Dog Friendly Beaches: How the Rules Work and How to Keep Your Dog Safe

There are few happier sights than a dog let loose on an empty beach. There are also few more common holiday disappointments than driving an hour to the coast and finding a sign at the top of the steps that says no dogs. Beach rules confuse people because they are not really about the beach. They are about the season, the time of day, and sometimes which end of the sand you are standing on. This guide explains how the rules work in the places people holiday most, how to check a beach before you go, and what to watch for once you are there, because the seaside has a few dangers for dogs that are not obvious.

Why Beaches Ban Dogs in Summer

Most beaches that restrict dogs do so for only part of the year. The pattern is the same almost everywhere: dogs are welcome through autumn, winter and spring, and restricted in the weeks when the beach is full of families and small children. One reason is an award. The Blue Flag, which resorts across Europe and beyond compete to fly, comes with a list of conditions, and one of them is that access to the beach by dogs and other domestic animals must be strictly controlled.

A town that wants to keep its flag has to keep dogs off the awarded stretch during the bathing season. That is why the smartest beach in a resort is so often the one with the ban, and why the quieter beach round the headland often has none. It is also why the restriction usually covers a marked area and not the whole bay, so a short walk along the sand can take you from a beach where dogs are banned to one where they are free to run.

Britain

In Britain the rules are set by each local council, usually through a legal order covering named beaches, so they differ from one stretch of coast to the next. Cornwall shows how it typically works. Cornwall Council restricts dogs on its listed beaches between 10am and 6pm from 1 July to 31 August. On beaches with a Blue Flag or Seaside Award the restriction runs longer, from 15 May to 30 September, because the award requires it.

Notice what that leaves. Even on a restricted beach in August, your dog can be on the sand before ten in the morning and after six in the evening, which in a hot summer are the best times to be there anyway. And for the rest of the year the beach is open. Many of Britain's beaches have no restriction at all, and a good number of resorts split the beach, with one side for dogs and one without, so there is nearly always somewhere to go.

Continental Europe

On the continent the summer rules are generally stricter, and they are made locally, so the town hall is always the place to check. In France there is no national rule. Each mayor or prefect decides, and a typical example is the Breton resort of Fouesnant, where the beaches are closed to dogs from 1 June to 30 September and the fine is 38 euros. Out of season the same beaches are open.

In Italy, the animal protection society ENPA explains in its yearly guide to dog beaches that access is governed by regional, municipal or coastguard orders, and that it is the individual town that sets the rules for the bathing season. Italy is also where the dog beach has been taken furthest. Alongside free beaches where dogs are allowed, there are private beach clubs that provide sunbeds, umbrellas and fenced areas for dogs, and a day at one of them is a holiday in itself.

In Portugal, the consumer association DECO sets out the position. On the beaches run by a concession holder, which are the ones with lifeguards and sunbeds, dogs are usually prohibited during the bathing season. Beaches without a concession can be used by dogs all year unless the council has put up a sign saying otherwise. Spain works town by town as well, and many resorts now set aside a playa canina, a beach or a stretch of one for dogs, which the town hall's website will list.

The United States and Australia

America's coast is a patchwork of federal, state, county and city beaches, each with its own rule, and you have to know who runs the one you are heading for. On land run by the National Park Service, which includes the national seashores, the federal regulation prohibits pets at any location designated as a swimming beach and requires a leash of no more than six feet everywhere else. Each park then publishes where dogs can go, and some seashores have long stretches open to leashed dogs away from the lifeguarded areas.

State and city beaches vary enormously. Some states are relaxed and some close most state beaches to dogs altogether. Many towns follow the same seasonal pattern as Europe, allowing dogs in the off season or early and late in the day. The good news is that many coastal towns have a designated dog beach where dogs can run off the leash, and these are worth planning a day around.

In Australia, beach rules are set by local councils, and they can be strict. Sydney's Northern Beaches Council, for example, prohibits dogs on most of its ocean and harbour beaches, while running thirty areas elsewhere where dogs can be off the lead and a trial stretch of beach open to dogs at set times. Other councils are more generous. Signs at the entrance show the rule, and the council's website will have a map.

How to Check Before You Go

A few minutes of checking saves a wasted journey. Search for the name of the beach with the words dogs and the name of the local council or town. The official page is the one to trust, because restriction dates change and travel blogs go out of date. Check the dates and the hours, not just yes or no, and check whether the rule covers the whole beach or only part of it.

When you arrive, read the sign at the entrance, which is the rule that will be enforced, and remember that fines are real. If you are staying somewhere by the sea, ask your hotel which beach the local dogs use. The people at the front desk generally know, and the answer is often a beach that no guidebook mentions. Our guide to the questions to ask any hotel suggests what else to ask while you are at it.

