. The owner of the service animals also has to follow certain guidelines.

ESA – Emotional Support Animals are not like support animals, and if you are trying to take them along with you in the stores on the emotional support grounds, you will also not get entry. So, consider this before bringing your ESA pets on your grocery shopping trip.

Let us move further and see why dogs are not allowed in Walmart and what reasons are mentioned in their pet policy.

Why Regular Dogs Are Not Allowed in Walmart?

There are various reasons mentioned by Walmart’s per policy that clearly describe why they did not allow dogs in the store. Let us check them below:

Food and Safety Regulations

FDA has restricted the entry of any pet at grocery stores or any place where food is being prepared. This is because they can contaminate the food and may cause several health issues for humans. People with low allergens tolerance can be affected by the pets in the store, and they may find difficulty in their shopping experience, fearing the pet around. Another reason could be the fleas on your pet’s body, which may harm the other shoppers around.

Because of the above reasons, Walmarts has considered that pets can be potentially risky for employees, other shoppers and customers. Thus, to ensure the safety of everyone, they have a strict no-pet policy.

Hygiene Matters

As we all know, dogs get curious to know about anything in their surroundings, and the chances of their sniffing around the food items are high, leading to the spread of germs and bacteria all over the palace. Your dog might enjoy sniffing different items, but it is a major hygiene concern for the store.

Further, dogs can bring mud and dirt along, making the floors dirty, and if there is no additional staff at the store, cleaning the floors after every pet’s entry can be a very tedious job. This dirt or mud can be hazardous and can lead to many health issues for everyone around.

Safety Concerns

You cannot predict the next move of your pet as you cannot predict what will annoy them in the outside places. And they are not even trained on how to behave in a public setting, which can cause injury to the owner or the other customers at the store.

Issue of Damaging The Troperty

Walmarts other big concern is getting its property damaged. Dogs or any other animals have a tendency to chew the things and throw them back, knocking on the things or jumping on the products kept on display, damaging them. This activity can lead to a huge repair cost and is unacceptable.

Why Service Dogs Are Allowed in The Walmart Pet Policy?

We have seen many reasons for Walmart not allowing regular dogs and pets in their store, then you might be wondering why service dogs are allowed then?

Service dogs are often for those disabled people who depend on the dogs to assist them in their work. Service dogs help their owners in various activities, such as helping them open the car/home doors, lifting things on their behalf, picking up the objects dropped and many other tasks. These disabled people cannot have a good shopping experience without their service dogs; thus, understanding this requirement, Walmart has exempted them. In addition, service dogs are well-trained to behave in a certain manner, especially when accompanying their owners at retail stores. Thus, there is no harm or risk attached to the service dogs, and they are allowed to the store.

Which Dogs Are Considered Service Dogs?

According to the ADA Americans with Disabilities Act, service dogs are those who have received specific training and are taught some skills to help disabled people. Most importantly, their skill set must match the person having the disability.

Walmart uses the definition provided by the ADA to select which dogs will get into the store.

What Are The Different Types of Service Dogs Allowed in The Walmart Store?

There are different types of service dogs disabled people can bring to the Walmart store. I will show you the types of service dogs.

• Regular service dogs: These dogs are specially trained dogs to help people who are blind or have hearing or mobility issues. They are given the training to support these people in their routine life.
• Medical alert dogs: There dogs are specially trained dogs; they can detect medical emergencies with their owners. They have the ability to sense if something wrong is about to happen and can alert the nearby people to the owner’s help. They can detect a seizure or a diabetic shock. People having issues such as diabetes, epilepsy or other physical disabilities can accompany the medical alert dogs.
• Psychiatric service dogs: these dogs get training to support those with anxiety issues and stress disorders; these dogs can identify when the owner might have an anxiety attack and help prevent it from happening or lessen its severity. Emotional support dogs are different from these.

Can Walmart Employees Check If Your Dog is a Service Dog?

Based on the ADA, employers can ask the customer if their dog is a service dog. If they do not get any satisfactory answer, they can only ask two questions to the customers, they are;

• Is your dog helping you out because of your disability?
• A dog is trained to perform what?

