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Charlottesville is one of the most dog-friendly towns in which I’ve lived. I’m completely charmed by all the dogs I see on the mall and love the fact that so many local businesses welcome mine when I’m shopping. Sometimes I wonder if the businesses on the Downtown Mall might benefit from using the dog-friendly stickers that businesses at Stony Point Fashion Park in Richmond use to show that dogs are welcome to come in with their owners…it might make it easier to know where my pup is welcome and where he isn’t. Until such a thing is in place, I’ll only let my dog into that Dog & Horse Lovers Boutique and assume other stores are off limits.
What are your favorite places to go in town with your dog? Are you a Darden Towe regular or are you more likely to be found at Azalea Park? Are you a Sammy Snacks devotee, a PetSmart fan, or are you going the Animal Connections route and feeding raw while doing Reiki sessions with your dog?
Who are the dogs of the cvillains? Where do they shop, eat, and have fun? Who is giving them the best service in town?
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Tagged as: Charlottesville, Raves
Brownie points to anyone who can spot the musical reference in my entry.
People at Darden Towe swear up and down that the dogs at Azalea are less friendly. I haven’t found this to be true at all. The dog park at Darden is a little nicer and cleaner, but we love the swimming hole at Azalea, although I don’t think the water is as clean as the river. We spend more time at Azalea, cause it’s closer and that’s where our kickball matches are.
My dog is awesome, but he knows it and tries to pick fights with the other dogs to show them just how much ass he kicks, which other dog owners tend not to like — so hitting the dog parks are an adventure.
Usually if there are no other alpha dogs, everything is cool. Often not the case, so the dog park out in Fluvanna (which is closer to me anyway) which is less populated is where I usually go.
I appreciate that so many businesses here accommodate dogs, at least to an extent. The bowls of water that are placed on the mall, and the ability to have my dog join me in the patio seating areas, is one more reason for me to frequent mall businesses. I know that health department regulations frown upon bringing them inside restaurants, however.
Animal Connection has some good naturopathic products for dogs. The collars and accessories seem a bit twee for my “sporting dog” however. Pet Food Discounters and Pet Supplies Plus are my top two retail establishments.
The Darden Towe off-leash park is my favorite too, but, living in Woolen Mills, I usually take the mintypup to Riverview Park. In practice, the leash rules are much less restrictive than what is posted, except in the summertime when a CVPD motorcycle cop will cruise the walking path looking for scofflaws. I also go to the cemetery on Chesapeake Street, on top of the bluff! It’s posted “No Dogs”, but at night there is no one there who can’t keep a secret. I like cruising the neighborhoods around downtown too, although I have found (or rather, my dog has found) that there is a ton of discarded food/trash strewn across our city.
TheUpstart, Iggy Pop had a song called “In Dogtown” on his Brick by Brick album a million years ago. But I doubt that’s what you’re alluding to?
See how awesome my dog is:
http://www.petfinder.com/fotos/VA125/VA125.6127046-1-x.jpg
http://www.petfinder.com/fotos/VA125/VA125.6127046-2-x.jpg
http://www.petfinder.com/fotos/VA125/VA125.6127046-3-x.jpg
I assume we can’t post pictures.. and where is my preview button? Hope those auto-hyperlink at least.
Thank you, Upstart, great thread.
If it wasn’t for the influence of a few who live nearby, Riverview Park would be the dog epi-center in this town, but they got the leash law passed against overwhelming opposition. A friend and I *ahhemm* two friends of mine conducted a late-night phony-flier protest that resulted in a front page Progress story complete with calls for prosecution from some high-ranking City officials, and opinions from Mayor, Chief of Police, Commonwealth’s Attorney, etc.. Oh well..
Azalea Park was great before they re-did it, and when they did all the dogs moved to Riverview as the City made no accommodation for them. Before that, on a nice afternoon you might see 30-50 or more dogs there at once.
Businesses on the mall are great for letting pups on the patio, and my dog had a long-standing tradition of hanging out in the stairwell at South Street. Lowe’s is very dog-friendly as well, and they’re free to go anywhere in the store.
“Observatory Hill”, my doggy just barked at me. Ah yes, park near the top and circle around on the bike trails (UVa has no leash law for Grounds I’ve been told)
Sugar Hollow is a favorite spot as well. As is anywhere on the Greenbelt
I took my pooch to All Things Pawsible for training and they were great - my dog gets really weird around other dogs so we’ve had problems at the dog parks and the folks who taught the Obedience 101 class were very accomodating and encourgaing.
I’m a huge fan of the food at Sammy Snacks but I buy my other dog stuff at Pet Food Discounters - the one on 5th St has the sweetest grey pit bull.
Chad, your dog is gorgeous!
