Thanks terri!

Great topic. I will check it out.

I wish I had some pet friendly suggestions but haven't found any travel destinations to be particularly pet friendly in general. Everywhere I've wanted to go pretty much treats you like a second class citizen when you have dogs with you and it's challenging to get away or do anything. I've managed work on the whole logistic part though and find it fairly easy to travel with them but not whole lot of places to go other than campgrounds. Which can be enjoyable, don't get me wrong but it's not the same as staying in a hotel in a city somewhere.

We travel with two Welsh Corgis. The real question is hotels/motels that will accept pets. Our two favorites are La Quinta and Days Inn. Both are very pet friendly.

Carmel, California. Because of Doris Day's influence, shops up and down the streets have water bowls and biscuits set out, fancy hotels allow dogs in the rooms, and some restaurants are dog-friendly. It's a very pretty little town with beautiful weather and cute shops.

The best part is that you can park down at the end of town and take your dogs directly on the beach! They can frolic away with the other dogs there and people are very good about cleaning up after them. If we could afford to live in Carmel, we would.

How do you get to CA from the east coast with 2 dogs? As far as I know there's only two ways. 1.)By car and 2.) By conestoga wagon. My dogs are not all that tolerant of being cooped up in a car for 4 or 5 days straight.

And tx red head, the lodging actually isn't that big of a deal. There's also many nicer 3-5 star hotels you can stay at, practically the entire starwood chain and some marriotts.
Only what then do you do. What ACTIVITIES are there that you can do? That is the tough part. If there are no activities that you can take your dogs then are there places or lodging that offers pet sitting? If you want to go out to dinner, somewhere other than a sidewalk cafe, then can a service watch your dogs? And the answer to that is no unless you eat real early and pick up your dogs in time for closing.

We went to Breckenridge, Colorado this summer, and it is hands down the most dog-friendly town that I have ever been to. Dogs allowed in many of the stores, lots of pet-friendly condos, beautiful weather, and lots of great hiking that dogs and their owners can enjoy. The great thing about Breckenridge is that even though there are of course places that dogs are not allowed, there is so much to do outside both in town and in the surrounding mountains, that you shouldn't ever have to leave your dog for long. We really wished that we could have brought our pup with us, but she's a little too big to fit under the airplane seat!

We RV with 3 dogs and only go where Dogs can go. Which can be pretty limiting.

We do have reservation's at a La Quinta soon which allows dogs.

Fort Myers, Florida has a beach that is specifically for dogs..."Dog Beach"..(ok..ok...not so creative a name!!)but.. the dogs have a great time romping in the surf of the Gulf!

Ah maybe that's what we'll do. You know last time I was in CO, I was there in the summer and swore I'd never again visit a winter destination in the summer but I did enjoy it a lot. I was in Aspen which isn't far from breckenridge. It was a great trip even though it was a really bad heat wave. It would take about a day and a half to drive to either there or Traverse City. I suspect colorado might be a bigger change in scenery but maybe I can get both in there next summer.

Jackson Hole Wyoming is very dog friendly, at least in ski season. A couple of bars in town will allow them inside, by the front door, if they are good. The Million Dollar Cowboy bar did, and a couple of others. They also allowed dogs on the ski lifts, but maybe not the gondola. Many many dogs were out on the porch of the Mangy Moose Lodge- they couldn't go in but nobody minded a bunch of dogs playing in the snow while waiting for Mom and Dad to return.

Austria was VERY dog friendly. You could have your well-behaved dog in a 4-star restaurant, but not your screaming child. My kind of place!

In the off-season, many beaches in NC allow dogs. They are supposed to be on leash, but nobody complains if they are not. Some also allow dogs during the summer, but those are getting more and more difficult to find.

My town is pretty dog-friendly - South Redondo beach/Torrance Beach area. There's a doggy water fountain at Miramar park in front of the beach. Many Riviera Village shops allow dogs, and a few put out water bowls. You can have your dog outside all the Village restaurants with outdoor seating (about 7). And of course

Alas, the area has no beaches open to dogs. Del Mar in San Diego County has a few dog-friendly beaches. (Leash and off-leash).

We've taken the short one along on a Tucson trip a couple years ago. I found a couple of B&Bs that advertised themselves as dog-friendly. I chose one that had a little gated detached casita available. (The casita was inside the walled compound of the B&B). We were able to leave the wee one in the casita while we were at dinner.

But I have to say, there were some hiking trails that didn't allow dogs because of the animals they might scare off. I found that amusing, because, sheesh, wouldn't all the human hikers scare off the wildlife? LOL.

Also, the trails we did use were treacherous for dogs because Tucson's natural flora is all prickly pear and other cacti. The wee one had to stay close to the middle of trails or else get pricklys stuck on his widdle paws. Ouch!

We're staying in Salt Lake City right now, and have found two excellent parks, and heard of a few others. One is Millrace Park, in the suburb of Taylorville. (Just off I-215, exit 13/Redwood Rd.) There is a walking trail that runs next to a creek (they are allowed to swim-but are supposed to be on lead), large field, a fenced-in offleash area with a human walking track, faux hydrants, shaded areas with seating, water fountain, poobag dispensers, and tunnels.

