Allentown, PA Animal Ordinances: Dog Leash Laws (2026)

C, last amended by Ordinance No. 15882 in 2023, prohibits any owner or custodian from permitting an animal to run at large in the City. The section defines running at large specifically: an animal is at large if it is not secured by a leash no longer than six feet controlled by a human when on public property, including streets, sidewalks, and parks, or, on private property, if it lacks the consent of the property owner regardless of leash. It is also unlawful to hand an animal off to someone not physically capable of maintaining effective control.

The at-large rule does not apply to a supervised formal obedience training class or show, a formally sanctioned field trial, or a community cat caregiver providing food, care, or shelter to a community cat. Dogs are barred from City parks except at locations the Director of Parks designates, and are barred from the Hamilton Mall unless the Director of Community and Economic Development authorizes it. A City Official has discretion to seize and detain any animal, licensed or not, found running at large on public streets or on another person's property, and may enter a public building in immediate pursuit of an animal reported to have bitten or attacked, or attempted to bite or attack, a person or another domestic animal.

D separately requires an owner to immediately clean up any fecal matter their animal deposits on another's property, public or private, and bars letting fecal matter accumulate on one's own property for more than 24 hours.