Three valleys, two counties and five distinct cities make up the Tri-Valley region, which is less than an hour from San Francisco and most of the rest of the Bay Area on the eastern side of the San Francisco Bay hills. Dog-friendly hotels, restaurants and wineries abound, and if you’re looking for places to stretch your legs, the East Bay Regional Park District manages tens of thousands of acres where you can do just that. Fido can stretch his while you supervise at five off-leash dog parks in Livermore, three in San Ramon, three in Pleasanton, one in Dublin and another in Danville.
And speaking of Danville, a DogTrekker staffer visited recently, saw lots of dog-walkers and spied more than a few businesses with water and treats set out on their doorsteps. “If they’d had an off-leash white sand beach and an artist colony, they’d be giving Carmel a run for their money,” she said.
The neighboring community of Pleasanton is as pleasant as its name when it comes to the Fido factor. Unlike other communities that block off their down towns for regular street fairs and ban canines, Pleasanton welcomes patrons with four-legged companions at its 1st Wednesday Street Parties held May through September and featuring more than 150 vendors.
And that's just the tip of the tail when it comes to discovering the tail-waggin' delights of a region that too many motorists bypass on their way to somewhere else.