Managing visitors with dogs in your woodland
Read the Forestry Commission's guides on how best to manage dog walkers on your woodland. This includes managing dog fouling and protecting wildlife from dogs.
Applies to England
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Half of all woodland visitors have a dog. Helping visitors with dogs make good choices about where to go and what to do can help your woodland management, and benefit a large proportion of visitors.
Regular walkers can provide informal monitoring and deter antisocial behaviour, vandalism, and wildlife crime.
Commercial dog walkers are often advocates for responsible dog walking. Building rapport with these walkers can help to build trust and mitigate problems associated with dog walking within woodland.
This guidance was shaped by a survey of woodland managers and landowners, read the results: dog walking in woodlands survey.
See what funding and resources are available to support woodland access on Managing public access in your woodland.
Contact us
We welcome your feedback on the content of this guidance. Email us at woodlandaccess@forestrycommission.gov.uk. We value your input and will do our best to address your comments.