Top Dog-Friendly Spots: West Nashville Edition

Looking for things to do with your pup around Nashville? You’ve come to the right place! If you’re anything like us, we try to bring our three-year-old mini golden doodle, Lady, out of the house as much as possible. While she’s happy with walks and attention (and a stick or two!), she’s happiest when she’s out in the world. Luckily, Music City is a dog-friendly city with plenty of trails, restaurants and breweries that love dogs as much as we do, so I’m breaking down this extensive list by region. Grab your four-legged bestie, leash and portable water bowl, and enjoy some of our favorite dog-friendly spots around West Nashville!

Tailgate Brewery

In my opinion, Tailgate Brewery’s headquarters off Charlotte Pike is the best dog and family-friendly brewery in Nashville. Luckily, its down the street from our house! With an ever-changing and extensive selection of inventive brews (including ales, IPAs, shandies, sours and seltzers) and an impressive craft pizza menu (try the hot honey pizza!), you really can’t go wrong at this fun-filled 7-acre campus.

While pups aren’t allowed inside the building, Tailgate offers picnic bench seating in the back, offering breathtaking sunset views and grassy hills for kids and pups to frolic, along with more picnic bench seating in a covered barn for both sunny and rainy days. Plenty of dog meet-ups are hosted here, too. With a giant TV setup in back, it’s the perfect place to catch a big game, or watch a family-friendly movie during their summer Thursday Movie Nights. They recently had a showing of Homeward Bound—another perfect example of why this is the perfect place for family and pups! Last but not least, in addition to their Mug Club (for humans!), Tailgate also has a “Mutt Club,” where a $30 annual membership includes a $10 donation to the Nashville Humane Association, a Tailgate bandana and a pup treat for every visit. If your pup is lucky enough to be chosen for “Mutt of the Month,” they’ll draw a caricature that’s showcased at their headquarters, too! What a fun place for a pup!

Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee

Need a change of scenery while working from home or like to spend time in a coffee shop, but don’t want to leave your pup behind? Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee (LTH) is the perfect spot that checks all those boxes, and has quickly become my go-to place to hang out and write. Complete with a ton of cozy seating options, tables, and even Skee-ball, this dog-friendly coffee shop is a great place to meet up with friends, or curl up with a book or your laptop. As you can imagine, LTH serves a variety of coffee (my go-to is the Cinna-Honey Latte) and baked good options, but they also serve beer and wine in the afternoons, and even host comedy and music nights. Take note though, the parking can be tricky. There aren’t a lot of parking spaces and it’s a popular hangout, so I like to arrive early to make sure I snag a coveted spot. Another amazing aspect about this coffee shop: LTH directly supports a network of Rwandan coffee farming communities, providing the farmers with living wages, education, healthcare, and clean water, while celebrating specialty coffee. Not only do you get to spend quality time sipping coffee and people watching with your pup, you are also supporting an incredible cause. What’s not to love?

Bobbie’s Dairy Dip: The Best Pup Cup in Town

What’s even better than getting a cone on a hot day? Enjoying one with your pup! Established in 1951, Bobbie’s Dairy Dip is a 1950’s-era joint that serves burgers, milkshakes and soft serve from a walk-up window, and is a classic West Nashville staple. We recently brought Lady with us for the first time, and to our surprise, there was a pup cup on the menu, which she had to try! But this isn’t your run-of-the-mill whipped cream offering—it puts Starbucks to shame! This pup cup comes complete with vanilla soft serve, a whole bunch of creamy peanut butter, and bacon bits sprinkled on top! Bobbie’s Dairy Dip is a definite must if you’re in the area. You and your dog will feel like kids (and pups) again!

Richland Creek Greenway

After enjoying a cone at Bobbie’s Dairy Dip in West Nash, walk it off on the Richland Creek Greenway, a peaceful path that surrounds McCabe’s golf course in Sylvan Park. This four-mile loop is a hot spot for joggers and dogs alike, with creek entrances and an abundance of shade and scenic views. It has now become one of our favorite places to stroll, and with plenty of restaurants with dog-friendly patios within walking distance (Edley’s, Pancho & Lefties and more), it’s an excellent area to spend time with your pup!

M.L. Rose

Craving a burger and waffle fries, but don’t want to leave your pooch behind? Head over to M.L. Rose’s fun location in Sylvan Park. In addition to the great burgs and brews on tap, their West Nashville location has a covered dog-friendly patio that is a hot spot for pups! Complete with a putting green, fire pit, and plenty of bright red Adirondack chairs to kick back in, the outdoor space at M.L. Rose makes a fun place to hang with friends on nice Nashville days. We go to M.L. Rose often, with and without Lady (but don’t tell her that)! As far as specials go, the Sylvan Park location has trivia nights on Mondays, 2-for-1 craft brews on Wednesday afternoons, and a great weekend brunch menu with 2-for-1 cocktail specials. Our go-to order? The ANM.L. Style burger with waffle fries!

Double Dogs

While we’ve only been here once, we plan on visiting Double Dogs in the near future, and their dog-friendly patio definitely deserves a mention. While you can expect a wait around dinner time, the patio was packed with pups and is a fun way to spend an evening with your pal. Their extensive menu has it all, from wings, to burgers, to pizza and, yes, hot dogs! With a great happy hour, it’s a great place to catch a game too. The servers are super kind to all pups, and the food is great too, making Double Dogs another great spot for dog lovers to hang out, enjoy some great bites and make new friends.

Warner Parks

On those beautiful days where you want to be submersed in nature, hiking through the Warner Park trails is always a good idea. Percy Warner and Edwin Warner Parks are directly next to each other, spanning over 3,000 beautiful wooded acres of peaceful tranquility for you and your dog to appreciate together. Our preferred trail is the Percy Warner Paved Trail, an easy-going 6-mile path that makes me less worried about unwelcome tick hitchhikers. If you’re more of the adventurous type, the Mossy Ridge and Harpeth Woods Loops might be the trails for you. Dogs are allowed on all trails as long as they are leashed, so grab a portable water dish and enjoy the tranquility that nature has to offer!

GoDog

Lastly, if you’re in need of doggy daycare for those long days at the office or if you’re going out of town, I highly recommend GoDog’s West Nashville location, which we take our dog Lady to regularly. Providing daycare, boarding, bathing, and training for cats and dogs, GoDog has plenty of options for all personality types, separate play yards for small, medium and large dogs, and even an outdoor pool! Whenever we bring Lady to GoDog, she bolts right past us through those double doors without looking back, so it’s safe to assume she loves it there. And with cameras on during the day, you can check in with your pet to see what they’re up to, which certainly helps the separation anxiety (for us at least!).

With all these plans, I’m paw-sitive you’ll have one tired and happy pup at the end of the day! I hope you enjoyed our list of dog-friendly hot spots around West Nashville. After you’ve hit these spots, be sure to check out my list of places to explore in the greater Nashville area!