Hiking with the dog near Ogden: the rules we could confirm.

The rule in town

Ogden City answers the question on its own FAQ: dogs are allowed at city parks and must be on a leash at all times, and the city maintains a public dog park for off-leash time. The Ogden Trails Network is run by volunteers and its page points to a trail etiquette document rather than a dog rule, so the city's park rule is the one to follow on the trails that start in the city.

That covers a lot of good walking. The Ogden River Parkway is wide, paved and flat, the kind of trail where a dog on a leash and a stroller get along; the trail committee describes it that way. The Bonneville Shoreline Trail's Ogden trailheads sit at the ends of the numbered streets, and the trail itself is dirt and mostly open to hikers, horses and bikes, so a leashed dog has room and company.

Up the canyons

The Indian Trail leaves the 22nd Street trailhead and climbs from 4,840 to 6,100 feet; the committee calls it moderate and not recommended for bikes or horses, which makes it a walking trail, and a good one for a dog that can handle the climb. In winter UDOT's Ogden Valley page lists the Wheeler Creek trailhead in Ogden Canyon for winter hiking.

Here's the part we couldn't confirm. The Forest Service pages for the Ogden District trails don't state a leash rule, and we found no watershed closure to dogs near Ogden of the kind Salt Lake's Cottonwood canyons have. That's not the same as knowing dogs are unrestricted up there. Our reading: keep the leash on where the sign says so and in sight of other people everywhere else, and check the Forest Service's alerts page before a trip to a specific canyon.

At the water and on the island

Two places do publish their rule. Willard Bay State Park allows dogs everywhere but the cabins and the glamping trailers, on a six-foot leash. Antelope Island State Park allows dogs on a six-foot leash too. Causey Reservoir's Forest Service page says dogs are to be leashed, and Bountiful Peak Campground up Farmington Canyon permits leashed pets. On the island, remember the gnats: April to June, they bite the dog as much as they bite you.