Aug 10, 2026

Old Town Fort Collins With a Dog: 10 Stops, Including a Dog With Her Own Statue

Old Town puts water bowls out on the pavement, has a restaurant with its own pet menu, and commemorates a 1930s station dog three separate ways. Ten stops, all on foot.

Luis ZamoraCo-founder of PetCompass; Dog Dad to Banzo and Tuck

Fort Collins, Colorado10 min readEat & Drink

Old Town Fort Collins is a compact grid of cobbled streets, and the most walkable dog afternoon in northern Colorado. It also contains something few American downtowns can claim: a memorial, a bronze statue, and a named walk, all dedicated to a single stray dog.

Ten stops below, all within walking distance of each other, all sourced from Visit Fort Collins.

One thing to know before you set out. Visit Fort Collins notes that along the Old Town streets you will find water bowls, and sometimes treats, put out for dogs. That is not an amenity any city can mandate. It tells you what kind of town this is.

1. Annie the Railroad Dog's resting site

Downtown Transit Center.

Annie was adopted by railroad men in the 1930s and became a local celebrity, greeting each person disembarking at the Mason Street train station throughout the decade. Her resting site is at the Downtown Transit Center.

Start here. It costs nothing, it takes five minutes, and it frames the whole afternoon. A town that buried its station dog and then kept commemorating her for ninety years is a town that will find you a water bowl.

2. Annie's bronze statue

Old Town Library, 201 Peterson Street.

The bronze is the photograph everybody takes. It is also a good marker for the eastern edge of the walkable Old Town area.

3. Annie's Walk at Library Park

Library Park, adjoining the Old Town Library.

A named stroll rather than a hike, and the natural pairing with the statue. Grass, shade, and benches, which is what you want between the second and third stops of a dog afternoon.

4. Wagz Pet Market

College Avenue, near Trimble Court.

A pet boutique where pets are welcome in store. Visit Fort Collins describes it as somewhere your shopping partner can pick out a toy of their own or a new lead, and notes that Wagz likes to see your pets.

The practical use. This is where you solve the thing you forgot. Collapsible bowl, poo bags, a lead that is under the required length for wherever you are going next.

5. Ginger & Baker

A pet menu, not a bowl of tap water.

Visit Fort Collins describes options including bowls that put chicken, beef, or salmon at the forefront, and treats ranging from pup-pops to paw-fogato.

Nowhere else in the region does this. If you want the dog to have its own order rather than to sit under the table watching yours, this is the stop.

6. New Belgium Brewing's back porch

Indoors and out. The two big breweries, New Belgium and Odell, both allow dogs inside, which Visit Fort Collins frames as the reason a chilly autumn day still works.

The back porch is where you want to be when it is warm, playing Rolle Bolle, a Belgian lawn bowling game.

7. Odell Brewing Co's fire pit

The other indoor option, and the one with an outdoor fire pit.

Front Range evenings cool fast at 5,000 feet. An outdoor heat source is the difference between a shoulder-season patio and a real one, and it is why Odell works later into the year than most.

8. Horse & Dragon Brewing Company

Patio, with water bowls provided. One of the town's smaller breweries, and Visit Fort Collins notes it is happy to put water out.

9. Zwei Brewing

Patio, water bowls, and quieter. The right choice if your dog finds a busy brewery yard overwhelming.

The full brewery picture, including the state statute that decides which patios can legally seat a dog, is in 4 Fort Collins breweries that take dogs.

10. Gustav Swanson Natural Area

445 Linden Street. Leashed dogs, fishing, hiking and bike trails, parking, enhanced accessibility features.

The walk that makes the afternoon a day. A natural area on the Poudre River just blocks from downtown, with interpretive signs and benches. Over 45 bird species have been recorded here including green-winged teal, great blue herons, owls, kestrels, and Bullock's orioles, plus bats, foxes, and deer. It was dedicated on 31 July 1988.

Stay on the trail. Its feature list does not include an Off-trail Hiking Permitted tag, unlike several other Poudre sites covered in the Poudre is Colorado's only Wild and Scenic river.

The ten at a glance

#	Stop	Where	Why
1	Annie's resting site	Downtown Transit Center	The town's railroad dog, 1930s
2	Annie's bronze statue	Old Town Library, 201 Peterson St	The photograph
3	Annie's Walk	Library Park	Grass, shade, benches
4	Wagz Pet Market	College Ave near Trimble Court	Pets welcome in store
5	Ginger & Baker	Old Town	An actual pet menu
6	New Belgium back porch	Old Town	Indoors, plus Rolle Bolle
7	Odell Brewing Co	Old Town	Indoors, plus fire pit
8	Horse & Dragon	Fort Collins	Patio, water bowls
9	Zwei Brewing	Fort Collins	Patio, water bowls, quieter
10	Gustav Swanson Natural Area	445 Linden St	River walk from downtown

Four dog events worth planning around

Visit Fort Collins calls this a dog-obsessed town, and the calendar backs it up.

Tour de Corgi, at the beginning of every October. A costume contest and parade through Old Town. It is exactly what it sounds like and it is the single best dog day in the region.

FoCo Top Dog. A fundraiser whose winner gets their dog's image printed on a can of Odell beer.

