New York City: No Grass But Nice People

by Carolyn Osborne
(Columbus, OH)

The hardest part of taking a female dog (an Australian Shepherd) to New York City is that there are very few places with grass where she knows she is supposed to pee. My dog "held" it for something like 12 hours because she would not pee on concrete, even though she was offered opportunities many times that evening and night. Finally, she REALLY had to go the next morning and let it out and learned how to go to the bathroom like a big city dog.

Outside of that, New York City is a very dog-friendly city. Tourists to New York City are tolerated or ignored by native New Yorkers, unless the tourist has a dog. Then New Yorkers will stop and have a long conversation and will also tell you all the local places where you can let your dog run around off leash. In fact, New Yorkers can get downright friendly when you have a dog.

Anyway, my dog learned to pee on the sidewalk and made some new doggie friends in New York City. The interesting thing is that a year later, she went to San Francisco and had absolutely no problem knowing where to go to the bathroom!