Dog sign in bunny book

These are excerpts from a book¹ I sometimes read to my daughter. The anthropomorphic bunny goes on various kinds of everyday adventures and in this book they are visiting a shopping mall. What caught my attention was the "no dogs allowed" sign² next to the escalator. First of all, what we see is the classical version of such a sign with a red "X" over a generic terrier picture. Not quite a silhouette, but close in simplicity.

The sign is not quite consistent in the drawings, but do note the classical passive stance and a collar on the dog, suggesting that the sign is targeting pet dogs. Indeed, as the story evolves it is explained to the protagonist that the escalators are not for animals, and that our bunny will have to be held by an adult while using them, much to the bunny's pleasure.

I find this an interesting example of the locational context affecting the meaning of a sign. Many dog signs tend to target either generic forbidding of dogs from an area, asking for owners to curb after their dogs or not urinating on specific objects, or warning people of a potentially dangerous animal. In this setting, placed next to the escalator, the sign is instead turned into a warning about a possibly dangerous situation for the dog! In this context it then comes also clear why the sign that is ostensibly targeted at dogs would apply also for a bunny - the aim is to keep the animal safer from the potential hazards of an escalator mechanism.