Where you can take your dog

Areas where you can take your dog, where it needs to be leashed and where no dogs are allowed.

New dog rules are now in effect

The Council agreed to new dog rules on 3 September 2025 with the adoption of the Dog Control Policy and Bylaw 2025. The new rules came into effect on 3 November 2025. 

You can view a map of location-based rules and a list of general rules below.

The map below shows where you can and can’t take your dog, and where dogs must be on a leash.  These areas are from the Council’s Dog Control Policy and are enforceable under the Council’s Dog Control Bylaw.

To avoid a $300 fine and look after your dog and others, make sure you follow the rules. 

We have location-based rules and general rules. Location-based rules are shown on the map. General rules are not shown on the map. The general rules are:

• Dogs must be leashed:
  • on all roads, shared paths and footpaths
  • in all car parks
  • on all paths in parks and greenspace areas where dogs are allowed
  • on sports fields during games and practice sessions (within five metres of any marked playing area)
  • on boat ramps and slipways
  • on wharves, jetties and boardwalks
  • in cemeteries and around memorial areas
  • in community gardens 
• Dogs are prohibited from all Council playgrounds, skateparks and pump tracks, and paddling and swimming pools.

The location-based rules are shown below. Select an area to find out more information. If an area is shown with mixed rules, such as prohibited/leashed, the details on where the rules apply and why will display in the pop-up. 

Any area not shown with a mapped colour, or subject to one of the general rules above, is an under-effective-control area. This means that dogs can be off the leash, as long as they are under effective control.

Under effective control means the owner or person in charge of the dog is responsible for:

• Actively paying attention to the dog and what it is doing.
• Being close enough to quickly respond to any issues.
• Ensuring the dog remains responsive to commands, with prompt recall.
• Ensuring the dog does not create a nuisance to any other person, or to any stock, poultry, domestic animal, or protected wildlife.

If your dog is not very good at responding, it should stay leashed. Remember to bring bags to pick up after your dog and always have a leash with you. 

The map shows the rules set out in Schedule 1 of the Dog Control Policy 2025.

The map is a general representation and not a legal description. The legal description is set out in the policy.

Dog parks and exercise areas

Dog parks are fenced areas specially designed to allow dogs a space to exercise with other dogs and their owners in a dog-friendly environment

Dog exercise areas are recommended areas to exercise your dog. Dogs can be off-leash, as long as they are under effective control. 

Reserves and walking tracks

Dogs must be leashed on all walking tracks in reserves where dogs are allowed. Dogs are not allowed in some reserves. See the map for details. You can also view our walking track map.

Beaches

To protect swimming and recreation activities, dogs are prohibited from these Christchurch and Banks Peninsula beaches from 1 November to 31 March between 9am and 7pm, known as Summer Beach Prohibition Areas:

• Spencer Park, Waimairi, North and South New Brighton Beaches: For 100 metres in northerly and southerly directions from the Surf Life Saving Club’s pavilions.
• New Brighton Beach: For 100 metres in a northerly direction of the Surf Life Saving Club’s pavilion and 100 metres southward of the Christchurch Pier.
• Sumner Beach: For 100 metres in a northerly direction of the Sumner Surf Life Saving Club’s pavilion and to Cave Rock in the south.
• Taylor's Mistake Beach: For 50 metres in a general northerly and southerly direction from the Taylor's Mistake Surf Life Saving Club’s pavilion.
• All of Lyttelton Harbour Beach and foreshore areas, Cass Bay Beach, Corsair Bay Beach, Sandy Bay Beach, Paradise Bay Beach, Hays Bay Beach, Diamond Harbour Beach and Purau Beach.
• All of Akaroa Beach, French Farm Beach, Le Bon’s Bay Beach, Little Akaloa Beach, Okain's Bay Beach, Port Levy Beach and Tikao Bay Beach.

If you are walking your dog along a beach and enter a Summer Beach Prohibition Area, you do not have to exit the beach, travel along the road or inland, and then return to the beach after the prohibited area. You can walk through the prohibited area, as long as you have your dog on a short leash and under good control, and you are passing directly through the area.

Dogs can cause issues on beaches that are commonly used for swimming and recreation activities, ranging from hygiene (fouling or urinating on sand or belongings) to causing a nuisance to or endangering other people at the beach, especially children.

Outside of these dates and times, beaches with Summer Beach Prohibitions in place revert back to ‘under effective control’ areas.

Other than Summer Beach Prohibition Areas, some beaches and coastal areas may have specific rules in place. These are to protect wildlife, such as seabirds and shorebirds, and are often in place around estuaries, on mudflats and around creek outlets, as well as in rocky or stony coastal areas. Refer to the map or policy for details.

Check individual entries in the Council’s Dog Control Policy or view the dog control map.