Dog Friendly City Guide: Detroit, Michigan

Trains once ran through the Dequindre Cut, a sunken Grand Trunk Railroad line below the streets of Detroit's east side. In May 2009 it reopened as a path, and today the Dequindre Cut runs nearly two miles from Eastern Market down to the river, twenty feet wide, with one lane for walkers and another for bikes, past dozens of murals and graffiti kept where it was painted under the bridges.

Detroit is the Michigan city on the Detroit River, with Windsor, Ontario on the far bank, and the Cut is one of three long walks that make it a better place to bring a dog than its reputation suggests. The other two are the riverfront itself and Belle Isle, an island park in the middle of the river.

Arriving From Abroad

A dog's entry to the United States is a matter for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, whose rules depend on which countries the dog has been in over the previous six months. If all of them are rabies-free or low-risk, Canada among them, the paperwork is one free CDC Dog Import Form, filled in on the day you travel. The dog must be six months old or more and chipped so a universal scanner can read it, and it may enter at any airport, seaport or land crossing, the bridge or tunnel from Windsor included. From a high-risk country there is more to do, which our piece on taking your dog abroad sets out.

Where to Stay

For more than 80 years the five-storey limestone and brick building on West Larned Street was the headquarters of the Detroit Fire Department. It went up in 1929, and in 2017 it was restored as the Detroit Foundation Hotel, with 100 rooms behind its Romanesque Revival front. The bays where the fire engines stood ready are now the rooms where the hotel gathers its guests, and the Apparatus Room is the restaurant, with a communal Chef's Table set above it.

Your dog has the run of most of the house. The bar, the lounge and the terrace are all open to it, and the front desk keeps free treats. A bed, bowls and a toy are waiting upstairs, with poo bags for the Riverwalk, which is close by. If your dog settles well it can stay in the room while you eat in the Apparatus Room, and the hotel will arrange a walker. Its Roch Dog review carries a Roch Rank of B, and the hotel's FAQ puts the fee at $75 a stay.

Half a mile north, The Siren fills the old Wurlitzer Building with 106 rooms and four places to drink, among them the Candy Bar for cocktails, Bar Chenin for wine and Sid's Gold Request Room, a piano karaoke bar. Its pet page sets a fee of $45 a stay, and $15 of it goes to the Michigan Humane Society. Dogs may sit with you in the lobby lounge and out on the side patio, and there is a dog park across the block. Our Siren review has the rest.

Eat and Drink

Detroit Shipping Company on Peterboro Street, in the Cass Corridor, is a food hall with six restaurants, two full bars and a beer garden. Its own page says dogs are welcome in any of its outdoor areas, the beer garden included, so take your plate outside and the dog comes with you. It is closed on Mondays and opens at noon at the weekend.

Out east at Kercheval and Van Dyke, Barkside was built the other way round: a dog park first, with a bar beside it. You sit with a beer, a glass of wine or a coffee while the dog plays in the indoor and outdoor yards, watched over by trained staff the bar calls Rufferees, and a heated, enclosed patio and free dog towels keep it open all year. People get in free. Dogs need a day pass, bought at the door, or a membership, and their vaccination records uploaded first; the FAQ lists what is needed.

Back downtown, the easiest drink of all is the Foundation's own bar, where the dog comes in with you and the Riverwalk is a few minutes from the door.

Walks and Parks

The Detroit Riverwalk began with half a mile from the Renaissance Center to Cullen Plaza, given by General Motors, and the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, formed in 2003, has added to it ever since. The last East Riverfront stretch, across the old Uniroyal tyre factory site, opened in October 2023, and the path now runs almost five miles, out to Gabriel Richard Park by the MacArthur Bridge. USA Today 10Best has named it the best riverwalk in the country three years running. There is a carousel and a café along the way, and Robert C. Valade Park has a beach.

The Dequindre Cut meets the river near the middle of the Riverwalk, and it now forms part of the 27.5-mile Joe Louis Greenway. Walk it north and you come up into Eastern Market.

Follow the river east to the MacArthur Bridge and cross to Belle Isle, which the Anishinaabe called Wah-nah-be-zee, White Swan or Swan Island. A 5.4-mile loop trail circles the park, there are wooded paths inside it, and the island holds the country's oldest original aquarium, opened in 1904. The Scott Memorial Fountain is being restored, and its water is due back on in spring 2027. The park is open from 5am to 10pm, and walking or cycling in costs nothing.

To let the dog off the lead, head north to Palmer Park, where the city opened a one-acre dog park on National Dog Day, 26 August 2023, at the north end of the park off 7 Mile Road. It has separate yards for small and large dogs, drinking fountains for people and dogs, and bag stations. Driving on to Ohio? Our Cleveland guide picks up from there.

Good to Know

On the Riverwalk and its parks the Conservancy's rule is simple: dogs are welcome on a lead and under control, and you pick up after them. On Belle Isle the lead must be no longer than six feet, dogs stay out of the swimming area, and a car needs a Michigan Recreation Passport to drive on to the island.

At the Detroit Foundation Hotel dogs stay out of the Apparatus Room, which room service takes care of, and the hotel's FAQ allows up to two dogs of up to 50 pounds each. At The Siren the hotel asks that dogs are never left alone in the room, and housekeeping comes in only while the dog is out with you.

At Barkside a dog must be at least six months old, spayed or neutered from a year old, and up to date on rabies, DHLPP and Bordetella, and outside treats and toys stay at home.