Finding an apartment building that is both dog friendly and friendly to your dog is a perennial challenge for NYC apartment hunters with canines.
Then there's the world beyond your building's front doors, where you will presumably be logging a lot of time with your four-legged friend. Here’s the scoop on five great neighborhoods for pooches ...
Coming in 2013: A new super luxe dog park being planned in Tribeca’s Hudson River Park, where Rover can relax underneath an umbrella or play in a spray fountain.
Tip: Battery Park City apartment buildings also tend to be unusually dog-friendly.
“Battery Park has always had a harder time with its property sales due to the ground lease situation and therefore has had to be dog friendly from the beginning,” says Sotheby's real estate agent Ellen Kapit.
Is your tiny Manhattan apartment cramping your dog’s style? That’s not a problem on the UWS, where he or she can get plenty of exercise in Central Park. The park offers off-leash hours between 9 pm and 9 am. It is a big green slice of doggie heaven in the middle of our favorite urban wonderland.
Also, don’t forget the neighborhood’s other, further west park — Riverside. There you’ll find three dog runs at West 72nd, 87th and 105th Streets, not to mention sweeping views of the Hudson River.
3. Upper East Side/Yorkville
You can’t go wrong with two gorgeous parks. In addition to the aforementioned Cental Park, Carl Schurz Park (east of York Avenue), is a hidden oasis with East River views that also boasts two dog runs — one for small dogs and another for larger canines.
There’s also no need to leave Rover at home when you go for Sunday brunch -- try out The Barking Dog on 94th and Third Avenue, or another dog friendly restaurant in the neighborhood, like Fetch (1649 Third Avenue, near 93rd Street) or Amaranth (21 E. 62nd St), which all offer dog-friendly seating outside.
Life’s literally a beach for your dog in Park Slope. Nearby Prospect Park boasts New York City’s only dog beach, The Long Meadow Dog Beach at the Pools, where your pooch can legally take a splash in a lake and enjoy being off-leash with other dogs in the midst of sprawling, grassy surroundings during off-leash hours (5 pm-9 am from November 1 - March 31 and 9 pm-9 am from April 1 - October 3).
Afterward, you and Rover can take a long walk through the brownstone lined streets of Park Slope and shop for the latest in canine apparel and grooming. Try Unleashed by Petco for comfy doggie clothes or Paws In Paradise to update Fido’s hairdo.
5. Riverdale
This northern Bronx neighborhood is a slice of serene, suburban living. Here you and your dog can revel in a much slower pace as you walk down quiet, tree-lined streets.
With three off-leash dog runs in Seton Dog Park, Ewen Dog Park and Frank S. Hackett Dog Park, you don’t have to go very far to get even more exercise, not to mention sprawling fields and lush greenery that both of you will enjoy.
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