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Five reasons to love visiting Rome with a dog

This is a guest post by Helen Asquine Fazio, the blogger behind Travels with My Dog: Observations on the Global Scene. Helen is a writer and a Shih Tzu specialist and Raja is a traveler and a Shih Tzu himself. Helen’s business travels give Raja lots of opportunities for adventures far, far away. Their blog gives practical and fun advice about pet travel destinations near and far.

Raja at the Arch of Constantine

If you want to have fun with your dog in Italy, take him to Rome.  Why?

Rome is a perfect city plan for urban dog visitors:

First, piazzas stop the momentum of the streets and many small parks and fountains refresh and invite visitors to linger.  Walking a dog in Rome is not a linear activity, but an extended meander from spot to spot to browse and sniff, people watch and relax. There is always a cool fountain behind a low wall or a flight of shady steps to sit on if you want to rest your feet and paws.  Public water fountains are everywhere and, while we always suggest bottled water for dogs when traveling, the public water is potable and cool.  Raja recommends the shallow Baraccia Fountain to dip hot paws.

Second: Rome’s cafes always welcome your dog to sit with you while you have a chic meal alfresco- and many restaurants allow your dog inside too.  Winter never becomes too cold in Rome and all cafes keep patrons warm in cooler weather with heat lamps, so outside dining is always comfortable for you and your pup.  And yes, all cafés will cook up something for your dog.  Why not?  Raja likes pasta, so he’s very easy to please.  And his favorite piazza is the Piazza Navona.  You get Bernini, pasta and a heat lamp all at once!

Raja and Helen in a Roman café

Third: Hadrian’s Column, the Trevi Fountain, the Via Veneto, the Spanish Steps and so very many more antiquities and treasured landmarks are close up and personal.  You dog can visit them all with you without any admission tickets or special permissions.  Museum walls don’t separate you from Raphael, Bernini, and Michelangelo when you go for a walk in Rome.  Raja loves to hang around the Piazza San Pietro, the great circular atrium of the Vatican City. And he’s welcome there too.

Raja and Helen at the Vatican, outside St. Peter's

Fourth: Dogs have always lived in Rome.  The famous Lupo Italiano is an Italian dog/wolf hybrid supposedly created in 1966, but sculptures in the Vatican Museum suggest the Lupo is an older cross.   An entire room of the Vatican museum is filled with antique sculptures of pet dogs.  The Lupo and other large dogs are Roman favorites. In early evening, the dogs of Rome come out strolling, often off leash. Do they walk in traffic, no of course not. The dogs of Rome know better.  Rome’s streets are free of trash, but gritty as in any big city, so a small dog does best being carried through the dusty parts.

Fifth:  Romans do not appear to get overly excited about dogs.  Most hotels welcome them as a matter of course. And, while Romans don’t coo over your dog the way the French and the New Yorkers do, they accept your dog as your companion in shops and on subways without fuss or comment.  But just start up a conversation and you will discover that many cafés have a hard working dog in the kitchen making sure everything comes out on time and, with very little provocation, many Romans will show you their dogs’ photos on their cell phones.

Raja agrees that Rome’s one of the best cities for dog visitors in the world.  He’s hoping to get back there next spring and maybe he’ll see you there too!

A short list of dog-friendly Paris hotels

Hôtel des Deux-Iles

In my first post about going to Paris with a dog, I told you that we’d be renting an apartment for our visit this fall and recommended that you do too. It occured to me, though, that maybe you could use a short list of dog-friendly Paris hotels, so I got to work.

If I were starting from scratch, I’d use TripAdvisor (click on “Europe” on the map, click on “Paris” on the list of “Top Europe destinations,” click on “Paris Hotels” in the left column, and then use the resulting left column to narrow down by neighborhood, price and “Pet-friendly”). Even though I wasn’t starting from scratch, I used TripAdvisor reviews to narrow down my choices, all culled from articles and business cards I’ve stuffed into my Paris file over the years. I ended up with a list of eighteen hotels that I’ve divided into five rough categories (Budget, 2-star, 3-star, Fabulous, Stratospheric). Here’s an article that explains the differences between French 2-star and 3-star hotels.

Please keep in mind that you will enjoy your Paris hotel experience best if you come to it with low expectations! The top hotels on this list would thrill anyone, but who can afford them? Any hotel that is even marginally affordable (the 3-star hotels) will certainly have small — even tiny — rooms and bathrooms. The elevator will be extraordinarily small, and may not go past the fifth floor. The shower may be via a handheld nozzle, and the water pressure will likely be unreliable. Towels may not be plush. Walls will be thin. The front desk will not be obliging, especially if you get your knickers in a twist. And 2-star and budget hotels will be even more so.

