There are many pet owners residing in Walnut Creek and this page is dedicated to bringing you all the information you could want and need regarding your furry friends. Walnut Creek offers many parks, activities, veterinarians, and pet stores, so take a look! If you have any information to add, please do so as it would be appreciated by all!

Also see Walnut Creek Dog Owners Group (WCDOG)

The Future

On November 17th at 10am the Heather Farms Dog Park off of Ygnacio Valley Rd opened a brand new fully fenced off-leash dog park. It will actually consist of two separate parks, one for small/elderly dogs and one for large dogs.

Resources for Dogs

• Tony La Russa's Animal Rescue Foundation has a dog training department that provides a variety of classes, from basic obedience to Advanced Agility and Freestyle,

Jobs for Dogs

• Eyes for Others: Puppy raisers for Guide Dogs for the Blind
• PHUR Program Pets Helping Us Recover is a volunteer pet therapy program operating out of UCDMC
• Pet Hug Pack: Tony La Russa's Animal Rescue Foundation runs Pet Hug Pack, a visiting animal team. As of June 2008, the team consists of over 80 qualified animals that visit 50 locations in Contra Costa County.

Hikes & Romps Nearby

Most national and state parks either do not allow dogs or restrict them to leashes in campgrounds. As a general rule of thumb, both the Bureau of Land Managment and the Forest Service better serve the needs of dog-owning visitors than park services. Another good source of information is DogFriendly.com's California Dog Travel Guide, which lists places to hike with your dog as well as places to stay, etc. (The Lake Tahoe section of the guide is particularly detailed).

This section lists some regional areas where you can hike with your dog, but please be sure to find out specific regulations... some restrictions apply, especially when local water sources are located within the area. Poison oak can be ubiquitous in lower elevations of California, and though your dog may not end up itching s/he can easily transfer the oils to you. You can help encourage the inclusion of dogs in our parks by ensuring that your puppy is well-mannered and packs out his poop.

Wilderness

• Asilomar State Beach in Pacific Grove on the Monterey Peninsula (approx. 2 hrs. 40 mins. drive) allows dogs on leash
• Auburn State Recreational Area is northeast of Sacramento, about 50 mins. drive from Davis, and allows dogs on leash
• Blue Ridge/Rocky Ridge in nearby Capay Valley makes for a nice hike on short notice
• Castle Peak in the Tahoe National Forest offers water features, a variety of hikes from less than an hour to multi-day, and is about 90min up Interstate 80 across from the Boreal Ridge ski resort; National Geographic publishes a couple excellent trail maps of the area
• Desolation Wilderness is just about 90 min up Highway 50
• Devil's Postpile
• East Bay Regional Parks offers a lot of dog-friendly trails in the bay area
• Briones Park in Lafayette can be a bit of a muddy tromp and is shared with cattle but offers over 5,000 acres of grassland and views of Mt. Diablo
• Morgan Territory in Livermore is dry but can be a nice spring hike — bring water!
• Golden Gate National Recreation Area offers some off leash access and produces a trail guide for dogs
• Lake Berryessa allows dogs on leash
• Point Reyes allows dogs on leash on a few beaches and one hiking trail.

Apartments

To help convince hesitant landlords to let you keep your dog, consider completing the AKC Canine Good Citizen program and show your certificate as proof of good manners. You can take a CGC Test Preparation course at the Animal Rescue Foundation, in addition to being tested by a certified AKC tester.

Please add any information you have about pet friendly housing, or for that matter, please also leave information about places that are NOT pet friendly! We need to start a list for both!

Dog Friendly Businesses

From DogFriendly.com: According to Susan Strong, a representative of the California Department of Health Services (CDHS), Food and Drug Branch, "(pet) dogs are allowed throughout California at any outdoor dining areas unless they have to walk through the inside of a restaurant to get to the outdoor seats." It does not matter if food is served outside or taken out by the customer, or if the seats are located on a patio, sidewalk, or in a fenced area as long as there is access through an outside gate or opening. The California law is set by statute which was last updated in 1986. In addition, the California statute forbids counties or cities from making these codes stricter. Of course, it is still the prerogative of a restaurant owner to choose whether or not to allow dogs in their outdoor seating area, but the choice lies with the owner, not the city or county. Notwithstanding the state law, even in California, restaurants will sometimes cite local health codes in not allowing dogs at their outdoor seating areas. In some cases, the restaurant owner may be trying to shift the "blame" so that customers with dogs in tow will not be upset with the restaurant. In other cases, the local health inspector may be misapplying the interpretation of the California statute.

Most places with outdoor seating tend to allow patrons to sit with or near to their dogs.

WE NEED YOUR HELP FINDING PET FRIENDLY PLACES TO DINE!

Comments

2007-11-30 14:02:00   I think this page needs to be cleaned up a bit. I love that there's so much info, but I think it just needs to be more basic info on this page, with more specific ones for some of the other info.

On a separate note, my boyfriend and I took my dog, Stella, camping at Lake Berryessa, and she LOVED it. —JennSuzuki