Sandy beach on Priest Lake.... (Hunter, Rutherford: waterpark, home, neighborhood)

[bluesky42day]

In addition to the ones already mentioned, there is a very small man made beach area in Hendersonville off of Lock 3 & there is another one at Laguardo off of HWY 109.

Courtney

[MGP123]

Do any of you know if dogs are allowed off leash in any of these areas? Coming from Austin which was very dog friendly, Nashville has been somewhat of a disappointed in this regard.
Where can our dog hike and swim with us? There has to be places where we can do this. Thanks

[bluesky42day]

Dogs off leash are not allowed. When I take my dogs swimming I attach them to long nylon ropes that you can get at the hardware store for around $3, they look like this:



Tie the rope to the dogs harness or collar like I have here:




And let 'em go, the nylon rope floats, I like the nylon rope best because it's quick to dry:




I love to swim with my dogs

Originally Posted by MGP123

Do any of you know if dogs are allowed off leash in any of these areas? Coming from Austin which was very dog friendly, Nashville has been somewhat of a disappointed in this regard.
Where can our dog hike and swim with us? There has to be places where we can do this. Thanks

There are several dog parks in the Nashville area where dogs can be off leash but the lake isn't one of them.

Courtney

[themudpuppy]

Originally Posted by MGP123

Do any of you know if dogs are allowed off leash in any of these areas? Coming from Austin which was very dog friendly, Nashville has been somewhat of a disappointed in this regard.

I read the rules for the parks run by the Corps, and dogs aren't allowed on the beach areas at all, even on a leash. At Anderson, they're not even allowed in any part of the recreation area.

Middle TN is not very dog-friendly. When I went out west with my large dog, he was invited inside stores in many places. It was so refreshing to be in a dog-friendly area. In middle TN I've had stores turn us away while we were trying to seek shelter during a tornado. The "no dogs" rule around here is enforced even in an emergency. This has happened to us at more than one store during tornadoes. Maybe because he's a big dog, but he's a lot better behaved than a lot of small dogs I know. He's a certified therapy dog who has had extensive training. Since I won't leave him behind in a storm, I stayed outside with him when they wouldn't let us in.

My dog and I go to the off-leash dog park at Warner parks and then we go around the corner for a dip in the river afterwards. I keep him on-leash everywhere except the off-leash park. He stays on-leash in the water too, as it's against the rules to let them off leash anywhere but the dog park.

[bluesky42day]

Originally Posted by tnp

I read the rules for the parks run by the Corps, and dogs aren't allowed on the beach areas at all, even on a leash. At Anderson, they're not even allowed in any part of the recreation area.

Middle TN is not very dog-friendly. When I went out west with my large dog, he was invited inside stores in many places. It was so refreshing to be in a dog-friendly area. In middle TN I've had stores turn us away while we were trying to seek shelter during a tornado. The "no dogs" rule around here is enforced even in an emergency. This has happened to us at more than one store during tornadoes. Maybe because he's a big dog, but he's a lot better behaved than a lot of small dogs I know. He's a certified therapy dog who has had extensive training. Since I won't leave him behind in a storm, I stayed outside with him when they wouldn't let us in.

My dog and I go to the off-leash dog park at Warner parks and then we go around the corner for a dip in the river afterwards. I keep him on-leash everywhere except the off-leash park. He stays on-leash in the water too, as it's against the rules to let them off leash anywhere but the dog park.

This is the sign entering the Anderson Rd. trail head:




There are plenty of people that hike with their dogs & swim there. I know you specifically mentioned the recreation area, but I'm just giving you another option outside of Warner.

As far as your other claim about Middle TN not being pet friendly, I guess it's all relative to where you live in Middle TN & are where you're trying to go with your dog.

I live in East Nashville & dogs are allowed at the big box hardware stores like home depot & lowes, I see all sizes big & small there. I've ridden on the city bus with therapy dogs. Very small dogs are carried in purses all throughout stores in Green Hills. A lot of non-chain restaurants with patios & decks are pet friendly. There are lots of events throughout the year in Nashville aimed at people with pets like Lappy Hour. My experience is that the area as a whole is very pet friendly, hopefully you can figure out the places that are & enjoy taking your pup there now

Courtney

[lizpluschris]

Do you think it's really going to be that enforced? I'd say bring your dogs out to the lake, the worst you're going to get is a reprimand.

[BirdieBelle]

...or a fine and a lawsuit if your dog bites someone.

Leash laws exist for a reason.

[themudpuppy]

Originally Posted by bluesky42day

This is the sign entering the Anderson Rd. trail head

Cool! Thanks for that info. It differs from the rules I saw posted on the website about Anderson. Maybe they've changed the rules since then and didn't update the site. I'll go with what the sign says. That's good to know, as I'm always looking for new places to take my dog.

I live in East Nashville & dogs are allowed at the big box hardware stores like home depot & lowes, I see all sizes big & small there. I've ridden on the city bus with therapy dogs. Very small dogs are carried in purses all throughout stores in Green Hills. A lot of non-chain restaurants with patios & decks are pet friendly. There are lots of events throughout the year in Nashville aimed at people with pets like Lappy Hour.

Yeah, I knew about some of the events like Lappy Hour, and East Nashville is a bit more dog-friendly than most areas around here. Green Hills maybe with a small dog in a purse. Try taking a large dog inside the stores. LOL! I think large dog owners and purse-size dog owners have 2 different ideas of "dog-friendly". "Dog-friendly" to me is all dogs, not just tiny ones. It's cool that some of the non-chain restaurants in Nashville are allowing dogs on the patios and decks now. But I was talking about middle TN overall. The couple of areas of Nashville that are dog-friendly are just a small part of the whole middle TN area.

In my county we're not even allowed to bring dogs to the park on-leash.

[bluesky42day]

Goodness, what county is that? I can't even imagine it.

Dogs aren't allowed at the baseball park area at Shelby, but are permitted everywhere else on a leash & off leash at the dog park portion.

As far as large dogs not being permitted where small dogs are, I understand the stores perspective & agree that there is a difference. I love big dogs as much as anybody & prefer them, but as an owner of a large dog, I'm sensitive to the fact that not everybody likes them, some people have fears about them & others are allergic. Most people wouldn't even notice a teacup pom in someone's purse at Anthropologie so it's really not an issue, but if you're trying to bring in a golden retriever that's a whole 'nother thing

Courtney

[themudpuppy]

Out west it didn't matter whether the dog was large or small. They were allowed in so many places, whereas in middle TN they aren't. That's the difference between an area that's really dog-friendly and middle TN which is not at all what I would consider dog-friendly compared to other areas I've been.

I guess we all have a different perspective, probably based on where we came from. If someone came from a place where dogs weren't allowed anywhere and found that they were allowed to bring dogs to a few spots in Nashville, they would probably consider "middle TN" dog-friendly, whereas I, who have lived in and visited many real dog-friendly areas, would not consider middle TN dog-friendly.