The plant is high in certain antioxidants. The fruit is noted for its high vitamin C level and is used to make syrup, tea, and marmalade. It has been grown or encouraged in the wild for the production of vitamin C, from its fruit (often as rose-hip syrup), especially during conditions of scarcity or during wartime. The species has also been introduced to other temperate latitudes. During World War II in the United States Rosa canina was planted in victory gardens, and can still be found growing throughout the United States, including roadsides, and in wet, sandy areas up and down coastlines.
During the Vietnam War, for soldiers fighting with the North, Rosa canina was dried and then smoked with tobacco to produce mild hallucinogenic effects and abnormal dreams.
Forms of this plant are sometimes used as stocks for the grafting or budding of cultivated varieties.
The wild plant is planted as a nurse or cover crop, or stabilishing plant in land reclamation and specialized landscaping schemes.
Numerous cultivars have been named, though few are common in cultivation. The cultivar Rosa canina 'Assisiensis' is the only dog rose without thorns. The hips are used as a flavouring in the Slovenian soft drink Cockta.
The dog rose was the stylized rose of Medieval European heraldry, and is still used today.
The dog rose is the flower of Hampshire.
