Walking with your dog: the rules to know and how to prepare

France: in forests, the lead depends on the path and the season

The dog already has its nose in the bracken. Something has caught its interest at the foot of a bank, 3 m off the path, and its tail says everything about what it thinks of this May morning. This is exactly the moment a rule more than 70 years old is aimed at, though not quite in the way most people think.

Two rules overlap. The first applies all year round, in woods and meadows alike: your dog must not stray. Under French law, it is straying as soon as it is no longer under your effective supervision, is out of range of your voice or of the whistle you use to call it back, or wanders more than 100 m from you; only hunting and guarding a flock are exempt [1]. The second fits into one sentence of a ministerial order that is still in force [1, 2]:

Read the end again: a lead is required ‘outside the forest tracks’. And the French authorities count roads, paths and forest trails as tracks, GR long-distance paths and waymarked walks included [3]. Extraction lanes, firebreaks and plot boundaries, on the other hand, do not count as paths [4]. Think of the forest as a house in spring: the hallway stays open, the rooms around it are shut. My reading is simple: a dog that does not stay on the path when called should be on a lead. Otherwise, the fixed penalty is €135 [3]. The dates are no accident: this is when mammals begin giving birth and birds are nesting, some of them on the ground [3].

National parks: dogs stay out of the core of France’s mountain parks

In the core of mainland France’s four mountain national parks, the Vanoise, the Écrins, the Mercantour and the Pyrenees, dogs are banned, even on a lead [5, 6, 7, 8]. The Mercantour adds: even carried [7]. The exemptions mainly cover working herding dogs and dogs guiding or assisting a disabled person. In the Vanoise, the fine is €135 [5].

A lead is not enough, the Vanoise park explains: a chamois will flee from a dog more than 100 m away, even one on a lead. Dogs can also pass on to wildlife the worms that cause gid, a brain disease, in sheep, chamois and ibex, and wormer residues in their droppings seriously harm insects [5].

Other parks allow dogs on a lead even in their core, such as the Cévennes [9]. We have set out each park’s rules in our guide to France’s national parks.

Livestock and guardian dogs: keep the lead on, then know when to let go

On mountain pastures, your dog is not just another visitor. The livestock guardian dogA large dog, often a Pyrenean mountain dog, known in France as a ‘patou’, that lives day and night with a flock of sheep or goats to keep wolves, stray dogs and any intruder away. watches over the flock even when the shepherd is away, and creates a protection zone around it: a dog off the lead is a threat there, just like a wild animal. It may then chase, attack and injure it [5].

The pastoral services of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region and the Luberon regional nature park give the same advice. Best of all, do not take your dog where flocks are grazing [10, 11]. If you do: dog on a lead, a wide detour round the flock, and no running towards the animals. When a guardian dog comes over, stop, talk to it calmly without staring it in the eye, and let it ‘check’ you: it takes a few minutes [10, 11]. Do not pick up a small dog, as you would be putting yourself in danger; and if the dogs need to get acquainted, let go of the lead, because a taut lead winds them up and stops them sorting things out [11]. If you still cannot get past, turn back [10].

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Before you set off, the MapPatou map shows the mountain pastures guarded by livestock guardian dogs, with expected dates [5]. Elsewhere, the local tourist office or town hall usually knows where the flocks go up.

In the UK: a short lead in spring and near livestock

In England and Wales, the Countryside Code, the official code of conduct for the countryside, asks you to keep your dog on a lead or in sight, and to be confident it will come back when called. On open access landMountain, moorland, heath, down and registered common land where the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 lets you walk away from paths; a brown symbol of a walker marks it., two legal requirements apply on top: a lead around livestock all year round, and a lead from 1 March to 31 July, even with no animals in sight [12].

The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 spells out what a ‘short lead’ means: a lead of fixed length, no longer than 2 m. Break the rule and you lose your right to be on that land [15]. So the 5 m retractable lead, handy as it is elsewhere, will not do.

Away from access land, livestock is protected too. In England and Wales, since 18 March 2026, the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953 also covers attacks on or worrying of livestock on roads and paths, not just in fields; it now includes llamas and alpacas, and the fine is unlimited [16, 17]. Simply letting your dog run loose, off the lead and not under close control, in a field with sheep in it already counts as worrying [16]. And the Countryside Code puts it bluntly: a farmer can shoot a dog that is attacking or chasing livestock [12].

