Guidelines for pets in parks

Although most nation­al parks do not allow dogs or oth­er pets, there are some parks that wel­come dogs on leads. If you’re bring­ing your dog, it’s cru­cial to:

• Keep them on des­ig­nat­ed walk­ing trails.
• Always have them under your con­trol with a lead no longer than two meters. 

Find a dog-friend­ly park

Won­der­ing where to take your dog for a walk? Use our ​‘Find a Park’ tool and fil­ter by ​‘Dog walk­ing (restric­tions apply)’.

Learn more about dog-walking:

• Every­thing you need to know about tak­ing dogs in SA’s nation­al parks

• 17 dog-friend­ly walks in Ade­laide parks

Assis­tance dogs

Assis­tance dogs are per­mit­ted in most pub­lic places and are there­fore wel­come in South Australia’s parks and reserves.

What are assis­tance dogs?

Assis­tance dogs are spe­cial­ly trained to enable peo­ple with a dis­abil­i­ty to par­tic­i­pate in all aspects of soci­ety. They are trained for a range of pur­pos­es, includ­ing assist­ing peo­ple who are blind or vision-impaired, peo­ple who are hear­ing-impaired, sup­port­ing chil­dren with autism, or sup­port­ing peo­ple with men­tal health difficulties.

What are the entry requirements? 

While assis­tance dogs are wel­come in most parks and reserves, there are spe­cif­ic entry require­ments for areas that typ­i­cal­ly pro­hib­it dogs, such as nation­al parks.

Han­dlers are required to car­ry and may be asked to pro­duce evi­dence that the dog is an assis­tance dog. Accept­ed types of evi­dence include:

• Iden­ti­fi­ca­tion card issued by a pre­scribed accred­i­ta­tion body.
• A let­ter from a med­ical prac­ti­tion­er con­firm­ing the dog’s sta­tus as an assis­tance ani­mal and detail­ing its purpose.
• A state or ter­ri­to­ry gov­ern­ment-issued pub­lic trans­port assis­tance ani­mal pass.

Park entry conditions

The fol­low­ing entry con­di­tions apply when vis­it­ing parks with assis­tance dogs:

• Intro­duce your dog to park staff: If the park has a vis­i­tor infor­ma­tion cen­tre, it is rec­om­mend­ed you intro­duce your­self and the dog. Show the accred­i­ta­tion card or oth­er evi­dence so that staff are aware of the dog’s pres­ence and can assist accordingly. 
• Keep the dog on a lead: The assis­tance dog must always be on a lead, no more than three metres, and under the han­dler’s strict control.
• Behav­iour and safe­ty: The assis­tance dog must not pose a risk to wildlife or oth­er vis­i­tors. It must not be aggres­sive or disruptive.
• Des­ig­nat­ed areas only: Assis­tance dogs must remain with­in des­ig­nat­ed vis­i­tor sites such as pic­nic areas or walk­ing trails.
• Hygiene and health stan­dards: Ensure the assis­tance dog meets appro­pri­ate hygiene and behav­iour stan­dards for pub­lic spaces. The dog will not be allowed entry if it has an infec­tious dis­ease that could impact pub­lic or wildlife health. All dog waste must be removed and dis­posed of respon­si­bly – our parks oper­ate on a leave-no-trace basis, so bags of dog waste must be tak­en out of the park with you.

Before vis­it­ing:

Before bring­ing your assis­tance dog into a park or reserve, oth­er than those list­ed above, we rec­om­mend con­tact­ing the park direct­ly for any spe­cif­ic infor­ma­tion on poten­tial haz­ards. This also allows us to noti­fy park staff of your vis­it, ensur­ing a smoother and more enjoy­able expe­ri­ence. For exam­ple, many parks have bait­ing or rewil­d­ing pro­grams that could affect the safe­ty of your dog. This infor­ma­tion is passed onto those with assis­tance dogs when they noti­fy the park before enter­ing as it helps pro­tect both the dog and the native ani­mals alike. Please con­tact the park using the details on the park page or reach out to the vis­i­tor ser­vices cen­tre via email.

Why does my dog need to be on a lead?

Hav­ing your dog on a lead helps ensure the safe­ty of wildlife, oth­er vis­i­tors, and your dog. Off-lead dogs can dis­rupt wildlife and risk expo­sure to haz­ards like poi­son baits, snake bites, or injury from wildlife defend­ing itself. Keep­ing your dog on a lead helps pro­tect both the nat­ur­al envi­ron­ment and your dog’s well-being.

Risks to wildlife:

• Dogs off tracks will leave a scent in the bush that will keep wildlife away.
• Uncon­trolled dogs may fright­en wildlife and dis­rupt their nat­ur­al behaviour.
• Some dogs will kill or injure wildlife.

Risks to oth­er park visitors

• Dogs may be aggres­sive to oth­er park visitors.
• Even friend­ly dogs can knock peo­ple over caus­ing injury.
• Some peo­ple want to enjoy parks with­out dogs.

Risks to your dog

• Poi­son baits may be laid to con­trol fox­es. Baits can be fatal to dogs.
• Even if your dog is friend­ly, oth­er dogs may not be.
• Your dog can catch par­a­sites (such as fleas and ticks) from wildlife.
• Snake bites are a real risk in nat­ur­al areas such as parks.
• Wildlife such as kan­ga­roos and koalas will defend them­selves if threat­ened by a dog and can cause sig­nif­i­cant injury to or the death of your dog.

Dog walk­ing tips from Adelady