Cheektowaga, NY Animal Ordinances: Dog Leash Laws (2026)

Town Code Chapter 58, Article I governs dogs outside the Villages of Depew and Sloan, which run their own codes. Section 58-3 is unconditional: any dog off the owner's premises, tagged or not, licensed or not, must be on a leash, and seizure of a loose dog is mandatory, not discretionary, for the officer who finds it. A seized dog is fed and cared for and its disposition follows Agriculture and Markets Law Section 118 (renumbered from the old Section 114-a cited in the Cheektowaga code).

The leash duty sits alongside Section 58-5, which requires any dog on its own or another's premises to be muzzled or securely fastened unless it is in its owner's immediate custody or inside a fenced enclosure, so a dog cannot simply be turned loose in an unfenced yard as an alternative to a leash. Section 58-7 separately bars dogs from soiling public areas, sidewalks, gutters, streets, play areas or parks, and requires an owner who curbs a dog in the street to scoop feces into an airtight container; storm sewers and drainage ditches are off-limits for disposal.

Guide dogs accompanying a blind person are exempt from the curbing cleanup rule. The chapter was readopted in its entirety on December 6, 2010, effective January 1, 2011, replacing the original 1985 town code provisions.