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Germany, Switzerland, Austria: one rule per state, per canton, sometimes per town

In Germany, rules on leads in the countryside are set state by state, and often town by town: three states show how far apart they are. Lower Saxony is the strictest of the three. From 1 April to 15 July, the breeding season, every dog must be on a lead in the ‘open countryside’, forests, fields, paths and waterways included, except hunting, rescue, herding, police and customs dogs and guide dogs [18, 19]. The fine can reach €5,000 [19].

Baden-Württemberg has no general lead requirement in its forests, but your dog may only run free if you can control it without a lead and call it back immediately; otherwise, you are committing an offence [20]. Bavaria leaves it to its towns and villages to restrict large dogs and so-called fighting dogs running loose [21]. Its hunting law shows what is at stake: game wardens may kill a dog that is visibly chasing game in a hunting district and could endanger it [22].

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In the United States: a 6 ft lead, and many trails closed to dogs

In America’s national parks, the federal rule fits on one line: a pet must be crated, caged, restrained on a lead no longer than 6 ft (1.83 m) or otherwise physically confined at all times; each park superintendent can also close areas to pets [25]. The National Park Service sums it up for owners in four letters, B.A.R.K.: Bag your pet’s waste, Always leash your pet, Respect wildlife, Know where you can go. Each park then runs its own ‘Bark Ranger’ programme [26].

It is ‘know where you can go’ that holds the surprises. In Yellowstone, dogs must stay in developed areas, no more than 100 ft (30.5 m) from a road, car park or campground: no trails, no boardwalks, no backcountry, even carried in a rucksack, to protect them from bears, coyotes and hot springs [27]. At the Grand Canyon, they may walk on a lead on the trails along the South Rim, but never below the rim [28]. Acadia, by contrast, opens 100 miles (161 km) of trails and 45 miles (72 km) of carriage roads to them, apart from a list of closed trails such as Precipice and Beehive [29], and Shenandoah closes fewer than 20 miles (32 km) of its more than 500 miles (805 km) of trails to them [30]. For entrance fees and passes, see what overseas visitors pay.

Getting your dog ready: stamina, heat, water and paws

Before you think about the path, think about the dog. Shenandoah National Park asks the right question: does your dog have the stamina, and the paw pads, for the route you have chosen [30]? As with you, the answer is built up, with walks lengthened gradually, in distance and then in ascent, rather than one big day straight away. A puppy, an older dog or an overweight one is not prepared like a fit dog in its prime; if you have any doubt about its health, ask your vet.

Heat is the real trap. According to the RSPCA, dogs are ten times more likely to suffer heat-related illness from exercising in hot weather than from overheating in cars. Most at risk: flat-faced breeds, dogs with thick coats, overweight or unfit dogs, and those with heart or breathing problems, which can struggle even on a mild spring day after a cold winter [31]. Our canicross guide goes through the studies on overheating during exercise.

• Water: small amounts every 15 to 20 minutes, but not while your dog is panting heavily [31]. Pack enough for two, and a bowl.
• The ground: before crossing a hard surface in the sun, test it with the back of your hand to avoid burnt paws [31]; the Grand Canyon also asks owners to protect paws from the hot rim pavement [28].
• Warning signs: heavy panting and difficulty breathing, excessive drooling, lethargy or unsteadiness, collapse or vomiting. Stop, give water, find shade [31], and if your dog does not improve, call a vet.

Back home: ticks, vipers and processionary caterpillars

The walk ends with an inspection. ESCCAP, the European scientific council on companion animal parasites, advises checking your dog after every walk. Remove a tick with a tick hook, a sort of tiny claw hammer; do not pull it, squeeze it or pour alcohol or ether on it: that makes it regurgitate, which is how diseases such as babesiosis, ehrlichiosis or Lyme disease are passed on. Preventive treatment is something to ask your vet about, and it rarely protects 100%; before travelling to a high-risk area, a spray or spot-on goes on at least 2 days before departure, a collar 2 weeks before [32].

In spring and early summer, France’s national forestry office, the ONF, flags two more hazards in French forests. First, processionary caterpillars, whose hairs can cause severe swelling of a dog’s tongue that calls for a dash to the vet. Then vipers, whose bite can kill a dog, which is why it pays to keep it out of scrub and undergrowth [4].

Guillaume Hoarau

Camping, wild camping, bushcraft and hiking

Guillaume Hoarau writes for Outfarer about camping, wild camping, bushcraft and hiking. A survival-skills enthusiast and a collector of old field manuals, he likes clear explanations, lists that earn their place and other people’s stories, which he tells well.

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