The fact is, you’re in Paris, which is an ancient, crowded, desirable, much-visited city. If you remind yourself that all Parisian hotels in your price range are like the one you’re in, you won’t yearn after a better room somewhere else — and you may find yourself enjoying the tiny, funky charm of your choice. Plus, heck, it’s Paris — you’ll just be in your room to sleep anyway, and you’ll be so tired from having fun all day that you won’t mind any negatives you encounter!

3-star hotels

Hôtel du Jeu de Paume (Ile St. Louis) — Like l’Hôtel des Deux-Iles (below), this hotel could not be more perfectly located. There is a charge of 10€/day for visiting dogs.

Hôtel des Deux-Iles (Ile St. Louis) — A bit less expensive than its neighbor. “Nous acceptons les petits animaux s’ils ne sont pas bruillants et s’il sont propres.”

Hôtel de la Bretonnerie (4ème/Marais)

Hôtel des Grandes Ecoles (5ème/Latin Quarter)

Hôtel le Saint Gregoire (6ème/between Saint-Germain-des-Prés and Montparnasse)

L’Hôtel (6ème/St. Germain-des-Prés) “Suite à votre demande, je vous confirme que vous pouvez visiter L’Hôtel avec votre petit chien !!!” (I loved the exclamation marks — what a cheerful reply!)

Hôtel de Fleurie (6ème/St. Germain-des-Prés) — “Nous acceptons les petits chiens propres gratuitement.”

Hôtel Saint-Germain-des-Prés (6ème/St. Germain-des-Prés)

2-star hotels

Hôtel Louvre Forum (1er/Centre)  — “If you want to stay in our Hotel with a pet, it is not a problem.”

Hôtel Mogador (9ème/Opéra)

Budget hotels

Hôtel Séjour Beaubourg (4ème/Marais) — “Oui, il y a aucuns problèmes, si votre chien est propre.”

Hotel Ibis — A modestly-priced chain with locations across Europe (and worldwide), Ibis has a number of hotels in Paris. They lack the charm of the other hotels I’ve listed, but they’re reliable and inoffensive.

Fabulous hotels

Pavillon de la Reine (4ème/Marais) — Located in the Place des Vosges. “Pets are accepted if they are small and behave well.”

Relais Christine (6ème/St. Germain-des-Prés) — “Nous vous remercions de votre email et sommes ravis de confirmer que nous acceptons les animaux de compagnie dans notre hôtel.” (“Ravis”! I just love French.)

Hotel Keppler (8ème/Champs-Elysées) — “Would you like to bring along your loved pet? Domestic animals are welcomed in our trendy hotel.”

Stratospheric hotels

We can all dream, right? Here are three out-of-this-world Paris hotels that welcome pets. I’ve included Le Bristol’s entire response because it is so divinely elegant.

Le Meurice (1er/Tuileries) — This hotel has a special affection for dogs — a stray greyhound became the mascot of workers renovating the hotel at the turn of the last century, and provided the inspiration for the Meurice’s logo.

Plaza Athenée (8ème/Champs-Elysées) — Part of the Dorchester Collection of hotels, along with Le Meurice.

Hôtel Le Bristol (8ème/Faubourg Saint Honoré) — Le Bristol did not have a pet policy page on its site, so I enquired about pets in an e-mail message. I did my best, but my French is limited, and my message was, no doubt, uncouth. Here’s the reply I received. It boils down to “yes, leashed dogs are allowed in the hotel, and if you wish to stay at Le Bristol, just tell us the name and size of your dog.” The complete response, though, is a thing of beauty, and bodes well for the service you’re likely to receive at this marvelous place: “Merci de votre courriel qui nous a été transmis ce matin et surtout d’avoir si aimablement patienté pour notre réponse. Nous permettons en effet aux petits chiens, tenus en laisse bien sûr, l’accès à notre établissement et si vous souhaitez réserver une de nos chambres nous vous demanderons simplement de nous préciser la taille et le nom de votre épagneul. En espérant d’avoir le plaisir de vous accueillir parmi nous dans un avenir proche, nous vous prions d’agréer, Madame, l’expression de nos respectueuses salutations.”

Have I missed your favorite dog-friendly Paris hotel? I’d love to hear about it — please add it to this list in a comment!

