Top dog: Melbourne’s most liveable areas for pups revealed

Melbourne’s top places to raise a pooch have been revealed – but the best spots could depend on how social your four-legged friend is. Have your say on the rankings.

Melbourne consistently ranks among the most liveable cities in the world for humans, but quality of life factors for our four legged friends are more rarely examined.

A new survey from the University of Melbourne has tried to find out which of our LGAs is the most dog-friendly, studying a range of criteria such as number of off-lead areas, doggo population density and access to vets for poorly pets.

Dr Mia Cobb, who led the study, said she thought it was important to help people make informed decisions for their dogs as well as themselves when it came to where they lived.

Anthony and his golden retriever Archie in Fawkner Park, South Yarra. Picture: Jason Edwards

“I found it really interesting that different government areas had quite a different approach to (for example) letting dogs off leash in public areas,” Dr Cobb said.

“Recognising that difference for people who may be looking to purchase a home and having their dogs be able to access those kinds of areas is really important.

“There’s more data showing more people are owning dogs and that they’re filling a family role for us, they’re not like a piece of equipment.”

Nearly half of all Australian households have a dog, according to the RSPCA.

If your dog loves bounding around in open spaces it might be time to consider moving to Knox or Casey, where dogs are allowed off-lead in nearly all parks and reserves.

The City of Melton provides the fewest spaces for dogs to roam free.

Owners of social hounds should head for Port Phillip, where there are a whopping 410 dogs per square kilometre.

More reclusive pets will be at home in Cardinia, which has just nine dogs for every square kilometre.

Dr Cobb said the key to choosing the best suburb for your four-legged friend was remembering dogs have a wide range of personalities.

“Dogs are individuals, so there is no one perfect place for dogs to live,” Dr Cobb said.

“For some dogs, it might be really important that they have access to a big safe area they can beat around and run off-lead.

If your dog doesn’t enjoy socialising, Cardinia could be ideal, with just nine dogs for every square kilometre. Picture: Mark Stewart

“Attending to our dogs and noticing what they’re interested in and offering them as much of that as we can is how we can help them have a good life.”

Dogs were also revealed as a money spinner for local councils, with registration fees ranging from $37 in Hume to a hefty $84.39 in well-heeled Bayside.

Dr Cobb said the amount of money residents paid to register pets meant Councils should be mindful of dogs when it came to policy decisions.

“How does that translate into what dogs get, people are paying these fees to help support their dogs in these areas,” she said.

“So then, does that kind of correlate with what they get back?”.

Originally published as Top dog: Melbourne’s most liveable areas for pups revealed