A Dog Person’s Guide to Boston

One of the best parts of being a dog person is seeing the world through your dog’s eyes (and nose). And we’ll take that notion a step further: To us, getting to know a new place with your dog is the best way to get to know a new place, period. That’s why we’re creating travel guides for dog-friendly towns around the country. Next stop: Boston.

It’s a great time to take your dog to Boston. In May 2023, the city introduced its dog-friendly spaces variance, allowing establishments with patios and other outdoor areas to apply for a license to welcome dogs. More than 50 spots that serve food now have one, which should please dog people. It should also please dogs, who tend to like to be with their people.

Plus, it’s now officially fall—a beautiful, downright collegiate time of year in the city. I traveled to Boston with my 2-year-old Scottish terrier, Bonnie, the last weekend of summer. We enjoyed pretty idyllic weather—no rain, highs in the upper 60s. Not too hot, not too cold. For the purposes of following this guide, keep in mind that I drove to each stop on the list, except for those within walking distance of each other, and only had trouble parking in the South End on Saturday (though I eventually found street parking). Every place below, however, is accessible by Boston public transit. Small dogs in carriers are allowed on the T at all times, while leashed dogs can ride during off-peak hours.

And it has to be said: As you consider your own itinerary, remember that you know your own dog best. At the end of this list, I included some activities for dogs who are more adventurous than Bonnie. Less-adventurous dogs might want to take more or longer breaks (or even do just one thing from the list per day). And should you need an assist on deciding whether to bring your dog to various places, head here. With that, here is a Dog Person’s Guide to Boston. 

Friday

5:30pm, Brookline: Begin with a family-owned neighborhood mainstay since 1985: Japanoise Bakery. It’s open through the evening, so enjoy breakfast for dinner. They do French patisserie with a Japanese twist, which dogs can appreciate through nose only.  

6:00 pm, Fenway: Park 9 at The Station in Fenway is a spacious, open-air dog bar just ten minutes walking from the bakery on one side and Fenway Park on the other. Bonnie wasn’t too enthusiastic about joining the extremely social dogs in Park 9’s off-leash area, so she took refuge in the baseball-themed installation from The Farmer’s Dog. What can I say? She’s a company dog through and through. The installation, made from a shipping container, houses a photo booth, treats, and a cozy dog bed. It’ll be open through the end of October.

For humans, beers are on tap and food is a QR code away. It leads to the nearby Time Out Market, whose restaurants include hometown hero Cusser’s Roast Beef & Seafood as well as Lala’s “Neopolitan-ish” pizza. The vendors deliver to Park 9’s gates. 

Saturday

9:00am, Jamaica Plain: The star of our trip was The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, and perhaps it’s obvious why.  The Arboretum is a 281-acre museum of trees. We only experienced a fraction of what it has to offer, but I don’t exaggerate when I say that, for the full two hours we were there, it was perhaps the happiest I’ve ever seen my dog.

She zoomed her zoomies, kept tabs on the squirrels, and frolicked through dewy grass—smelling her way through this massive preserve. I, too, had an excellent time touching grass and seeing green, but the real joy was watching Bonnie’s joy. And we weren’t alone. My unscientific analysis is that every second person that Saturday morning was walking their dog (on leash, as per the Arboretum’s rules), so we made a lot of friends. 

11:30am, Jamaica Plain: It wouldn’t be a trip to Boston without ducking into a pub, and Brendan Behan’s Pub is a neighborhood favorite. It’s everything an Irish bar in America should be; named after a poet, full of character, stocked with plenty of cozy seating, Guinness on tap, and a back patio where dogs are welcome. 

The partially covered backyard feels like an eclectic living room, complete with couches, seasonally appropriate bric-a-brac, and two dartboards. The pit stop allowed for a bit of a rest and recharge for human and animal alike after the enriching highs of the Arboretum. Late morning on the last Saturday of summer, the patio wasn’t crowded at all—but the bar inside began filling up as the clock inched toward noon-thirty. 

12:30pm, South End: Viva Taco next door to Behan Pub provides the bar’s food, but we opted to get takeout from Gary’s Pizza on Washington Avenue and roll over to Peters Park.

Besides excellent deep-dish pizza, Gary’s also has generously sized sub sandwiches, which made for easy on-the-go dining with a dog. The three slices of pizza that we grabbed—soppresetta, pepperoni, and margherita—smelled incredible, too, which inspired some real off-the-charts begging from Bonnie.

1:00pm, South End: Peters Park houses a well-maintained off-leash dog run alongside the sandlot and tennis and basketball courts. The park is community-managed by volunteers and the dog park itself gets cleaned on a weekly basis, which is one of the reasons it’s a neighborhood favorite. There’s a dedicated water fountain inside the dog run for refills, and the park is lit until 10 p.m. 

