Finding a great coffee can be challenging enough. Finding one at a café that welcomes friends of the four-legged variety? Not always easy.

Dog-lovers in leafy Mitcham don’t need to fret. Little Jade Dog Café is so welcoming of pooches it even has dog-themed deliciousness on its menu. Here, the Big Breakfast is known as the Great Dane. Then there’s the Afghan Antipasto and the Toto Tortilla. If your pet resting under the table wants more than just tidbits from human plates, they can wag their tails over their own specials, including pig’s ears and chicken necks.

In the west, Footscray’s Dancing Dog Café must be in the running, paws-down, for the doggone-friendliest café in town. The courtyard has room for 30 people (and their dogs) – and all away from the perils of kerbside traffic.
The menu’s wholesomely simple – warmly toasted jaffles, pides and a selection of dips and salads, plus the old-school comfort of Devonshire Tea. Their canine affection is genuine, even the website features a pictorial gallery of recent furry visitors and even a ‘Dog Of The Month’. Dancing, drumming, yoga and art exhibitions also inhabit the space.

Their name almost has the word ‘puppy’ in it and North Melbourne’s Hot Poppy Café is just as people-friendly, with attentive staff delivering Gravity coffee, seasonal fresh-squeezed juices and free-range eggs as part of their food fare.

But if breakfast and lunch just aren’t enough, take Fido to dinner. It’s possible at Prahran’s Flying Duck Hotel on Mad Dog Mondays and the pub-style beef burgers and generous parmas will have punters begging for more.
 
Little Jade Dog Café
22 Britannia Mall, Mitcham 3132
T: 03 9873 7169
 
Dancing Dog Cafe
42A Albert Street, Footscray 3011
T: 03 9689 2566
 
The Hot Poppy Café Bar
9 Errol Street, North Melbourne 3051
T: 03 9326 9299
 
Flying Duck Hotel
67 Bendigo St, Prahran
Phone – 03 9510 1173