Well, no employee can ask for any written document to provide disability proof or any kind of dog certificate to prove that it is a service dog.

Service dogs are easily recognizable as they always wear brightly coloured tags and have jackets on them; by this attire, employees and managers can immediately identify the dog as a service dog.

Guidelines

Walmart encourages all the customers who bring their dogs to the store to take care of them while shopping properly.

Every owner must have complete control over their dogs because they can often lose their behaviour and may create a mess and disrupt the shopping experience of others. So, you must control your dogs and not let them wander around the sections of the store.

Often dogs go to the counter and start jumping on it, so the Walmart team has to see the customers out with their animals for disrupting the peace and making a mess.

Walmart welcomes customers who bring their service dogs in all areas except the food section, following the safety measures stated by ADA to protect other customers, employees, and the dog.

It is up to Walmart stores to declare some areas or sections dog-free zones because they can do that. On the other hand, the store supports some types of dogs in the store.

Can I take more service dogs to the Walmart stores?

Usually, you can bring more than one service dog to the store if you have a disability or some special reason. So, if bringing more than one or two dogs helps you perform multiple tasks, then you can bring them to the store keeping in mind that none of them should create a disturbance.

Can I take Emotional Support Dogs with me to Walmart?

Walmart stores do not welcome Emotional Support Animals within the store. As per ADA, the Emotional Support Dogs are not service dogs; hence, they cannot enter inside.

You may feel comfortable around the Emotional Support Animals. Still, these dogs have not been trained to perform different tasks that help, even if you have a disability.

If these dogs do not qualify as service animals, then Walmart stores will not allow them.

Are dogs allowed in other stores?

According to the guidelines pointed out by FDA, you cannot bring your pet dog into any US grocery stores. But if you have a registered dog, then you can take it inside the store.

But some of the department stores allow you to bring your pet dog to enter to give you company while shopping. Other major stores that allow dogs are Home Depot and pet supply stores.

It is possible for you to take your pet dog to almost any store that does not sell food or serve meals. But before entering, you must spot any sign that reads “No Dogs” or “No Dogs Are Allowed”.

Should I leave my pet dog outside the Walmart store?

According to the Walmart pet policy, you cannot leave the dog outside if it is not a service dog. The store does not advise keeping your animal out because it could be dangerous to the other animal when there is no one around it to take care of it.

If someone sees your dog outside unattended, they may think about stealing it or doing any other harm. So, if you are thinking about shopping, you should always keep your dog at your home or with someone who knows how to take care of it.

Also, your dogs cannot tolerate extreme temperatures, and too much cold or heat can lead to unexpected health problems for the dog or worse.

Please keep the dog where you can feel it is safer because dogs are not easy to find once you lose them, as they may end up at unexpected places that you would not want.

Conclusion

So, I am sure you have found the answer to your question, “Is Walmart a dog-friendly place?”. Well, before you go inside, you must make sure you know about the Walmart pet policy or Walmart dog policy.

So, the short answer to “are pets allowed in Walmart?” – Yes, the store allows dogs. But do keep in mind that it only allows service dogs. Service dogs are organized and always remain in control, and because of it, the employees and other customers feel safer with them.

But in Walmart, dogs are allowed on one condition: you have to take care of them. If you take care of your little pet, the store will also help you shop freely.

I hope you have gained all the knowledge about Walmart and which animals it allows in the store. If you have any more questions regarding this, please comment and share them.

FAQs

Are dogs allowed in grocery stores other than Walmart?

All the grocery stores follow health regulations, and because of this reason, they do not allow dogs inside the grocery stores.

Are leashed dogs allowed in Walmart?

Walmart may allow leashed dogs if they are service dogs. If your dog is not a service dog, then unfortunately, Walmart may not allow it.

Does Walmart allow pets in the carts?

Walmart does not allow pets in the carts for several reasons.

Does Walmart allow dogs if they are service dogs?

Walmart allows service dogs; if your dog is registered, you can get an easy pass into the store.

Can dogs go to Walmart in Canada?

Walmart in Canada does not welcome dogs inside the stores.