Doña Ana County, NM Animal Ordinances: Dog Leash Laws (2026)

§ 134-6 sets the county's baseline restraint standard: anyone owning or having charge, custody or care of an animal must keep it under humane physical restraint at all times, whether on or off the owner's property. On the owner's premises, restraint means either a secure enclosure or 'immediate control,' defined in § 134-2 as a secure collar/leash for a dog, a leash with harness for a cat or ferret, or a secure crate for other animals. C(2) limits it to two hours on a stationary object in any twelve-hour period, or four hours on a running line, pulley or trolley system; the tether must be at least 12 feet long, fitted to a proper collar or harness rather than wrapped around the neck, weigh no more than one-eighth of the dog's body weight, and carry swivels on both ends.

D requires 'immediate control,' and any leash used must be 'of suitable length so as to enable the handler to maintain control of the animal,' with animals in open truck beds required to be crated or secured on a nonslip surface. G. E lets an Animal Control Officer seek a nuisance determination once an animal has run at large or been picked up four times in three months, or its owner has been cited twice for chapter violations in three months, and a court may bar the owner from custody of that type of animal for up to three years.