De Pere, WI Animal Ordinances: Dog Leash Laws (2026)

City Code § 86-5(a) makes it unlawful for an owner or custodian to "suffer or permit" an animal to be at large anywhere in the city. The Code defines "at large" broadly: an animal is at large unless it is crated, penned, or securely tied or chained so that it cannot leave its owner's property and reach a public right-of-way or someone else's private property. When an animal does leave its own yard, it must be under someone's immediate control on a rope, chain, cord or leash no more than four feet long, and that leash has to be strong enough to actually control the animal's actions; a long retractable lead or an off-leash walk does not satisfy the section.

The same four-foot restraint standard reappears in the city's dangerous-animal rules at § 86-4(c)(3)b1, where a dog pending a dangerous-animal hearing must be muzzled and leashed on no more than a four-foot lead by someone at least 16 years old. Section 86-5(b) carves out city parks, where chapter 30's separate park rules govern instead. An officer enforcing the leash requirement who finds a dog off its owner's premises and not under anyone's control may impound it under § 86-6(b)(3), and a dog picked up without a valid rabies tag or license tag is impounded as well. Boarding charges accrue at the pound, and an unclaimed dog or cat is disposed of under Wis. 046(8) or (9) after seven days.