Chloe goes to Paris: Taking dog food to another country

A blogging friend who has traveled abroad with her dogs got me thinking about taking dog food through Customs (“be careful,” she said, “to bring only unopened packages of dog food with you”).

As I’ve mentioned, we’ll be spending a couple of weeks in Paris this fall, and an EU regulation [Commission Regulation (EC) No 745/2004] “permanently prohibits all personal consignments of meat, meat products, milk and milk products from entering the EU.” So I wrote to the French Embassy, and my message eventually made its way to the “specialized info Customs office” (the e-mail address is [email protected]).

Here is the response I received. As you’ll see, the first line is the only one that really answers my question; the rest of the message speaks more generally about bringing a pet dog to France. Roughly translated, the answer from Customs is that you may freely transport food meant to feed your dog during a visit to France.

To me, that seems like a direct conflict with the no-meat-products regulation, so I plan to cover my bases by keeping Chloe’s food in its original packaging, unopened, and bringing with me a hard copy of the message I received, in case I need to show it to a Customs officer. Here it is, in case you need to print it for your own travels.

If you are traveling somewhere other than France, I recommend doing the same thing for the country you’re planning to visit: Write to the embassy, ask them about taking dog food through Customs, and print out their response. Tuck it into your collection of travel documents, and produce it if you find yourself in a bind.

DIRECTION GÉNÉRALE DES DOUANES
ET DROITS INDIRECTS
INFOS DOUANE SERVICE
Site Internet : www.douane.gouv.fr
Tél : 0 811 20 44 44
prix d’un appel  local depuis un poste fixe
Hors métropole ou l’étranger : 33 1 72 40 78 50
précédé du préfixe de sortie
Mel : [email protected]
Dossier suivi par : Martine LEUREGANS

Madame,

En réponse à votre courriel, je vous informe que vous pourrez librement transporter les produits destinés à l’alimentation de votre chien durant votre séjour en France.

Vous trouverez tous les renseignements relatifs à la circulation de votre animal,  le site Internet de la Douane, à l’adresse suivante : http://www.douane.gouv.fr via l’arborescence ci-après :

Particuliers, cet espace vous est dédié | Voyageurs, la douane vous informe | Vous arrivez en France
Carnivores domestiques en provenance d’un pays membre de l’Union européenne et circulation intracommunautaire d’animaux de compagnie

Vous allez voyager dans l’Union européenne avec votre animal de compagnie, pensez à suivre les recommandations suivantes :

– Faites tatouer votre chien / votre chat  ou faites lui implanter un transpondeur électronique (micropuce) sous la peau

– Assurez-vous que la vaccination antirabique sera valable au moment de votre voyage (pensez aux rappels de vaccination),

– Renseignez-vous quelques mois avant votre départ auprès de votre vétérinaire au sujet de la démarche à suivre afin d’obtenir un passeport délivré par un vétérinaire habilité par l’autorité compétente.

En espérant que ces précisions répondent à votre attente, veuillez agréer, Madame, l’assurance de ma considération distinguée.

L’inspecteur Régional, Responsable du service
André REBMANN

Chloe’s Clicks: Dog travel links we liked this week

Last year I posted a favorable review of a book for RVers traveling with dogs called Woodall’s Camping and RVing with Dogs, so when the Woodall’s site announced that the authors now have a website that allows users to find dog-friendly campgrounds on a map of the U.S., I paid attention. Click on the state you’re interested in for details — and notice that when you do, the left-hand column changes to include links to some useful information, collected under the “Welcome” header.

From RVs to a rickshaw…. This week, Emily Gerson of Maiden Voyage posted an article about her encounter with Sean Robinson, a man who is pedaling a rickshaw, and his dog Cooper, across America. It’s a remarkable story, and a remarkable undertaking — for one thing, Cooper is no light-weight.

Speaking of cross-country, DogFriendly.com posted its choices for this year’s top ten most dog-friendly U.S. cities. Any list that doesn’t include Seattle (but includes Austin, where dogs are not allowed on public transit) has me scratching my head, but check out their selection, and click on the city names for more details.

The Seattle Times reported this week that the Pan Pacific Hotel, located conveniently above Seattle’s downtown Whole Foods grocery store and a couple of excellent restaurants, now welcomes dogs (“four-legged friends of all sizes,” as the hotel press release puts it) with a very nice Pet Amenity Program. Across the country, Life is Better with Cake posted an entertaining article, with many pictures, about staying at the pet-friendly Loews Vanderbilt in Nashville, TN (including ordering from the pet room service menu!).

