The 2-year-old Tibetan terrier from Newcastle, Me., loves running through Toronto's leash-free parks, relaxing on café patios with water bowls and strolling into stores where owners welcome canine customers and dole out doggie treats.

"Toronto is more European and much more dog-friendly than many cities in the States," said his owner, Kate Stanuch, a frequent visitor to Toronto who will be back in town with Tucson in two weeks. "The people on the street are much more accepting of dogs, we have no problem finding places to stay and we're encouraged to bring them into stores."

For reasons such as those, Toronto was listed on DogFriendly.com as one of the Top 10 pooch-friendly cities to visit in North America. Thanks to the number of lodgings, attractions, beaches and stores that welcome four-legged visitors, as well as a pet-friendly public transportation system, Toronto ranked ninth.

While it's a doggone impressive ranking for a city that beat nearly 200 others, Toronto slipped two spots from last year because at the time it was ranked, Ontarians were beginning to talk of banning pit bulls. Now that the provincial legislation is set to take effect on Aug. 29, Toronto will likely disappear from next year's list, said Len Kain, the website's vice-president of marketing.

"Independent of the pit-bull issue, Toronto probably should've ranked a bit higher (this year), maybe No. 5," he said in a phone interview from Pollock Pines, Calif., near Sacramento, where the website is based. "We do think Toronto is a dog-friendly place, but we worry that visitors will have their dogs confiscated once the ban comes into effect."

The poll was done by three of the website's reviewers, who determined the Top 10 after researching countless email messages from dog owners about their travel experiences, and conducting telephone interviews with city officials and business owners.

Toronto's high ranking prompted an outcry from dog lovers, who said the provincial ban and a new city bylaw restricting dog walkers to just five dogs in parks is proof that Toronto is not dog-friendly. But the list is specific to travellers and not residents, Kain said.