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Parks and Pets

At BC Parks, we love dogs! We just love all of the other animals too! To ensure all our visitors have an enjoyable stay and the unique cultural and natural resources that make up these special places are protected, we ask that you follow a couple guidelines when bringing your pet to a park. These guidelines help us balance our ability to provide recreation experiences for our furry friends, while maintaining enough undisturbed space for all our other feathered, furry, hairy, scaly and slimy friends.

Check the park webpage to determine whether pets are permitted where you intend to visit.

Frontcountry & Day-Use

• On-leash

  Most of our frontcountry provincial parks allow dogs/pets as long as they always remain on a leash. Some have designated pet areas. Visit the park webpage and look under the "Pets on Leash" symbol to learn more. Leashing your dog keeps you, them and other wildlife safe. Triple win! Be considerate of other campers – ensure your dog doesn’t bark excessively. Pets are not allowed in public buildings, e.g. washrooms/showers, or in playgrounds and beach/picnic areas. Pick up after your pet and dispose of their waste in the garbage.

• Off-leash

  Some provincial parks offer special designated off-leash or swimming areas for your dog. Visit the park webpage and look under the "Pets on Leash" symbol to learn more about where special pet areas are located. You are responsible for keeping control of your dog and their behaviour when in off-leash areas. Always pick up and properly dispose of their waste in an acceptable refuse or garbage bin.
  
  

  Parks that have dedicated (on- or off-leash) pet areas	Region
  Beatton Provincial Park	Peace
  Blanket Creek Provincial Park	Kootenay
  Cultus Lake Provincial Park	Lower Mainland
  Ellison Provincial Park	Okanagan
  Fintry Provincial Park	Okanagan
  Golden Ears Provincial Park	Lower Mainland
  sẁiẁs Provincial Park (Haynes Point)	Okanagan
  Herald Provincial Park	Thompson
  Kalamalka Lake Provincial Park	Okanagan
  Mabel Lake Provincial Park	Okanagan
  Moberly Lake Provincial Park	Peace
  Norbury Provincial Park	Kootenay
  Premier Lake Provincial Park	Kootenay
  Sasquatch Provincial Park	Lower Mainland
  Shuswap Lake Provincial Park	Thompson
  Sun-Oka Provincial Park	Okanagan
  Syringa Provincial Park	Kootenay
  Wasa Provincial Park	Kootenay

Backcountry

Taking pets into the backcountry, especially dogs, is not recommended, and in some parks is not permitted. Here is good example to help understand why dogs are not recommended in the backcountry: A dog is disturbed if a stranger comes into their home, and wildlife who call our parks home can be disturbed when dogs comes into their home. Limiting domestic dogs in the backcountry helps ensure we can continue to conserve some of British Columbia’s rarest and most sensitive species.

While pets are part of our families, they can disturb other campers, foul trails and impact sensitive natural areas and wildlife. Dogs and bears mix like water and oil and when this happens it puts the dog owner at the greatest risk for human-wildlife conflict. Dogs can get hurt or stuck in technical terrain and even swept away in fast moving water, creating a stressful and dangerous situation for the dog owner and the dog. Park visitors have had to be rescued because of their dogs.

Dogs and other domestic animals are not permitted in the backcountry in:

• Bowron Lake Park Canoe Circuit
• Bugaboo Park
• Cathedral Park
• Garibaldi Park
• Joffre Lakes Park
• Kokanee Glacier Park
• Monashee Park

Portions of the backcountry in other parks may also be restricted to dogs. Check the park webpage before heading out.