Best places to walk your dog

kkelly77

Can we start a thread with recommendations for places to walk your dog? Maybe even make it a sticky? The more varied the better so we can keep our pets interested.

I'll start:

Marley Park, Dublin for socialisation

Liffey Walk, Newbridge (if only more owners would clean up after their dogs though :mad:)

Sundew

The War Memorial Gardens in kilmainham.
Excellent walk right up along the River Liffey towards Chapelizod

Clare Bear

Malahide Castle is a nice place to walk dogs. As is Carton House in Maynooth and Donadea Forest Park in Kildare.

SarahSassy

Also Dunboyne Castle.

lrushe

Hell Fire Club, Masseys Woods

Paul91

on the lead ;O) in front of me, pulling me down the ice at the moment

littlelady

Casteltown House is great too!

Paul91

actually - anyone know of any hill trails in Cork (near Midleton) that you can take the woof woofs - on lead of course

toadfly

Renville Park, Oranmore, Galway and Coole Park, Gort, Galway. love them!

votejohn

Paul91 wrote: »

actually - anyone know of any hill trails in Cork (near Midleton) that you can take the woof woofs - on lead of course

I posted this on a different forum before, sounds like its what your looking for!

http://www.topdog.ie/showthread.php?t=7030

biko

Barna Woods

Lollymcd

votejohn wrote: »

I posted this on a different forum before, sounds like its what your looking for!

OH says Ballyallen Wood

bookerboy

Castletown house,Celbridge.
Dogs are allowed off lead.You are guaranteed to meet twenty other dogs on a quite day and dozens on busier days.
They can swim in the Liffey,play in the mud pond,chase squirrels or just run with the other dogs.
Not a bad coffee shop either.

kkelly77

bookerboy wrote: »

Castletown house,Celbridge.
Dogs are allowed off lead.You are guaranteed to meet twenty other dogs on a quite day and dozens on busier days.
They can swim in the Liffey,play in the mud pond,chase squirrels or just run with the other dogs.
Not a bad coffee shop either.

This sounds good!!! Might have to take a trip over tomorrow.

JohnB81

Does any one know any good walks in West Cork area? I found most trails around here doesn`t let dogs on them.

ghost_ie

Dodder Park off the Dartry Road in Dublin. Large field to play in, river to swim in and benches for owners to sit and socialise on .

Qualitymark

In Dublin, Bushy Park in Terenure - lovely walks varying between riverside, woods and large lawns including playing fields. This is the old Shaw's Woods, once belonging to the family who owned everything from Bohernabreena in to Terenure.

Warning, though: walkers tell me that there's currently a white van prowling, owned by a private company, which pounces on off-leash dogs and fines the owners lavishly, a la clamper.

Tymon Park in Tallaght is *immense* and a really gorgeous place for dogs.

The Phoenix Park is a superb walking place, and there are areas without roads which are safe for galloping - do make sure your dog doesn't chase the deer, though, it's stressful enough for them living in a place with cars without feeling hunted.

Dodder Park, from Milltown to Clonskeagh is very nice; what a pity this isn't an uninterrupted park from Sandymount to the mountains - it would be a superb amenity for the city if it were.

By the same token, Sandymount Strand is a great walking place - when the tide is far out, miles of sandy beach for dogs to race and go crazy. Be careful - when the tide comes in, it comes in fast.

From Dun Laoghaire to Dalkey, the Metals, a lead walk but lovely. Killiney Hill, with woods and a lovely climb over the sea.

Clare Bear

JohnB81 wrote: »

Does any one know any good walks in West Cork area? I found most trails around here doesn`t let dogs on them.

Are there signs up saying no dogs allowed? Or have people told you that they're not allowed? I've walked my dogs in various parts of West Cork (Skibereen, Skull, Glandore, Sheep's Head Way etc) and never had any bother. You should be fine on the beaches too.

Haven't been to Marley Park with my dog since he got Kennel Cough the first time he was there.

Big fan of Bushy Park though.

kopfan77

Demesne park in newcastlewest in limerick. some great walks in here of various lengths to suit all. and a nice little stream running along one edge of it which my gsd loves taking a dip in on every walk

adser53

The obvious Glendalough...on lead tho
As for Laois, my adopted homeland there's the following

Glenbarrow in the Sliabh Blooms, rear Rosenallis in Laois, is a stunning walk. Along the barrow river in a lovely forest, waterfalls 'n everything!

Ridge of capard in the sliabh blooms again is also a lovely walk along forest roads and the mountain top.

