Alexandria Makes 2021 Best Cities For Dog Lovers List

ALEXANDRIA, VA — Dog owners can observe the ways Alexandria is dog friendly on a daily basis, from the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria's services to businesses that make accommodations for pets. A new ranking from LawnStarter confirms Alexandria is one of the best places for dog lovers.

The city ranked fifth in 2021’s Best Cities for Dog Lovers for major U.S. cities. The only places that ranked above Alexandria were Hollywood, Florida; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Orlando, Florida and Pasadena, California.

The rankings are based on 22 key metrics in the categories of housing, community, care, services and businesses.

For the housing category, metrics included average home square footage, share of dog-friendly rental properties and average yard size. The community metrics include dog events per 100,000 residents, dog meetups per 100,000 residents, animal shelters per 100,000 residents, walk score and dog-friendly laws.

The care category covers pet stores per 100,000 residents, veterinarians per 100,000 residents, emergency veterinary clinics and hospitals per 100,000 residents and animal hospitals per 100,000 residents.

The services category includes dog walkers per 100,000, pet trainers per 100,000, median per-visit dog sitter rate, dog sitters per 100,000, pet groomers per 100,000, dog boarding offers per 100,000 and kennels per 100,000.

The business category covers pet-friendly hotels per 100,000, dog-friendly restaurants per 100,000 and dog-friendly shopping centers per 100,000.

Alexandria ranked first among cities in the community category, 19th for care, 20th for services and 24th for businesses. Its lowest ranking was 150th for housing. The city's overall score out of 100 points was 41.23, compared to 47.6 for the top-ranked Hollywood, Florida.

The lowest ranked major U.S. city was New York City. LawnStarter attributed the ranking to low ranking in the housing, care, services and businesses categories. The study noted the small average square footage of homes means less room for furry friends to run around.

See the full LawnStarter ranking of dog-friendly cities here.

The Best Cities for Dog Lovers ranking comes just in time for National Dog Day on Thursday. There are a number of ways to celebrate, according to Visit Alexandria. Barkhaus, first dog bar with its own dog park will host The Pet Gala on Thursday.

Residents can also find plenty of dog-friendly patios and boutiques such as Old Town's The Dog Park and Del Ray's Your Dog's Best Friends. Out-of-town visitors can stay in pet-friendly hotels like Kimpton Lorien Hotel & Spa and The Alexandrian. The Alexandrian will also celebrate National Dog Day on Thursday from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at its restaurant King & Rye.

If you'd like to share a photo of your furry friend for a National Dog Day feature in Alexandria, send it with your pet's name to Emily.Leayman@patch.com. Please only send photos you took and give Patch permission to publish.