In barbershops, dogs are often as familiar a sight as car magazines. But last year, a state law in Ohio banned dogs from hair salons of any kind.
Then a Cleveland-area newspaper ran a story about Franklin the Basset Hound, who had been shunned from his regular gig greeting customers at Matt’s Barber Shop in Canal Fulton, Ohio, by a state inspector for the Ohio State Barber Board.
Franklin’s owner, Matt Schwendiman, told the Associated Press that after 10 months of unemployment, the four-year-old dog wasn’t happy. “He scratched my window sills up,” Schwendiman said. “When I’d leave, he would look out the window. He wanted to go to the barbershop.”
After the article appeared in a local newspaper, rules were changed to allow one animal per barbershop as long as the dog belongs to the shop’s owner, a vet attests to the animal’s health, and the owner obtains liability insurance.
“He’s a great dog,” said Schwendiman. “I haven’t met anyone who comes in here who doesn’t like Franklin. He just gets along with everybody.”