Dog Friendly City Guide: Richmond, Virginia

The friends of Richmond's river park post their dog rules under a Latin heading, Canis Familiaris Praecepta, and the first of them is plain English: every dog in the park should be on a lead. The park is worth the lead. Richmond is the capital of Virginia, and the James River Park System runs as a linear park of about 600 acres along both banks of the James, rocks and rapids within sight of the downtown towers. Around it sit a canal walk through the old city, city parks that take dogs on a lead, dog parks where the lead comes off, and a run of breweries and a cidery where the dog has a seat outside.

Arriving From Abroad

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sets the rules for any dog flying into the United States, and the first thing it asks is where the dog has been in the past six months. From a rabies-free or low-risk country the list is short. Your dog must have turned six months by the day it lands, its chip must answer to any universal scanner, it has to arrive looking well, and you carry one piece of paper: the emailed receipt from the CDC Dog Import Form. Any time in a high-risk country during those six months changes all of that, and the Society's guide to taking a dog overseas covers the longer route.

Where to Stay

The Berkeley Hotel is the one to choose if you want the dog with you once the bags are down. It stands on East Cary Street in Shockoe Slip, and the dog is welcome in the bar, the lounge and the garden, where a space is set aside for dogs. Most rooms take dogs, two at most and up to 50 lb each, for $75 a stay.

Pack the bowls and the dog's own bed. The desk hands over poo bags, and if dinner runs late a calm dog can wait in the room. On rochdog.com the Berkeley holds a C, and the full picture is in our Berkeley Hotel review.

A few streets away the Omni Richmond Hotel has oversized windows that look over downtown or the James River. Breakfast and lunch are at Westham Porch, dinner and drinks at Westham Tavern, and there is a heated indoor pool with a sun deck outside under a retractable roof. Dogs up to 25 lb are taken, for a one-off fee of $150 a reservation, so this is a hotel for a small dog. A calm one can be left in the room, the desk keeps an emergency vet number, and the hotel puts on dog events of its own. Its rochdog.com rank is D; read the Omni Richmond review before you book.

Eat and Drink

Much of Richmond's drinking happens in the Scott's Addition neighbourhood, and the dog does best outdoors. Ardent Craft Ales on West Leigh Street opens its taproom and beer garden every day of the week, and leashed, well-behaved dogs are welcome in the garden, though not inside. Ardent lets you bring your own food, which makes it an easy place to settle with a dog for a long afternoon.

Further down the same street, Strangeways Brewing runs its third Virginia tasting room in more than 4,000 square feet with 36 draught lines, pouring lagers, Belgian styles, sours and dark beers from its Richmond and Fredericksburg breweries. The large patio outside is its dog friendly biergarten.

For the colder months, the best seat in the city for a dog is at Blue Bee Cider on Bethlehem Road, which calls itself Virginia's first urban cidery. Its cider comes by the glass, the carafe or the flight, and leashed, well-behaved dogs are welcome in the tasting room as well as on the outdoor deck. It opens Wednesday to Sunday, from late afternoon on weekdays and from noon at the weekend.

Hardywood Park Craft Brewery on Ownby Lane is the city's other big beer garden, open Tuesday to Sunday, with its own Pizza Kitchen cooking through the same days. Leashed dogs are welcome in every outdoor space, and the taprooms indoors are for people and service dogs. Out on Lakeside Avenue, Final Gravity Brewing, brewing since 2015, keeps its outdoor seating open to dogs.

The River, the Canal and the Parks

The Riverfront Canal Walk is the walk to take on the first morning. It runs 1.25 miles beside the James River and the Kanawha and Haxall canals, with the history of Richmond told along the way from Powhatan's chiefdom onward, and an exhibit on April 1865 out on Brown's Island over the water. Narrated canal cruises of about forty minutes leave from the walk, and the Omni puts itself minutes from the river, so the water is never far from either hotel.

The river park itself is where the dog will want to be. The Friends of James River Park ask for every dog to be leashed, point out that a long retractable lead on a busy day is almost the same as letting a dog run free, and remind owners that the city code makes a loose dog a misdemeanour and the owner responsible for clearing up. They also list Dogwood Dell and the Maymont Visitors Center among the spots dogs may not go, so check the signs at each entrance.

South of the river, Forest Hill Park is one of the city parks where dogs are allowed, on a lead. Its lake has been restored in recent years, its paths and trails are well used by walkers and runners, and the old Stone House, once the park manager's home, still stands in the park at 4021 Forest Hill Avenue.

On the east side, Chimborazo Park covers 30 acres in Church Hill with a 180 degree view over the city, a miniature Statue of Liberty and the headquarters of the National Battlefield Park. Down on its eastern lower terrace is the Church Hill Dog Park, with one area for large dogs and another for small ones.

For a run off the lead, the City of Richmond points owners to Barker Field, the dog park at the southern end of Blanton Avenue in Byrd Park, a 287 acre park in the Near West End with three lakes, Fountain, Swan and Shields. Barker Field and the Church Hill dog park are two of the three places in the city where a dog may come off the lead.

Good to Know

City parks open from sunrise to sunset, and the city's rule is no unleashed pets except in the dog parks. Service dogs may go into every park.

The city warns that when the James reaches 9 feet only expert paddlers belong on it. On those days a dog that likes to swim should stay on the bank.