You might have heard about pet friendly hotels offering drinking bowls and doggie treats and stuff, and you might also have heard about pet friendly airlines offering to take care of your pets while in transit. But how do you know which cities, or places, or areas are most suited for your four legged friends? How many places in the city allow unleashed dogs? Are there any special facilities just for dogs? How about parks and beaches? Do they allow pets?

Point here being to spotlight cities which are well and truly pet friendly, with areas reserved for letting dogs be dogs. More kudos to cities which offer such 'dog zones' adjacent to (or inside) major attractions, so tourists and visitors don't have to leave their pets in the hotel or in someone else's care.

Photo by bookish in north park via flickr (creative commons). What I'm trying to show with this photo is that San Diego goes out of its way to be dog friendly - Much more so than any other city or county.

For starters, most of the major tourist attractions allow dogs, and have zones nearby reserved for letting dogs off their leashes. Which means that San Diego vacations are not just for the dogs, but for their owners as well. There's even a beach called Dog Beach at Ocean Beach, where a slice of the beach is designated as a 'leash free' zone. And there's a dog wash neraby where you can clean up all the mess your dog has picked up before heading any further. There are dog parks dotted around San Diego, with two inside Balboa Park and one adjacent - Grape Street on South Park. Here's a list of all these places.

Most San Diego hotels are pet friendly, or at least have some areas reserved for guests with pets. Add to all this the fact that San Diego residents are enthusiastic pet owners and defend pet rights aggresively at all businesses and public places. Which means that you'll most likely be able to take along your pet just about anywhere.

Photo by Boss Tweed via flickr (creative commons). Another city famous for going to ridiculous extremes to keep pets happy is New York City. Dog shows, benefits, shelters, luxury New York hotels with special package deals for pets, a special dog park called Canine Court, and of course - Central Park with its wide open grounds and greenery for dogs to run free.

Even the shops and boutiques on 5th Ave are famous for allowing in and pampering snooty dogs and exotic cats while their owners spend gazillions of dollars buying junk. And let's not even begin a discussion about how much money a pet grooming salon or pet accessory store in NYC makes. Let's just say that if San Diego is your ordinary dog's destination, then New York vacations are for the upwardly mobile pooch.