Flagler County, FL Animal Ordinances: Dog Leash Laws (2026)

Sec. 5-61 applies only to unincorporated Flagler County: dogs must be confined to the owner's property or leashed and controlled, and are barred at all times from active public recreation areas such as sports fields, ball fields, and tennis and basketball courts, except to pass through to a permitted area. Designated dog parks are exempt, but an owner may not knowingly bring a sick, dangerous or rabid dog into one, and every dog inside must be vaccinated. Where a tether is used outdoors, choke or prong collars and logging or vehicle-tow chains are prohibited, the tether must attach by a swivel hook to a proper collar or harness, allow at least twelve feet of movement in every direction, and never be rigged so the dog could hang itself over a fence.

Tethered dogs need shelter, food and water, and must be released and confined another way for ten continuous hours daily; a sick or injured dog, or a puppy under six months left unattended, cannot be tethered at all. Sec. 5-63 separately requires a leash whenever a dog leaves its owner's property, and Sec. 5-64 requires pickup-bed dogs to be penned or double-tethered. Hunting, field-trial, herding and working farm dogs are exempt while actively engaged in those activities under Sec. S. Ch. 767 must instead be kept in a secure enclosure. Flagler County Animal Services, under animal control officers appointed by the board of county commissioners, enforces this article.