Decatur, GA Animal Ordinances: Dog Leash Laws (2026)

Decatur splits its restraint rule by location. Section 14-33 governs animals on the owner's own property: any unattended animal must be securely and humanely enclosed in a house, building, fence, pen, or other enclosure it cannot climb, dig, jump, or otherwise escape, and that enclosure must be locked whenever the animal is left alone. The Code specifically bars substituting a chain or tether to a tree, post, or building for that enclosure. If the owner is present, the animal may instead be on a leash under a competent handler's control, or off-leash and obedient to that handler's commands.

Section 14-34 covers animals off the owner's property: the owner must keep the animal under restraint at all times, meaning confined in a vehicle, secured by a leash held by a competent person, inside a designated dog park under voice command with the handler present, or confined in another person's enclosure with that owner's permission. Section 14-2 separately bans letting horses, cattle, hogs, sheep, goats, chickens, dogs or other animals run at large on any street or public place. An animal found running at large, or a dangerous animal not restrained under § 14-34, is declared a public nuisance under § 14-32, which the police department or a county animal control officer, cross-deputized under § 14-36(c), may impound at the county's animal control center.