Dogs in Juneau

There are many dogs in Juneau.  Almost everyone I have met has a dog or two or three.  I can see why though, since walking all of the wonderful trails in Juneau is much more fun with the dogs.  The great part is that leash laws in Juneau are flexible so you can take your dogs off of the leash when on an unpaved trail.  The dogs love it here.  There are also off-leash areas such as Sandy Beach for general running around.  Since most people are dog owners, you rarely see a scowl from people approached by dogs.  When I realized what a great place Juneau is for dogs, I was so glad I had Millie with me.  In this post, I thought I would share a little bit about "dog stuff" around Juneau.

Supplies

Juneau doesn't have a PetSmart or a PetCo, our nationally recognized brands of pet shops.  You have to settle for getting your pet stuff at places such as Fred Meyer and Wal-mart.  I get Millie's puppy food & biscuits from Costco, whose Kirkland brand actually produces pretty good dog food without the meat by-products.  Although I have grabbed a few things at Fred Meyer for her, I recently realized Amazon is a great place to buy pet stuff.  There's a great selection of stuff and many of them are also eligible for the free super saver shipping - even to Alaska. 

Day Care

The best doggy day care place I have found is at the Gastineau Humane Society.  For $23, same as PetSmart back in Reston, you can leave your dog with them during the day and they will take the dogs on a long (usually two 2-mile) off-leash walks.  They also get plenty of group play time.  The only down side here is that drop off times are limited to 0730-0900, and pick-up times are no later than 1730.  If you work such hours that drop-off or pick-up isn't possible, you are out of luck.  As far as I know, other day care places have similar, if not worse, restrictions on pick-up/drop-off times and are more expensive. 

Vet Care

If you take your dog to the humane society for day care, you can get your rabies shots, fecal exams, chipping, and other routine vaccinations required for enrollment there.  However, in all other cases you have other choices such as Juneau Veterinary Hospital and the South East Alaska Medical Center.  The latter had the cheaper office visit prices by far ($50 vs $80).

Training

I haven't looked into this too much since I just completed a puppy class with her back in Virginia.  The humane society offers some training though.  The instructor there had helped me a little bit when I first arrived there and I thought she was pretty good with Millie.

Where to get dogs

I haven't seen a pet shop around Juneau yet.  The humane society seems to be the place to get dogs, although there are only ever few available for adoption at a time, and they seem to go fast.  I've heard some people ship their dogs in.  There are also other humane societies throughout Southeast Alaska so that is another option (keep an eye out for a drop off of big puppy litters).  Maybe there are breeders, but I can't imagine it would be easy to breed dogs in water locked Juneau. 

Finding dog-friendly homes

Given all of these people in Juneau with dogs, it is very difficult to find a rental here that allows dogs.  You may have better luck if your dog is tiny (under 30 lbs), but otherwise, I rarely see any postings for places that allows pets.  There will definitely be sacrifices as finding your ideal place in your budget that allows dogs will be tough.  So while Juneau is a great place for dogs, be warned that it is a difficult place to find rental housing if you do have a dog.