Walking and Hiking With Your Dog: Trails, Livestock, Heat, Wildlife and the Rules

For most of us, a good walk is the reason for bringing the dog on holiday at all. New paths, new smells, a hill with a view and a pub at the bottom of it. But walking somewhere you do not know brings rules you have not met and dangers your dog has never seen, and the two things that end the most holidays badly are both avoidable: a dog among livestock, and a dog in the heat. This guide covers where dogs are allowed, when a lead is required by law, what to do around farm animals, and how to keep a dog safe on a long day out.

Where Dogs Can Walk

The first surprise for many travellers is how much this varies by country. In England and Wales, dogs are welcome on the great network of public footpaths and on most open country. In Scotland the right of access is wider still. Across much of continental Europe, dogs are welcome on trails, though national parks and nature reserves often require a lead and a few exclude dogs from their core zones, so check the park's own website before you plan a route through one.

The United States is the country that catches visitors out. In the national parks, dogs are far more restricted than people expect. Yellowstone's rule is typical of the big wilderness parks: pets are only allowed in developed areas and must stay within 100 feet of roads, parking areas and campgrounds. They are not allowed on hiking trails, on boardwalks or in the backcountry. The park gives its reasons plainly, which are to protect pets from predators such as bears and coyotes, to keep them out of the hot springs, to stop disease passing between pets and wildlife, and to let other visitors enjoy the park undisturbed.

Not every national park is as strict, and a few are generous, so look up the pets page for the park you are visiting before you plan a day around a trail. The Park Service sums up its expectations in four words it calls the B.A.R.K. principles: bag your pet's waste, always leash your pet, respect wildlife, and know where you can go. The better news for American hikers is next door. National forests and land run by the Bureau of Land Management are generally far more open to dogs than the national parks, and many state parks allow leashed dogs on trails. If the park says no, there is very often a forest trail nearby that says yes.

When a Lead Is the Law

In England, the Countryside Code sets out the rules. The general advice is to keep your dog on a lead or in sight, and to be confident that it will come back when called. On open access land, which covers much of the moor, heath and mountain you are likely to walk, it becomes a legal requirement. Between 1 March and 31 July you must have your dog on a lead on open access land, even if there is no livestock about, to protect birds that nest on the ground. Around livestock on that land, a lead is required at any time of year.

Scotland has its own code. The Scottish Outdoor Access Code asks you to keep your dog on a short lead or close at heel during the bird breeding season, usually April to July, on moorland, in forests, on grassland and along loch shores and the coast. In American parks the leash rule is usually six feet, all year. Elsewhere, look for the sign at the trailhead and assume that a lead is expected unless it says otherwise. A long line is a good compromise in open country, since it gives the dog room to roam while keeping you within the rule.

Livestock

This is the part to take most seriously. A dog chasing sheep can kill them without touching one, and in Britain a farmer is legally entitled to protect his animals. It is also where walkers themselves get hurt. The Countryside Code says it is good practice, wherever you are, to keep your dog on a lead around livestock. The Scottish code goes further and asks you not to take a dog into a field with lambs, calves or other young animals at all. If there is a way round such a field, use it, even if it adds half a mile.

Cattle are the real danger to people. Cows with calves can see a dog as a threat and will sometimes charge. The Health and Safety Executive's guidance on cattle and public access puts particular emphasis on cows with calves, whose protective instinct is strongest when a dog is present. The official advice if things go wrong is the opposite of what instinct tells you. If you feel threatened by cattle or horses, let your dog off the lead. In the words of the Countryside Code, do not risk getting hurt protecting your dog.

The dog can outrun cattle and you cannot, and the cattle will usually follow the dog. Then make your own way calmly to the nearest gate or fence. To avoid getting into that position in the first place, give livestock a wide berth, walk round a herd and never through it, and never get between a cow and her calf. If a field of cattle with calves lies across your path and there is no way round, it is no disgrace to turn back.

