Dog & Pet Policy

With the support of Duke University, Duke Gardens has decided to limit our dog-walking hours to protect the plants and wildlife that live here. Dogs are only allowed in the gardens before 10 a.m.* and are no longer permitted in the gardens after 5 p.m. Moreover, dogs are not permitted in the Blomquist Garden of Native Plants, Charlotte Brody Discovery Garden, buildings and posted areas at any time. No other pets are permitted. 

Attendance at Duke Gardens has grown exponentially in recent years, as have the number of dogs entering the Gardens. While many dog walkers follow our dog and pet policies, and many dogs exhibit good behavior, we have witnessed a rise in dog behavior that is harmful to our plant collections and all who visit. We have decided to limit dog-walking to before 10 a.m., when Duke Gardens is less crowded and we have a larger staff presence in the gardens, enabling us to better enforce our dog and pet policies and protect our plants, wildlife and visitors.   

 *Service dogs trained to perform tasks for a person with disabilities are permitted in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. 

Sometimes even the best behaved dogs can be a deterrent for visitors, especially those with young children. Our dog-walking hours are limited to 8 to 10 a.m., when Duke Gardens is less crowded. Moreover, limiting dog-walking hours enables us to better protect our plant collections from dog waste like urine, which is high in nitrogen and can harm or kill plants.

Unfortunately, some dog walkers do not dispose of dog waste properly, which is a challenge for our staff and the plants. Moreover, dog urine is high in nitrogen, which can harm or kill plants.

The Blomquist Garden of Native Plants features many endangered and sensitive plants, as well as very narrow paths that do not have the capacity for people and dogs together.

The Discovery Garden is a sustainable, organic food garden, and produce grown here is donated to local food pantries. Having dogs around food that will be consumed is unsanitary.

While the main entrance to Duke Gardens at 420 Anderson Street and the Gardens parking lot open at 9 a.m., the grounds of Duke Gardens open at 8 a.m. If you would like to visit with your dog before the main entrance opens, you may park in one of the available visitor parking spaces on Lewis Street and enter the Gardens through the Lewis Street gate. You may also park in other campus visitor parking lots and enter on foot through one of the gates along Flowers Drive.

We ask that you please exit Duke Gardens by 10 a.m. if you have a dog. 

Duke Gardens is committed to providing an open and accessible environment. This includes welcoming service animals that are assisting disabled individuals in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and other applicable state and federal laws.

Service animals are defined as dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. The work or task a dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person’s disability.

Service animals must be under the handlers’ control at all times. If a service animal behaves in a way that poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others, if it has a history of such behavior, if it is not housebroken, or if it is not under the control of the handler, that service animal may be excluded from Duke Gardens and Duke University.

Assistance animals, also commonly called “emotional support animals,” do not qualify as service animals, per Duke University policy and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Assistance dogs are only permitted in Duke Gardens before 10 a.m. during our standard dog-walking hours.

Duke Gardens has been one of the few botanic botanic gardens nationwide to permit dogs. Most have a standard policy of strictly forbidding dogs and other pets in order to protect their plants and serve visitors. We welcome dogs before 10 a.m. 

We hope you will still visit Duke Gardens without your pets. And for dog-walking, we encourage you to explore some of Duke’s other scenic locations, including the East Campus perimeter trail, and Al Buehler Cross-Country Trail at the Washington Duke Inn & Golf Course, the Duke Reclamation Pond and the many sidewalks throughout East and West campuses.