Laws - really?

brought my lovely companion dog Pema with me into a local shopping centre today to test the NSW law that this is 'not prohibited' (i.e. 'legal') if I'm on the way to a pet shop, vet or similar establishment. What an amazing response we had. As I sat on a bench with Pema lying at my feet, people wanted to pet and chat to her, but between this socialising, one shop attendant told me he would be fined if the dog was there. I tried to enlighten him on legal-ease, but he was not to be enlightened. Pointing to the 'no dogs' sign on the door, he raved. Security was called. They were willing to be enlightened a bit. I invited them to call the police. Shortly later, a cop walked by, glanced over and went on his way. Pema was bored and fast asleep by this time. The 'no dog' sign appears to be a blatant violation of law. If it was REALLY about DOGS, then assistance and guide dogs would be prohibited too! Let me just say it was a quiet time at the shopping centre. Pema was on a short lead, our presence would have caused no impact had shopkeeper not gone off his face. Even then, our impact was minimal. The outcome is: the owner of the shop we were going to now understands the law (as written) and will have a chat to the off-his-face cafe person - and next time we will have an assistance dog with us AND the media.