Can a dog cross a cattle grid?
Not over the bars. A cattle grid is built so that an animal's foot drops between them, and a dog's foot can too. Use the gate or the way round beside it. Where a highway authority puts a grid in a road in England or Wales, the law says it must give a gate or a by-pass for animals that cannot cross the grid.
A cattle grid is a set of bars over a pit, laid across a road or a track where a fence meets it, so cars can drive over and sheep and cattle cannot walk over. It works because an animal's foot goes between the bars. A dog's foot does too. So the answer is the gate beside it, not the grid.
What the law says a grid is for
The Highways Act 1980 describes a cattle grid as "a device designed to prevent the passage of animals, or animals of any particular description, but to allow the passage of all or some other traffic". It does not say which animals, and a grid cannot tell. Read 30 September 2026. Highways Act 1980, section 82.
The gate beside it is there on purpose
The same section says that where a highway authority puts a cattle grid in a road, it must also provide, by a gate or other works on the road or by a by-pass, "facilities for the passage under proper control of animals and all other traffic that is unable to pass over the cattle-grid." In other words, the gate beside a grid on a public road is there for exactly the traffic that cannot use the grid, and a dog on a lead is that traffic. Read 30 September 2026. Highways Act 1980, section 82.
That section covers England and Wales, and grids a highway authority puts in a highway. A grid on a farm drive or a private track is the owner's, and the Act does not require a gate beside it.
Whichever it is, the Countryside Code asks you to "leave gates and property as you find them or follow instructions on signs", because "farmers close gates to keep animals in or leave them open to give access to food and water". A gate beside a grid is usually shut for a reason: the grid only works if the gate does too. Read 30 September 2026, from the version last updated 26 May 2023. The Countryside Code.
How many there are
Cattle grids are the rarest of the three things that stand across a path. In the map data the app downloads for West Yorkshire there are 151 cattle grids against 488 kissing gates and 3,178 stiles, counted on 30 September 2026.
The numbers
| What is on the path | How many |
|---|---|
| Stile | 3,178 |
| Kissing gate | 488 |
| Cattle grid | 151 |
What the app does with them
Every cattle grid the map holds is pinned on the walk, with a line saying what it is: "Metal bars over a pit. Most dogs will not cross one. Look for the gate beside it." If you have told us to avoid stiles and cattle grids, a walk with one within a few metres of the line counts against it, the same as a stile. A kissing gate is pinned too but does not count against a walk, because you and a dog can walk through one; how we treat stiles is in dog walks without stiles.
What we cannot promise is that the map has every grid. Some are missing, some have gone from the ground, and a new one can go in before anyone maps it. So a walk showing none is a walk where the map shows none, which is not quite the same thing.
Questions this answers
- Can dogs walk over cattle grids?
- Not over the bars. A cattle grid is a set of bars over a pit, built so that an animal's foot drops between them, and a dog's foot can drop between them too. Use the gate or the way round beside it.
- Is there always a gate beside a cattle grid?
- Where a highway authority puts a cattle grid in a road in England or Wales, the Highways Act 1980 says it must also give a gate or a by-pass for animals and anything else that cannot cross the grid. A grid on a private track or a farm drive is not covered by that section.
- Should I leave the gate beside a cattle grid open or shut?
- As you found it. The Countryside Code asks you to leave gates as you find them or follow the sign, because a farmer may have shut it to keep animals in or opened it to let them reach food and water.
- Does the app show cattle grids?
- Yes, where the map has one. Each is pinned on the walk, and if you have asked to avoid stiles and cattle grids, a walk with one on it counts against it. Some grids are missing from the map, so a walk showing none may still have one.
Read next
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- What makes a walk hardCows and dogs: why cattle follow a dog, and what to doCattle see a dog as a threat, most of all cows with calves. What the Health and Safety Executive and the Countryside Code say, and what to do if cows charge.
- What makes a walk hardDogs near sheep and cattle: the law when you are walking a dogWhat the law says about dogs near sheep and cattle in England, Wales and Scotland, what changed in March 2026, and how the app knows a field is grazed.