Scottsdale is a dog city with a desert problem. The parks are good, the trails are endless, the patios are dog-friendly by law, and for eight months of the year it’s one of the best places in the country to own a dog. The other four months the ground will burn a paw in seconds and the wildlife wants a fight. This is the guide we hand friends who arrive with a leash, written by people who’ve walked the same dog through every season here.
The dog parks
The city runs three off-leash parks, and they’re not interchangeable.
Chaparral Park. The one everyone means: about three fenced acres of real grass at Hayden and McDonald, with separate large-dog and small-dog areas, water fountains for both species, shade trees and benches. It’s the most popular dog park in the city and it’s busiest on winter weekends around sunset, when it’s also the most social. Park in the smaller lot off McDonald, thirty steps from the gate. The Greenbelt path and the lake are the leashed walk after.
Horizon Park. The east-of-the-101 option, a smaller fenced area in a retention basin at the far west end of the park, with a shade structure, a fountain and a water feature that keeps the dust down. Quieter, more local, and the pick for a dog that doesn’t love a crowd.
Vista del Camino Park. The Greenbelt’s southern anchor has a half-acre park with shade trees, benches and fountains, and the lakes to walk after. The South Scottsdale dog park.
All three open early and close late, roughly 5:30 AM to 10:00 PM, with weekday maintenance mornings when one section is fenced off for turf repair; the city’s dog-park page has the schedule. In summer the grass is the only ground in the city cool enough for an afternoon, which is why the park is packed at 6:00 AM in July and empty at noon.
The trails
Where dogs can go. The entire McDowell Sonoran Preserve welcomes dogs on a handheld leash no longer than six feet, and that’s more than 200 miles of trail. The best dog hikes are the gentle ones: Lost Dog Wash, which is named for one, and its web of easy loops; Brown’s Ranch and Fraesfield, flat crushed granite through saguaro forest; the Quartz Trail across the bajada. The Greenbelt, eleven paved miles through the chain of parks, is the everyday walk. Papago Park allows dogs on leash and the flat loops around the buttes are perfect for them.
Where they can’t. Camelback Mountain prohibits dogs on both summit trails, full stop, and Phoenix closes its other mountain trails to dogs whenever the temperature hits 100. Steep, hands-on rock is no place for a paw anyway; leave the Thumb and the summits for the humans, and take the dog to the bajada.
The rules on trail. Leash, always; the Preserve rangers ticket, and off-leash dogs are the reason coyotes and rattlesnakes end up in the news. Water for the dog in a bowl, not a hand; a liter per hour for both of you in the warm months. And turn around when the dog slows, not when you do. Our best hikes list marks the dog-friendly ones.
The patios
Arizona lets restaurants opt into dogs on their patios, and in Scottsdale most casual places do. The reliable ones: Brat Haus and its gravel beer garden, the most dog-friendly patio in Old Town; The Vig in McCormick Ranch with its lawn; Culinary Dropout at the Waterfront; Postino at Highland; Sip for coffee or a pint; Fate Brewing on the south end. OHSO in North Scottsdale built its whole brand on dogs. Every coffee shop on our coffee list has a patio and a water bowl. Call ahead at the nicer rooms; the dining-room patios often say no.
The hotels
The design hotels in Old Town are the dog hotels. The Kimpton brand takes pets of any size at no charge, and its Scottsdale property is a garden. The Hotel Valley Ho does the same, two pets of any size in its designated rooms with no fee. The W and the Andaz take dogs with a fee and a weight limit; the Andaz’s single-story bungalows, with private patios and a pet menu at Weft & Warp, are the best layout for one. The big family resorts mostly don’t. The where-to-stay guide has the zones; ask about the fee and the limit before you book anywhere.
The heat rules
- The pavement test. Hold the back of your hand on the sidewalk for five seconds. If you can’t, the dog can’t walk on it. From May through September that’s true from about 9:00 AM until after dark, and asphalt is worse than concrete. Grass, dirt trails and the early morning are the whole summer.
- Booties are real gear here, not a novelty, for any dog that has to cross a parking lot in the afternoon.
- Walk at dawn. The summer sunrise rules apply to dogs more than people; they can’t sweat and they won’t tell you until it’s late.
- Never the car. A parked car in Scottsdale in June reaches lethal temperatures in minutes, with the windows cracked. The city ticket is the least of it.
- Water at every stop. A collapsible bowl lives on the leash from April to October.
The wildlife
The desert wildlife guide covers the animals; the dog version is shorter. Rattlesnakes are on trails and in yards from March to October; rattlesnake-avoidance training is a local industry and worth the money, and the vaccine is a conversation to have with your vet. Coyotes take small dogs from backyards and off leashes; a fenced yard is not a guarantee and a leash is. The Sonoran Desert toad, out on monsoon nights, is toxic to a dog that mouths it; keep them in after summer rain. Cholla joints stick to paws and need pliers, which is why a comb lives in the trunk. And Valley fever, the fungal infection from disturbed desert soil, is a real risk for dogs that dig; know the cough.
The year
October to April is the reason you brought the dog: every trail, every patio, the parks at sunset, the Greenbelt in the evening. May to September is dawn walks, the grass at Chaparral, and an air-conditioned afternoon. The first-year note explains the rest of the household adjustments; the dog figures it out faster than you will.