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# Dog Friendly City Guide: Baltimore, Maryland
- URL: https://rochsociety.com/dog-friendly-city-guide-baltimore-maryland/
- Published: 2026-11-01T11:18:52.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-01T11:18:52.000Z
- Description: Baltimore is Maryland's harbour city on the Patapsco, all rowhouses, old breweries and Victorian parks, with a mile-long riverside loop round Fort McHenry open to dogs on a lead. Where to stay, drink and walk, from a Mount Vernon mansion to a taproom on an old ballpark.
- Author: Oliver Williams
- Tags: City Guides

In 1889 a banker called John Gilman commissioned a mansion in Mount Vernon and died before the builders had finished it. The house went on to an inventor, then to a physician recruited to Johns Hopkins, and in time Robert Garrett, who chaired the city's parks department for years, gave it to that department. Today it is a hotel, and a small dog that checks in finds a bed laid out and a personalised bowl. Baltimore is Maryland's harbour city on the Patapsco River, and its dog owners spend their days on the water's edge, in Victorian parks and on brewery patios.

## Arriving From Abroad

Before the flight, the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention](https://www.cdc.gov/importation/dogs/index.html?ref=rochsociety.com) wants to know where your dog has spent the last half year. For a dog that has stayed in [rabies-free or low-risk countries](https://www.cdc.gov/importation/dogs/rabies-free-low-risk-countries.html?ref=rochsociety.com) the bar is low: the dog must be six months or older, chipped so that a universal scanner reads it, and healthy to look at when it lands. The CDC Dog Import Form is free, may be completed on the morning of departure, and sends back a receipt by email that serves as proof. Anywhere classed as high risk in that half year means far more paperwork, which our guide to [travelling abroad with a dog](https://rochsociety.com/taking-your-dog-abroad/) walks through.

## Where to Stay

[The Ivy Hotel](https://www.theivybaltimore.com/?ref=rochsociety.com) is that Mount Vernon mansion, at 205 East Biddle Street, now seventeen rooms and suites behind red brick. It is the only hotel in Maryland with two Michelin Keys and a member of Relais & Châteaux. Its restaurant, [Magdalena](https://www.theivybaltimore.com/dine/magdalena?ref=rochsociety.com), calls itself a Maryland bistro and cooks from scratch with the bounty of the Chesapeake Bay, and its Garden Room looks over a walled courtyard. Afternoon tea is served to guests every day from two o'clock in the first floor rooms, and the cocktails at the mansion bar come with the room.

For the dog, the hotel's [FAQ](https://www.theivybaltimore.com/faqs/?ref=rochsociety.com) promises a bed, a personalised bowl, treats and snacks, a lead and waste bags for the length of the stay, at $50 a night. The concierge hands over walking routes at check-in. Dogs are welcome in the two self-serve bars in the common rooms and out on the terrace, so a small dog can keep you company over a drink, and on a night when you book Magdalena it can stay behind in the room, in a crate the hotel provides. On rochdog.com The Ivy is ranked C, and [our review of The Ivy](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/the-ivy-hotel?ref=rochsociety.com) has the detail.

Down on the water at 550 Light Street, [The Royal Sonesta Harbor Court](https://www.sonesta.com/royal-sonesta/md/baltimore/royal-sonesta-harbor-court-baltimore?ref=rochsociety.com) has rooms that look out over the Inner Harbor and the skyline. There are bees on the roof beside a seventh floor herb garden, and their honey goes into the seasonal menu at [Explorers Restaurant and Lounge](https://www.sonesta.com/royal-sonesta/md/baltimore/royal-sonesta-harbor-court-baltimore/dining?ref=rochsociety.com) downstairs.

A dog arriving here gets a welcome letter, treats, a water dish and feeding bowl on a waterproof mat, and a pet bed, under the Sonesta [PAWS programme](https://www.sonesta.com/paws-royal-sonesta-harbor-court-baltimore?ref=rochsociety.com). The hotel sets no breed or weight limit and charges $75 for the whole stay. Dogs can sit with you in the lounge, and a calm dog may stay behind in the room when you head out for the evening. It is ranked C on rochdog.com, and [our Harbor Court review](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/the-royal-sonesta-harbor-court-baltimore?ref=rochsociety.com) goes through it.

## Eat and Drink

Baltimore drinks in its breweries, and several of them want the dog there too. On East 30th Street, [Peabody Heights Brewery](https://peabodyheightsbrewery.com/visit?ref=rochsociety.com) stands on the site of Terrapin Park, a ballpark that was home to the Federal League's Baltimore Terrapins and the International League Orioles. The taproom sits on what was left field, not far from the old pitcher's mound. Here a leashed dog may come inside as well as out, and on a cold evening that counts for a great deal.

Further north, [Union Craft Brewing](https://www.unioncraftbrewing.com/visit?ref=rochsociety.com) pours its Duckpin Pale Ale and Skipjack Pilsner at Union Hall on West 41st Street, with a kitchen just inside the taproom. Dogs come with you to the Beer Garden outside, on a lead.

