“Due to an unfortunate incident, effective immediately, Brookland Pint has a new pet policy”

716 Monroe Street, NE

From Drew Swift, General Manager of Brookland Pint (on Sunday):

“Due to an unfortunate incident today, effective immediately, Brookland Pint has a new pet policy:

Pets are no longer allowed on the property under any circumstance. As always, and in compliance with ADA requirements*, service dogs and their handlers will continue to be welcome.

We understand and are sympathetic to the pet-owning portion of the Brookland community who relied on our patio as a welcome space for themselves and their pets.  We have always tried to be as lenient as possible with regards to DC Health Codes** to accommodate everyone and regret that due to the events of today, we can no longer risk exposing our guests and staff to the potential hazards of substandard or inexperienced pet ownership.

Our purpose of writing is to explain this shift in policy and notify as much of the community as we can to prevent turning people away as a result of this shift.

This evening a 6-year old boy was bitten on the leg by a dog on our patio. A family was finishing their meal inside when the boy’s uncle went over to Filter for a coffee. On the patio, two women were sitting near the planters with their dog. Our pet policy up to this point has allowed guests with pets to sit around the edges of the patio, with the understanding that the pet needed to be outside the perimeter of the patio, marked by large planters. Inevitably, especially when food hits the table, some dogs creep past the planters and end up under the tables. This evening, two women had ordered their food, along with a hamburger to go that was brought out with the rest of the meal. They had cut up the burger and were feeding it to the dog under the table. The 6-year-old boy walked across the patio to meet his uncle at Filter, when the dog quickly became territorial, darted away from the table, and bit the boy on the leg.

The uncle carried the boy, who was bleeding, into the restaurant, where I (the General Manager) and the boy’s family took the boy into the office and administered necessary first aid. As the family was inside assessing the boy’s wound, his uncle went back to the patio to get contact information from the dog’s owners, and approached them as they were packing up their food to go.

Upon inquiring as to the ownership of the dog, one of the women said, “I’m so sorry. It’s a rescue dog that we got yesterday.”

As anyone who has been here can tell you, Brookland Pint strives for a family-friendly environment. We deeply regret the unfortunate circumstances of this evening, both that a child was subjected to an unsafe and traumatizing experience on our patio, and the obvious and immediate changes to our pet policy that must be made in response. We are also pet owners and understand the value that they bring our families. Unfortunately, we have no choice but to protect all of our guests and staff moving forward. The Pint staff did everything in their power to assist the boy and his family, to include providing first aid, a copy of the surveillance footage showing the incident, and an offer to release any and all relevant data to the police as needed.

We hope that you, as the community we serve, understand our need to take this incident very seriously. It is essential to us at Brookland Pint that we continue to offer a welcoming and, most importantly, safe atmosphere for our guests and staff alike.

If anyone has any questions regarding this new policy, please feel free to email me directly at [email protected].

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation with this new policy.

Drew Swift
General Manager
Brookland Pint

*ADA Requirements:
https://www.ada.gov/service_animals_2010.htm

**DC Health Codes § 3214:

http://doh.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/doh/publication/attachments/DC%20Register_Nov_30_2012_Final%20Rulemaking_DOH%20-%2025A%20DCMR%20-%20Food%20and%20Food%20Operationspdf.pdf“