Dog Friendly

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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 that cover each area along the Coast Path.

You can also view the top ten dog walks that received the most votes in our competition to find the best dog walk in the west.

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 and yours, here are Stephen’s top tips for walking the Coast Path with your dog:

  • Always keep your dog in sight; use a lead if you don’t have a reliable recall.
  • Carry water for your dog – they can easily get dehydrated in summer. Collapsible travel bowls are available, nut I use a clean poo bag!
  • Keep your dog away from cliff edges – they are often loose and home to rabbits.
  • Clip in a short lead around sheep, cows and hirses, irrespective of how well trained your dog is. It’s safer for everyone.
  • If you feel threatened by cattle, unclip the lead so you can get away separately.
  • Don’t let your dog run up to other people uninvited – not everyone likes dogs. People have stepped out of the way of dogs on cliffs with fatal consequences.
  • Always bag it and bin it wherever you are. Otherwise you give all dog owners a bad name and can pass on diseases to people and farm animals.
  • Ensure your dog has a name tag and is micro-chipped so you can be easily reunited if your dog gets lost. If on holiday, have a temporary tag with your contact on it.
  • Dogs die in hot cars, especially as the sea breeze makes you think it’s cooler than it really is.

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. 

The Good Dog Guide has a list of Devon's Dog Friendly beaches. EnglandSouthWest.com present their Online Interactive Guide to Dog-Friendly Devon Beaches.

Visitsomerset.co.uk has some information about dogs on West Somerset beaches.

Finally Dorset's dog friendly beaches are listed at visit-dorset.com

Dog friendly accommodation

An increasing number of places now welcome both you and your dog to stay. You can find details of these on the websites below - use the search tools to select either 'Pets accepted' or 'Dog Friendly'. 

If you are looking for a B&B or hotel close to the Coast Path that accepts walkers for a single night try the walkers accommodation website.

You can find a wider selection stretching further inland of quality assured and inspected places to stay on the local tourist board websites. Click on the links below to visit their websites.

Top dog tips

Exmoor and North DevonExmoor and North DevonBetween Minehead and the Cornwall border

North CornwallNorth CornwallBetween the Devon border and Newquay

West CornwallWest CornwallDog walks between Newquay and Falmouth

South East CornwallSouth East CornwallDog walks between Falmouth and Plymouth

South DevonSouth DevonDog walks between Plymouth and Exmouth

East Devon & DorsetEast Devon & DorsetDog walks along the Jurassic coast

East Devon & DorsetEast Devon & DorsetDog walks along the Jurassic coast

Latest News

  • Simon Armitage to walk South West Coast Path as a modern troubadour

    Award-winning writer Simon Armitage hopes to walk from Minehead to Land's End along the northern half of the South West Coast Path without a penny in his pocket, by giving poetry readings in return for his board and lodgings.

  • The South West Coast Path comes to the big screen

    Discover the secret coves and sandy beaches that inspired the characters in Summer in February - the film that everyone’s talking about this summer, by following in their footsteps along the South West Coast Path.

  • 365 Paintings in a Year on the South West Coast Path

    Devon artist Dave Crocker, has just completed his final work of art, painting a series of 365 coastal   landscapes from the South West Coast Path.

  • Coast Path Motographer of the Year 2013 competition

    The South West Coast Path team is encouraging budding mobile phone photographers of all ages to capture a moment in time on the Coast Path as part of its Coast Path Motographer of the Year 2013 competition.

  • New record set for completing the Coast Path!

    A new record has been set for the fastest completion of the South West Coast Path! Contours Walking Holidays' Managing Director, Mark Townsend and fellow runner, Julie Gardener, completed the full South West Coast Path in a record time of 14 days, 14 hours and 44 minutes.

     

  • Great South West Walk exceeds half a million!

    The South West Coast Path Association’s Great South West Walk came to a grand finale on Tuesday 7th May, raising over £500,000 for 90 improvement projects to the entire South West Coast Path covering Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset.

  • Latest news on path diversions

    Following numerous cliff falls over the past few months, many sections of the Coast Path have been diverted. Click for details of route changes.

  • Cliff fall near Lulworth Cove

    Following the landslide at St. Oswald’s Bay between Lulworth Cove and Durdle Door on the morning of 30 April 2013, diversionary routes have been put in place by Dorset County Council and the Lulworth Estate, allowing the South West Coast Path to remain fully open and safe for visitors to this area. 

  • New slate waymarkers guide the way for Cornish walkers

    The sand dunes of west Cornwall attract thousands of local walkers and tourists every year who will now benefit from new slate waymarkers to guide the way along the South West Coast Path.

  • Five top family walks for summer

    Why not get out and about this summer and combine a family walk on the South West Coast Path with a host of other old-fashioned childhood pleasures, from crabbing in rockpools and exploring hidden coves, to following in the footsteps of giants.

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