The idea of 'Pet Friendly Guarda' (pet friendly) came from Jó Andrade, a nurse by profession who two years ago decided to adopt Kira, a dog from the municipal kennel.

He soon realized that there was almost nowhere in the city where the family could be with their new companion.

"We started challenging friends to ask about places where she could enter when we were walking and the idea arose to create a movement on Facebook to identify the places where we could go with pets. Soon after, we thought of a way to identify the spaces differently," Jó Andrade told Lusa.

To this end, a sticker was created to be placed at the entrances of the establishments: "It is our award. It is the symbol that identifies the places where our 'pets' are welcome. It is very visible, you can see from the outside if animals can enter".

The blue sticker has a paw drawn with the inscription 'Pet Friendly Guarda'.

Jó Andrade acknowledged that until he adopted Kira he was not aware of the issue.

"It was all new to us. We realized that there were some places like shopping centers in other parts of the country where animals were already welcome," he said.

The movement's coordinator argued that "having a city open to pets is halfway to telling people that adopting an animal will not disrupt their lives."

Jó Andrade admitted that he believes that the initiative can also be an incentive for full adoption, because after all, you can take the animal everywhere.

In this dynamic, the project's mentor only pointed out that the owners must be aware of the animals they have: "It is not because the establishments allow the entry of animals that we can bring any animal. It is always the responsibility of whether or not to enter with your animal at that location. We have to know them to know if they will behave with dignity or not," he stressed.

Currently, more than 30 spaces are identified, including beauty centers, clothing stores, barbershops, cafés, pastry shops, accessory and decoration stores, and even a restaurant.

The project has also allowed for greater dissemination of places where animals have been allowed to enter for several years. This is the case of Old Piano Café, by Daniel Margarido and Katy Spikes, which has been welcoming animals since 2020 and was recently distinguished with the sticker.

"We opened in 2019 and immediately became 'pet friendly' as soon as the law allowed it. We have a community of customers who have animals and often come. On Fridays it's always a party," said Daniel Margarido.

Jó Andrade's idea also contributed to some establishments exchanging the sticker that prohibited the entry of animals with the 'Pet Friendly' one.

One of the examples is the Donjuan barbershop, where employee Filipe Soares de Oliveira liked the change and sees "no harm" in having animals around.

"We've had customers come in with animals and it's been peaceful," he said.

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