New York City made DogFriendly.com‘s list, and here’s (no doubt) one of the reasons why: Petaholics reports that Central Park PAWS, a program of the Central Park Conservancy, organizes a monthly Bagel Bark where dogs can socialize off leash while their owners have breakfast. Also take a look at the Central Park PAWS site, for more current events and a helpful guide for dogs and their owners playing in Central Park.

Last week’s Chloe’s Clicks included a link listing dog-friendly beaches in Suffolk, England. This week, I stumbled upon Dog Friendly Suffolk, a new site of “comprehensive reviews of dog friendly places” in Suffolk, particularly pubs and walks. Another British site, My Real England, posted a useful list of links that will steer you towards “budget-friendly English holidays.” Three of the suggestions are for travelers with pets: Driving with Dogs (including a Motorways Walks feature — “tried and tested short walks within 5 miles of UK motorway exits”), Pets Allowed (pet-friendly hotels, pubs and places to visit in the U.K. and Ireland), and Pet Friendly Rentals (pet-friendly holiday and long-term rental properties in the U.K.).

Photo Friday: Street music in Barcelona

This week’s photo, taken last February in Barcelona, totally charms me. I just love this sidewalk DJ’s laid-back style — and how he’s made sure his dog is comfortable in a miniature version of his own chair.

Photo by Lorkan

Please send me links to your favorite dog travel photos! They’ll get listed below, for everyone to click on and view. Here’s how it works:

  1. Every Friday, I’ll put up a post like this one, sometime during the morning (Pacific time).
  2. If you have a blog or a website, post a dog travel photo on your site on Friday and link back here to the current week’s “Photo Friday” post so that your readers can see other great dog travel photos. Please take a moment to make sure that you are linking directly to your photo post instead of your homepage.
  3. If you don’t have a blog or a website, simply post your photo to Flickr (or Facebook, Twitpic, etc.).
  4. Using the inlinkz button below, paste in the link to your photo or your blog post. That way, Dog Jaunt will link back to you. Please include a few words in the “Name” box describing where you took the photo (in this case, “Name” refers to the name of your photo, not your name!).

Flying with an in-cabin dog: Adding a dog to your plane reservation

A couple of days ago, we bought tickets on JetBlue to travel to New York City later this summer. I have to go to a conference, we both want to see some friends — five days should cover it, right? Well, it’s a six-day trip now, because after I made our on-line reservations I called back to add Chloe to my ticket (as I always do), and learned that our outgoing flight already had its full complement of in-cabin pets (all airlines, except Allegiant, have a limited number of available spaces; only four in-cabin pets are allowed on JetBlue flights). That has never happened to me before — perhaps too many people have been reading Dog Jaunt!

I was dismayed for a couple of reasons. Although it’s not a tragedy to be forced to spend an extra day in NYC, it made the trip more costly and required some schedule juggling — and the customer service rep charged me $100 per ticket to change flights to a day earlier.

A second call a day later solved half of my problems: JetBlue will not charge you a change fee if you make your change within four hours of your original booking. Be sure to ask for that perk — the first customer service rep didn’t tell me about it, and I only learned about it because I called back specifically to express my concern that I’d been charged the change fee even though there was no way to tell, on-line, that we wouldn’t be able to get Chloe on our chosen flight.

The original problem remained, though, since we still have to travel a day earlier than planned. If I had known our chosen flight was full-up on pets, I might well have opted to fly on United instead. Here’s what the JetBlue customer service rep told me to do, and it’s good advice for any airline. Either (1) call the airline just before you make your on-line reservation, confirm that there’s space for your dog, make the reservation, then call back instantly to add your dog to your ticket OR (2) make your entire reservation, including your dog’s reservation, over the phone.

I know what you’re going to say — airlines now charge you a fee for making reservations over the phone. It turns out that JetBlue doesn’t, in this situation, so when you call, tell the rep that you’re calling because you’re traveling with an in-cabin dog and remind them that you shouldn’t be charged the usual fee. If you’re working with another airline, call and explain the situation and ask if they’ll waive the fee.

Your second objection is that some airlines, including JetBlue, give you extra frequent flyer credit if you make your reservation on-line. In this situation, however, JetBlue will give you that extra credit even if you make your reservation over the phone (but remind them to, so it doesn’t get overlooked). Again, if you’re working with another airline that has a similar incentive, call first and explain the situation — they too might give you the extra credit, but if they don’t, you can factor that in to your decision-making early on.

