Is dogging still a thing?

Is dogging still a thing today?

Yes: people still meet in car parks, lay-bys and country parks to watch and be watched, and the biggest change over the years is that almost all of it is now arranged online.

There’s plenty of evidence that it hasn’t gone away. Academics are still writing about it: in 2018 the journal Sexualities published a study based on interviews with men who go dogging. Local councils still run into it, too. In 2020 West Lothian Council in Scotland began closing a hilltop viewpoint car park near Bathgate at night over the winter. The council said the reasons were litter, fires and noise, and that it wasn’t aware of any dogging there – but local reporters found the car park listed on dogging websites.

And sites like this one keep going. WhosDogging has been running since 2006, and its members’ stories range from a rural car park in Surrey to a night out in Port Melbourne, Australia.

Is dogging a real thing, or an urban myth?

It’s real, and better documented than most people expect.

In 2003 BBC News reported on what it called a new craze, and a survey of country park wardens that year found public exhibitionism near the top of their list of problems – more of a headache, for many of them, than vandalism or poachers, and one that left condoms and bottles for rangers to clear up. Researchers have written about it in academic journals since at least 2006, when David Bell published “Bodies, technologies, spaces: on dogging”. Police chiefs in England and Wales even had a policy on it: by 2010, guidance from the Association of Chief Police Officers treated arrest as a last resort.

So why does it sound like a myth to so many people? Because it’s discreet by design. It happens late, in out-of-the-way places, and hardly a word is spoken – people signal with headlights, interior lights and windows instead. Unless you know what you’re looking at, you could drive past a busy spot and never notice.

How dogging has changed

The short version: it has moved from word of mouth to the internet.

In the early days, a meet depended on knowing the right spot, or on a phone call. By 2003 websites, chat rooms and text messages were doing the organising, with some sites listing hundreds of rural locations. That made it far easier for newcomers to find out where to go and when.

Today dedicated sites and apps do much more than list places. On WhosDogging you can search for people near you, message them, and see their profile before you ever meet. Using a site like WhosDogging is a great way to find other doggers and agree the details of a meet-up before anyone sets off. And the people you’ll be chatting to are genuine members, there for the same reason you are. The car park is still the stage; the planning just happens on a phone first.

What hasn’t changed

Once people arrive, the scene works much as it always has. It still happens mostly after dark, still in car parks and quiet spots reached by car, and people still talk with their cars: a flash of the headlights, an interior light switched on, a window wound down. Consent is still the rule that holds it all together, and the people in the car still decide how far things go. What the internet has added is the chance to agree some of that in advance – who is coming, and what everyone is hoping for – instead of working it all out in the dark.

Where dogging happens now

Dogging began in Britain, and the UK is still its home, but it’s no longer only British.

During the 2000s the practice was reported in Ireland, the United States, Canada and Australia, among others, and further afield in Barbados, Brazil and several European countries. Americans don’t usually call it dogging – they’re more likely to talk about public sex or car meetups – but the scene is the same idea. You can read more about the word and how it travelled in our guide to what dogging is.

Why do people go dogging?

For the thrill – of being watched, of watching, and of not knowing quite what will happen.

When Chris Haywood of Newcastle University interviewed men who go dogging for his 2018 study, their reasons had little to do with sex alone. They talked about bringing something new into long relationships, about being anonymous, about unpredictability, about the edge that comes with the chance of being seen, and about getting away from everyday routine.

Being watched

For exhibitionists, the appeal is an audience. Being wanted by strangers, in the moment, is the point – and in some couples, one partner enjoys being on show while the other enjoys watching.

Watching

For voyeurs, it’s the chance to see real people rather than a screen, and to explore something without having to take part. Plenty of people go only to watch.

The risk

Nobody wants to get caught, but the possibility is part of the excitement. That edge is exactly what a bedroom can’t offer.

Something to share

For couples, it can be an adventure they plan together. One husband, writing about his and his wife’s first time on this site, described feeling curiosity, excitement, jealousy, envy and a twinge of fear all at once – and then being more aroused than he had ever been.

No strings

There’s no membership to buy at the gate, no names needed and very little talking. People arrive, take part as much or as little as they like, and go home.

Before you try it

Dogging is still around, but it still carries the same risks it always has, so go in with your eyes open.

The law differs from one country to the next: in England and Wales, for example, sex where the public could see it can lead to prosecution, however relaxed police policy has been. Stay safe by going with someone you trust and telling a friend where you’ll be, and remember that everything runs on consent – watching someone is not an invitation to touch them. Our first-timer’s guide covers the signals, the rules and how to find a spot.