Carinthia (Kärnten), Austria's lake district in the south, is one of the country's best-known swimming destinations, and its regional tourism board publishes a genuinely detailed, lake-by-lake guide to swimming with a dog. The general pattern across most lakes is that public Strandbad swimming areas exclude dogs, but a real, developed network of dedicated dog beaches and bathing areas exists alongside them, often marked with their own signage.

Real, named examples make the point: on the Wörthersee, dogs can swim at the dedicated Hundewiese between Strandbad Klagenfurt and Maria Loretto, even though the public strand baths themselves ban dogs; Hafnersee has a dog beach behind Family-Camping Hafnersee (muzzle required there specifically); the Ossiacher See has a marked Hundebadestrand at ZIS Lauritsch; and Pressegger See's Schluga Strand has its own dog bathing zone and agility area.

Not every lake allows it, though, and the Faaker See is the clearest example of a lake where dog bathing is prohibited outright, with the Carinthian tourism board itself suggesting nearby alternatives instead. At several other lakes — including the Klopeiner See, Turnersee and Sonnegger See — dogs are welcome on a leash on the grounds of certain strand baths but aren't permitted to actually swim there, so checking the specific lake and even the specific shore section matters more here than almost anywhere else in this guide.