Bringing Your Dog to Peachland

MacKenzie House takes dogs, and the yard is fully fenced — which is the detail that actually matters, because it means you can open a door and let them out rather than leashing up every time. Peachland is a good town for a dog beyond that: there is a proper off-leash swimming beach, the trails all take leashed dogs, and the beach rules are more generous than most Okanagan towns. They are also more complicated than most, so here is how they work.

Where a dog can swim

Doggy Beach at the “T”

The off-leash one, and the reason locals with dogs go south. It is at the bottom of Princeton Avenue, just past the Princeton Street light on Highway 97, beside the boat launch. The area is largely fenced, which makes it usable with a dog whose recall is a work in progress.

Lake Avenue

The beach access at Lake Avenue is now a permanent off-leash dog beach, confirmed after a two-year trial. A second option when the “T” is busy.

The signed stretches on Beach Avenue

This is the part people get wrong. Along Beach Avenue there are stretches marked with Dog Beach signs. The District’s guidance is that dogs are on-leash on the sand, may be off-leash while actively swimming or playing in the water, and go back on the leash when they come out — the walkway above is shared with everyone else. There is also a signed on-leash dog beach north of 13th Street.

The general rule: leashed dogs are welcome on any district beach that is not a designated swimming beach. So Swim Bay, the lifeguarded family beach, is not a dog beach. Read the signs where you park; they are clear and they are enforced.

Walks

Everything in our hiking guide takes leashed dogs. The pick of them for a dog:

• Centennial Way along the waterfront — flat, shaded in stretches, and the default morning walk.
• Trepanier Creek Greenway — about 7 km return, flat, shaded and beside water, which is the right combination in July.
• Pincushion Mountain — only for a fit dog, and only early in the day. It is steep, fully exposed and the rock gets hot.
• Hardy Falls — easy and lovely, but keep the leash short between September and early October, when the creek is full of spawning kokanee and bears are about.

Coffee and lunch

Bliss Bakery on Beach Avenue is dog friendly and opens early, which makes it the obvious first stop after a beach run. Several patios in town will seat you with a dog in summer, but it varies by venue and by who is on shift — ask rather than assume. More options in our guide to eating in Peachland.

The heat is the real hazard

This is the part that catches visiting dog owners out, and it is worth being blunt about. Okanagan summers regularly pass 35°C, the humidity is low so dogs feel deceptively fine until they are not, and the pavement and rock hold heat long into the evening.

• Walk early or late. Put the back of your hand on the tarmac for five seconds — if you cannot hold it there, neither can they.
• Carry water on every walk, including short ones.
• Never leave a dog in a parked car here, even briefly, even in shade.
• Watch for blue-green algae advisories on the lake in late summer, and keep dogs out of water that is posted or looks like spilled paint.
• Ticks are active in the grass in spring and early summer — check them over after a walk.

At the house

• The yard is fully fenced, so the garden is usable without a leash
• There is a pool, which is fenced from the yard as pools here must be — dogs are not swimmers in it
• Hard floors through the main living areas, which is the practical answer to a wet dog off the beach
• Dogs are welcome on both the summer nightly product and the winter monthly stays, which suits people relocating for a season

Tell us about your dog when you book — number, size and whether they are used to being left — and we will tell you honestly whether the house suits them.