Is there a leash law in Berlin?

Yes. The Berlin dog law (HundeG) took effect on 22 July 2016 and the general leash rule has applied across the city since 1 January 2019. Dogs may run free only inside the marked forest dog areas and the fenced runs. Two groups are exempt from the general rule: a Bestandshund kept by the same holder since before 22 July 2016, and a dog whose owner holds a Sachkundenachweis. Even those dogs stay on the lead in parks, on unmarked forest paths, in shops, on public transport and in pedestrian zones.

Where can dogs run off the leash in Berlin?

In the twelve forest areas run by Berliner Forsten, about 1,220 hectares in total: Grunewald, Wannsee-Düppel, Düppel, Kladow, Pichelswerder, Hakenfelde, Jungfernheide, Frohnau and Blankenfelde. And in the fenced runs the districts set up in parks, such as Stralauer Platz, Volkspark Friedrichshain, Gleisdreieck, Volkspark Jungfernheide, the three runs on Tempelhofer Feld and Hasenheide. Everywhere else the lead stays on.

Which Berlin dog areas are fenced?

The park runs are. Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg publishes nine between 1,160 and 2,900 m²; Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf four, the biggest in Volkspark Jungfernheide at about 9,200 m²; Reinickendorf eight Hundegärten; Steglitz-Zehlendorf one at Barnackufer. Fence heights differ: Stralauer Platz has 1.40 m and is marked as suitable for big dogs, Wriezener Park and Weidenweg have 0.80 m. The forest areas are not fenced at all, so they need a dog that comes back.

Are dogs allowed at Berlin lakes and beaches?

Not at public bathing spots. The dog law bans dogs from playgrounds, Badeanstalten, public Badestellen and marked sunbathing lawns. Inside a forest dog area the Forsten ask that dogs do not run free or swim where people bathe in the warm months, and marked nature reserves and fenced plots are excluded from the area entirely. A few marked Hundebadestellen exist; the sign on site decides.

What does it cost to register a dog in Berlin?

Registration in the Hunderegister is €17.50 online and €26.50 by post or phone, due as soon as you keep the dog in Berlin, with the 15-digit chip number. Since 1 January 2024 that registration is also the tax registration. Hundesteuer is €120 a year for the first dog and €180 for each further dog. Liability insurance and a microchip are mandatory. Not registering can cost up to €10,000.

What is the fine for a dog off the leash in Berlin?

The law allows fines up to €10,000. In practice Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg says a first offence is usually a €45 warning, with up to €5,000 possible for repeat cases. Not picking up after the dog is fined separately.

Dog Parks in Berlin: Where the Leash Comes Off and Which Run Fits Your Dog

Q: How long can the leash be in Berlin?

The law caps it at two metres in parks, green spaces and forests and at one metre in pedestrian zones, shops, public buildings, stations and on public transport. A long training line in a Volkspark is a fine waiting to happen.

Q: How do I get a leash exemption in Berlin?

Apply at your district Ordnungsamt for the Befreiung von der Leinenpflicht. You need liability insurance, the chip number, a photo and proof of Sachkunde: either three years of trouble-free dog keeping within the last five, or the official exam. The fee is €20.50 per quarter hour of processing, up to €164. The exemption lifts the general rule only; parks, forests outside the dog areas, transport and pedestrian zones still require the lead.

Yusuf Ucuz

2 days ago

7 min read

Every dog owner in Berlin has the same small argument with themselves at the park gate. The dog is pulling, the lawn in Volkspark Friedrichshain is empty, and the lead is in your hand. Since 1 January 2019 the answer has been the same everywhere in the city: the lead stays on, unless you are standing inside one of the places Berlin has marked for it. The trouble is that those places are more uneven than the phrase dog park suggests. Some are 800 hectares of forest, some are 1,200 square metres of fenced sand between two carriageways, and a few greens do not allow a dog through the gate at all.

I walk past the Stralauer Platz run most weeks and the fence there is 1.40 metres, which is why the district marks it as fine for big dogs. The run at Wriezener Park, a fifteen-minute walk away, has a 0.80 metre fence. That difference is exactly the kind of thing you learn the hard way once, and it is the reason this post exists.

