It doesn’t look so good for the dog and its owner. Off-leash walking in nature reserves will be restricted in the future, according to information from Natuurmonumenten, Staatsbosbeheer and It Fryske Gea. And perhaps people without a dog will also have to look for other paths for recreation.
Last weekend, a Scottish highlander drowned in the Nieuwe Meer area, a pond between a nature reserve and the Amsterdamse Bos. This happened after an attack by a stray dog that bit the cattle when the large grazer went under.
Actually, they all say the same thing at Natuurmonumenten, It Fryske Gea and Staatsbosbeheer. The dog does not belong in their nature reserves. And maybe neither do we, humans, but that requires an even bigger step and it is still going too far. The three nature conservationists are obliged to open their nature reserves to the public through government subsidies or donations from members.
‘Birds and game can’t walk anywhere else’
“Why do we all recreate in the last little bit of nature we have left?” Fred Prak of Natuurmonumenten Noord-Nederland often wonders. “I’m talking about 18 percent of the whole of the Netherlands. The birds and wildlife cannot go for a walk anywhere else, but dogs and their owners can. But if we were to simply say that dogs are no longer allowed in our parks, social chaos would break out.”
According to Prak, deer are either bitten to death by dogs or chased to death against the game grids almost every day, according to Prak. “Yes, we also have off-leash areas. But dogs also often run loose in our nature where they are not allowed. The good suffer the bad, I know. But there are owners who believe that their dog is also nature.”
Supervisor Richard de Ree of It Fryske Gea ‘honestly doesn’t even know why his Bakkeveense dunes have been designated as an off-leash area for dogs’. “It didn’t have to happen. Perhaps as a getaway for people from Groningen with dogs?”
‘Loose dog is a sensitive subject’
At It Fryske Gae it is a sensitive subject, ‘dogs in nature’, says Joske Kluvers, head of communications. “We have one off-leash area and we sometimes wonder why? But we don’t have a policy about it. If we wanted to make it, it would take energy. And we now spend that time and effort on nature itself.”
The Bakkeveense dunes is a Natura 2000 area and is part of a European network of protected nature. De Ree calls the dog the not most positive presence in the protected area on the border with Drenthe. “All kinds of research shows that the impact of dogs on deer, other mammals and birds is significant. If a dog gets wind of something, you don’t keep it anymore.”
According to De Ree, the Netherlands is too full of dogs for nature reserves, now that one in five people has a four-legged friend as a pet. “Think about walking with dogs in meadows, in the countryside. Because dogs actually don’t belong in such small areas of nature reserve as the Bakkeveense dunes. The disruption to birds and small and large game is too great. We all need to think about a different solution for walking dogs outside.”
‘Is an off-leash area still appropriate?’
At Staatsbosbeheer (SBB) they also think in that direction. Spokesman Marcel van Dun says in general that there will be fewer rather than more off-leash areas in SBB nature parks. “For example, provinces that are responsible for nature policy in the Netherlands are increasingly asking whether it is still appropriate to have off-leash dog areas in Natura 2000 areas.” Kluver also expects that there will certainly be no new off-leash areas at It Fryske Gea.
At SBB, the forest ranger still determines locally whether a nature reserve is suitable for stray dogs. “That is possible if such an area is redeveloped. It could also have grown that way historically,” says Van Dun. “We designate such an area to limit nuisance from dogs at other locations. A bit comparable to building MTB routes. By creating them, they are used and prevent MTB riders from cycling straight through the woods.
There are still a total of them in Drenthe, Friesland and Groningen 62 places outside where dogs are allowed to run free and encounter other people and animals. It is not just about nature reserves, also about beaches and city parks. The number comes from the organization doggy dating which Staatsbosbeheer also refers to when it comes to the number of places in our country where dogs do not (yet) need to be on a leash.