Tougher woods beside the rugby club in Portlaoise is also a nice walk and very popular with dog owners although it's pretty short

Clonaslee woods & lake is fabulous and is normally pretty quiet so ye can let the furries run free

There's more but just can't think of them at the moment

adser53

just thought I'd mention a webbie called www.everytrail.com

It has tracks that people have walked and recorded with a gps from all over the world including hundreds all around ireland. You can download them into a gps or else just look at them in google earth. Theres no guarantee they're dog friendly tracks but it's a great way to find places near you (or near were your planning on going) that you never wouldve thought of going. Theres generally a description and photos of the trails/walks too. I only found it last week and I think it's great

Qualitymark

If you search for csomerville@independent.ie and your nearby county, Mr Somerville has been doing a winner series of walks articles around the country.

breadbin

adser53 wrote: »

just thought I'd mention a webbie called www.everytrail.com

It has tracks that people have walked and recorded with a gps from all over the world including hundreds all around ireland. You can download them into a gps or else just look at them in google earth. Theres no guarantee they're dog friendly tracks but it's a great way to find places near you (or near were your planning on going) that you never wouldve thought of going. Theres generally a description and photos of the trails/walks too. I only found it last week and I think it's great

not a very user friendly site, could only see 3 walks in ireland and didn't know how to get to see them all for ages - a tiny little blue "see all 741 trips" and then you have to go through them one by one can't even search for mayo like:( but the walks themselves are good and can see them dead easy on the map:) i'm sure there is a way to see just the mayo ones but i couldn't see it

TaraR

Rossmore Forest Park In Monaghan Is Brillant

Qualitymark

Thanks for Everytrail, adser53 - it looks interesting; might add a couple of walks myself. I see it has an iPhone app.

By the way, breadbin, if you search for Ireland, and then *don't* click into the 'Ireland' result in the top half of the page but instead go down the page, you see a bunch more trips - including Korea to Ireland by bike!

breadbin

Qualitymark wrote: »

Thanks for Everytrail, adser53 - it looks interesting; might add a couple of walks myself. I see it has an iPhone app.

By the way, breadbin, if you search for Ireland, and then *don't* click into the 'Ireland' result in the top half of the page but instead go down the page, you see a bunch more trips - including Korea to Ireland by bike!

yeah i saw that 2000 miles!! another girl stuck a gps thing on her dog and plotted its movements:) interesting:)

actually not a bad site and maybe i was having a bit of a blonde moment the other morning - might add some of my walks too:)

Raminahobbin

bookerboy wrote: »

Castletown house,Celbridge.
Dogs are allowed off lead.You are guaranteed to meet twenty other dogs on a quite day and dozens on busier days.
They can swim in the Liffey,play in the mud pond,chase squirrels or just run with the other dogs.
Not a bad coffee shop either.

I don't think they're technically allowed off the lead, there have been at least 3 signs stating leads to be obligatory- all of which have been destroyed!!

(not by me)

But absolutely everyone walks their dog off the lead and I've never heard of anyone enforcing the rule. I think they probably gave up, since 90% of people who use the place throughout the year are dog walkers.

Be warned though- I would avoid the place on a sunny summer weekend evening: this type of weather attracts loads of scumbag types kna/cker drinking down by the river, and my dog has been attacked on a couple of occasions by their 'status' dogs, who are always off their lead and the owners are usually too drunk to react.

maisling

There is a nice dog park in Shanganagh Park, it's at the back over the train tracks......Not too many people seem to know about it yet, heard it's been there since Jan. Great to have somewhere to let the dogs run free and do some doggy socialising......only thing missing is a bench for the owners to take a breather and have a chat !

iguana

Qualitymark wrote: »

Dodder Park, from Milltown to Clonskeagh is very nice; what a pity this isn't an uninterrupted park from Sandymount to the mountains - it would be a superb amenity for the city if it were.

Such a great pity. I recently moved right on to the Dodder on the section leading from Templeogue to Terenure/Rathfarham and it's really lovely. But I have to admit to being really disappointed as I had thought I could follow it for miles in either direction. There is little I like more than heading out for the day with the dogs and a packed lunch. Instead I'm right at one end and can only go for about 30-40 minutes before I reach the other.

It's really sad that in a country renowned for it's greenery there are so little options for city dwellers. In London they really look after these type of trails and if you wanted to you could literally walk for days and days around the various London Loops with minimal urban interruption. It's infuriating that in the last decade when the government had so much money to squander they didn't make a few small adjustments that would have made a huge difference to areas like those by the Dodder. Even a few more stepping stone bridges like the 'lipstick boats' near the Rathfarnham to connect a few more sections would have made a huge difference.

Qualitymark

Bushy Park seems to have lost some of its gardeners - the forest part is turning into a jungle, as is the outside area by the river, which isn't part of the park but until recently was maintained. Nettles and some huge rhubarb-like thing are taking over.

iguana

A lot of that is just the summer growth. At least the rhubarb-y leaves aren't giant hogweed, that stuff can be literally lethal. I quite like how it is now, parts of it feel almost medieval.