Dogs on the Coast Path

Taking your dog on the Coast Path

The South West Coast Path is a great place to take your dog for a walk.  They are permitted on the entire path, and providing that you look after them in a responsible way to avoid disturbing livestock and wildlife or causing a nuisance to other walkers, you will be welcomed.

To help you both make the most out of your walk, we asked Steve Jenkinson from the Kennel Club for   his advice on how to keep your dog happy and safe and you can see his top tips on the video. We've also recommendations for particularly good dog walks (those with a dog friendly pub and beach) and even places to stay - you can find these by clicking on one of the buttons.

Looking after your dog’s safety & well-being

The Coast Path is a great place for a dog with lots of exciting smells and things that they would love to chase. However, unfortunately every year there are incidences where dogs end up running over cliff edges (rabbits know where to stop), or chase farm animals over a cliff. So for their safety, ensure they are kept close to you and under control, and ideally on a lead when livestock is around. The one exception to this is in the unlikely instance of a cow acting aggressively, when it is better to let your dog off its lead, rather than risk being trampled.

Like you, on a long walk, your dog will get thirsty. On most sections of the Coast Path there are streams & puddles that your dog can drink from, but other sections can be ‘dry’ for many miles – so take along water and a bowl.

If you are walking in unfamiliar territory, it is more likely that your dog and you will get separated. If this happens, to help you quickly get re-united (and it is a legal requirement) ensure your dog has a name tag and ideally is also micro-chipped. If you are on holiday, it is a good idea to have a temporary tag with your holiday address on it.

How to be a responsible owner

A well behaved dog is a credit to its owner, whereas badly behaved dogs can result in restrictions on where all dogs can go.

There are three things in particular that give dogs a bad name:

• Dog fouling: No one likes stepping in dog mess. As well as being unpleasant, it can also be a health hazard to both humans and farm animals. So please be a responsible owner and pick it up and bin it (if wrapped it is OK to put it into normal litter bins, if there are no dog bins). If you are away from settlements and areas grazed by livestock (or cut for hay or silage etc), then you should still pick it up, but if you don't please at least flick it off the path. People who litter the countryside by throwing plastic bags of dog dirt into bushes, or leave them at the edge of car parks in the misguided belief that they will somehow disappear, create a bad image of dog owners.
• Disturbing livestock and wildlife: Whilst walking the Coast Path you are likely to encounter livestock. These are not only a farmer’s livelihood, but in many places are also an essential conservation tool helping to keep the coastal slopes such good habitats for a wide range of wild flowers, birds and other wildlife. Without grazing these areas can steadily become overgrown and dominated by gorse and blackthorn bushes. 
  The livestock grazing these areas are often special local breeds which have adapted to the sometimes harsh conditions. Do not make survival harder for them by allowing your dog to disturb them from grazing or looking after their young. Also remember that if your dog is chasing stock, farmers have the right to shoot it, and so if you’re not 100% sure that you can keep your dog under control and by your side, keep it on a lead in fields with livestock in.
  Even if livestock isn’t around, be aware during the Spring and Summer many birds such as skylarks may be nesting on the ground close to the path. To avoid the risk of them abandoning their nest or chicks, please do not let your dog disturb them.
• Over enthusiastic dogs: Having a friendly dog is great, but few people will appreciate having muddy paw prints on their clean clothes, and children in particular may find a large dog bounding up to them very scary.  So to avoid spoiling other people’s walk, train your dog to approach people calmly.

The Kennel Club Good Citizen Scheme

If you would like to learn more about how to look after and train your dog we recommend you join one of the Kennel Club Good Citizen Dog Scheme courses that are run throughout the UK.  For details see the Kennel Club website.

Dog friendly beaches

On some beaches dogs are banned during the summer. Where the Coast Path crosses a beach with a dog ban you are however still permitted to cross it with your dog. Where this is the case, please keep your dog on a lead, do not linger, and keep to the line of the Coast Path – normally this is along the back of the beach, above the high tide mark. However on many of the more rural and quieter beaches that can be reached from the Coast Path dogs are welcome all year round. To avoid contaminating the bathing water, and it being a hazard to children playing, if your dog fouls on a beach, please pick it up and dispose of it in a bin.

Thecornishcoast.co.uk has a pdf of Dog friendly beaches in Cornwall and also a map of Beaches with Dog Bans in Cornwall. Cornwall Council produces a Dog Friendly Beach Guide. VisitDevon.co.uk has a list of Devon Dog Friendly Beaches. EnglandSouthWest.com present their Online Interactive Guide to Dog-Friendly Devon Beaches and finally, Visitsomerset.co.uk has some information about dogs on West Somerset beaches.

Dog friendly accommodation

An increasing number of places now welcome both you and your dog to stay. You can find details of these on our accommodation finder tool on this page and  each of the walk pages. If you book to stay at one of these places direct from this website, most will pay us a commission (whilst the price you’ll pay is the same), and we’ll use this to help improve this website and the path.