What the leash rule actually says

Berlin's dog law, the Hundegesetz, came into force on 22 July 2016, and the ordinance that made the general leash rule bite everywhere started on 1 January 2019. The rule is simple: in public, the dog is on the lead. The lead may be up to two metres in parks, green spaces and forests, and up to one metre in pedestrian zones, shops, public buildings, stations and on public transport. The city's own summary is on the Senate's dog-keeping FAQ.

Two kinds of dog are exempt from the general rule:

A Bestandshund, meaning a dog the same person has kept since before 22 July 2016. That exemption travels with the dog and the holder, not with a new owner.
A dog whose owner holds a Sachkundenachweis, the competence certificate Berliners usually call the Hundeführerschein.

Even those dogs stay on the lead in parks and green spaces, on forest paths outside the marked areas, in shops, on the U-Bahn and in pedestrian zones. The exemption lifts the blanket rule for the street, not the park. My advice: treat the exemption as a nice-to-have and treat the map below as the real answer. A €45 warning is the usual first outcome in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, and the law allows fines up to €10,000.

The twelve forest areas: where an hour off the lead is realistic

The best places to let a Berlin dog run are not in the districts at all. They belong to Berliner Forsten, the city forestry office, which runs twelve Hundeauslaufgebiete of about 1,220 hectares in total. The oldest are more than seventy years old, and the office likes to point out that no other city in Germany or Europe has anything comparable. The list, with the individual PDF maps, is on the Berliner Forsten dog page.

A sandy forest path in the Grunewald dog area, with a low wooden fence, a bench and a boundary post under the trees

Inside the Grunewald dog area near the Hundekehlesee, where the marked area begins.

The areas are Grunewald, Wannsee-Düppel and Düppel in the south-west, Kladow, Pichelswerder and Hakenfelde on the Spandau side, Jungfernheide between Reinickendorf and Charlottenburg, and Frohnau and Blankenfelde in the north. Grunewald is the big one, reachable from S Grunewald, U Krumme Lanke or S Nikolassee, and it is the reason a dog in Zehlendorf or Wilmersdorf lives a different life from a dog in Neukölln.

Three rules matter more than the rest inside a forest area:

The green sign is the border. Outside it, on every other forest path, the lead goes back on. That is § 23 of the Landeswaldgesetz and § 28 of the dog law, and the foresters do check.
Fenced plots and nature reserves inside the area are not part of it. If it is fenced or signed as Naturschutzgebiet, the dog stays out.
Where people bathe, the dog does not swim in the warm months. The Forsten ask for this even inside the dog area, and dogs are banned outright from public Badestellen, Badeanstalten, marked sunbathing lawns and playgrounds by § 15 of the law.

The Hundekehlesee in Grunewald at dusk, with villas and autumn trees mirrored in the still water

The Hundekehlesee, the lake inside the Grunewald dog area. Fine for a dog in October, off limits where people swim in July.

The forest areas need a dog that comes back. The Forsten's own line is that the dog must stay within the holder's reach and be callable at all times, and if that is not guaranteed the lead rule applies inside the area too. I have watched a spaniel vanish after a boar in the Grunewald and its owner spend forty minutes calling. If your dog's recall is a work in progress, the forest is a Saturday project and the fenced run is the weekday answer.

The fenced dog parks in Berlin: small, uneven, and finally on a map

The districts run the fenced Hundeauslaufflächen, and until recently you learned where they were by walking past one. Four districts now publish them as open data through the Berlin Geoportal, with sizes and fence heights: Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, Reinickendorf and Steglitz-Zehlendorf. The Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg dog page lists nine runs and the greens where dogs are banned.

The fenced dog run on the central reservation at Stralauer Platz in Friedrichshain, under the pink pipes, with the Ostbahnhof buildings behind

Stralauer Platz: 2,900 square metres between the carriageways, and the only run in the district with a 1.40 metre fence.

What the open data tells you that a walk past does not:

Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg's nine runs are between 1,160 and 2,900 square metres. Gleisdreieck by the beach volleyball courts is the smallest, Stralauer Platz the biggest.
Fence heights differ. Stralauer Platz has 1.40 metres and is marked as suitable for big dogs. Wriezener Park and Weidenweg have 0.80 metres, which a whippet clears without thinking.
Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf's run in Volkspark Jungfernheide is about 9,200 square metres, by far the largest fenced run in the data, while the one on Bundesallee in Volkspark Wilmersdorf is 790.
Reinickendorf calls them Hundegärten and lists eight, from the Schäferseepark to the Freizeitpark Tegel, and one of them, Am Freibad, is marked as currently unusable.
Steglitz-Zehlendorf has one fenced run in the data, at Barnackufer in Lichterfelde. Its dogs are expected to use the forest.

