Grasslands National Park (GNP) in Saskatchewan, Canada, is a dog’s dream – if your dog loves open natural spaces, unfamiliar scents, and a multitude of ground level critters capturing attention. With a bit of caution and a long lead, GNP offers you and your pup hours of serene bonding time and plenty of exercise.

Can you bring your dog to Grasslands National Park?

You bet. In fact, all Canadian National Parks permit dogs. But GNP seems especially designed for dogs, in my opinion. When I visited the GNP East Block (there is both an East and West Block) in May 2025, there were at least ten other campsites occupied – five of them with dogs. And those were only the ones I encountered.

Unfortunately, I was dogless on this trip because I ended up flying to Saskatchewan from Ontario rather than driving, as originally planned. Fortunately, other campers were not without their fur buddies, and I can understand why. Inside this 900-square-kilometre park are miles of trails winding through rocky grasslands scattered with trees and the crunchy hilly Badlands concealing prehistoric secrets.

Also, a winding drivable parkway takes you to six different sites, varying from the best sunset view to a former settler’s site, to a burial ground for dinosaurs – the ‘Cracker Jack’ stop. You can walk to with your leashed dog to them all, and it will take hours.

Most dogs love walking for hours, or at least my spaniel does, and I was thinking about her every second I was here.

Where is Grasslands National Park?

Here’s what’s important to know about GNP: it’s far away from everything, especially the East Block part. GNP is a three-hour drive from Regina, Saskatchewan’s capital, and a 90-minute drive from the closest city, Swift Current, population 16,000.

Val Marie, the gateway town to the East Block has a population of 120, is home to The Convent Inn, a former Convent restored to accommodate visitors who’d prefer a shower and bedding with their overnight stay (unfortunately, not dog-friendly). Both Val Marie and Grasslands National Park straddle the northern border of Montana in the USA.

The East Block of Grasslands is a stop for campers and primarily RVers on a long – sometimes weeks long – journey, so of course you bring your dogs along on those trips. Yes, you can buy a day-pass to the park, but considering the driving distance from anywhere, most visitors venturing this far from the big city are staying overnight.

Dog-friendly Grasslands National Park East Block

If you’re headed to the area, I’d suggest staying in the GNP East Block with your dog for several reasons: There’s vast open space to explore, no restrictions if your pup is leashed, and you and Fido can go dino hunting. Or at least dino fossil hunting (if you don’t remove any). Yes, the Badlands are part of the East Block, and these lands are a want to be paleontologist’s dream.

Here’s what you need to know about staying in the East Block with your dog:

• May to September, tent/RV sites are available, all have electrical hookups, and all dog friendly.
• Eight oTENTiks line the property – tent/cabin structures with bunk beds, tables, BBQs, heating, fans, and electricity. Two of the eight are pet-friendly but should be booked in advance, again May to September.
• Public bathrooms with running water and flush toilets are on site, but there are no showers.
• Dish washing stations are provided, and potable water is available at designated faucets only.
• Cell service is limited.
• Bring your own food, supplies, and bedding (even in the oTENTiks). Stores are far away.
• A gravel road leads to the park, and be sure to gas up at the first open gas station you find on the way to the park. Not all area gas stations are open on Sundays, and some require a card-only membership to access.
• Horses are also permitted in the park, so you might also be sharing the camping space with equines spending the night in either the provided round pen or the metal stalls available for riders to rent.

Note that there’s no off-leash area anywhere in the Grasslands National Park, nor is this a good idea. Rattlesnakes make their home here, so that’s a significant dog danger. I know my spaniel would love to chase the abundance of ground squirrels scampering through the grass and diving into holes. But some burrows contain snakes, so it’s best no one sticks their nose in. If you hear a rattler, you and your dog should back slowly – note snakes only strike when threatened or cornered.

Dog-friendly dino tour in the GNP Badlands

Winding through the East Block is a paved drivable road with six marked stops, including the reason to journey here: ‘Crackerjack’ is the second stop on the Badlands Parkway loop, and it’s named after the crunchy ground cover that defines this part of the Badlands. It looks like a lunar moon landscape with tuffs of grass struggling to survive and to the untrained eye, there’s little to see here.

But take the tour, and you’ll learn what to look for – fossils. So many fossils. And yes, on our tour we found what looked like a T-Rex tooth lying among a pile of gravel at the base of small hills called buttes. You can walk on the buttes, and so can your dog, even during the daily tour. According to park staff, the one-hour Badlands Tour running at 9 am on Tuesdays and Thursdays from May to September is dog-friendly, provided no one else on the tour is opposed to leashed pups strolling along.

Walk your dog in the paths of giants

What you’ll be walking on in the Cracker Jack section of GNP is the bottom of an ancient sea. Yes, 60 to 80 million years ago, this prairie land was covered with a shallow ocean extending two-thirds of the way across the continent. When it receded – or dried up – a graveyard of prehistoric life was preserved under layers of sediment.

Are there fossils still here? Yes, fossilized bones are continually revealing themselves as the wind erodes the buttes. Maybe a stegosaurus is yet to be uncovered.

You’ll also find mounds of cow poop. Local herds of ranch cattle roam the terrain and graze freely as part of a grasslands management program. Likely, a dog on the tour will find that most interesting. Mine would.

Dog-friendly Grasslands National Park West Block

The West Block of Grasslands National Park is more frequently visited than the East Block, though still not as crowded as other Canadian National Parks. Here’s where the buffalo roam – or more accurately, Bison, and these powerful wild animals are best viewed from a distance, especially if the dog is nearby.

Same for Prairie Dogs. The West Block is where you can view colonies of these charming, amusing creatures, but not your dog. Near the Prairie Dog colonies is the one no-dog zone at the park – for good reasons:

1. Dogs will disturb Prairie Dogs, who might defend themselves. (They are bigger than squirrels).
2. Fleas from Prairie Dogs can transmit potentially fatal diseases, such as sylvatic plague, to canines.

Speaking of parasites, ticks are abundant throughout the grasslands, so tick prevention is recommended for your dog, and DEET for you. Also, new this year: day passes to all Canadian National Parks are free from June 20 to September 2, 2025.

Overall…

The Grasslands National Park in Saskatchewan, Canada is dog-friendly, as are all of Canada’s National Parks. The East Block is preferable for camping with your dog, thanks to acres of space and a (likely) dog-friendly twice-a-week tour of the park’s Badlands and dinosaur remnants. Campsites are pet-friendly, and so are two oTENTiks, a type of glamping. Dogs are welcome in the park’s West Block too, just not near the Prairie Dog colonies.

Writer bio: Sherri Telenko has been a professional writer for decades and a travel writer for the last two. She’s a member of TMAC (Travel Media Association of Canada) and Dog Writers Association of America and travels almost weekly with her canine companion, Victoria. Contact Sherri at dogtrotting.net here. All written content is original, written by a person, and based on experience and research. Please subscribe!