Heat

Walking is the commonest cause of heatstroke in dogs, far ahead of hot cars. A study of British veterinary records by the Royal Veterinary College found that exercise was responsible for 74% of heatstroke cases, and that most of those came after nothing more than a walk. On a hill, the risk is higher than at home. There is often no shade and no water, the sun is stronger, and a dog will keep going long after it should stop.

In warm weather, walk early in the morning and be off the hill by late morning. Carry water for the dog as well as yourself, and a bowl. Rest in whatever shade there is. If your dog is panting hard and lagging behind, it is not being lazy, so stop, cool it with water and turn back. Flat faced breeds, old dogs and heavy coated dogs should not be on a long walk on a hot day at all. Our guide to heat and your dog on holiday explains how to judge the temperature and what to do if a dog overheats.

Water on the Trail

Carry more water than you think you need. Clean running streams are generally fine for a dog to drink from, but still, warm water is not. Ponds and lake edges in summer can carry blue green algae, which the Pet Poison Helpline describes as producing toxins for which there is no antidote. If the water is green, scummy or has a paint like film, keep your dog out of it and do not let it drink. A dog that loves to swim needs watching closely near any lake in a hot spell, and a lead is the surest way of keeping it out.

Snakes and Other Wildlife

Britain has one venomous snake, the adder. The veterinary poisons service, the Animal PoisonLine, notes that adders are most often found on dry sandy heaths, sand dunes, rocky hillsides, moorland and woodland edges, that they are not aggressive and generally bite only when provoked, and that most bites happen in summer. Dogs are usually bitten on the leg or face when they nose at one. If your dog is bitten, carry it if you can, to slow the spread of the venom, and get to a vet at once.

In much of the United States the concern is rattlesnakes, and a bite is an emergency that needs prompt veterinary attention. In snake country, keep your dog on the path and on a lead, and stay out of long grass and rock piles in warm weather. Do not try to suck out venom or apply a tourniquet. Keep the dog still and get it to a vet, and our guide to what to do if your dog is ill or hurt on holiday explains how to find one quickly.

In bear country, a dog off the lead is a liability. A loose dog can find a bear and then run back to you with the bear behind it. Keep your dog leashed and close, make noise as you walk, and follow the local park's advice on bears to the letter. Everywhere, check your dog for ticks at the end of the day, paying attention to the ears, the armpits and between the toes, and carry a tick remover. Ticks carry diseases that differ from region to region, as our guide to the illnesses dogs can pick up abroad explains.

Is Your Dog Fit for It?

A dog that does three miles a day at home is not ready for fifteen on a mountain. Build up over the weeks before the holiday, as you would yourself. Puppies should not do long walks while their joints are still growing, and old dogs tire sooner than they show. Check your dog's pads after a day on rough or stony ground, because they blister and cut just as our feet do.

Plan the route with the dog in mind. Stiles and ladder stiles are hard work with a large dog, and scrambles and exposed ridges are no place for one. Know how you would get down if your dog went lame, because carrying thirty kilos of dog off a hill is harder than it sounds. A shorter walk that your dog finishes happily is a better day than a long one that ends with a limp.

What to Carry, and What to Leave Behind

Take water and a bowl, a lead even where one is not required, waste bags, a tick remover, a small first aid kit, a towel for the car, and food for a long day. In cold or wet weather add something to keep a thin coated dog warm at stops. Make sure your dog is wearing a tag with your mobile number, because a dog that bolts after a deer in strange country can be a long way off before it stops.

Pick up after your dog, on the hill as well as in the car park. The Countryside Code's phrase is to bag it and bin it, and it adds that you should never leave bags of dog waste around, even if you mean to collect them later. Carry it out with you. A bag hung on a fence is worse than nothing, and it is the sight that most often turns a landowner against dogs.

A Closing Thought

The countryside is open to dogs because, over many years, most owners have behaved well in it. Every sheep worried and every bag hung on a fence makes the next farmer and the next park a little less welcoming. Keep your dog close around animals, on a lead where the rule or the season asks for it, cool on a hot day and out of bad water, and you will both come home tired, happy and wanting to do it again tomorrow.