Close to Camden Yards and the football stadium, [Checkerspot Brewing](https://www.checkerspotbrewing.com/?ref=rochsociety.com) on Ridgely Street has been brewing since 2018: small batches of gluten reduced beer inspired by nature, among them a honey Kölsch named for the Orioles and the Ravens, in an industrial taproom with an arcade up on the mezzanine. Its FAQ asks whether dogs are allowed and answers with one word, yes.

Locust Point has [Diamondback Brewing Company](https://www.diamondbackbeer.com/?ref=rochsociety.com) on East Fort Avenue, where eight to twelve beers rotate on draft and the kitchen turns out Neapolitan pizzas twelve inches across. The dog stays outside on the patio, which is a broad one, and Fort Avenue carries on for a mile or so to Fort McHenry.

Out in Brewers Hill, [Mobtown Brewing](https://www.mobtownbrewing.com/faq?ref=rochsociety.com) brews on Foster Avenue in the neighbourhood where the National and Gunther breweries worked from 1872 to 1978, and calls itself a family and pet friendly place. Keep the dog on its lead and the children close, says the brewery.

## Walks and Parks

Start a morning at [Fort McHenry](https://www.nps.gov/thingstodo/walk-the-seawall-trail.htm?ref=rochsociety.com), the star fort that held off the British fleet in 1814\. Its seawall trail is a paved path about a mile long that loops round the peninsula beside the Patapsco River, past cherry trees, monuments and the working harbour, and the [National Park Service](https://www.nps.gov/thingstodo/walk-your-dog-at-fort-mchenry.htm?ref=rochsociety.com) asks visitors with dogs to use it. The open grounds are yours too.

Back towards the centre, the harbour is ringed by the city's [waterfront promenade](https://www.baltimorecity.gov/planning/about/promenade-information?ref=rochsociety.com), a public walkway Baltimore first planned in the 1960s. [Baltimore Magazine](https://www.baltimoremagazine.com/section/travel/baltimore-waterfront-promenade-activity-guide/?ref=rochsociety.com) puts it at seven and a half continuous miles from Canton to Locust Point, by way of Fells Point, which it calls cheerfully dog friendly. The Harbor Court's rooms look straight out over it.

![Baltimore's Inner Harbor at dusk from the West Shore Promenade, boats moored by the waterfront walk and the lit slope of Federal Hill Park reflected in the water](https://rochsociety.com/content/images/2026/11/baltimore-west-shore-promenade.jpg)

The Inner Harbor and Federal Hill from the West Shore Promenade. Photo: Baltimore Heritage, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

East of Fells Point, [Patterson Park](https://pattersonpark.com/history-nature?ref=rochsociety.com) holds the high ground of Hampstead Hill, where Baltimoreans gathered on 12 September 1814 to face the British, and the boat lake that was dug by accident during grading work in the nineteenth century. Twenty thousand people turned out when the park formally opened in July 1853\. Its friends group asks only that the dog stays on a lead of six feet or less and that you pick up after it.

![The Victorian pagoda in Patterson Park, Baltimore, a tall painted timber tower with a balcony, framed by weeping blue cedars and green trees](https://rochsociety.com/content/images/2026/11/baltimore-patterson-park-pagoda.jpg)

The pagoda in Patterson Park. Photo: Baltimore Heritage, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

For running free, the [Canton Dog Park](https://www.cantoncommunity.org/canton-dog-park?ref=rochsociety.com) on Toone Street is a legal off-leash space split in two, one side for big dogs and one for small or older ones, with water just outside. It costs nothing, needs no registration, and is kept going by a volunteer group, Friends of Canton Dog Park, whose users donate the waste bags.

For distance, follow the [Jones Falls Trail](https://dnr.maryland.gov/mdtrails/Pages/Jones-Falls-Trail.aspx?ref=rochsociety.com) north. The paved, off-road stretch runs from Penn Station to the Woodberry light rail stop, through Druid Hill Park, which the state's trail office calls a natural escape from city life. Past Penn Station the trail joins the streets down to the Inner Harbor, marked with green paint on the ground, and when the last section is built it will run ten miles to Mount Washington.

## Good to Know

At Fort McHenry the dog must be on a lead no longer than six feet, and it may not go into any building, the fee area or the star fort's historic zone inside the wooden fence, so admire the fort from the grass. Patterson Park asks for a lead too, and the Canton Dog Park is the place to let go.

At the breweries, Union Craft keeps dogs to the Beer Garden and Diamondback to its patio; Diamondback says local rules keep dogs out of the taproom.

At The Ivy, dogs must be under 25 pounds, two to a room, and they stay on the first and second floors; Magdalena and the lounge are kept for people. At The Royal Sonesta Harbor Court, the hotel's page allows up to two pets a suite, and the bar, restaurant and terrace are kept for people.