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By Zee Krstic, Martha Stewart Living
For dog owners, the ultimate dream is to live in a home with a sprawling lawn where their furry friends can run free and satisfy their every canine urge all day long. But the reality for most is a smaller apartment in a sprawling city, where finding resources and space for a dog can be rather challenging. The walking and running spaces in a neighborhood, the amount of parks and public spaces, and veterinary services all factor into how healthy a dog's life is—and how happy a pup's owners are. A new study surveyed these factors and more to determine the best cities in America for dogs and their owners.
Pet-sitting service site Rover joined forces with real estate service Redfin to conduct the study, which measured neighborhood's mobility, dog-friendly housing availability, and other necessary resources, too. The study also measured the quality of the pet-setting services in a given city by breaking down the total time and distance that dog walkers spend with their pets using Rover's in-house data. Luckily, the report found that the most hospitable cities for dog owners are spread throughout the country and aren't limited to larger states. The best place to live with your pooch is Seattle, which earned top marks for having many real-estate listings with mention of "dogs" and walkability in the city and its surrounding suburbs.
Other places where dog owners and their pets are happiest include Chicago, Denver, Manhattan, and Washington, D.C., which rounded out the top five. In the South, a few cities appeared high on the list—Houston and Austin snagged spots 12 and 13, respectively, and Atlanta and Nashville came in at 18 and 20. Unsurprisingly, the list is peppered with cities in California, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego.
For the full list, visit Rover's website for their study results and other tidbits. While moving to a new city for your dog's health may not be a option at this very moment, there are plenty of other lifestyle changes you can make for your dog's health no matter where you currently live.