The other eight districts have runs too, they just have not published them the same way. Tempelhofer Feld has three fenced runs, at the Tempelhofer Damm entrance and two along Oderstraße, with the lead required on the rest of the field. Hasenheide, Mauerpark, the Fennpfuhlpark and the Hundeplatz on Rhinstraße in Lichtenberg are the ones I hear about most. On the map below those come from OpenStreetMap contributors, not from the city, so read the sign at the gate before you unclip.

The sandy fenced dog run at Hundeplatz Lichtenberg with wooden agility steps, stacked tyres and a blue barrel under the trees

Hundeplatz Lichtenberg on Rhinstraße: sand, an agility course, and a fence all the way round.

Where dogs are not allowed at all

This is the part people miss. The law bans dogs from playgrounds, Badeanstalten, public bathing spots and marked sunbathing lawns everywhere in Berlin. On top of that, Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg has declared eight small greens Hundemitnahmeverbot zones, where a dog may not be taken in even on a lead, because of the pressure on the space: Weberwiese, Traveplatz, Boxhagener Platz, Annemirl-Bauer-Platz, the stream and the Märchenbrunnen in Volkspark Friedrichshain, the open-air cinema area at Bethanien during the day, and the nature-experience space at Möckernstraße. The red crosses on the map mark them.

My advice: if you live near Boxhagener Platz, walk the extra six minutes to the Revaler Straße run rather than testing the sign. The Ordnungsamt knows those squares better than you do.

Your station, your dog, the map

Type the S- or U-Bahn station nearest your flat into the tool below. It pins the station, draws 2 km and 5 km rings, and ranks every forest area and fenced run by straight-line distance. Then say what your dog needs today: a fence because the recall is not there yet, open forest because it is, or simply the closest thing before work. The list re-ranks, the map dims everything else, and the yellow line tells you the one move.

Two honest limits. The distances are as the crow flies, not walking routes, so a forest area across the Havel can look closer than it is. And the forest positions for Blankenfelde and Düppel are approximate centres because the city publishes those two only as PDF maps, without coordinates. The PDF maps on the Forsten page show the exact borders.

A wide sandy path through the Grunewald dog area, lined with tall trees and a low wire fence on the right

The main path through the Grunewald area. The wire on the right marks a plot the dog stays out of.

The paperwork nobody enjoys

If the dog is new to Berlin, or you are, three things are not optional:

Register the dog in the Hunderegister as soon as you keep it here. It costs €17.50 online and €26.50 by post or phone, and you need the 15-digit chip number. Since 1 January 2024 that registration is also the tax registration, so there is no separate form for the Finanzamt. Details on service.berlin.de.
Pay Hundesteuer: €120 a year for the first dog, €180 for each further dog. Berlin does not charge more for particular breeds.
Carry liability insurance and a chip, and put a tag with your name and address on the collar. Both are in the law, and the insurance is what the Ordnungsamt asks for first after an incident.

Not registering can cost up to €10,000, which is a lot of Hundesteuer. If you want the leash exemption, the Ordnungsamt application costs €20.50 per quarter hour of processing, capped at €164, and needs either three trouble-free years of dog keeping within the last five or the official exam.

The move I would make

If the dog has a reliable recall, pick the forest area your S-Bahn line reaches and make it a fixed morning: S7 to Grunewald, S1 to Frohnau, S25 to Tegel for the Jungfernheide side. If it does not, find the fenced run under 2 km from your station on the map, go once on the lead, look at the fence, and only then let go. The Berlin lakes guide covers which shores are bathing spots and therefore closed to dogs in summer, Tempelhofer Feld explains the field's own rules, and the quiet hours post is worth a read before the neighbours mention the barking.

Image credits

Source and licence details for the 2 photographs used in this article.

The fenced dog run on the sand at Hundeplatz Lichtenberg on Rhinstrasse, with its agility course: Elgaard, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The fenced dog run on the central reservation at Stralauer Platz in Berlin-Friedrichshain, under the pink pipes: Elgaard, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.