Cupertino, CA Animal Ordinances: Dog Leash Laws (2026)

12. 010 goes further for dogs specifically, requiring the owner or person with the right to control a dog to keep it under physical restraint on a leash or confined behind a fence not less than six feet high. The leash rule exempts guide dogs for the blind or deaf while working, dogs in field or obedience trials or conformation exhibitions, dogs assisting their handler in legal hunting or herding livestock, dogs assisting a security guard or peace officer, search-and-rescue dogs, dogs in City-authorized events or programs, and dogs being trained for those purposes on private property with the landowner's permission and under a trainer's direct control.

040 limits when a loose dog can actually be seized: an animal control officer cannot impound a dog for running at large if it never left, or has returned to, the private property of its owner or the person entitled to control it, though a citation can still be issued. If the owner isn't home in that situation, the officer must post a notice on the front door of the residence stating that the dog was impounded, where it is being held, and who to contact, along with the deadline to reclaim it before final disposition.