This series of phone calls has made me even more appreciative of Continental’s system, which allows you to  stipulate that you’re traveling with an in-cabin dog when you search for flights and make reservations on-line.

Scotland’s National Trust: Dog-friendly places to visit and stay

East Lodge at Crathes Castle (a dog-friendly vacation rental)

Scotland has its own National Trust organization, and like its counterpart to the south, it protects and offers public access to dozens of homes, monuments, gardens and landscapes important to Scotland’s history and heritage. It also makes some of its properties available as vacation rentals.

Dogs are welcome to visit several of the Trust properties — click on “Visits” on the main page, then select “Dogs” under “Special features” to get a complete list. You’re given over a dozen places to visit, including castle grounds, gardens, woodlands — and a water-powered letterpress printing works in the Borders town of Innerleithen.

Dogs are also allowed in many of the historic rental properties — from the main NTS Holiday Accommodation page, either choose a region you’re interested in and scroll through the properties (each indicates whether dogs are allowed or not), or, if you know when you want to visit, step through the “Availability Search.” In the second step of the search, you’ll be able to check a box next to “Dogs allowed.” [3/5/12 The main search page now has a check box for “Dogs allowed.”] The (alas, entirely mythical) Thanksgiving vacation I offered the Availability Search yielded 25 dog-friendly properties, including seriously charming cottages, two lighthouses, and a wing of a castle.

Dog jaunts: Visiting the National Trust’s dog-friendly properties

Brecon Beacons (photo by the National Trust)

I’ve written about National Trust properties before, because the National Trust offers dozens of small, historic buildings in England, Wales and Northern Ireland for vacation rental (and many of the properties are dog-friendly). The Trust is best known, though, as the guardian of historic houses, gardens, monuments and landscapes that the public can visit — including Chartwell, Sutton Hoo, and Lindisfarne Castle. I visited their site last night, after finishing a massive coffee-table book about Ferdinand de Rothschild’s Waddesdon Manor, and learned that although Waddesdon’s grounds are not dog-friendly (and the house certainly isn’t either), the National Trust cares for many properties that do welcome dogs.

In fact, the Trust site has a page devoted to dog walking, and it’s a great place to start your search. Otherwise, go to the Trust’s main page, click on “Days out & visits,” and then on “Advanced Search.” Narrow down your search or not, as you choose, and under “Special facilities” click on “Dogs welcome.” You’ll find a long list of truly glorious walks — 69 properties in all, on the coast, by lakes, through woodlands and — often — through history.

Four iPhone pet resources apps: Fido Factor, PawTrotter, Dog Parks Bay Area, and Dog Park Finder

To date, I’ve reviewed petcentric places, PetMD Finder and Off Leash. Here are four more iPhone apps that provide users with information about nearby pet resources.

Let’s start with Fido Factor (Ketu Patel/Fido Factor), because it’s free and that’s always a nice feature. Like its closest competitors, Fido Friendly lists nearby dog resources (in this case, dog-friendly restaurants, bars and hotels; dog parks; dog stores; vets, groomers, and boarding facilities; “attractions;” and “transportation”) using your current location. Unlike them, however, it does not offer you the option of typing in a zip code to look up resources in another location. That’s annoying, particularly since the site does have that feature.

I do like a lot of things about this app. It has a clean, attractive appearance and it’s easy to navigate. When you’ve found a interesting destination, the app will give you a Google map and driving directions to it. The “Fido Factors” feature highlights particularly dog-friendly details of a destination. And I know, from many hours spent tweeting, that the Fido Factor team is actively collecting fresh data and reaching out to their audience. While the Seattle data is sketchy, I understand that the Bay Area data is excellent (Fido Factor’s HQ is in San Francisco). The app has a lot of promise, and I’m looking forward to seeing where this motivated company takes it.

I ponied up the $2.99 for PawTrotter (App Inspire, LLC), because I have your best interests at heart. Although free always gets my vote, I have to say that this app is a pleasure to use. One of its strengths is its simplicity: It only offers you dog parks, vets, pet stores, groomers, boarding and day care facilities, and pet-friendly hotels. (I do miss, and for this price would like to see, dog-friendly restaurants.)

