Right of way for dogs?

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lula

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my question is does a landowner who has a footpath through their field have the right to exclude dog walkers

circs:
we have a nice footpath route through a 2acre field with no livestock. It is a clearly marked footpath and a very handy one to use as it cuts out having to go about 1/2 a mile around.
It is wooden fenced, a stile for crossing in and a stile for crossing out with small hole that dogs could go under with you.
It appears the landowner has now gone around the perimeter putting chicken wire the whole way to purposely prevent dog walkers from entering. ( people can still enter over the stile and unless you have a super showjumper dog, they cant :))

there are no livestock and never have been and if the landowners have a problem with out of control dogs perhaps a sign asking for all dogs to be placed on leads at all times?

i would be interested in knowing if on a right of way footpath the landowner is within his rights to do this.

Many thanks
 
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If you can safely get over the stile, i.e. it is an approved design, then the landowner is well within his rights.

It is easy to train a dog to get over a stile. You are allowed a dog under control on a public footpath but special provisions don't have to be made for them just as pushchair users are expected to lift them over stiles.
 
You can teach dogs to use stiles, by keeping them on a lead to guide them and encouraging them to hop up the steps and over. Mine is quite nimble at them, he gets over easier than I do!:o
 
I don't believe there's any obligation to provide access for dogs on rights of way (or anything else, pushchairs etc). Perhaps the new fencing is in preparation for livestock arriving?

Certainly round here you only get stiles with pop holes on the 'named' national routes, National Trust type places etc. and everything else is a normal stile with wire stock fence either side. You lift the dog over, teach them to jump or choose another path!

Our local council switched a lot of stiles out for kissing gates last year on the more popular tourist routes in the name of accessibility but it was quite obviously aimed at people with reduced mobility, not specifically for dogs. This was as a result of lobbying by a walking group, perhaps think about getting involved with one local to you if you'd like to suggest changes to local rights of way. They converted some routes to be wheelchair and pushchair friendly as well.
 
Dogs are allowed on footpaths, but they need to be 'on the footpath' not you on the footpath and your dog having a high old time 3 fields away. Not saying, OP, that you would do that but it seems to be the most common way to walk your dogs around here.

We don't have many stiles (arable) but up at mums the dogs have to jump them and soon master it, the bright ones learn quickly and the dim ones take a little longer.
 
The landowner can't prevent someone taking a dog through the footpath as they are considered a normal accompaniment to the human who has the right to have the path. But they are only obliged to provide access suitable for the humans, not to provide any extra facilities to make it easier for the dog to get through, and stiles are legal on footpaths.

So yes, they are within their rights. I imagine they are fed up with dogshit on the crops or in the hay/silage grass crop...:-))

Dogs can generally be trained to navigate stiles in most cases unless they are very large or fat.
 
Not a problem for me as mine would sooner go over than under pretty much anything- unless of course there happened to be a puddle underneath said stile.........
 
Sounds like rabbit fencing to me. It's expensive stuff to buy let alone put up so unlikely he has gone to all that trouble just to deter people with dogs.
 
Obviously Clodaugh i stick to the footpath and dont romp around naked having a 'high old time three field away' ;)

I can and will teach my collie to jump the stile as long as i know that if the purpose WAS to keep dogs out i wont get into trouble with the landowner for doing so!.

It could well be rabbit fencing but its rough meadow, no crops.
i was just interested if the legal rights of a footpath applied to people and landowners could legally deny dogs entry.
Thanks to all.
 
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Slightly off tangent but the fencing might be for sheep as that's what farmers put up around us to keep out.

There are lots of stiles around me and having staffords means they can happily crawl under so don't think a stile is aimed at keeping dogs out.
 
Luci07 said:
Slightly off tangent but the fencing might be for sheep as that's what farmers put up around us to keep out.

There are lots of stiles around me and having staffords means they can happily crawl under so don't think a stile is aimed at keeping dogs out.
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no Lucy. the stile was there before.
whats new is the dog hole under it and all around the perimeter has now been covered in chicken wire. as its a very high stile its very difficult -all though not impossible to get a dog onto the footpath now and was wondering if the landowner would be annoyed to find id got my dog in anyway if the idea was to keep dogs off the footpath.

ofcourse, the idea of the new chicken wire could be rabbits as someone pointed out its expensive stuff. No livestock in field tho or crops which is why i was alittle stumped as to its purpose .
 
