Is NJ really pet-friendly? The surprising truth revealed

How pet friendly do you think New Jersey probably is when compared to other states?

By that I don’t mean how much we like or love pets. God knows every time we go to Newark Airport or an indoor shopping mall we see it. These days were likely to see somebody who is so obsessed with their pet they're practically attached at the hip, bringing them into places where they really shouldn’t. Haven’t we all seen pets even in grocery stores by now?

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So there’s no doubt people in New Jersey are crazy about their own pets and treat them like members of the family. But what I mean by pet-friendly is how accommodating do you think New Jersey is to our pet population versus other states?

Things like how many hotels in New Jersey are pet-friendly versus have a no pet policy. How many restaurants allow pets under certain conditions. How many dog parks and activities for pets does our state offer.

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Do you think we’re in the top 10? The bottom 10? Somewhere in the middle?

Stanton House Inn did a study to find which states were the most versus the least pet-friendly. Before I tell you where New Jersey landed, I can report that Ohio, where Trump said immigrants were eating the dogs and cats, ranked 18th most pet-friendly, so that’s weird.

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The worst state for pet-friendliness? Alaska. Pet-friendly hotels per square mile in Alaska? Zero. Pet-friendly restaurants per square mile? Also zero. Then again, isn’t Alaska mostly vast emptiness? But I digress.

The most pet-friendly state in America is Rhode Island.

If you’re a pet lover disappointed New Jersey was not number one, don’t be. We did very well. We are number three!

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New Jersey scores big with 2,250 per-friendly hotels and you'll find one every 0.23 every square miles. Pet-friendly restaurants totaled 1,741 and 0.30 every square mile. We scored 482 pet-friendly activities and the cities where pets seem to be welcomed the very most were Ocean City, Wildwood, and Cape May.

This is all well and good for hotels and restaurants that want to cater to pets, as long as they’re making it clear to other customers who may be allergic that it’s a possibility. But for the love of God can we stop bringing our pets with us to places like grocery stores and malls? It’s called leaving them home. Look it up.

LOOK: Here are the pets banned in each state

Because the regulation of exotic animals is left to states, some organizations, including The Humane Society of the United States, advocate for federal, standardized legislation that would ban owning large cats, bears, primates, and large poisonous snakes as pets.

Read on to see which pets are banned in your home state, as well as across the nation.

Gallery Credit: Elena Kadvany