The Fire Hydrant 5K, in May, benefiting Larimer Humane Society, now operating as NoCo Humane.

Brew Paw Paw Bingo, in June, described as a brewery-hopping good time.

Where to stay within walking distance

Visit Fort Collins lists five pet-friendly hotels: The Elizabeth Hotel, The Armstrong, the Fort Collins Marriott, the Hilton Fort Collins, and Quality Inn and Suites.

The Armstrong and The Elizabeth are the Old Town ones, which matters if the point of the trip is to do all of the above on foot rather than moving a car between stops.

Reading Old Town for a dog

The district is small enough to cross in fifteen minutes, which means the variables are surface, shade, and crowd rather than distance.

The cobbles are the thing nobody warns you about. Old Town's paving is attractive and uneven, with gaps that catch small paws and set stones that get slippery in rain or after a spill. A dog that walks confidently on pavement can be tentative here, and a dog with any joint issue will feel it.

Shade runs on a schedule. The streets are narrow enough that one side is usually in shadow, and which side changes through the day. In summer, walk the shaded side and cross when it switches rather than taking the direct line.

Crowd density decides everything else. A Saturday afternoon in Old Town Square is close-packed, with buskers, skateboards, and children who will reach for your dog without asking. A weekday morning is the same streets with a tenth of the people. If your dog is reactive, that difference matters more than any policy on this page.

Water bowls are put out, not guaranteed. Carry your own. The pavement bowls are a lovely custom and they are also emptied, kicked over, and taken in at closing time.

The event days invert the calculation. Tour de Corgi in early October fills Old Town with hundreds of dogs in costume. For a sociable dog that is the best day of the year to be here. For a nervous one it is the worst, and the two require opposite decisions.

Plan an exit. Gustav Swanson Natural Area is a few blocks from the middle of it all, which means a dog that has had enough of crowds is five minutes from a river and some quiet. That proximity is the single most useful thing about doing Old Town with a dog rather than any other downtown in the region.

Rules for the Old Town circuit

Leash, always. Fort Collins has a leash law, and dogs at large are prohibited under municipal code 4-93. Off leash is legal only inside the four fenced parks ranked in 4 Fort Collins off-leash dog parks.

Keep the dog off the furniture. Colorado's patio statute specifically prohibits allowing a pet dog on chairs, benches, seats, or other furniture or fixtures. It applies on every patio in the state.

Clean up immediately. The city ordinance requires immediate removal of waste from any property the owner does not occupy, and the NoCo Humane animal control page sets out the detail. Dispatch is 970.226.3647, extension 7.

Watch the barking. Municipal code 4-94 prohibits excessive, continuous, or untimely noise. Relevant on a crowded patio with a dog that objects to skateboards.

Check the pavement. Old Town is brick, stone, and asphalt in full Colorado sun. Thermal injury to paw pads becomes a risk from around 77 degrees of air temperature, when asphalt reaches roughly 125 degrees. Test with the back of your hand before you cross a square.

And know where the vet is, in emergency and after-hours vets in Fort Collins.

Building the day

Morning: a proper walk first. A dog that has already run lies quietly under a table. Options are in Horsetooth Reservoir and Horsetooth Mountain with a dog, and the hazards to plan around are in 9 Colorado hazards that catch Fort Collins dog owners off guard.

Late morning: Annie's three stops, then Wagz. All on foot, all short.

Lunch: Ginger & Baker, so the dog gets its own order.

Afternoon: Gustav Swanson, for a river walk that starts from downtown.

Evening: New Belgium or Odell, indoors if it is cold, in the yard if it is not.

Frequently asked questions

Is Old Town Fort Collins dog friendly? Yes, unusually so. Visit Fort Collins notes that water bowls and sometimes treats are put out along the Old Town streets, and the district contains a pet boutique that welcomes dogs in store, a restaurant with its own pet menu, and two breweries that admit dogs indoors.

Who was Annie the Railroad Dog? A stray adopted by railroad men in Fort Collins in the 1930s who became a local celebrity greeting passengers at the Mason Street train station. Her resting site is at the Downtown Transit Center, her bronze statue is at the Old Town Library at 201 Peterson Street, and Annie's Walk runs through Library Park.

Which Fort Collins restaurant has a dog menu? Ginger & Baker. Visit Fort Collins describes bowls featuring chicken, beef, or salmon, and treats from pup-pops to paw-fogato.

Can dogs go inside shops in Old Town Fort Collins? Wagz Pet Market on College Avenue near Trimble Court welcomes pets in store. Policies at other shops vary, so ask at the door.

Which Old Town breweries let dogs inside? New Belgium and Odell are both listed by Visit Fort Collins as allowing dogs indoors, which makes them the cold-weather options.

Are there dog events in Fort Collins? Four named ones. Tour de Corgi in early October, a costume contest and parade through Old Town. FoCo Top Dog, whose winner appears on an Odell beer can. The Fire Hydrant 5K in May. Brew Paw Paw Bingo in June.

Sources

Venue policies, event dates, hotel pet rules, and hours change without notice. Confirm directly before travelling. This article is general information and is not veterinary advice.