Buying a Plot of Land for Doggy Activities

We have a small garden and don't want to move. There are plenty of excellent parks nearby and our hounds get off-lead time every day. But there are various activities that we'd like a secure, private practice area for. Hounds aren't completely reliable off-lead, and practice in the park can be difficult when other dogs want to join in the fun.

The thought crossed my mind that we might be able to buy or rent a plot of land for this purpose. I've got no idea how to go about finding somewhere. Nor do I know about the practicalities. For example, I expect you need to keep the grass cut without animals grazing. A huge piece of land would be nice but probably not practical as you couldn't securely fence it (Beagles are master escape artists!).

I guess if buying land is likely to be a decent investment we'd be willing to pay quite a lot. But if it's likely to loose value we wouldn't want to pay out too much. No idea how much we'd be willing to spend though.

Just hoping someone has gone down this route and considered all the pros and cons.

One of my friends rents a side of a farmers field and has it securely fenced off so that she can use it to run her doggy day care and let the dogs out to play. Its a great idea and certainly works fab for her and the dogs and her business.
Sorry not sure if thats much help

I know of a dog training school/doggy day creche near here where they rent their outside area to people who want a secure area to train. But of course it would only be available at very limited times. Perhaps you could ask your local dog training clubs for suggestions.
I used to have lessons with a couple of friends and we would use a large deserted car park to train on. However at times we had to share it with a football team!

Our gundog trainer uses a rented paddock (well it might actually be bought, but still).

He's lucky enough to live at the top of fields so all we do is park at his house and wonder down to the paddocks where he has the horses in one and the other one free for dog training and kennels.

It's a lovely place and a great idea imo. Just contact all your local estate agents to see if there is any land for sale or rent and keep a look out in your local paper.

I think the paddock glennifer agility club train in can be rented out
Also I think Janie from clear run rents out her barn compleat with equipment

Put an ask up on the agility forum as lots of them on there seem to have land

as for actually buying it yourself, poss speak to farmers - and estate agents - at least they might know where to point you
would say land is a pretty good invesment if you have cash to spare - seeing as the interest rate is rubbish you would be better buying something

Hmm - and looks like you might even be able to rent it out to dogwalkers and stuff, hey if its local I might talk to you about puppy classes

If it's near me, I'd also be interested in this sort of thing!

Scarter, can you pm me where in Glasgow you are and what area you would be looking to buy land? I can ask someone who may be able to help.

Hi,

I don't mind saying publicly (someone else might be able to help). We're in Crookston - south side of Glasgow (G53)

I don't really know what exactly we're looking for or how far we'd be prepared to travel. But at the very least it'd need to be close enough to drive to a couple of times a week - and if it was any distance away it'd need to be worth the journey!

Something just big enough to do things like agility and flyball in and small enough to put a beagle proof fence around would be good.

Something bigger might be good to let the dogs have a good off-lead romp in safety. But then you're faced with the problem of keeping them contained.

So really no idea what we want or how much we want to pay. It'd be nice to know what kind of thing is available - if anything (and at what price).

Thanks for the help!

What about just googling land for sale/rent, and then your specific area? I know agricultural land used to be around £20K an acre, but have no idea what it would be now and at one time it was £13K an acre but that was 20 years ago!

You could use sheepfencing all around the edge to keep the dogs safely in there too.

Maybe enquire at your local stables, they usually have lots of land where they "rest" some fields and might just be prepared to let you rent it off them whilst they're resting it coz of course dogs aren't going to do any damage like the horses would in it whilst it's resting?

Phone around all your local farmers too, coz they're always pleading poverty and might be willing to rent something out to you?

Hiya Scarter - i'll get back to you on this one. Give me a shout in a few days if i've not posted, cheers