Sea Water

The first hazard is the sea itself. Dogs that play in the waves swallow water, and some will drink it. The PDSA, the British veterinary charity, warns that drinking salty sea water can give a dog a nasty bout of sickness and diarrhoea. It can be worse than that. The MSD Veterinary Manual records that dogs have developed salt poisoning after swimming or playing in the sea without fresh water to drink, with vomiting within a few hours that can progress to weakness, tremors and seizures.

The answer is simple. Bring plenty of fresh water and a bowl, offer it often, and call your dog out of the sea for a rest if it is gulping water as it fetches. If your dog is vomiting repeatedly, unsteady or very dull after a day at the beach, ring a vet, and our guide to what to do if your dog is ill or hurt on holiday explains how to find one. Rinse your dog with fresh water afterwards, the PDSA advises, to stop it licking the salt from its coat.

Sand, Seaweed and Things Washed Up

A dog that digs, or fetches a ball again and again from the sand, swallows sand each time. The PDSA explains that sand can compact in a dog's stomach and cause a blockage. A solid toy or a frisbee picks up much less sand than a tennis ball, and it is worth moving the game to the firm wet sand near the water. Seaweed is the other thing dogs like to eat. Too much causes a stomach upset, and large stalks swallowed whole can block the gut, so dried seaweed on the tide line is the kind to keep your dog away from.

Then there is whatever the tide has brought in. Jellyfish can sting even when they are dead, so do not let your dog nose at one on the sand. On British and European beaches, lumps of a waxy white substance sometimes wash ashore after storms. This is palm oil from ships, and the PDSA warns that it can be highly toxic to dogs, as can seaweed coated in oil. Dead fish, bait and fishing hooks are the other things to steer a dog away from, and a dog that will reliably leave something when told is much safer on a beach than one that will not.

Swimming

Not every dog is a strong swimmer, and the sea is not a pond. Even a calm looking sea, in the PDSA's words, can hide strong currents, undertows and rip currents. Keep a dog that loves the water close to shore, do not throw a ball out beyond the breakers, and watch for tiredness, because a dog will keep fetching long after it should stop.

If your dog does get into difficulty, the advice of the lifeboat service, the RNLI, is not to go in yourself. Move somewhere safe and call your dog, and it will probably get out by itself. If you are worried, in Britain ring 999 and ask for the coastguard. If you holiday in the tropics, the rules change again. In northern Australia in the summer months, box jellyfish come into shallow coastal water, and the sea is not safe for you or your dog.

Lakes, Lagoons and Blue Green Algae

One hazard belongs to still fresh water more than the sea, but it turns up at many beach holidays in the form of a lake, a lagoon or a slow river behind the dunes. In warm weather, blue green algae can bloom in still water, and it is one of the fastest poisons a dog can meet. The British veterinary poisons service, the Animal PoisonLine, has reported the case of a young retriever that died within 45 minutes of exposure at a lake in Somerset.

You cannot tell by looking whether a bloom is the toxic kind. If the water is green, scummy, or has a paint like film on the surface, or if there is a warning sign, keep your dog out and on a lead, and do not let it drink. If your dog has been in such water, wash it off, do not let it lick its coat, and get to a vet at once. Minutes matter with this one, so do not wait to see whether the dog seems unwell.

Sun, Heat and Dunes

A beach has no shade, and sand in full sun gets hot enough to burn paws. In warm weather, go early or late, bring shade with you, and test the sand with the back of your hand before you ask your dog to cross it. A dog charging about on a beach at midday is at real risk of heatstroke, however much sea breeze there is, and our guide to heat and your dog on holiday explains the signs and what to do.

Keep your dog away from cliff edges and be aware of the tide, because both catch out visitors every year. In Britain, stay alert in the dunes in spring and summer. Sand dunes are one of the places adders live, and most bites to dogs happen in the warmer months, as we explain in our guide to walking and hiking with your dog.

Good Manners on the Sand

The beaches that stay open to dogs are the ones where owners behave well. Pick up after your dog every time, including below the tide line. Keep your dog away from other people's picnics, towels and children unless it is invited. Put it on a lead near nesting birds and wherever a sign asks. And only let it off the lead if it will come back when you call, because an open beach is exciting, and it is no place to find out that it will not.

A Closing Thought

The secret of beaches with a dog is that the best time to be there is exactly when the restrictions are not: early in the morning, in the evening, and out of season, when the sand is empty and cool and nobody minds. Check the rule before you go, bring fresh water and shade, keep an eye on what your dog is eating, and the beach will be the part of the holiday your dog remembers.