Where does the name come from?

At the foot of one of the falls lies a large boulder, topped by a stone shaped like a dog's head. That is where the name, "the dog's leap", comes from. There is no shortage of legends either: on the sign in the Le Laux car park, pupils from the local secondary school have written their own version of the story of the dog that is said to have jumped into the void. We will let you read it there.

What you see on site

It is not a single fall but a series of cascades through a jumble of granite. The stream rushes down a small ravine and then joins the Truyère, in the Couesques reservoir. Two platforms have been built above it. The first looks down on the stream bed and the waterfall from above; the second, a few metres further on, faces the fall straight on. That one is best for photos.

From there you can also see Valon: the castle on its spur, the stone-slab roofs, the dry-stone terraces on the hillside. The view is reversed: usually you look at the waterfall from the village, here you look at the village from the waterfall.

The village of Valon and its terraces, seen from the Saut du Chien on the other side of the Truyère gorges
Valon seen from the Saut du Chien. Photo: Jean Weber (INRA) / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

Three ways to get there

  • The shortest: from the car park in the hamlet of Le Laux (commune of Montézic), about twenty minutes there and back to the platforms. Ideal with young children.
  • The Le Laux botanical trail: a loop of about 1.5 km, half an hour to three quarters of an hour, with some twenty signs about the local trees (names in French, Latin and Occitan). The car park has stone and slate tables for a picnic.
  • The Saut du Chien loop: 5 km, about 1 hr 45, 164 metres of climb, yellow waymarks, starting from the car park of the Lyseth Création jewellery workshop in Monnès. You go through a chestnut wood (three small gates), over a footbridge across the stream, through the hamlet of Le Laux, past the platforms, and back via Le Prat and Les Chayes.

When to go

In spring and after rain, the stream puts on its best show. In high summer, after weeks without rain, the waterfall can shrink to a trickle. In autumn the chestnut trees turn yellow and the path smells of wet leaves. Wear shoes with a good grip: the rocks near the platforms can be slippery, and keep children within reach near the railings.

Our tip

Look at the waterfall in the morning from the square in Valon, then go to the platforms in the afternoon. Below the waterfall, deep in the rock, runs the Montézic power station: if you book the tour, you can do both on the same day.