Increasing locomotor activity can improve leg health and decrease the prevalence of lameness in dairy cows. The dry period offers an opportunity to provide alternative housing to tie-stall cow that can increase locomotor activity. Our objective was to determine if housing tie-stall dairy cows in a deep-bedded loose pen during the 8-week dry period affected gait and step activity. Twenty cows, paired by parity and calving date, were assigned at dry-off to a deep-bedded loose-pen (LP) or a tie-stall (TS). Step activity was measured by leg-mounted pedometers. Cows were walked 1x/wk on a test corridor and video recordings of gait were taken. Six aspects of gait were scored on a 0–5 scale (interval: 0.1): tracking up, joint flexion, back arch, asymmetric step, swing, and reluctance to bear weight. Overall gait was also scored using a 1–5 scale (interval: 0.5). Data for gait was analyzed based on the change in gait between the dry-off and calving. Daily step data were averaged per week of the dry period. Analyses were performed using a using a mixed model with treatment, week, and pair as fixed effects and cow nested within treatment and pair as a random effect for step data. The same model, omitting the fixed effect of week, was used for gait. There was no difference in step activity between LP and TS cows (842.1 ± 88.86 vs 799.5 ± 76.92 steps/d, LP vs TS, respectively; P = 0.73). Only joint flexion yielded a treatment difference with LP cows improving over time and TS cows worsening (−0.4 ± 0.15 vs +0.2 ± 0.16; P < 0.05). Although step activity was similar in both housing options, the increased space allowance in the LP treatment may have allowed for a larger range of motion for each steps, increasing the overall benefits to leg health. The denser lying surface in the LP may also have provided a cushioning effect when transitioning between rising and lying, improving joint health and, thus, joint flexion. Providing tie-stall cows with alternative housing during the dry period has the potential to help cows to recover their health in preparation for their next lactation.