UpPup loves Sammy Snacks food and treats. The girl who works there every Saturday is super cool, too. We buy a lot from Pet Food Discounters and sometimes from Pet Supplies Plus, which I only recently found out was a chain, albeit a smaller chain that PetSmart. I’ve found Animal Connection a little over the top with their suggestions and for a large store, they don’t seem to have many things in the store.
We did obedience classes at All Things Pawsible, but I was a little grossed out by all the hot dogs we were using. I didn’t like the idea of giving UpPup all that junk that’s in hot dogs. We also didn’t learn much there. It seems like the classes are really catered to the problem dog. I wanted to to be pushed to learn something new.
I can’t believe I forgot to ask about vets in my original post! We are big fans of Old Dominion Animal Hospital. One of our favorite vets in on maternity leave right now, but we’re seeing Dr. Lyman now and she’s been fantastic!
I second the endorsement of Old Dominion Animal Hospital. We just switched to them after our former vet merged with another hospital and the whole operation went to hell. Dr. Lyman and the other vets at O.D. have been great and have gone the extra mile for our two geriatric mutts.
My dog is equally bad-ass and likes to show it to other dogs, so we avoid the dog parks as well. Chad - your dog looks like he has a little chow and Shepherd in him, like my dog - I’ve always thought those two breeds might be bringing out the fiestiness (is that even a word?) in him…
Two doggy recommendations - Petsmart groomers and Dr. Hay at Airport Animal Hospital. Both of these places are not cloes to where I live, but definitely worth the trip in my opinion. Petsmart’s groomers are some of the nicest women, and you just can’t beat their prices. We’ve been to a couple places in town with our guy, and I think he gets the best cut for the best price at Petsmart. Dr. Hay is also awesome - and very reasonable. We started at Old Dominion when we rescued our dog, and he had some seperation anxiety issues. We tried a lot of behavioral stuff to get him through it, but nothing seemed to work. I’d read about some meds that we could try and talked to O.D. about it - but they wouldn’t prescribe them without having us go through a $120 evaluation with their behaviorist. Yikes! This was after 2 trips to the vet in a month and a lot of behavioral work and training on our own. Karen at All Things Pawsible recommended Dr. Hay, and he did a 30 minute evualation with us, prescribed the meds, and the rest is history - his problems went away, and we’ve since taken him off the drugs. Depending on the type of visit, Dr. Hay often charges about half of what O.D. charged, and he always spends a lot ot time with us - definitely very caring with our dog. Not saying O.D. was bad - I’m just a little concerned that their heart wasn’t in the right place…
I’ve been using Dr.s Bray and McCall, etc. at the Animal Medical Center in Pantops Shopping Center for about 12 years now, and am very happy. I just wish they would make more of the surfaces (floor, scales, examining tables) non-skid. It may take a little longer to clean up, but it’d be a lot easier on the doggies.
fuzzy: yeah, that’s what he is, chow/shepherd mix. sheds *everywhere*.
my dog would kick your dog’s ass. actually, i doubt that. she’d probably roll over on her back and expose herself. Typical.
All Things Pawsible is great, despite the terribly silly name.
My favorite place to take the pooch is Va National Bank downtown. That is the best example of small town customer service, they know your name and keep dog treats at their desk.
My other contribution is etsy.com for fun collars. It’s a portal for independent sellers (clothes, art, etc etc) that is great. I just received a collar and LOVE it. The lady I bought from is lucky fiona:
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5179515
I love etsy, but never thought to look for dog stuff on there! Thanks for the tip.
The work talk gives me another question to ask. Who works in a dog-friendly office?
I do, but my dog needs a haircut before I’d even consider bringing him in ..
We like the Dirty Dog Dogwash–a DIY dog washing place. We used to go to Riverview Park a lot before they enacted the leash law. Now we stick to Belmont Park which is very popular with dog walkers. Years ago, my husband would walk our dog Luna down to Escafe on Sunday nights and sit out on the patio and listen to the Hogwaller Ramblers. I wonder if Escafe is still dog friendly.
Is Luna a husky type big white dog, Patience? Did you used to take her to Piedmont from time to time? Or do I have the wrong Luna?
I think you have the wrong Luna. Ours is a white hound/yellow lab mix. We’ve discovered that there are several white dogs named Luna in Charlottesville. And we thought we were so clever in naming her that!
Patience :I guess it’s so when you de-parasite her, you have the chortalicious prospect of declaring ‘ Look it’s a Luna tick’
I know someone who uses Dirty Dogs…I’m not sure the UpPup would go for it…I have to use these leash things that have suction cups on them to keep him in the tub. I have images of docile pups getting baths at Dirty Dogs and that isn’t really my dog’s M.O.
I think all the patios on the mall are dog-friendly.
Anyone know if Caspari is dog-friendly? They carry dog stuff, but even though UpPup is well behaved in stores, I’m afraid to take him in there.