‘A dog doesn’t play, it hunts’
Kees van Son is a ranger for SBB in the De Drentsche Aa nature reserve, where dogs are allowed to run free in the Quintusbos near Glimmen and De Strubben-Kniphorstbos near Anloo. “I am happy that I am no longer a BOA, but only a forest ranger,” says Van Son. “In recent years we have seen many people who do not know how things work outside in nature, what the rules are and what their dog does. When he sniffs the ground with his nose, he is not playing, but already hunting. A dog doesn’t play, it follows its skills, its instincts.”
De Ree himself was also bitten by a dog that kept barking at him. “His owner told me that the animal had been a bit aggressive lately because he had been traumatized. Then I thought, if you know that, you wouldn’t let him run wild, would you? It was that I was wearing my green clothes, because otherwise I would have kicked the animal, that is how nature would normally have reacted.”
‘Dog walking center comes ten at a time’
Complaints about the dogs are common, according to the supervisor. Almost daily. But also more periodically, according to De Ree, when a dog walking center lets about ten go at the same time. “And sometimes there are sessions of dog whisperers.”
The fines that the BOAs of It Frsyke Gea hand out mostly go to owners of off-leash dogs or to visitors who venture off the walking paths.
A similar picture prevails at Staatsbosbeheer. Van Dun: “In 2022, our BOAs had to speak to 123 people in Drenthe because their dog was running loose where it is not allowed or walking in a prohibited area. They also issued 41 warnings and 79 fines for this. In Friesland this amounts to 151 conversations, 2 warnings and 49 fines and in Groningen 128 conversations, 28 warnings and 65 fines.”
According to Van Dun, the SBB information center receives questions or comments about dogs every day. “From both camps, by the way.”
Big struggle
Certainly, due to the increased influx since corona, the effect of human recreation, whether with or without a dog, on horseback or on a mountain bike, is an increasing struggle for nature conservationists. “We want to share what beautiful things we have in Fryslân and thereby gain support in society as to why it is worth protecting,” says Kluvers of It Fryske Gae. Kees van Son is a forester at Staatsbosbeheer: “We have to show people why our nature is worth protecting and why it is so vulnerable. And that clashes.”
Fred Prak of Natuurmonumenten in Drenthe, Friesland and Groningen advocates a more English approach to recreation in rural areas. “Fifty to sixty percent of the Netherlands is agricultural area, use inspection paths, farmyards, paths along meadows and, as in England, arrange right of way. After corona, the pressure on nature in our parks has increased so much that you have to wonder whether you should still go into the woods or the heath en masse with everyone and the dog.”
Dog behavior expert Eddy Eelsing: Not every dog can run free
“It is important for a dog to occasionally walk at its own pace,” says Eddy Eelsing, dog behavior expert and coach at Dogs Weather in Balance in Sellingen. “The dog can then release its pent-up energy in freedom and release it for a while. And discharging is not always possible during a long walk on a leash or when the dog walks along on the bike. Some dogs really feel the need to do their ‘own thing’.”
So walking off leash is nice for the dog, but you can’t let every four-legged friend run loose, Eelsing knows. “Dogs with a high hunting instinct and former street dogs sometimes run off without a leash. You can train them, but you have to start early from the puppy stage. A colleague once told me that, for example, you cannot let a single husky run loose. While I have experienced that this is sometimes possible. This of course varies per dog. But for breeds such as the Springer Spaniel, Drenthe Partridge, German Pointer and the Frisian Stabyhoun, it is not always feasible to let them run wild in nature without proper training at a young age.”
“This is because the hunting instinct is activated when a dog ‘smells wild’. Of course you cannot tar every breed with the same brush because it depends on how strong the hunting instinct is, but dogs with a naturally strong hunting instinct are often more difficult to keep under appeal in nature than dogs with a less strong hunting instinct. For dogs that cannot run loose in the woods, it can be nice to be able to run loose in another place. This could be in the backyard, for example, where you combine it with a mental challenge. Think of looking for treats in the garden where the dog can use its nose to find the treats.”
According to Eelsing, it is not the law that a dog that is never allowed to run free becomes more aggressive. “That depends on many factors: breed, character, the dog’s energy level, exercise needs and upbringing.”