The results for Seattle are good, and the app allows you to enter an alternative location (via zip code or city name) if, for example, you want to search for pet resources in a place you’ll be visiting in a few days. When you find a resource you like, you can access Google Maps for its location and driving directions. The app also lets you sort through and narrow down search results. My only gripe is a mild one: A thin band across the bottom of the screen indicates which city is currently being searched — I like the feature, but it’s so discreet that it’s easily overlooked.

While I was tossing money around, I also paid $4.99 for Dog Parks Bay Area (Apptika Inc.). I have never been more irritated by an app. To begin with, after charging top dollar for a pet resources app, Apptika has the gall to run ads across the top of each page you see. I would be speechless with indignation, except that I have more things to complain about.

To find a dog park, you can “Browse” (that is, scroll down an alphabetical list of all the parks) or you can use the map. If you press the “Map” button, you can either use your current location (not much help when you’re currently located in Seattle) or not, in which case, you have to manually scoot the map of California up to the Bay Area from somewhere near the Mexican border. When you arrive in the Bay Area, you’re met with a vast number of green pins, and have to zoom and re-zoom to have a hope of figuring out which pin is in the area you’re interested in. There is a “Search” button, but it appears only to retrieve names of parks (you cannot type in the name of a Bay Area town, or input a Bay Area zip code, and get a list of parks in that neighborhood).

When you do find a park you’re interested in, you’re given a lot of information (via icons and text) about its characteristics, but you’re not given any opportunity to submit a review or comment of your own. The quick-reference icons include one for nighttime lighting (mildly interesting) but not one for whether a park has a small-dog area. That information may be provided in a memo, but it’s important enough that it needs an icon of its own for quick reference.

Hear a flushing sound? That was my $4.99, down the toilet. (Looking more closely at the App Store, it appears that Apptika has free versions of this app for Los Angeles, NYC and Orange County, and a $1.99 version for San Diego.)

In a belligerent mood, I turned next to Dog Park Finder (Tech Wanderings), which is, blessedly, free. Although it has some annoying features (you’re repeatedly offered maps stuck with closely-packed pins to sort out, and the app does not sort parks by distance from you), it gives you two separate ways to search for parks outside your current location. Under “Search,” you can type in the city/state or zip code you’re interested in, and under “Browse,” you can tap on the state and then the town you care about. The data for Seattle was very good.

Once you’ve identified a dog park you’re interested in, you’re given one icon (fenced or unfenced) and a fair amount of written information. The reviews are located on the site, so getting them is time-consuming (and posting a review is, presumably, best done on the site). The app sends you to Google Maps for driving directions, which I always appreciate (it’s normal now, but it wasn’t a year ago, when pet resources apps first started appearing).

This is a bare-bones app, but it gets the job done. If I weren’t so vexed by Dog Parks Bay Area, I’d gripe a bit more about Dog Park Finder (future versions should really have the option of telling users which parks are closest to them). Right now, though, it gets my hearty approval.

Chloe’s Clicks: Dog travel links we liked this week

This week it’s all about fun places to visit with your dog! Let’s start inland, with a quick article from Doug Gelbert about taking your dog to the White Sands National Monument in New Mexico — I particularly like his suggestion of going for a night hike when the moon is full.

Thumbs up for sand, you say, but make it coastal. Smart Poodle Publishing has a dog-friendly beach suggestion for Hollywood, FL, along with some good photos, and Beach Lovers Guide posted a great article about dog-friendly beaches around the country. Across the Atlantic, dogs and their people can visit the dog-friendly beaches of England’s Suffolk County.

Waterfront suggestions include twelve dog-friendly things to do in Mendocino, CA, and an extensive list from SanDiegoPet.com, by way of a link that I’ve now forgotten, of dog-friendly beaches, hotels, parks and restaurants in San Diego, CA. On the other side of the country, Uptake Lodging posted an article about the pet loyalty program now offered by Nantucket Island’s Cottages and Lofts in Nantucket to “repeat pet customers” (VIPets).

Still looking for pet-friendly vacation ideas? The Happy Kennel has ten tempting suggestions, from a surfing competition in San Diego to a cruise on the QM2. Follow the lead of blogger Michele Hollow, guest-posting on Take Paws, and go wine tasting in New York’s Finger Lakes region with your pooch. And check out this video from California Travel Tips, highlighting a collection of pet-friendly California resorts.

I’ll leave you with a grumpy but entertaining post from Notes from Underneath: A California Girl in Chilsters, written by an American now living in Santiago, Chile, about her neighbors’ reactions to her new (and completely charming) bulldog puppy. Take-home lesson? If you’re going to have a dog in Santiago, it needs to be a poodle.