A couple of do’s and don’ts here: Do note that the ground of the park is made of large stone gravel, which may be tough on some dogs’ paws. Don’t bring food into the dog park—it’s not allowed. Do take a moment to eat your ‘za outside the fence on the bench a few yards away that faces the park so you and your dog can watch the action before joining in. And do check out the doggie costume contest and parade fundraiser that the park’s committee has organized—October 18th!

1:30pm, South End: Around Peters Park, there are a handful of dog-friendly shops. We ducked into Parkside Books on Shawmut Avenue, where we collected a treat from the bookseller behind the counter and picked up the delightful Tell Your Dog I Love Them by Harriet Lowther. I tried to read some of the sweet lines to Bonnie, but she was more interested in sniffing the door that leads to the pet shop next door. See? Something for everybody. 

2:00pm, South End: On Sundays from May to October, South Boston hosts SoWa Open Market, an artisan fair and farmer’s market that could be fun for your dog. But since mine isn’t a fan of crowds, we swung by on Saturday, down the relatively quiet Thayer Street, which is filled with some retail stores and art galleries.

Tucked into the alley’s basement space was the Boston Fiber Company, where you can sink into a wingback chair and learn how to knit, cross stitch, or design with felt while your dog rests at your feet (always good to ask if your dog can come in first). Bonnie sniffed around the whole store before taking a breather on the cool concrete floor. It was an unexpected way to give a dog in the city a taste of country living, since the many spools of yarn are made from all types of animal fur. 

5:00pm, Southie: Bonnie was pooped from all the sights, smells, and sounds of Boston, so we didn’t do the six-minute drive (or 20-minute walk under an overpass and down some industrial streets) to the final spot on our list: Park City Southie, a nostalgia-forward outdoor bar that brands itself as a summer camp. They have a slate of themed programming and a dedicated doggie relief station, but note that dogs aren’t allowed after 7:00pm (for a full rundown of the canine rules, see here). We’ll have to catch them on our next trip!

Southie, it should be noted, is an entirely different neighborhood from the South End. They’re both referred to as “trendy” in many guides to Boston, but for different reasons. The South End is an artsy cultural hub lined with brick townhouses. Historically, Southie has been a blue-collar neighborhood—but it’s changed a lot in recent decades. Bonnie surely would have enjoyed comparing the two, but a tired dog needs to rest. We returned to our hotel overlooking the Charles. While she slept, her people visited Southie through cinema, admiring the non-rhotic stylings of Matt Damon in the The Departed.

Sunday 

10:00am, North End: It wouldn’t be a trip to Boston without a historical tour of some kind. There are Duck Tours. There are the walking tours that keep historians with a thespian streak busy. There are about a hundred ways to do the Freedom Trail. But there is only one tour (that we know of) geared to dog lovers: Dog-Friendly City Tours. Peter Hoge is a Boston transplant from the Bay Area whose late dog Dawn inspired him to find the canines threading through American history in his adopted town. 

Taking you down the North End’s infamous Greenway, Hoge starts broad with the stories that you’d expect on a regular tour of the area, then zeroes in on the canine-specific details. For example, the statue of Mayor Kevin White near Faneuil Hall leads to a discussion of both White’s contributions to the city and his efforts to keep a golden retriever against his wife’s wishes. Hoge jokes that sometimes it takes a long time to get to the dog portion of any particular tale. But that’s okay, because we’re dog owners. We love a long walk.

The tour runs around 75 minutes, and you cover about a mile. Factor in city distractions and know what your dog can handle: the occasional biker, skateboarder, and construction site is par for the course. Bonnie stuck with us the whole time, only occasionally needing a detour to smell something interesting on the sidewalk.

11:45, North End: Hoge’s tour ends at historic Boston Common; head to the dog park for some off-leash time in the designated areas. 

Not for my dog, but maybe for yours? 

Paddle Boston: On a nice day, rent a kayak and see Boston by sea. An employee confirmed that Paddle Boston has doggie life jackets in various sizes. You just have to request one.

The MBTA Ferries: For under $10, you and your furriest friend can bop from one side of the harbor to the other. To make a whole afternoon of it, you can start at the Long Wharf ferry stop and take the ferry to the Charlestown Navy Yards. Then work your way back on foot down Constitution Road, through Paul Revere Park, over the Gridley Locks Foot Path, all the way to Night Shift Brewing at Lovejoy Wharf. There you can enjoy a well-deserved pint, and your dog can have a nice sit and smell. 

Lead photo: Rose Lincoln/Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University.

The post A Dog Person’s Guide to Boston  appeared first on The Farmer’s Dog - Digest.