Bayonne, NJ Animal Ordinances: Dog Leash Laws (2026)

City Code § 5-3.5, 'Running Unleashed,' makes it unlawful for anyone owning, keeping or harboring a dog to suffer or permit it to run unleashed on the public streets or in any public park, public building or other public place in Bayonne. Section 5-3.6, 'Leashing of Dogs,' goes further: a dog on a sidewalk, public street or any public place must be accompanied by its owner or keeper and securely confined and controlled by an adequate leash not more than four feet long. That same section also makes the owner or keeper responsible, whenever the dog is off its home premises, for preventing it from defecating on any sidewalk or on private property belonging to someone else, and § 5-3.8 separately requires carrying the means to clean up any waste the dog does leave, with an exception for guide dogs accompanying a blind person.

Section 5-3.9 layers on a further restriction specific to city parks: no dogs, leashed or unleashed, are permitted in any public playground area or in a playground within a public park. Enforcement runs through the Police Department, the Animal Control Officer, the Litter Inspector, Parking Enforcement Officers or other municipal officials designated by Public Works, Municipal Services, Public Safety or the Health Officer, and a person who receives an enforcement document is entitled to a hearing in municipal court.