Florida Today reports that Cocoa Beach could become the first beachside community in Brevard County, Florida, to allow restaurant patrons to bring their dogs to dinner (instead of leaving them outside in the rain, left).

Tonya Morgan, general manager at The Surf, which brought the request for the ordinance before the commission, said, "We thought that dogs were allowed on the patio. We never realized that we were breaking the law.”

Morgan said they wanted to legally do what they had already been doing at the request of customers, who come to the restaurant patio area with their dogs.

The commission voted 4-1 in favor of the measure. Councilman Ken Griffin, the lone dissenter, said, "I oppose this. I wasn’t raised up eating with dogs."

Doggie dining has pros and cons. The Florida state guidelines seem like a reasonable compromise.