Roses for Rover? How to Celebrate Valentine’s Day With Your Dog

For Immediate Release:
February 3, 2022

Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382

PETA hears that more and more people are celebrating with four-legged family members on Valentine’s Day. From a gourmet dinner to an in-home massage, there are myriad ways to do so—and here are PETA’s top tips:

• Go out for the day together. Enjoy an extra-long walk, spend time at the beach or in the woods, or visit a dog park where your companion can run off-leash, play ball, and make new dog friends. Let them dig, bark, and race around without any micro-management! If the weather takes a turn for the worse, you can always watch “dog TV” on YouTube, curled up on the couch.
• Treat your dog to a massage. Humans aren’t the only ones who feel stressed and like their backs rubbed.
• Share a special meal. Cook a dog-friendly dinner at home, complete with special treats, while your best friend enjoys some quiet, relaxing classical music—or order from a dog-friendly restaurant. (A list of some suggestions appears below my signature.) Soy ice cream goes down as a treat (but not chocolate, which is toxic to dogs).
• Make it a group date. Arrange for your friends and their dogs to meet up in the park, in someone’s fenced-in backyard, or somewhere else where everyone can socialize together. And let them do whatever they want.
• Plan a getaway. Some hotels and resorts don’t just allow dogs as guests—they welcome them with treats, beds, and dishes just for them. (A list of some suggestions appears below my signature.)

“Valentine’s Day is a celebration of love, and that should include the animals who share our homes and lives and are a human’s best friend,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA has tips to make dogs feel special on Valentine’s Day and every day, with outings to dog-friendly establishments, new treats and toys, extra-long walks, freedom from being bossed around, and plenty of affection.”

Valentine’s Day is also a great opportunity to help dogs who don’t get the love they deserve, by encouraging friends and neighbors to keep their dogs indoors with the rest of the family and never crate them or by sponsoring a doghouse for a dog who would otherwise go without even the most minimal shelter.

So to make this a pawsitive holiday for everyone. Additional information about dog-friendly dining and travel appears below:

Dog-Friendly Restaurants

Before heading out for a bite, animal guardians can visit BringFido and Pet Friendly Restaurants—two sites that keep track of pup-friendly restaurants worldwide. As a bonus, many of these spots include special meals for dogs—no more barks and forlorn glances from underneath the table! A few standouts follow:

• Darbster (West Palm Beach, Florida) offers dog-friendly dishes and will even slash the cost of your entrée by 20% if you bring a four-legged friend along.
• Posana (Asheville, North Carolina) will bring your dog a three-course meal as soon as the family sits down, with soy bacon doggie treats offered as a scrumptious dessert.
• Lazy Dog (multiple locations) says it all in its name! This entirely dog-themed chain encourages pups to eat with the rest of the family on the patio.
• Art and Soul (Washington, D.C.) offers a “pooch patio menu” that includes Peanut-Banana Pupsicles as a tasty after-dinner treat and so much more.
• Tin Shed Garden Cafe (Portland, Oregon) offers a special deal on Tuesday nights, known as “Doggie Love Night,” where for every “human” food item purchased, pups receive a “doggie” item for free.
• Nauti Dawg Marina Cafe’s (Lighthouse Point, Florida) motto reads, “Great people. Great dawgs. Great times,” and each of its menus includes a “For the Dawgs” section, which is 50% off on Mondays for “Yappy Hour.”
• Sprinkles (multiple locations), a cupcake chain, offers sweet but sugar-free “pupcakes” for dogs to enjoy, available for nationwide shipping.

Fido-Friendly Hotels and Resorts

To find hotels that include companion animals as guests, sites like Raising Your Pets Naturally, Bark Post, BringFido, and The Points Guy list destinations that offer specialized menus or room service orders, treats and water bowls, resources for animal-friendly activities, and more:

• Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort and Spa (Huntington Beach, California) offers a Doggie Room Service Menu and is located right outside Huntington’s only dog beach, Bolsa Chica.
• The Ritz-Carlton’s Avon, Colorado, location offers dogs a “Bachelor’s Pack,” which includes a bed, bowl, gourmet treats, and a “Pet in Room” sign, while the Washington, D.C., location treats canine guests to beds, personalized mats and bowls, gift bags, leashes, dog biscuits, and tennis balls.
• Hyatt Centric South Beach Miami (Miami) offers dog beds, water bowls, and an abundance of treats. Dogs can also soak up Miami’s sun and meet other pups on the hotel’s rooftop dog park.
• Mandarin Oriental (Atlanta) welcomes dogs with freshly made bone-shaped cookies, beds, water bowls, doggie dental kits, and a variety of play toys. The in-room dining program even has specialized dog dishes and “puptails” (dog-friendly mocktails).
• Inn at 500 Capitol’s (Boise, Idaho) “Boise Best Friend Package” includes a welcome gift, beer tastings for two at a local dog-friendly brewery, and a $10 credit toward the hotel’s new menu for companion animals.
• XV Beacon (Boston) greets guests with a list of nearby animal-friendly establishments and walking routes, a personalized plate of peanut butter treats and hotel-made dog biscuits, plush dog beds, and water bowls.
• Delano Las Vegas (Las Vegas) greets dogs with service menus and food, including frosted organic cookies. And like much of Vegas itself, the resort’s dog park operates at all hours of the day.
• Calistoga Ranch (Napa Valley, California) offers dog treats, beds, food, and bowls as well as a “Canine Culinary” room service menu.
• The Perry Hotel & Marina (Key West, Florida) has two on-site dog parks and ground-floor guest rooms with outdoor showers designed for dogs as well as welcome amenities like leashes, water bowls, and Frisbees.

For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.