The Top Pet-Friendly City and Runners-Up

by Kirsten Taylor (Subscribe to Kirsten Taylor's posts): Aug 18th 2009 @ 11:00AM Filed Under: Dogs, Cats, Photo Galleries

Spot and the City: San Francisco made the list for top pet-friendly city. Click the photo for more pet-friendly cities. Photo: akaporn/Flickr

New York City is the place to be for fashion, theater, fine dining -- and, it turns out, is also a pet-friendly city. The housing rental website Rent.com recently released a list of the top 10 pet-friendly cities in the U.S. The Big Apple takes the top spot, with cities from North, South, East and West rounding out the list.

Rent.com president Peggy Abkemeier told Paw Nation that her company combed through thousands of pet-friendly rental listings to find cities with a significant percentage of cat- and dog-friendly pads for rent. "Of the Rent.com listings in Charleston and Austin, 98 percent are pet-friendly," Abkemeier told Paw Nation. Next, she and her team looked at other pet criteria such aspublic parks, doggie daycares, pet-friendly restaurants and off-leash beaches.

Abkemeier said that these days, the rental climate is pretty welcoming to pet owners around the country. "In fact, 80 percent of our national inventory is pet-friendly," she added. And as property owners deal with vacancies linked to the economic downturn, some are becoming even more flexible in their pet policies, she said.

Unfortunately, not all landlords are as charmed by our four-legged friends as we are. Abkemeier offered some tips for sweet-talking a potential landlord and landing the perfect pad.

Ease landlords' worries by ensuring that your rental insurance will cover any pet-related damages.
Show landlords recommendations from your current landlord or neighbors who can vouch for your pet's good behavior.
Offer up written evidence of vaccinations and obedience training, so your potential landlord knows your dog is healthy and won't keep the neighbors up all night.
Introduce your potential landlord to your pet. Abkemeier says that landlords often bend the rules when they see how sweet and well-behaved your pooch or kitty is in person.

To make things easier for cat- and dog-lovers, Rent.com lets you search a list of more than 20,000 apartments and homes where pets are welcome, and not just in the cities that made the top-ten list.

Did your hometown make the list of the most pet-friendly cities? Take a look at the top ten, then let us know what the pet climate is like in your neighborhood!

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Top 10 Pet-Friendly Cities

New York City
Between winding trails and fenced dog parks, NYC's Central Park is the perfect pet hang-out. And pet daycare can be found in nearly every Big Apple neighborhood.

Corbis

Top 10 Pet-Friendly Cities

New York City
Between winding trails and fenced dog parks, NYC's Central Park is the perfect pet hang-out. And pet daycare can be found in nearly every Big Apple neighborhood.

Corbis

Chicago
Dogs are welcome on canine cruises at Chicago's Navy Pier, and the Windy City is home to a number of pet resorts, boarding kennels, and patio restaurants that welcome furry friends.

Getty Images

Boston
Pooches are welcome to tour Boston Harbor by boat, and cats and dogs are welcome to take the subway -- on leashes (or in carriers) only, please.

Photodisc

Houston
Local pet lovers praise Barnaby's Cafe, where pets aren't just welcome, they're given their own cardboard bowl to dine from with their owners grab a bite. Houston is also home to pet-friendly hotels and restaurants.

Photodisc

San Francisco
The city by the bay offers plenty of pet-friendly dining, off-leash beaches, and outdoor areas. Take your dog for a stroll across the Golden Gate Bridge -- or even bring him along on a cable-car ride!

Getty Images

Austin
Besides outdoor cafes and off-leash parks, Austin residents tout the Zilker Botanical Gardens and Congress Street Bats as great places for local dogs (and dog-owners).

Corbis

Washington (and its suburb Alexandria, Va.)
Both areas feature plenty of pet-friendly restaurants and parks

EyeWire

Portland, Ore.
The Lucky Labrador restaurant chain is famously pet-friendly. Pets are also invited to visit the Rose Gardens and Saturday outdoor market.

Corbis

Charleston
Bring your pet along on a walking tour of historic Charleston, whether it's a daytime stroll through Magnolia Plantation or a nighttime ghost tour of the city's haunted haunts.

jupiterimages

Ann Arbor
Pets are welcome to frolic in many of the city's outdoor spaces, including the Nichols Arboretum, a large botanical garden at the University of Michigan

University of Michigan

Source

Tags: Alexandria, Ann-Arbor, apartments, Austin, Boston, Charleston, Chicago, Houston, New-York, pet friendly city, pet-friendly, PetFriendlyCity, pets, Portland, rent, San-Francisco, top-ten, Washington-DC