The other (and the better of the two, definitely) is Tanner Park. The offleash area is excellent, with a hiking-type trail. I'd recommend you bring a backpack with a few snacks and lots of water - you'll want to spend the entire afternoon. This park is more natural in the sense that they don't have the tunnels and such, but just poobag dispensers and collection containers. For the outdoors-y dog, I haven't found a better place.

We haven't tried taking him out to eat... we're in an extended-stay place and just buy and cook our own groceries.

Found this list of eateries, not many though :(
Atlantic Cafe & Market -325 S Main St. Salt Lake City
Cafe Pierpont -122 West Pierpont Avenue Salt Lake City
Rubios Baja Grille -358 S 700 E, Suite F Salt Lake City
Rubios Baja Grille -1160 E 2100 S Salt Lake City
Wild Oats Natural Marketplace -645 E 400 South Salt Lake City

Correction: Tanner Park is on-leash... we were in Parley's Gulch and Millcreek Canyon. (subdivision of Tanner Park, all [I think] are in the Wasatch-Cache National Forest.)

Camping is always a good bet with dogs. The majority of campgrounds allow dogs. But check first before you go. Many people (us!) camp almost exclusively because of their doggie-friends.

I do know Pennsylvania state parks do not allow dogs.

I have found a very few cranky campgrounds that either do not allow dogs at all. (duh, that is the reason many people camp - what are they thinking...)
Or they charge an extra $25 to allow you to bring your dog with.

Most (nearly all) campgrounds have a leash rule and enforce problems with barking.

Dog Beach San Diego is my fav spot. Great off-leash beach. The folks from my local off leash park do an annual trip together, so all our guys have there buddies!

Dog Beach - Ocean Beach

Located in northern Ocean Beach, Dog Beach is the original dog beach and one of the most popular places to take your dog. This beach area is located at the west end of the San Diego River Floodway, also known as the Ocean Beach Flood Control Channel. With a wide swath of sand and the Pacific surf to roll in, Dog Beach is a special place to bring your mutt, or just to come and watch dogs be dogs in the surf and sand. Open 24 hours.

There's an off-leash dog beach in Huntington Beach, CA, as well. I don't have a dog myself, but I enjoy riding my bike along the path and seeing the dogs romping in the surf and playing with each other. It's a good mile of beach or so.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dog Beach

I cant figure out how to email garysgirl about staying in breckenridge, CO. I'm going there for vacation in January and trying to find a ski in/ski out place that allows dogs.
please email me if anyone knows of any places that takes pets... hggolfrep@yahoo.com

Try dogfriendly.com The navigation is pretty frustrating but the site is very helpful. Also be sure to check the starwood chains (starwood.com) as most of their hotels allow dogs.

Hello again, looking for a summer vacation spot again. Does anyone have any more spots hey want to add to the list? I am thinking, renting a motor home & traveling a little might be a great way to go. Any recommendations on this idea? Thanks, Terri

One of our best vacations was with both of our Shar Pei's in Oregon, on the coast. This is a great vacation site, there is shopping in Newport as well as many, many coastal sites and sounds to enjoy. You can go whale watching, seal and sea lion watching, and many sea and wildlife parks right there in town.

We found a great website (below) that has many houses to rent right on the coast up to the water with your pets. We found a lovely 2 bedroom furnished home for $80 per night!!!! It has a fenced yard and the dogs were welcomed in the house as well.

I have to say, even my kids absolutely loved this vacation, it was the WHOLE family, no worrying about our loved ones back home in a kennel.

g

Here is a link that might be useful: Pet Friendly Vacation Homes Newport Oregon

Hi,

We found some great pet friendly camp grounds through dogtrip101. We especially liked Ash Grove in the North Carolina mountains! Just beautiful!

Stefan

Here is a link that might be useful: Pet Friendly Travel Directory

Can anyone recommend any dog-friendly accomodations on or around Cape Cod? We have one Cavalier King Charles Spaniel who we would love to take with us.

Oh, hi mckitty. We travel with our pups all the time and sometimes it is such a bust. Have to face it that some people just do not like dogs...
So much more help now with the internet 'pet friendly' help i have found, and i try to help also.
We travel to Newfoundland once, sometimes twice a year so we often take a side trip.

Cruise through tripadvisor using 'pet friendly' key words.
I'll add a link. (that has another link)

We did not have much luck traveling through the Cape but we winged it last minute. We really need off-leash running to burn off steam. But overall it is very pet friendly just about everywhere on a leash. Off season would be much better.
The SeaShell motel is my kind of place being right on the water. I've read PTown has a dog park and water fountains for them in many places.

Here is a link that might be useful: pet friendly hotels

DH and I spent a few days at Gunflint Lodge, way up in NE Minnesota, with our Corgi. Not only is the resort pet-friendly, they have specific dog-lovers weekends.

We weren't there for a dog lover's weekend, but our dog joined us when we ate meals on the patio, and went canoeing and hiking with us. He had a wonderful time!

Looks like most of the posts here are from the coasts, and it's a long trip, but it's a wonderful part of the country to visit.

Here is a link that might be useful: Gunflint Lodge