With warmer weather trying desperately to arrive, and with Sasha seemingly being part dog, part duck, I've been doing a quick bit of research to find out the regulations, if any, against dogs swimming at public lakes or beaches.
I have so far come up empty handed, so I have two questions:
1. Does anyone know if there is a general French law governing this or whether I simply need to look out for 'No dogs allowed' notices, and
2. What reactions, good or bad, have you received if you take your pooches for a paddle?
According to the European Consumer Centre:
"France's beaches are - except for private hotel beaches - freely accessible. Dogs must have a
leash and be muzzled on the beach."
FrenchPropertyLinks state (although they don't say the source of the info):
Dogs allowed in more places in France
"In general, dogs are tolerated better in France than in the UK, with lakes and beaches not out of bounds even in the summer season. There may be local exceptions, but it is not at all uncommon to share swimming space at these places with our four-legged friends who are just as eager to cool off in a spell of hot weather as we are! This is good news for those of us who like to take our dogs on days out, and even better news for the dogs who may otherwise be left in hot cars."
If you find one please share. I have a 50-ft lead for my dog that we use for swimming. Probably not the legal definition of a lead, but at least he is on one.
Interesting - we went to Videix yesterday evening - and let the dogs paddle - having looked around for 'no dogs' notices...there were none in evidence. Afterwards, we found a tiny little written bit, in amongst 'no camping on the banks' about not letting dogs 'circuler' - but does that mean no dogs at all, or just no dogs running loose?
There seem to be no objections at the étang here, but there's never anyone else there anyway.
Having said that, is there a general law about having all dogs on leads - we took them along the voie verte the other day and a man on a bike shouted at us about having dogs on leads - everyone else looked very fondly on them - and they were completely under our control, even if not on a lead.
Would love to see a list of dog-friendly rivers and lakes.
I am curious about the same as my dog loves to swim!