Nebraska, Iowa ratings on dog-friendliness? Don’t ask

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Many times per year, we read and share these annual lists related to companion animals. The latest perennial research is about states and their rankings in terms of “pet-friendliness” and comes from Safe Wise.

This list uses a methodology that’s varied and meant to be a detailed and wide-ranging measure of how friendly a state is to pets and their owners. How many parks and trails? How affordable is veterinary care? Does the state have puppy mills and how many? How lax or stiff are penalties for animal cruelty? Questions like that. We trust the instrument.

So. Where does Nebraska rank? How about our friends and neighbors in Iowa?

Nebraska ranks number 33 of 5o in terms of friendliness. Omaha and Lincoln are to thank for the amenities for pet owners. Maybe what tips the scales for Nebraska is the felony animal abuse law, something that Iowa lacks.

Speaking of Iowa, there is good and bad news. The good news: there isn’t a 51st state in the U.S. yet. The bad: of the 50 we’ve got, there are no states that are less pet-friendly, according to the folks conducting this research. Fifty out of 50. Ouch.

We know there are MANY pet-friendly stores, towns (many municipalities have pledged no pet stores that sell mill dogs!), and people in Iowa (it’s the birthplace of a rising national humane organization, Bailing Out Benji), but the research here focuses on how many there are relative to other states. It also seems that humanity is a heavy measure, so Iowa’s No. 3 ranking in the latest 2019 Horrible Hundred Puppy Mills report and the lack of the previously mentioned felony animal abuse law probably play a big part in their numbers.

For more on the instrument, lists, and more, find the above information and more here.

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