Recent shopping experience

  On Thursday, I went to Belk to pick out a gift. While still in the parking lot, I seen two ladies carrying their dogs into the store. My first thought was why are they taking a dog into the store and my second thought is that they are not going to get far before one of the employees tells them that they can not have pets in the store. I am a dog lover but I do not feel that a shopping store such as Belk is a place for a pet. Please note these dogs where not service dogs. I went in and found my way to the home department which was located upstairs and toward the back of the store, passing several employees who all greeted me. When I made it to the home department I noticed the two ladies with the dogs had also made it to the home department. This had me thinking that they had to have passed the same numerous employees as I had. So I was wondering why they were still able to be in the store with their pets. I went on and started doing my shopping temporarily forgetting about the dogs. I had probably been shopping for 15 minutes when I passed by them again, this time they were talking to an employee. As I went by I could somewhat hear the conversation and the group was talking about how they were doing and how the dogs were. Clearly they knew each other and from the looks of the situation the two dog owners had just come to talk to the employee. My concern is why these two dog owners were allowed to bring their pets into the store. Was it only because they knew an employee? Does Belk not have any regulations on pets? Next time I'm in Belk, could I bring my dog? Having dogs in a store can cause serious issues, from damaging products to hurting customers. I just do not think a company such as Belk would risk that to accommodate pet owners.