Dog Blog - Dog Product Reviews

Men’s Health magazine recently ranked 50 American cities based on how dog-friendly they are. They ranked these major cities based on the following 8 criteria:

1. Percentage of households that own dogs

2. Number of dog parks

3. Number of pet supply stores per capita

4. Number of animal shelters per capita

5. Number of dog boarding or daycare facilities

6. Number of veterinarians

7. Number of heartworm cases. Lowest incidence of heartworm sored highest. (Does anyone else think this is a bit off the wall?)

8. As a tie-breaker, how severely the local laws punish animal cruelty and dog fighting.

And guess what? Nine of the top 10 cities for dogs are in the West. Why? Part of it may be room to roam, which means more and bigger yards, more dog parks, etc. But it seems that people in the West just own more dogs. But I’m not going to leave you hanging. Here are the top 10:

1. Colorado Springs

2. Portland

3. Albuquerque

4. Tucson

5. Seattle

6. Denver

7. Austin

8. San Fransisco

9. Tampa

10. Sacramento

DogFancy also does a DogTown USA feature each year, in which they name the Best All-Around City for Dogs in America. The 2006 winner? Portland, OR (#2 on the Men’s Health list). Runners-up were Sanford (FL), Albuquerque, San Diego, Bellingham (WA), Palo Alto (CA), and New York.