"Bardo" at the Bar

December 22, 2007

Can I Get a Drink or What?

The other night Steve and I went to this pub to have a beer. For those of you who have read my blog called, "Dogs are Like People Here", you know that it is not uncommon for Germans to bring their dogs into stores, restaurants, or even bars. So when Steve and I saw a dog in this particular pub, we really weren't all that surprised.

While we were drinking our beers, we watched the dog begin to walk from bar stool to bar stool. Since most of the dogs we've seen in Germany so far don't normally wander around, we found this to be somewhat odd. Though the dog was quite friendly and even came over to greet us, we found it peculiar that the owner was allowing him to roam around wherever he wanted.

Bardo Taking a Nap After His Brew

As we continued watching the dog, intrigued by what he was going to do next, we saw something you would not believe. The dog actually crawled through the legs of the people sitting at the bar until he found an open spot. From there, he stood up on his hind legs and rested his front paws on the bar. He looked at the bartender as if he was ready to order a drink. To our great dismay, no one said anything, no one looked surprised, and the bartender just looked at him and shook her head as if to say, "No, I'm not giving you a beer". Steve and I just stared at each other in disbelief.

Clearly upset, the dog walked to the corner of the bar and began kicking something around. He was mad and he was letting everyone know it! The dog's owner finally walked over to him and picked up a dog dish. He smiled and said to us, "He's crabby because he hasn't had his beer yet tonight." At first we thought he was joking until he brought the dog dish up to the bar. Sure enough, the bartender filled half of the dish up with water and the rest of it with beer.

As soon as the owner put the dog dish in front of him, he went crazy. He drank it so fast you would have thought he hadn't had water in a week. He licked every last drop out of the bowl and as soon as it was gone, he looked up at the owner to see if he was going to pour him another one. Disappointed that he wasn't getting any more, he laid down and finally took a nap!

Awhile later the owner and the dog were about to leave when we saw him hand the dog dish to the bartender. It finally dawned on us that the dog was a "regular" at the pub! This is why no one found it strange when he stood up at the bar. It also explained why the owner let him wander around the whole time we were there.

As the dog was leaving, we found out that his name was "Bardo". We struck up a conversation with his owner and he informed us that Bardo loves beer but will only drink German beer. Furthermore, he said that Bardo will only drink two kinds of German beer...Reissdorf and Gaffel. He told us that if he tries to give him any other kind, he won't drink it. Now I have heard of dogs being picky about certain brands of dog food, but beer...now that's just crazy!