It could be wired for lots of reasons - SSSI perhaps or part of a DEFRA scheme?

It is however perfectly legal.
 
lula said:
no Lucy. the stile was there before.
whats new is the dog hole under it and all around the perimeter has now been covered in chicken wire. as its a very high stile its very difficult -all though not impossible to get a dog onto the footpath now and was wondering if the landowner would be annoyed to find id got my dog in anyway if the idea was to keep dogs off the footpath.

ofcourse, the idea of the new chicken wire could be rabbits as someone pointed out its expensive stuff. No livestock in field tho or crops which is why i was alittle stumped as to its purpose .
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The landowner would not be allowed to prevent dogs - under control - to cross his land via a public right of way. However, provided he got permission from the local authority, he is perfectly entitled to cover the perimeter of the stile for instance with wire - as long as humans can climb over. A landowner has no right to be annoyed at a dog owner for instance lifting his dog over the stile. He is not allowed to ban dogs from a public footpath.
 
Here's hoping he just didnt think....otherwise looks like you will be getting an extra work out hoisting your dog over. Not a problem in the summer but no fun in the winter! Might be worth seeing if your council has a byways officer and asking about access?
 
What is wanted is sensible actions from all sides we have a footpath through our home field no real trouble if they keep to path , other day we were walking our gang of dogs to feed horses walker had hi dog loose which was well of path our dogs went to see it no trouble but who is in wrong? Us for letting our dogs wander of him for not keeping his dog to path?
 
He is perfectly within his rights putting the fencing up . A few years ago the Council Rights of Way bods were rebuilding a bridge on a footpath in the field next to me and mending the stile. I asked if it would be possible to put a dog trap door in as it was stock fencing around the stile and they said that the farmer had specifically said that he didn't want the stock fencing altered and he was within his rights to do that.
 
MurphysMinder said:
He is perfectly within his rights putting the fencing up . A few years ago the Council Rights of Way bods were rebuilding a bridge on a footpath in the field next to me and mending the stile. I asked if it would be possible to put a dog trap door in as it was stock fencing around the stile and they said that the farmer had specifically said that he didn't want the stock fencing altered and he was within his rights to do that.
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You can have a trap door put under the stile, there is one on a well used walk we use. Fencing remains intact..however and what none of us can answer is, legally, does access need to include our canine friends? it's not something I have ever thought of as my dogs are small and nimble.
 
Luci07 said:
Here's hoping he just didnt think....otherwise looks like you will be getting an extra work out hoisting your dog over. Not a problem in the summer but no fun in the winter! Might be worth seeing if your council has a byways officer and asking about access?
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That would be useless, because the landowner only have to provide an access for a person, if you want to take your dog on a public footpath you must be prepared to get it over the stile.

I watched someone last week with two Dalmations walk into the field with a very clearly marked sprayed footpath through our rape, straight past the "please keep your dog on a lead" sign and let both dogs off to yomp through the crops. It will only be a matter of time before one of them ends up in a fen trap or worse, and then who will be in trouble.
 
It was the trap door I asked about and the RoW officer said the farmer had specifically said he didn't want one and as Row guy accepted this I guess farmer was legally ok doing this. It did effectively stop a large dog using the stile as it was on to a narrow bridge bit of a tricky manoeuvre . I now rent the field and have made dog access, problem solved for now :)
 
MurphysMinder said:
It was the trap door I asked about and the RoW officer said the farmer had specifically said he didn't want one and as Row guy accepted this I guess farmer was legally ok doing this. It did effectively stop a large dog using the stile as it was on to a narrow bridge bit of a tricky manoeuvre . I now rent the field and have made dog access, problem solved for now :)
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Landowners are under no obligation to provide access for dogs - ie put in a trap door for larger/heavier dogs who cannot be lifted or jump over the stile.
 
it is a bit of a shame that perhaps some dog walkers ruin it for others. I do wonder whether in my situation the landowners know that at least 50% of the people using the footpath through his meadow will be dog walkers and by making access very difficult for dogs now by wiring up the perimeter he will in effect be cutting down the traffic hugely.
The only option now is a very high stile. Not impossible to teach dog to jump on to very narrow steps then up and over, but not easy either. (my dog will probably look at me and say 'you want me to do what..?) :)

I dont think any landowners particularly like having the general public traipsing through their land on a right of way (cant really blame them i suppose) so anything that cuts down its usage is going to be a good thing for them.

This is how footpath's gets lost tho sadly :(
 
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