Charleston, SC Animal Ordinances: Dog Leash Laws (2026)

Section 5-4 bans allowing an animal to stray or run at large on any public street, sidewalk, athletic field or facility, park, or another person's property unless it is under a person's physical control on a leash no more than 8 feet long. Voice control without a leash is allowed only in a city park area the parks director has specifically designated and posted for that use during certain hours. No animal, even leashed, is allowed on a tennis court or fenced athletic field unless the rules for that area permit it.

Section 5-5 separately requires an owner to keep an animal exclusively on their own premises unless it is restrained by a leash no longer than 8 feet; if the animal damages property, attacks or threatens anyone, becomes a nuisance, or strays onto private property, the code creates a legal presumption that it was not adequately restrained, which shifts the burden onto the owner. Section 5-5(b) also bars tying an animal to an object on a public way and walking away, unless the owner stays within 150 feet and keeps the animal visible.

Together these sections put the leash-length limit and the presumption-of-non-restraint on the owner, not the city, in any dispute over whether an animal was properly controlled.