Dog-friendly Montréal: Travelling downtown with pooch

The city’s central core is buttressed by the Old Port to the south, Mount Royal and the Plateau to the north, Quartier Latin to the east and Griffintown to the west. You’re at the centre of it all! Within that quadrant and its environs there are countless hotels (manner of speaking — we stopped counting at 30) that will accept dogs, mostly for free, some with a small extra charge.

These hotels range from the tawny Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth and Ritz-Carlton Montréal to the boutique Hôtel Saint-Sulpice and Hôtel Le Germain Montréal, and include some premium business properties too, like the Hôtel Alt Montréal Griffintown and Warwick Le Crystal Montréal. For the full list, the very useful BringFido website is a fantastic source. 

There’s an app for that: the DogPack app is an essential tool for any travelling dog parent, with its complete map peppered with any area’s official AND unofficial dog runs. Despite the great many beauteous walks you can scope out yourself in central Montréal, sometimes Fido just needs to get the zoomies out off-leash.

One of the best dog parks in Montréal’s central core is the one in Square Viger, unofficially known as Arwen Dog Park, where there are trees, picnic tables, hedges and some obstacles for the more creative canines. Located at Duke and Brennan Streets, the Pilote dog park comes complete with a water fountain for hot days. A little further northwest in Griffintown, Gallery dog park is worth the trek — it’s part of Parc Jean-Jacques Olier and has a shaded area humans will appreciate. A great option in the Golden Square Mile is the Parc Percy-Walters dog park, with a nice paved track for human exercise, lots of benches and even a small bit of forest.

The rule of thumb for enjoying Downtown Montréal is “follow your snout,” because you’re sure to enjoy any stroll you take. But for a more athletic dog walk that guarantees variety and a nice level physical exhaustion (and not just for the canines), we’ve got a few suggestions:

• Mount Royal Park (2 to 4 hours)

Experience how close Downtown Montréal is to the mountain by setting off northward straight down Peel Street, where you’ll contend with a steep hill that concludes in a series of steps that will lead you right into Mount Royal Park. You can zigzag around on the trails there for a couple of hours, and to mix it up, come back south via Parc Avenue.

• Old Montréal (1 to 2 hours)

For a walk through the storied district of Old Montréal, head eastward along either Notre-Dame Street or Saint-Paul Street until you reach the Viger Square dog park. After some off-leash free play, walk back westward along Viger.

• Golden Square Mile (2 to 3 hours)

Explore the beauty of the McGill University campus by taking pooch through the McGill Gates at Sherbrooke Street West, crossing the campus, climbing the hill of Aylmer Street, turning left on Pine, left again on Dr. Penfield, and then strolling all the way west to the Percy-Walters dog park. To come back, just head down the hill and along Sherbrooke Street West back to your starting point.

• Old Port (2 to 3 hours)

Soak up the majesty of the St. Lawrence River by walking straight down southward along Bleury Street until it becomes Saint-Pierre, continuing all the way until you reach the waterfront. Stroll westward along De la Commune; if you feel adventurous, when you spot the Bota Bota spa, go past the entrance and find the short but fun Sentier pointe des Éclusiers hiking trail. The shores on that tiny island are great for a restful pitstop before retracing your steps. 

There are more and more pet shops popping up in the central Ville-Marie, Griffintown and Centre-Sud neighbourhoods as they get increasingly gentrified. Some great go-tos for top-notch pet foods and pooch supplies are Pattes & Griffes Griffintown, Pableen Pet Boutique and Peluche Vieux-Montréal (which also has an inhouse grooming service).

Speaking of dog groomers, in addition to Peluche Vieux-Montréal in Griffintown, there’s Maison Fluff, run by the sweetest guy out of an Old Montréal loft. Spableen has an Instagram account worthy of stalking (they’re located in Griffintown), and, a little further afield, Brandy’s Holistic Centre and Canine Grooming on Rachel Street in the Plateau is a pet shop and groomer’s that also features a coffee bar and a nice hangout area. 

There are no bona fide dog cafés in central Montréal, where you can bring your dog and let them run free while you enjoy a cuppa (we can dream). But there are many cafés that will welcome your dog (on a leash) and let you sip and savour with them on your lap or at your feet. 

Those include La Finca on Bleury (the tiny terrasse out back is a pocket-sized oasis), Mix'Heure on Saint-Denis Street (a café great for breakfast, lunch, a quick snack or even ice cream), Café Léo near Berri Square (try the chocolate chip cookies), Micro Espresso Café in the Old Port, where they’ll add cardamom to your espresso if you ask nicely, and Lili & Oli, further away in Little Burgundy, but worth the trip for the good vibes — and the grilled cheese.