The Dog Lover's Companion to Washington, D.C. and Baltimore: The Inside Scoop on Where to Take Your Dog (Dog Lover's Companion Guides) [Paperback]

Ann Oldenburg (Author), Don Oldenburg (Author), Phil Frank (Illustrator)

Book Description

Series: Dog Lover's Companion Guides | Publication Date: October 7, 2002

Offering the inside scoop on where dogs are welcome, this special breed of guidebook is perfect for travelers and residents who don't want to leave their canine pals behind. Now in its second edition, this illustrated guide provides maps with updated and expanded listings on all the best spots for "ruffing" it with your dog, including new restaurants, hotels, and off-leash parks. Also featured is the popular hydrant-to-hydrant tour of the Washington Mall, day trips out of the city, and visits to festivals, fairs, and exhibitions. "…clever and very comprehensive…. I would highly recommend this book to visitors and residents alike." -- About.com

Editorial Reviews

Review

Indispensable to dog owners, dog lovers, or indulgent onlookers, and vastly entertaining as well.

Product Details

• Paperback: 450 pages
• Publisher: Avalon Travel Publishing; 2nd edition (October 7, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566914728
• ISBN-13: 978-1566914727
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,483,926 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #72 in Books > Travel > United States > States > Maryland

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Can I Kiss the Authors?, November 6, 2002

By 

Erica (Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Dog Lover's Companion to Washington, D.C. and Baltimore: The Inside Scoop on Where to Take Your Dog (Dog Lover's Companion Guides) (Paperback)

This is one of my favorite books ever. Really. I moved to the D.C. area with my lab three years ago, and while we were used to having dozens of places to go for various reasons or times, I didn't know where to begin to find good places to take her around our new home. This book was a godsend for finding fun places to go, especially because I found the reviews to give a me a very accurate idea of what sort of place we were going, including what sort of "feel" it might have for dog-friendliness. Some of the features of the book I have found extremely helpful are:

* Birds-eye maps showing where the reviewed locations are in the counties covered (perfect for finding a park near odd places that I might run errands)
* How strict the leash law is followed (this is a biggie for me -- while the authors point out excellent reasons to use the leash, they very helpfully suggest where we can get away without it)
* Rough idea how crowded the area in question might be, and how easy or difficult to get to (varies of course by time of day and season)
* Whether there's a place for doggie swimming

In my area (Sterling/Ashburn, VA) I've found the book to be amazingly comprehensive for my local and outlying areas, and find that the park descriptions have always given me a pretty accurate idea what to expect. The book covers a wide enough range (including some pseudo-local vacation destinations) that I've used it on countless occasions to find nice stopover while on short trips outside my "home turf". Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys finding varied places to visit with their pups.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not great, August 6, 2006

By 

Gina (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Dog Lover's Companion to Washington, D.C. and Baltimore: The Inside Scoop on Where to Take Your Dog (Dog Lover's Companion Guides) (Paperback)

I bought this based on the great reviews, so perhaps it was a let-down because I had high expectations. This is a guide book with a slight dog orientation, but honeselty, I didn't feel like this really gave me much valuable information about living and traveling in the DC area with a dog- other than telling me where parks are (info available on many web sites). The actual dog-friendliness of the parks, and rating system seemed totally off with how I would have rated parks. Seems like they are rated more for person-appeal than dog-appeal.

But maybe I'm just biased as I have a hound and value FENCED off-leash parks above all :)

4.0 out of 5 stars Great guide to D.C. and surrounding areas, May 6, 2007

By 

J. Picinich - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Dog Lover's Companion to Washington, D.C. and Baltimore: The Inside Scoop on Where to Take Your Dog (Dog Lover's Companion Guides) (Paperback)

I had traveled to Reston, VA with my dogs to go to the Pet Fiesta while there I picked this book up and used it to travel all over the Washington D.C. area with my dogs. I am so glad that I did because I was not sure what I was going to do after the Pet Fiesta was over and this book opened up lots of options and lots of ideas for future trips.

I advise taking a pen with you so you can write in additional things that you find that may not be listed in the book. While at Old Town Alexandria today we ate at an Irish restaurant that had a doggie menu that was not listed in the book but was a must go to if you travel there.

I loved this book and only wish that there was one for my area.